I searched for the topic couldn’t find one… Im not someone that is too snobby about the artwork of a book but i do wish we had the option to read the classics the way they were intended. The updates just look too glossy?
Thoughts?
I find it a little frustrating. I’d like to read them as originally produced. Especially since the redone coloring always adds way too much lens flair to try to cover up the lack of digital effects on the original pages. Except the lens flair is really obvious and looks even cheaper than just not adding it.
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I don’t mind correcting some coloring mistakes, but the comic should still look like a comic of its time. Not a fan of the Neal Adams re-colorings.
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Yeah thats my thing, i saw with it with Marvel and Walt Simonson’s thor run but i think it works better there give the title
Neal’s batman is more moody, in the shadows from what ive seen and the coloring takes away from it…then again i havent read many of them yet.
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It’s maybe the worst practice in modern comics. It’s so completely unnecessary. The kind of person that it’s trying to appeal to isn’t going to want to read Neal Adams Batman or Flex Mentallo in the first place, and the people who do want to won’t like the modern coloring. So glad the Batman #232 Facsimile uses the original coloring. The new airbrush-y stuff just looks terrible.
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Idk, that image you posted looks very good and slick…
I’m not usually a fan. I find most modern coloring is overdone. I like the limited and more flat color schemes. It makes the stark black inks more striking.
I’m not like a hater of the recoloring, i can still read it and enjoy it but my problem with it is just its not consistent with what was actually put out at the time. its almost like if you turned a black and white movie into color just because you could.
It kind of depends. For instance, the Killing Joke was not originally colored in the way that Brian Bolland had intended, so when DC was ready for one of the re-releases, he recolored it himself to better match his vision. And overall, I would say the new colors look better, matching the tone of the writing and art better. But when it comes to Neal Adams, I feel like modern colors kind of augment the flaws in his art altogether. It makes the images feel glossy and emphasizes the wrong things.
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@TornadoSoup Two things.
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Didn’t the deluxe edition of the Killing Joke include both the original and new coloring? That’s the ideal presentation.
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I prefer coloring that matches the era the comic was produced. I love Neal Adams, but the new style coloring is jarring when you’re used to the original flat coloring. It would be nice if both coloring options were available for Neal’s work.
Oh heck, make it three things. I’m worried Neal is fast becoming the George Lucas of comics. Leave it alone Neal, it was perfect when you first did it.
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I think the Deluxe Editions of Killing Joke have that (and yeah, that’s probably the best option) but I know standard rereleases have the new only.
It’s the Absolute edition that has both. I refuse to own the Deluxe Edition because I prefer the original coloring.
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I was cool with it in the three hardcovers of Neal Adams Batman books. but when I get the “original” issues from comixology, I’d prefer to have them have something a bit closer to what was actually in the original comics. save the redo’s for the collected editions.
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That seems like the way to go. Give people the option
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I’m not a massive fan of TKJ in general (I think it does a lot of no-nos that Moore later recognized), but if I’m going to read a version of that story, I think the original coloring suits it far better. Also, I think recoloring is kind of a “screw you” to the original colorist. It’s a little like if someone were to redraw a comic. It’s like saying, “You messed it up the first time, so I’m here to have my name superimposed over yours in the hardcover and erase your hard work from history. ‘Kay bye!”
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I agree that it could be used to fix mistakes or obviously to restore color when digitizing, but otherwise it looks off. In the case of Adams it feels like he’s justifying the process by going overboard
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