Ma, Simon :: Comic Art

The Red Hood – Brian Bolland

Artist: Brian Bolland (All)

15 Comments - 770 Views - 19 Likes

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Additional Images:

“Smile!”

Alan Moore at UKCAC 1986

First publication in the convention booklet.

Indication of scale

Second publication in the Deluxe The Killing Joke (it also appears in the extras of the Absolute edition).

Jam page by Brian Bolland and John Bolton for the UKCAC ’86 portfolio

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Artwork Details

Title:	The Red Hood – Brian Bolland
Artist:	Brian Bolland (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	770
Likes on CAF:	19 20
Favorited on CAF:	3
Comments:	15
Added to Site:	3/26/2023
Comic Art Archive:

Description

The United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (UKCAC) was an annual British comic convention that ran from 1985 to 1998. One of the staples of the convention schedule was the charity auction. Amongst the lots auctioned was all the artwork that featured in the convention programme. This was artwork created specially for the con booklet and donated by artists attending the convention that year. The above is Brian Bolland’s contribution to the 1987 con catalogue. I won this at the auction, which was the last event of the convention and took place on a Sunday afternoon in September. The two charities that benefited from the auction that year were Strip Aids and Cartoon Aid.

I sometimes wonder how I managed to take home this page of art with only a modestly-sized winning bid, modest even by the standards of 1987. I often think it was because the original art big spenders were keeping their powder dry for or had been cleaned out by the more high-impact, “sexier” illustrations featured in the con booklet – a Will Eisner Spirit, a John Bolton Wolverine, a Dave McKean Hellblazer, to name a few. It does occur to me that another reason why I did not face a great deal of competition in a bidding war for the drawing was that people did not know the significance of what was depicted. Even I was not totally sure. It is easy to think in a post-The Killing Joke world that every comics fan and every convention-goer knows the origin of the Joker and it has ever been thus. I have my doubts if this was the case in September ’87, some six months before the release of TKJ in the spring of ’88. As Tim Sale writes in the intro to the deluxe version of The Killing Joke (the first edition to feature the remastered colouring by Brian Bolland): “Bolland washes out the color in each [flashback], but chooses to spotlight an object in each — a bowl of tentacles, shrimp, and so on — in increasingly intense shades of red, all leading up to the Red Hood that was posited to be The Joker’s mostly forgotten origin.” Back in 1987 we all knew that Alan Moore and Brian Bolland were working on the definitive origin story for the Joker but was this drawing related to that, or was this something else that BB was working on for DC Comics? So for the duration of that weekend I had the intermittent nagging feeling that this image was related to the then forthcoming, highly-anticipated, much talked-about The Killing Joke. Perhaps I had read a reprint of Detective Comics 168 or maybe the origin was mentioned in an editorial in one of the first couple of issues of the 1970s The Joker ongoing title in the place that would be occupied by fan letters from issue 3 onwards. It was only when I returned home and could look it up that my semi-informed hunch was confirmed.

So what is this? A teaser for the then-upcoming TKJ? An unofficial modern-era “Birth Page”? My CAF status validation? Or just a momentarily-diverting curiosity? They say money changes everything and in recent years I have thought about having the drawing appraised by Heritage, but as I like looking at it and currently have zero interest in selling it – thank you for asking anyway; I am flattered; yes, I am very lucky – then it would be just curiosity, and we all know what that resulted in. They say everything and everyone has a price. Just ask Beyoncé. Or Beckham. I am about a quadrillion leagues below them but I would just as well not know what mine is; at least not just yet. I will tell you what the page represents to me. It is my one and only/one-and-done Brian Bolland, but also it is a priceless reminder of – yes, here I go again – all the happy times I spent making the yearly pilgrimage to and then attending UKCAC, when it was one of the highpoints, often the highpoint, of the year for me. And for this I need to thank the organisers that year: Richard Barker, Andrew Littlefield, Frank Plowright, Hassan Yusuf. Thank you, gentlemen; take a bow. But an extra special note of thanks needs to be extended to Brian Bolland for his generous donation to the UKCAC programme that year. Thank you, sir, and thank you for enriching the lives of countless comics fans around the world. On the offchance you are reading this on the day I am posting it – hey, it could happen – then very many happy returns, and may you have continued health, happiness and success. You are a legend.

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About the Owner

	Simon Ma ( 2 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2013
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED KINGDOM
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Comments on this Artwork

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Will K
Member Since 2006

Posted on 3/26/2023

Great piece. For what it cost, it seems the associated memories are priceless.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 4/14/2023

Will K wrote:

Great piece. For what it cost, it seems the associated memories are priceless.

I am grateful you were not there on that Sunday afternoon. Judging by your collection and interests, I am sure you would have recognised straightaway who that character was. Thank you for your comments.

paul skidmore
Member Since 2023

Posted on 3/26/2023

i also went to ukcac 87 ,looked on in awe at this in the programme but alas my paper round money would not stretch it .although Brian did sell me a pre lim for beer money,Turns out im still jealous after all these years, well done

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 4/14/2023

paul skidmore wrote:

If the prelim you got for beer money is the one of the cover of Camelot 300 issue 5 featuring Morgan le Fay you have posted then you chose well. It is a stunnah! If you don’t remember and can bear to be reminded of how much I paid for the drawing then I divulge it further down. Meanwhile, thank you for your comment. You have a superb published Brian Bolland too; Camelot 3000 was terrific.

Brent S
Member Since 2016

Posted on 3/26/2023

What an amazing and historic piece! Huge Congratulations!!!

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 4/14/2023

Brent S wrote:

What an amazing and historic piece! Huge Congratulations!!!

Now, I really don’t know what to say to your comment (other than thank you) as you are one of those shadowy presences on CAF, as I was for the first eight years of my membership, who occasionally “likes” and comments but does not upload images. I have found it a worthwhile practice, so if you have something, anything then I am sure someone would like to see it. As Robert Mitchum said in Build My Gallows High, “Nothing in this world is any good unless you can share it”.

Peter Sullivan
Member Since 2006

Posted on 3/26/2023

Well, a semi informed hunch, turned out to be better than a semi deformed hunch, back then.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 4/14/2023

Peter Sullivan wrote:

Well, a semi informed hunch, turned out to be better than a semi deformed hunch, back then.

I don’t know what to say in answer to your comment. I will say that no Brian Bolland upload is complete without a comment from CAF’s number 1 cat-loving Brian Bolland fan. Thank you.

Mark V
Member Since 2021

Posted on 3/26/2023

To me, the raindrops falling around the Red Hood are what elevate this piece above the circumstances of its creation and sale at UKAC. Bolland didn't need to add them but they point forward to the Killing Joke sequence of the Red Hood at the chemical factory and the creation of the Joker. Don't ever sell this!

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 4/14/2023

Mark V wrote:

Thank you for your close and careful reading of the drawing. It is amazing to me the amount of care and consideration that BB put into a drawing that he knew he would not be profiting from. And thank you for your advice; I hope that I am never put in the position where I have to sell it, and instead can hand it down as a family heirloom.

Joseph Melchior
Member Since 2005

Posted on 3/26/2023

Congratulations, Simon, a superb takedown. Although I'm sure I was bidding on this piece too and I remember being outbid (again). So I'm guessing what seems modest today probably wasn't, back then. Either way, I applaud your taste.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 4/14/2023

Joseph Melchior wrote:

Well, I was thinking of DMing BB on IG before posting the image to let him know that in spite of being black hole-d for over 35 years the drawing had not been accidentally lost or destroyed but was safe, taken care of, and looked at most every day and often with gratitude. But then it occurred to me how I would feel being messaged out of the blue by a complete stranger. Bearing in mind your knowledge of the picture and your association with the artist, your comments mean a lot to me. As far as how “modestly-priced” it was – I can understand why many people on CAF are reluctant to let on exactly how much they paid for something but as you are the second person to mention the cost I feel I should remind you, as your were there also, and allow you to make your own mind up. I hope it does not cause you anguish. It was £120. Once again, thank you for all your friendly advice and assistance in the past.

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 3/26/2023

It's probably the most significant piece out of the auction as you don't see multiples of the red hood out there. The joke's on them for not caring about this one.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 4/14/2023

Marcus Wai wrote:

It's probably the most significant piece out of the auction as you don't see multiples of the red hood out there. The joke's on them for not caring about this one.

They do say that hindsight is always 20/20. I just got lucky that afternoon. Thank you for your expert’s view as to its importance. I can’t help thinking, Charlie Brown-wise, about how my immediate underbidder feels now. I hope that they have no memory of it whatsoever.

Mark Levy
Member Since 2004

1 - Posted on 9/4/2023

Congratulations on a great acquisition way back when - this has that Bolland humor too!

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