Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke is getting one of the most elaborate editions any comic has ever received. Argent Comics, a fine press imprint working under official license from DC, has revealed a Noir Edition limited to 47 numbered copies, each hand-signed by Bolland.
The Noir Edition is based on the 2016 black-and-white version of The Killing Joke. According to Bleeding Cool, every page is letterpress-printed on a Heidelberg cylinder press onto 300gsm archival cotton paper from Hahnemühle, which presses the art into the page so it can be felt as well as seen.
Bound by hand
Each volume is hand-sewn and bound in goatskin at Aurelian Hands, the in-house atelier of Argent’s Pigment Collective in Zagreb, with extensive foil stamping. Handmade marbled endpapers supply the only splash of red in an otherwise black-and-white object.
Every copy includes a new introduction written by Bolland. The extras include a detachable letterpress playing card showing Batman and the Joker sharing one face, a bookmark modeled on the carnival tickets from the story, and a clamshell case lined with white padding meant to evoke a padded cell. Collectors who want to go further can commission an optional Arkham Case, a concrete-resin housing with a working metal cell door, a lock and two keys, made to order and numbered to match the book.
Why 47
The number is not random. As Argent explains in its founding essay, the imprint’s name comes from argentum, Latin for silver, and silver’s atomic number is 47. Every Argent edition is capped at that figure with no reprints. Five extra archive copies of the Noir Edition will be made for DC and Argent and will not be sold.
Argent does not run a webshop. Buyers apply for an allocation instead, with priority going to owners of its earlier Killing Joke edition and patrons of its sister bookbinding house, Amaranthine Books. That earlier release, the Avant-Garde Edition, was printed on custom metallic paper and sold for $11,750. Argent has not published a price for the Noir Edition.
Batman continues to dominate the conversation in comics this fall, with Absolute Batman winning Book of the Year at the 2026 Harvey Awards. This version of one of his most famous stories is built for a very small, very committed audience.
