A luxury collector’s edition of Batman: The Killing Joke, priced at Dh60,000, is on display and available for purchase at the Argent Comics booth at the ongoing Sharjah Animation and Comics Conference (SACC) 2026, with just 47 copies being produced worldwide.
The Batman: The Killing Joke Avant-Garde Edition was developed by Argent Comics, a Croatian publishing imprint founded by creative director Marko Matijašević, and handcrafted by its production team.
Designed to resemble the camera featured on the comic’s famous cover, the edition has aluminium boards lined with goatskin, a detachable lens and a viewfinder. Weighing 4.4kg with the lens attached, it comes in a carrying case covered in calf leather and lined with suede.
Argent Comics describes it as the world’s first giclée-printed comic book, using specially manufactured Hahnemühle metallic paper and a patent-pending production process.
Vibor Kreća, a Croatian exhibitor representing Argent Comics at SACC, explained how the pages are made. “You have to print on each side and then fuse them together by hand.”
Kreća said the edition is limited to 47 copies, a number chosen because 47 is the atomic number of silver, reflecting the Argent brand’s connection to the metal.
The collector’s edition contains two versions of the artwork from Batman: The Killing Joke, originally published in 1988 and written by Alan Moore with illustrations by Brian Bolland.
Explaining why the edition includes both John Higgins’ original colouring and Brian Bolland’s 2008 recolouring, Kreća said the artist had been dissatisfied with the earlier version. “This is like a director’s cut,” he said.
The edition also includes a transparent film negative, Bolland’s signature, a new introduction by the artist and additional material.
Alongside the Avant-Garde Edition, the exhibitor displayed a black-and-white Noir version inspired by the Joker’s prison cell, featuring aluminium doors, two-colour goatskin binding and letterpress-printed cotton paper.
Describing the Noir edition, he said: “This is cotton paper, which is letterpress, so you can feel everything. It’s very tactile.”
Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority, the fourth edition of SACC runs from October 22 to 25 at Aljada, featuring more than 150 activities and over 75 speakers from more than 30 countries.
The programme includes workshops, panel discussions, film screenings, live performances and exhibitions dedicated to animation and comics.
