by: S. Scott Stanikmas – Senior Staff Writer

If there’s one place Warner Bros and DC Comics gets it right it’s in the animated films. One after another after another the studio lines ‘em up and then knocks ‘em down, delivering quality animated films that have been wavering from “just for kids” and bordering on more adult fare for quite some time.

The cherry on top of this cartoon sundae is the upcoming R-rated adaptation of the popular Alan Moore / Brian Bolland Batman story The Killing Joke. This is as adult a story as you can get in the DCU and a PG-13 version just wouldn’t cut it. Well our pleas were heard and WB decided that we will get the version of The Killing Joke that we all deserve.

Recently artist Phil Bourassa, an artist that worked on a very early version of The Killing Joke, took to Instagram to show us some early concept Joker sketches and tell us about the long road to finally getting this seminal story made:

In 2009 I started working on an animated adaptation of The Killing Joke under the supervision of legendary Animation artist Bruce Timm. Two weeks into the project we were told to stop development because The Watchmen had underperformed at the box office and WB had lost faith in R rated superhero movies. Happy to say that you guys are gonna finally get your animated Killing Joke adaptation in 2016. Apparently enough money has been made from superhero movies and adaptations of comics of every stripe that it now transcends the previously assumed limitations of the genre. It’s a good time to be a comic geek!

You mean to tell me that we could have had this almost seven years earlier if Watchmen had performed better? What. The. Shit!

Well, better late than never. I’m just happy that we’re getting this at all. I know I’ll more than likely be calling in to work that day (sick days are use ‘em or lose ‘em!) to grab this and watch it a few times. As soon as we gwt a concrete release date we’ll let you know right here!