After hitting the "Translate to English" option in my Chrome browser (hey, I barely read and write in English, let alone another language), I read through the article "WTF | THE "COVER" OF THE KILLING JOKE IS NOT OF BRIAN BOLLAND" by Alberto Calvo.  It talked about how, many times, my replica of Brian Bolland's "Killing Joke" cover is used on websites in place of original Bolland's work.

WTF, indeed!

He lays out the basic, obvious reasons for this:

     1. It is not obscured by logos (mostly because I dislike lettering so much)
     2. The images are both online and larger in size than most

I'm also sure a lot of it has to do with some one doing a Google Image Search, seeing my picture, thinking they've found it, and grabbing the wrong one.  Y'know, like how people confuse Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman all the time.  Then, some one else sees that picture labelled as Brian Bolland's on their website, grabs it for their own, and the confusion compounds itself,   (Although, I've seen some examples where my signature is rather obvious in the picture, so that's kinds strange... You'd think they'd ask "Who the heck is this 'John Douglas' guy signing his name to Brian Bolland's cover?)

Here is a section from the article (and I will blame any quirkiness in grammar on the translation software, not Mr. Calvo):

When Brian Bolland came to Mexico a couple of years ago as a guest of La Mole Comic Con, he who made me realize that, apparently very popular, image was not its cover, but a recreation was. Some fans who have made use of services bound for filling their volumes of paperback used that image as cover, which no longer wryly funny, because some of them took to sign a copy on the cover of the original artist was replaced by a copy.

http://lacovacha.mx/noticias/wtf-la-portada-de-the-killing-joke-que-no-es-de-brian-bolland/

First, I find it terrifyingly euphoric that Brian Bolland has even seen any of my artwork.  I mean, I'm just a guy in the middle of nowhere, so the thought that one of my artistic heroes--or any comic creator for that matter--would have seen anything I did is almost too bizarre for me to wrap my mind around.  On the other hand, I am mortified if it has caused him any sort of distress, as mentioned in the article.  So, there is a half-eaten worm in that apple, if you will.  Mea Culpa!

While I understand it, I also find the confusion a little embarrassing in the "My version doesn't match nearly enough" kind of way.  I shot the finished painting with a sub-par camera, so the picture is a little blurry in a couple spots, the color is slightly shifted and washed out, and there is even a spot on the top-left where the light from the lamp reflected into the picture.  Sure, I could go back and color correct everything, but that would even cause more confusion, methinks.

I do have to admit, though, when I do stumble across my artwork out in the wilds of the internet, regardless of the context, I'm one step from clutching an imaginary Oscar and saying "You like me!  You really like me!"

All that said, it's kinda weird to read an article about yourself, especially since I had no idea it was being written.  WEIRD!  The world is a funny place, sometimes...
Oh, and one correction from an otherwise good article: I do **NOT** do cover replicas on request.  They are **HUGE** (20" x 30" / 50cm x 75cm), they take **FOREVER** to do, and it is generally a pain in the butt to try and match someone's style as closely as you can, line-by-line.  I am doing them as a favor for a friend of mine that runs a local comic book shop (speaking of which, I am currently finishing up the next one in the next couple weeks).  That said, if you are an eccentric billionaire with ridiculous amounts of cash to waste and want to have a giant comic book cover replica, please contact me. :-D

Here's a link to the Original Post featuring the creation of the "Killing Joke" Cover Replica.

STEP TWO:  I began to fill in some of the general flat colors using acrylic paint.  Then I thought I should go ahead and use a drybrush technique right away for the shading on Sheena.  I masked off the area around her back and legs with some low-tack tape that wouldn't stick to the painting too much, to try and minimize the amount of drybrushed paint from over-running the background and build up too much.  Later, it turned out that drybrush technique didn't work out quite as well as I wanted and was very difficult to color-match for any mistakes/changes made... 
STEP THREE:  Here are most of the background colors and tree/vine work.
STEP FOUR:  And here it is a little further along...
STEP FIVE:  I painted over the drybrush effects on Sheena from earlier, as it was just becoming too much of a problem trying to match everything whenever I would goof up some line or shaded region (it happens, unfortunately).  So, instead I used thin layers of acrylic paint mixed with acrylic mediums to blend the colors, instead.  It seemed to work out well enough.  I used the same effect for the color blending on the log she is standing on.

Once the underpainting was done, I went over top with the linework using black acrylic paint thinned down with water and blending medium.  I used Krylon Matte Finish as a fixative, as well as a separate UV-protecting finish, and called it **DONE**!

Well, I **FINALLY** finished my big project: a 20" x 30" recreation of "Batman: The Killing Joke".

Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and snapped the picture about 10 minutes before I took it out the door to deliver; it looked just fine on the thumbnail preview on my camera, but when I got the picture ready for upload, the colors seem washed out and there was a reflection on top.  Alas, PhotoShop can only manipulate so much before the fixing in one spot completely distorts another.  Sigh...  Oh, well. I guess the pic is good enough for our needs.  :-)

Anyway, for those who are interested, here's the step-by-step:

Just for fun, here's the process.  I took plenty of pictures step-by-step this time around and, once again, my camera seems to have done funky things as far as coloration, etc.  I did some minor color correction, but then again, my monitor isn't color-corrected so I didn't bother over doing it.  :-)

STEP ONE:  First, once again, I glued a 22" x 30" sheet of  Stonehenge paper to a 20" x 30" hardboard.  I trimmed the extra and used a combination of size (glue) and gesso to prime the board.  I then gridded out the board and started drawing the basic shapes.  I inked some of the outlines so the lines would still show up when I painted over them.  It sort of worked...

STEP TWO:   Here I started painting in the large shapes in flat colors.

STEP THREE:   More painting.  I also started doing the linework with black acrylic paint thinned with waterproof black ink.

STEP FOUR:   Lettering!  I HATE LETTERING!  :-)  I drew the letters and logo and with pencil, painted in the flat colors, and then used a Sharpie Marker to outline the letters/logo with the help of a straightedge.  Of course, as soon as I finished the outline of the logo and it was far too late to change it, I realized it should have been about a 1/2" higher. Sigh...



STEP FIVE:   Lettering and lines!  Lots and LOTS of use of the Sharpie Marker this time around.  I finished painting the letters, outlined the letters with the Sharpie, and then broke out the 18" ruler and spent several hours drawing out the radiating lines--again, with the Sharpie.

I decided to use Sharpie for lettering and the radiating lines since I just don't trust my my ability to ink lines with a brush and ruler.  I can do it for a limited amount of times before the lines start to drift on me.  And, in this case, if I goofed up the lines at this stage, I would have pretty much had to start over again.  So, I wanted to keep as tight control as I could.
STEP SIX:   FINISHED!  The little Superman up in the corner looks a little wonky, and I wish I could move up the "Superman" Logo up about a 1/2"...  But, overall, I think this generally turned out OK.  :-)