The Joker is one twisted individual – his decades of appearances in comics have proven that. A commissioned piece by Brian Bolland takes the maniacal villain to another level though. The art from 2005 depicts The Joker with a trophy wall displaying the heads of DC Comics heroes. Cosplayer Anthony Misiano has been dressing as The Joker for a while and recently decided to re-create the trophy wall image with the assistance of fellow cosplayers. He unveiled the project on April Fool’s Day.
Nothing about the process was simple. Misiano found some antique gold wallpaper and set it up:
“Each of the head & plaque locations was carefully measured, leveled and marked. I only used one wooden plaque for all (finding/buying eight would have been a nightmare), and hung it from the nails mounting the dummy paper cutouts you see here, the plaque then photographed in every position, so as to react to the light properly in the final composite. The characters were then also photographed each posed in their respectable location as to properly react to the lighting of the final composition as well.”
He tested the lighting design repeatedly and left the setup in place for a week as various cosplayers stopped by to get their picture taken. They put their heads through a cardboard hole, and Misiano ended up using about 45 different photos in the final composition. He estimates it took him 50 hours to complete the image.
You can purchase a print of the Trophy Wall at Misiano’s website.