Here’s a cool “Batman-animated” style page from Tim Levins that captures the fun and the flair of the 90s animated series.
The best art pages have no words — therefore, no word balloons needed. (And therefore, no missing word balloons on original modern art, 98% or more of word balloons are digitally added later.)
I realize its a bit of a cliche — but I always do get a kick out of Batgirl’s signature action move.
And, yes, I likely deserve one myself for employing that pun.
“Dandy” Don Heck was a pro at a glamorous situations and glamorous people — including Batgirl and pretty much all the women he tackled, as evidenced in the page above.
Don was best at inking his own pencils, also evidenced above, in this cool action page from Batgirl’s back-up feature in Detective Comics.
Batgirl fighting Catwoman? — seems like a great way to celebrate Halloween (upcoming) and Batman Day (belatedly) within a terrific action page by Jennifer Graves and the equally terrific J.Bone.
And, always a pleasant surprise to have a 21st Century piece of art with the word balloons hand lettered on the page.
Call me “old-school” all you want. It’s a compliment.
Fun fact: It took nearly 20 years for DC to collect this mini-series, and when they did they renamed it “Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls to capitalize on — you guessed it — Harley Quinn, who is by no means the centerpiece of the original series.
Norm Rapmund Recreation of John Byrne Batman, July2022
How to celebrate the 500th blog post — and a little more than three years of posting?: Here’s a beautiful Norm Rapmund recreation of a John Byrne Batman splash page (from the 1990 Batman 3-D graphic novel) that Norm started well before this blog was even conceived. (Probably 2017 or so.*)
The 500 milestone includes some “reruns” and a few “cheats,” but hey, 500 is still 500. And we have may slipped in frequency for the first time this past month, but there’s still more great art to come.
Stay tuned.
(*A story for another day.)
Byrne’s original 3D graphic novel and the black and white reprint from a Byrne DC collection 25 years later. One change that Norm made that I really like is that the Harvey Dent side of Two-Face’s face is a bit less evil — as it should be.
As a kid, my first thought on any Flash team-ups was this: He needs to join forces with someone with actual super powers, otherwise he will end up running circles around his partner.
Sure enough, on this page, he proves the point showing off his super speed to the worlds greatest, but definitely not fastest, detective. (I assume Batman is — wait for it — a speed-reader.)
Bob Brown pencils (pretty much layouts only) the action here, and Nick Cardy provides the inks, which means the art looks like… Nick Cardy.
This of course is consistent with his very specific embellishment style. Almost anything he inked looked like he had penciled it as well. Which, considering he was a terrific penciller, is ok with me.
Fun Fact: Jim Aparo takes over as permanent artist for The Brave and Bold series with the following issue (#100) and pretty much draws the next 100 issues. Whew.
Forget about The Batman for a moment, who is the best cinematic Bruce Wayne?
Michael Keaton’s hairstyle might be a bit off, even for 1989, but his Bruce Wayne interpretation is otherwise compelling and terrific.
Irony.
Even without the Internet and social media, the trolls managed to make so… much… noise.. about Michael Keaton cast as Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 feature.
The long knives were definitely out for Burton, Warner Brothers, DC, and pretty much anyone and everyone associated with film prior to release.
And you know what?
Keaton is still the most enjoyable version of Bruce Wayne on screen.
Not to take anything away from Christian Bale, who, overall is terrific and definitely has his Bruce Wayne moments, there’s both a charm and weirdness to Keaton’s Wayne. (And who wouldn’t be weird, dressing up as a bat and fighting crime at night? But we digress.)
And Pattinson might turn out to be a terrific Bruce Wayne. But we didn’t see much of him as Wayne in The Batman so the jury is still out.
Keaton’s Wayne is very self-aware, less brooding, has a sense of a humor and charisma, but still — on the edge, and likely psychotic. He provides many shades to the Wayne persona.
He might not be the best-looking Batman in a cowl (I specifically never warmed up the style guide art based on his Batman likeness) but as Bruce Wayne, just a blast.
Concluding our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.
Why so serious?
Why, indeed.
DC has typically been afraid of too much humor in its traditional superhero storytelling. Frightening flashbacks to Batman ’66, in all likelihood.
But somehow, management green lit this great “Bizarro” graphic novel anthology, lovingly edited by my longtime* pal Joey Cavalieri, and featuring alternative interpretations of the world’s greatest superheroes.
I considered it a home run, and obviously others did as well because it’s an Eisner and Harvey winner, and an acknowledged classic. (They had me at the Matt Groening cover.)
Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese) wrote a few of the stories, and drew this one as well. I smile every time I look at it.
*Fun Fact: I’ve know Joey 50 years. And if tell you I KNEW he would be a star in the comics and/or animation field way back then, well, you can trust me on this.
Continuing our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.
Ah, the Composite Superman (Half Superman, half Batman). I’m not sure why I found this character so compelling as a kid, but I did.
I purchased his second appearance (World’s Finest #168) off the racks as a little kid. I was a bit too young for his first, a few years prior. (Both are shown below.)
Years later, what I can’t figure out is why he’s not on the cover in that issue. It’s not like I wouldn’t have flipped through the issue quickly and figured it out before I either gave Mr. Wurman my 12 cents or got tossed from his candy store.
In contemporary times, Chris Batista delivers a terrific page featuring the villain, plus Superman and Batman, and Metallo thrown in for good measure.
The issue also features a rare cover from the late Bernie Wrightson. No surprise, Bernie’s interpretation of the composite character is… intimidating.
Continuing our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.
Today’s original art oddity:
Two original pages exist for every page of Frank Miller, Klaus Jansen’s and Lynn Varley’s The Dark Knight Returns.
First of course, are the traditional pen and ink black and white line art pages. Gorgeous, of course.
Next up, are Lynn Varley’s stunning hand-painted color pages. For emphasis: These are NOT color proofs. DC shot acetates of every line art page, and Lynn hand painted each one. (And, the color palate of DKR is of course critical to the storytelling.)
And his stunner is one of those pages. One of only a handful that features Superman, Batman and Robin all on the same page.
Anyone want to sell me the original Miller line work to go with it? I can start working on my line of credit with the bank today.
