 | Dennis Culver's Batman Family |
One of the longest running superheroes in comic books, Batman is headed toward an entirely new direction with Grant Morrison's Batman Inc. Reshuffling the deck, as it were, gives the opportunity to revise the entire concept of the Batverse both intellectually and visually.
Chris Sims at Comics Alliance has shed some light on a possible inspiration through the artwork of Dennis Culver, artist of True Tales of Rollerderby and The Odd Squad, published by Oni Press.
Back in January, I threw the spotlight on a few of the incredible Batman, Inc.-themed redesigns artist Dennis Culver did as part of his daily sketchblog, but they were only the tip of the iceberg. Today, Culver has finally finished the project and released a massive piece of art detailing all 45 characters for his ideal version of Batman's worldwide anti-crime army, and it is awesome.
According to Culver, the whole project started from a desire to refine the costumes of Red Robin (who he rightly points out would be better if he was called Rad Robin) and Batgirl, but it clearly didn't stop there. And as for the larger piece, instead of just putting them all in one big group, Culver has divided the characters thematically into rows.
Row 1: The Core Batman Family.
Starting at left, we have former Batgirl Cassandra Cain, who in Culver's ideal world would take on the identity of Nightwing now that Dick Grayson's not using it and finally ditch her full-face mask.
Next is Red Robin, whose redesign ditches the hood Tim Drake's been wearing since Final Crisis for something that fits his character a little better, and underscores the idea that while he might not be Robin, he's still Bruce Wayne's junior partner.
At center, we have Batman, who at this point really needs no introduction, but it's worth noting that Culver drew him with the electro-knuckles he sported in Batman Inc. #1.
Moving to the right is the current Batgirl, Stephanie Brown, who used to be Spoiler and was Robin for a hot minute. With his redesign of her costume, Culver has ditched the one thing that holds me back from reading her comics: thigh pouches. According to Culver, "Making the sides of her costume with lots of lines instead of big panels just looks sleeker to me. Sort of shades of Frank Quitely's New X-Men."
And at right, the Batman and Robin of Gotham City, Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne.
See more of Culver's amazing artwork and a full cast of characters here.
There's a lot of free-wheeling inspiration here and while some of the ideas I'm not 100% keen on, I do quite like Tawky Tawny The Batcat of Fawcett City.
If anything, Culver's drawing embrace the manic nature of Morrison's International Club of Heroes introduced back in the early days of his run.
From what I've overheard at my local comic shop, DC Comics seems to be attempting to carve its way out of the grim reality that it has become embedded in for ages. I've always felt that the DC Universe holds a special part as a fantastical realm of superheroes, mystics, talking apes and space men. It strikes me as a superb idea to utilize that unique quality of the fantastic in re-branding their comics.
Why not start with Batman Inc?
Thoughts?
(note: please visit Dennis Culver's site for more of his outstanding artwork and of course Comics Alliance for more comics news and opinion articles)
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