Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Nine – The Ventriloquist

by on April 9, 2018 at 10:15 am
Posted In: Art

For Day Ten of my Batman sketch challenge, I drew the Ventriloquist!As I’ve said in previous posts, I’m always fascinated about what new characters get put in the regular cast and which ones get forgotten almost immediately.

For me, The Ventriloquist was the first “modern” character who was put into the regular Batman rogues gallery.

I really liked the initial concept a quiet nondescript man, who stands slightly in the shadows as he controls a powerful criminal gang through a loud, boisterous, larger than life puppet named Scarface.

Since then a lot of writers have tried to embellish the original concept by making Scarface some supernatural icon or replacing him with an “improved” ventriloquist. but in the process, I think they forget what made the character work in the first place.

I remember when I first read his first appearance in Detective Comics #583 I thought Scarface came off as silly despite his brutality. I didn’t even notice the Ventriloquist until I reread it, and then I thought the concept was brilliant.

So here we are back to basics with Scarface holding council with the ventriloquist standing behind him unseen in the shadows.

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Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Eight – Renee Montoya AKA The Question

by on April 8, 2018 at 8:13 pm
Posted In: Art

I wasn’t completely sure whether Renee Montoya is technically still part of the Bat-franchise since she became the second Question but she started out in it so that’s good enough for me. (Besides the hero side tends to be a bit of a sausagefest, so anything to balance things out the better.)

I don’t have much to add on this one, beyond being annoyed DC mostly dropped her in the New 52 and presumably Rebirth. So I’m bringing her back. She probably has most of the same background as she does in the 52 series. (though maybe some of the sci-fi bits from 52 will be toned down.)

I’m mostly following the Justice League Unlimited version of the question (except for her being Renee and slightly saner.)

I’m seeing her more of an investigator than a vigilante… after all, when you think about it there are no solutions to anything… only questions.

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Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Seven – Bane

by on April 7, 2018 at 11:29 am
Posted In: Art

For Day Seven of My Batman Sketch Challenge I drew Bane
Bane is another character I have problems with and would have liked to have had more time to think about. Obviously, the magic Tupperware does not like me.

It’s interesting what works in a comic book setting and what doesn’t. I’m always interested in why characters who were originally throwaways like the Joker. Where characters like Bane, who were specifically designed to be a nemesis for Batman, just muddle along.

While I didn’t care for him that much in Knightfall, I certainly thought he deserved better than mostly being treated as just a thug on steroids that he’s been used as most of the time since Knightfall.

Recently he’s been treated much better in such titles as Gail Simone’s Secret Six and Tom King’s Batman storyline “I Am Bane”. Currently, my favorite version is his cameo in Young Justice where he is first voiced by the great Danny Trejo.

So here’s how I’m going to play it.

The crimefighting campaign of Batman has upset many of the traditional smuggling routes. Because of this an alliance of some of the largest drug cartels have sent their greatest enforcers El Veneno, better known in Gotham simply as Bane.

Intelligent, ruthless and seemingly impossibly strong, Bane and his team of enforcers quickly have become the de facto head of the Cartel in Gotham. He clearly has more of an agenda than this. But the irresistible challenge of the Bat keeps him in his place… for now.

And I’m definitely casting Danny Trejo in my head.

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Batman Sketch – Day Six – The Joker

by on April 6, 2018 at 12:30 pm
Posted In: Art

For Day Six of my Batman Sketch Challenge, I drew the Joker

I really would have liked to have liked a little more time to think about The Joker, but the Magic Tupperware is a cruel mistress.

The Joker is one of those characters that I’m never sure where to go with. I think people try to put him on a pedestal because since he is currently Batman’s primary villain, he has to be just as competent as the Bat and thus one of the most dangerous villains in the DC Universe. While I’m happy with making the Joker brilliant and dangerous, I’m not sure if I agree with that approach.

Also, I think that DC Comics have gone a little too far with the whole monster clown thing. If he really were as bad as he’s been in the last decade or so it wouldn’t just be the cops and the heroes who would be hunting for him.

So in my approach, I would start by downplaying him down back to the “Clown Prince of Crime” just a bit with Heath Ledger’s anarchist trickster. This leaves us with a high-ranking “freelancer” he’s not exactly in a real position of power, after all where’s the fun in that? But at the same time, he’s someone who’s very much a wildcard (pun attended) acting in the name of laughs and chaos that nobody can afford to ignore.

I’m sort of quoting Fredric March as Edward Hyde here, with Joker laughing in the rain. (regrettably, rain in the nighttime is almost impossible to do with the hatching I’m doing here.) I’m afraid the whole shirtless thing makes him look a little bit like the Jared Leto’s version… It’s unintentional, sorry.

PS: I’m finding the beginning of a tangent, the punning of “clown” and “crown” have me thinking of the Joker as an underworld version of Bonny Prince Hal… but if that’s the case, who’s Henry IV and Hotspur? … or Falstaff?

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Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Five – Oracle

by on April 5, 2018 at 10:09 am
Posted In: Art

For Day Five of my Batman Sketch Challenge I drew Oracle

With the magic Tupperware telling me to draw the lovely Barbara Gordon AKA Oracle has finally allowed me to get to one of the major points I have for one of the major points I had for my vision of this Batman sketch challenge… the Batcrew.

Based on what I have in mind, I have no idea if Babs was ever Batgirl (based on some of the things I’m thinking about I’m not sure if there even was a Batgirl… this thought may change) Though I’m mostly certain that Oracle had the same gruesome origin that she had in the comics.

So anyway… Batcrew. Does anyone believe that Alfred can keep all the Batcave running by himself? In this version, I’m seeing a staff of at least ten people.

Oracle is the head of the Information Department, which includes records and IT. That’s Joe the archivist working behind her (you know all those scenes where Batman is looking up something obscure in records? Who do you think keeps those records updated?)

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Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Four – Firefly

by on April 4, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Posted In: Art

For Day Four of My Batman Sketch Challenge I drew Firefly.

For day four of my Batman sketch challenge, the magic Tupperware told me to draw Firefly (actually it told me to draw Man-Bat but since I’m not completely sure about the existence of superpowers in my current evolving version of the setting so I’ll come back to him later.

Firefly was a character from the mid-fifties whose gimmick was using special effects, he was kind of DC’s version of Mysterio. He was recreated in the nineties as a professional arsonist and pyromaniac. I like that version better.

While I’m certainly happy with this picture, my only problem with it is that without any other context, showing a madman’s hallucinations is indistinguishable from having him being surrounded by actual fire sprites.

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