Friday, December 04, 2015

Silly little Batman drawings

Usually when I can't think of anything else to draw I default to Batman.
Batman has always been my comic book hero of choice, ever since I was a TV & comics-obsessed eight or nine year old. At that age, I was mesmerized by the subtle creepiness of Bob Kane and Dick Sprang's drawings of the characters - I 

I was transfixed by his origin story, especially the way this page portrayed it -
- and most compelling thing about it for me was the center panels, and the idea that someone could build themselves into the individual they wanted to be. Sure I liked the Superman "benevolent visitor from another planet"story, and (like everyone else I knew) hoped against hope that a radioactive spider would bite me (and that it wouldn't hurt too much or get all grotesquely swollen) or that a truck carrying a shipment of (again) radioactive waste would cross my path and spritz me with just enough of that glowing goo to super-empower me...but Batman made himself Batman - and that was the part of it that I could relate to. Okay sure it didn't hurt that he had inherited untold wealth and never had to hold a day job, but still, it was an inspiring concept - the "self-made" superhero -  that somehow stuck with me.
But that doesn't mean I take him too seriously. Because the character has in recent years had to shoulder so much cultural gravitas, he's fun to poke fun at. And relatively easy to draw in an off moment. 
These are a few of the goofy Batman sketches that have wormed their way out of my head over the years - or at least the ones I'm willing to share...

 







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