Batman-uary 2026 - Luminous Uniform

BATMAN-UARY 2026:
Luminous Uniform

Na-na-na-na-na-nah... Batman-uary!  It's the Luminous Unoform, mentioned on the cover and one panel in "Detective Comics" #165 while fighting, um, I think it was Dr. Radium?  Anyhoo, I figured I'd do it up as a parody/pastiche for Alex Ross's cover to "Batman" #676, which seemed to lend itself to a glowing Batman costume.

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Here is the original cover to "Detective Comics" #165.

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And it was done as a parody/homage to Alex Ross's cover to "Batman 676"

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And here's the Batman-uary Logo.  Feel free to use it as you please...

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STEP ONE:  Here's a brief peek behind the curtain: I did up some quickly scrawled thumbnails done in Rebelle 8.  It was a choice of the Alex Ross cover, the Norm Breyfogle cover to "Detective Comics" #587, or a general looking Batman standing in front of the Moon while glowing.

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STEP TWO:  Here are the scrawled, digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8.

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STEP THREE: And here is the finished digital work, using mostly digital Watercolor brushes and a digital Airbrush.  There was some digital trickery involving a couple Overlay layers to give that glow on the Bat symbol.

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Done digitally in Rebelle.

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Batman-uary 2025 - Jungle Batman (Part 2)

BATMAN-UARY 2025:
Jungle Batman (Part 2)

Just under the wire, it's Batman-uary: Jungle Batman: Part II.  I had this idea halfway through doing the last post with Jungle Batman and it amused me (not that it takes much to amuse me, of course).

There was an all too brief fad of drawing male characters in the pose of various female poses on covers and pin-ups with predictably ridiculous (and amusing) results.  So, continuing that tradition... here it is!

I will admit that I cheated a little bit on this one, as I had done a GIANT (20" x 30") recreation of the "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle" cover for a friend, so I already had some pencils of the cover I could digitally ink over in Clip Studio Paint.

Once again, here is the original cover to "Batman #72" (1952) with Jungle Batman.

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It was done as a parody/homage of Dave Steven's "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #1" (1985).

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STEP ONE:  Here are the scrawled, digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi.  I quickly scrawled over my pencils for the recreation of the cover I did earlier for Dave Stevens' "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #1" (1985).

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, mostly done with a 10pt brush.  Luckily, I was able to save a few steps by just inking over my pencils/inks from the cover recreation.

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STEP THREE: Here is the finished digital work, done using a series of layers for each color, and a very slight paper texture over top.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Batman-uary 2025 - Jungle Batman

BATMAN-UARY 2025:
Jungle Batman

It's Batman-uary: Part II.  This time it's Jungle Batman from 1952's "Batman #72".  The story involves...  Well, now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure, nor am I sure I want to find out.  I believe it involves a shipwreck on a desert island of some sort.  Maybe they find Gilligan and the rest?

Here is the original cover to "Batman #72" (1952).

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And it was done as a parody/homage to Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns #3".

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STEP ONE:  Here are the scrawled, digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, mostly done with a 10pt brush.

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STEP THREE: Here is the finished digital work, done using a series of layers for each color, and a paper texture over top.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Batman-uary 2025 - Mummy Batman

BATMAN-UARY 2025:
Mummy Batman

Once again, it's Batman-uary... and my 600th Post!  To kick it off this year, it's Batman's costume from 1963's "Detective Comics" #320, featuring Mummy Batman.  Apparently, Batman and Robin are exposed to some sort of alien substance which turns their skin green.  In order to make sure people don't guess that the suddenly green Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson suspiciously have the same complexion as Batman and Robin, they wrap themselves up as Mummies.  It was the 60's, what can I say about Mummy Batman other than it worked and was completely logical, of course. 

Originally, I thought about doing something more horror-related and a realistic, decayed Batman Mummy--and may still in the future.  But, what could be more fun than mashing up that Mummy costume Batman with one of many classic Frank Miller panels from "The Dark Knight Returns"?  I immediately knew I had to do it that way, instead.

Here is the original cover to "Detective Comics #320".

And it was done as a parody/homage to Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns #3".

And here's the Batman-uary Logo.  Feel free to use it as you please...

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STEP ONE:  Here are the scrawled, digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, mostly done with a 10pt brush.

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STEP THREE: Here is the finished digital work, done using a series of layers for each color.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Batman-uary 2024 - Interplanetary Batman

BATMAN-UARY 2024:
Interplanetary Batman

Just in time for the end of the month, it's another Batman-uary post!  This time it's Batman's costume from "Detective Comics" #165, featuring Interplanetary Batman.  Next year I think I'll do up the rest of 'em from the cover.  Although, I thought it would be mildly amusing to do Batman's Camouflage Costume of the North Pole just an outline of his white eyes on a blank piece of paper--that'd be a great bit of camouflage, one step up from a drawing of a polar bear in a snowstorm!

And it was done as a parody/homage to Steranko's cover to "Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." #6.

NOTE: Because I'm a numbskull, I just realized that I had a copy/paste error the first post for "Batman-uary 2023" as the Title for most of January 2024.  I just got around to fixing that just in time.  I'd hate to look quite the fool!  Sigh...

We'll do more Batman-uary next year: Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!

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Done digitally in Rebelle.

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Batman-uary 2023 - Alien Batman

BATMAN-UARY 2023:
Alien Batman

Just in time for the end of the month--It's BATMAN-UARY!  The year has just started and I'm already running behind.  Sigh...

This is one of the rare times when the story delivers what the cover shows for the most part: Batman and Robin are on an alien world, and in the ensuing few days the atmosphere transforms them into aliens and acquire strange powers (telekinesis).  It's just that simple!  They manage to get back to Earth, but remain aliens until the effects of the atmosphere begin to wear off (don't worry, they get better).  Until that time, they fight one of the greatest of their rogues gallery: The Yellow Sweater Gang...  

Oh, 50's and 60's Batman, don't ever change!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital scribbles for the outline of the cover redo.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, for what they're worth.  I did cheat and trace the lettering for the logos and such.  I also found a reference picture of some sort of fishing village for the background.

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STEP THREE:  The colors were flatted and then gone over with the airbrush tool.  After it was done, I thought I should add a little texture to the overall drawing and imported a paper texture I got from RetroSupply Co. to overlay the image, giving it a more newsprint feel.  

OK, I also admit I relied a little too much on the Airbrush tool for this one--something I normally don't use all that often (and it shows).

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Done Digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Batman-uary #2 - Zebra Batman

BATMAN-UARY
Zebra Batman

Hey, it's Batman-uary, where I riff on some of the many peculiar and various costumes... or whatever Batman-related nonsense strikes my fancy and amuses me.  This time it's Zebra Batman from "Detective Comics #275"!

Zebra Man... Something something... lines of force, which show through the person's costume and skin...  While fighting Zebra Man, Robin accidentally activates the ray machine that gave Zebra Man his power which hits Batman...  Something something, Batman can't control the power.  It ends with them using Zebra Man's belt, which controls his power, to turn it off and Zebra Man becomes normal again; Batman puts on the belt next and does the same to himself to turn the power off and he becomes normal again, too.  Ta da!  The actual story is rather trippy.

Here's the cover to the original story for "Detective Comics #275" featuring Zebra Man/Zebra Batman.  I'm sure most people have seen it on one of the many, many "Top 20 Weirdest Batman Costume" lists out there.

And here's the original ad for "Batman: Year One" by David Mazzucchelli which I was referencing, being a huge fan of his work--both "Batman: Year One" and "Daredevil: Born Again".  (Yeah, I'm old enough to have bought them originally off the newsstand.) 

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All righty, stay tuned for the next installment of BATMAN-UARY!

Same BATMAN-UARY Time, Same BATMAN-UARY Blog!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px @ 300dpi canvas, roughly scribbled out in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  Here are the digital inks to the Batman part of it, trying to ape David Mazzucchilli's drawing style as much as possible (although, there is a looseness to some of his pen work I would have been better off trying to emulate).

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STEP THREE:  The stripes where then added using the black digital ink, or carved out with the transparent/eraser brush.  I originally added some blue for shading, but then decided it went against the spirit of Zebra Batman: He should be black-and-white--no color!

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This was done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Happy (Belated) New Year / Batman-uary - Part 1

 HAPPY (Belated) NEW YEAR/
BATMAN-UARY

Sure, January is nearly half-over, but what better way to ring in 2022 (Belatedly) than with Two-Face?  In this case, it is Two-Face from "Batman #50" (1948), so he's purple rather than the usual green-hue.

Here's the original cover, by the way.

We'll call it a Two-Fer--New Years well wishing and the first entry for this year's Batman-uary!  Harvey Dent, himself, would be proud of that one... Marginally.  OK, Two-Face would have approved if it was the second post of the year.  Oh, well...  Personally, I always thought it would be fun to explain most of Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face as psychosomatic, rather than the result of any sort of acid attack.  It just made more sense to be that way, to me, anyways.

So, anyhoo, it's BATMAN-UARY, where I do up some Batman-related posts for fun  (I admit it, I'm far more of a Superman guy than a Batman guy, but some of those way-out 50's designs and covers just scream out for something to be done with 'em).  I even went through the trouble of doing up a dumb logo for BATMAN-UARY and everything.  Yeah, my love of puns, portmanteaus, and grammar-based humor gets me in trouble yet again...

Here's to hoping the New Year is better than the previous two years combined (a low bar, I know)!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the really basic pencils, scribbled out on a canvas in Rebelle 5 on a 2,250px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi.  I did cheat a little bit and copy/flip the hands so they matched--a mirror effect for Two-Face.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass with Rebelle 5.  While I like the way it works generally, I'm still getting used to it and the way it blends, etc.  The watercolor engine in Rebelle and some of the blending is pretty amazing... Now I just gotta start applying some of those effects to some of my posts in the future.

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STEP THREE:  I admit it, I got a little impatient and just imported it into Clip Studio Paint to finish it up, as I know exactly what most of the brushes I use do to get desired effects.  Well, that and I wanted to use the iPad, rather than sitting in front of the computer desk all day (they have Clip Studio Paint for iPad, but no Rebelle for iPad, alas).  It still looks a little "cutout" and "digital" for my general tastes, but I think with this one it may have been a little difficult to avoid.  Onward, to the next one!

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Done digitally in Rebelle 5 and Clip Studio Paint.

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Batman-uary: Rainbow Batman

Batman-uary
Rainbow Batman

That's right, I'm still trying a bit too hard to make a dumb portmanteau of "Batman" and "January" into "Batman-uary" a thing.

Anyways, so many Silver Age Batman costumes to choose from... How 'bout Rainbow Batman?   No, really--Batman had to wear a rainbow version of his costume to... Oh, never mind.  You wouldn't believe me if I told you.  It involves wearing the various colorful costumes to draw attention away from Robin and toward himself while hunting down mobsters.  I'll leave it at that.

It's Rainbow Batman in action from "Detective Comics #241" (1957) and the cover to "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #2"

So, another mash-up with a "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" cover--this time Issue #2.  Speaking of #2, is it just me or in this cover does Batman look like he is just really, really constipated?  (Yeah, I put the "assy" in "Classy"...)  The mash-up between the Dark and Gritty Batman and Rainbow Batman costume amused me.  Once again proving it really doesn't take much to amuse me at all.

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STEP ONE:  I created a 3,000px x 4,500px @ 600dpi canvas in Clip Studio Paint and here are the digital pencils on a Blue-Line Layer.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the inks and grayscale shadows...

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STEP THREE:  The colors overtop in a series of layers.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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