Here is my attempt at a “realistic” version of Wolverine and Batman. Please, do not misunderstand my purposes. I do think superheroes work best as punk rock. DK2 paved the way for some of my favorite works in spandex, Lenil F. Yu’s New Avengers and John Romita, Jr.’s newest work on Spider-Man. I was an aspiring illustrator who, due to the nature of the school I chose, had to study fine art in college, but I don’t think many of those techniques are a good match with comics. I do not find that “realism” like seeing wrinkles in spandex makes our childhood heroes “come to life!” It just loses the Greek heroic nude aspect of the genre.
No, the following piece was a commission from a co-worker of mine for his nephew of the kid’s two favorite heroes. By that point, I had moved beyond ever trying to pitch a superhero book to a major publisher. The genre is just not a great fit for what my work has become. I have literally had Marvel editors fly through the superhero work in my portfolio and comment, “Well, I wish the former stuff had the life of this stuff,” while staring at some completely dour and esoteric pages they would never publish in a million years. The only way I was going to be able to find some interest in this for me and thus create a piece worth the price tag for my friend was to adapt the piece to my current interests. I thus determined my rule would be to only draw the characters wearing things they could actually purchase in a real human store, and to use that restriction to delve into my own attachment to these characters and attempt to make concrete my understanding of them as people. We’ve all complained at a mag, “Wolverine wouldn’t say that,” but how many of us could pick out what belt he’d wear? (Answer: metal scorpion buckle.) Also, Wayne is not stupid, and would thus wear S.W.A.T. gear and a helmet.
art: Josiah Leighton Wolverine © Marvel Comics Group Batman © D.C.
Regardless of what you think of the experiment or the image, you gotta admit, Logan in a Guns ‘N Roses tee and a Dale Earnhardt, Sr. jacket is pretty frickin’ rad.
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