Clearly 1992 was a busy year for DC and Batman, and rightly so.  Tim Burton was releasing the second (and his last) in the relaunched Batman series, Batman Returns.  While not as good as his first effort, it as, well, interesting, and easily far superior to what came after until 2005's Batman Begins.  But what DC were doing was to approach a range of artists with the idea of redesigning Batman , obviously to keep the character more in line with the all black costume design that Burton had realised. One of those artists was none other than my pal, Alan Kupperberg .  Says Alan, "Interesting to see Norm's Bat re-designs . I worked on that project too. Though I was happy to get the work, I could never understand why DC asked ME to pencil several pages featuring the black bat costume in action. I didn't have any serious professional connection to the character. And since any personal connection to the character was with the classic Batman, the assignment wasn't a

I love this kind of stuff, really I do.  A while back I bought one of the remaining Batman costume (re)designs that Norm Breyfogle did for DC Comics back in the early 1990s.  According to Norm, "These designs are part of a presentation given by me to DC Comics when I was asked - along with a number of other artists - to re-design Batman's costume in 1992. Eventually these were partly seen in the DC special title " Brotherhood of the Bat ." This request from DC resulted in the all-black Batcostume that Batman wears to this day." As you can see from viewing the sketches, some of the ideas that Norm came up with were used, and not just for Batman.  At least one of Norm's images looks very close to what DC would later adopt for Nightwing, the former Robin. When I bought the remaining design sheet I believed that it would be the one design that I'd end up owning.  Then a friend of mine turned up a pile of Batman sketches, from the same time period, all o

As promised earlier, I’ve been given exclusive access to both Clifford Meth and Gene Colan. I’ll be conducting interviews with both men with the view of dispelling a lot of the rumour and innuendo that is current circulating around Gene and his current situation. The most important aspect of this whole situation is Gene and his ongoing recovery. To that end I urge everyone to visit the blog that has been set up to auction donated items and Gene’s own art, with the view of raising money to assist Gene and his future. If you’re an artist then I also suggest that you just dig into your own files and donate a piece of art, or several. Every little bit helps, and all, and I mean ALL, of the money goes directly to Gene. You can bank on that. To start with I asked Clifford Meth, the public face of the auctions and Gene’s official spokesperson, a series of questions about Gene and his own involvement in the current situation. If you want the truth then read on. DANIEL BEST : First

Welcome to Part II of the life story of Rich Buckler !  When we last left Rich he had just recounted his break into comics and his work for publishers such as Warren and Skywald.  In this installment Rich discusses his 1970s work at both Marvel and DC and also puts some rumours to bed, hopefully once and for all. If you enjoy reading these articles, and if you like the art you're looking at, then feel free to contact Rich directly and arrange a commissio n .  Rich's schedule is fairly open right at the moment and Rich is more than capable of doing some stunning work.  Give it some serious consideration and spread the word. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy Rich Buckler's life story, exclusive to this blog. ----------------------------------- There was a certain anomaly that all freelancers faced, kind of like a "Catch 22" as they say in the military. An artist or writer, in order to get hired, had to prove they were qualified to do the job. How to prov