Batman Day 2017 - A Black and White Aesthetic

Since today is Batman Day, I decided to pick up some back issues at my local comic shop (Thanks Coliseum of Comics).  So while we're in the spirit of the Caped Crusader's 78th anniversary, I thought to share another collection I tend to obsess over:  Batman Black and White Statues
 

Inspired by the anthology mini series produced in the 90's, these statues capture the artistic vision of comic book masters.  While most are different depictions of Batman, a few sculptures show diverse stylizations of his Family and Rogues Gallery.  Starting in 2005, I can remember buying my first-ever eBay item - A Batman Black & White statue inspired by Brian Bolland.  Since then, my completist mentality has purchased almost every statue produced over the last 12 years. 

Besides Kim Jung Gi (which I hope to find soon), here are some pictures of all the released statues (I believe there's 79 in total).  With no foreseeable end in sight, DC keeps announcing more and more fascinating designs including John Romita Jr. and Becky Cloonan.  So as long as DC Collectibles continues to "cast" and "forge" these iconic statues, I'll continue to collect!

Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Darwyn Cooke, Jock, David Mazzucchelli, Brian Bolland, Neal Adams

Tim Sale, Simon Bisley, Greg Capullo, Alex Ross, Frank Quitely, Jae Lee, Dick Sprang, Jim Aparo

Francis Manapul, Ethan Van Sciver, Sam Keith, Gotham Knight Series, Arkham Series

Joe Kubert, Bob Kane, Jim Lee, Dustin Nguyen

Carlos D'Anda, Neal Adams, Kelley Jones, Steve Rude, Brian Bolland

Kelley Jones, Lee Bermejo, Michael Allred, Mike Mignola, Ivan Reis, Gary Frank, Dustin Nguyen

Sean Murphy, Matt Wagner, George Perez, Bruce Timm, Cliff Chiang, Eduardo Risso, Tony Millionaire

Tony Daniel, Paul Pope, Nicola Scott, Sean Galloway, Andy Kubert, Carlos D'Anda

Ed McGuinness, Sergio Aragones, Patrick Gleason, Bryan Hitch, Michael Turner

 

Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Greg Capullo, Lee Bermejo, Brian Bolland, Dick Sprang, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm

Rafael Grampa, Jime Lee, David Finch, Rafael Albuquerque

 

Norm Breyfogle, Carmine Infantino, Cameron Stewart, Jason Fabok

Steve Rude, Marshall Rogers, Dave Johnson

Reginald Hudlin - A Bona Fide Writer of Tarantino Comics

So what seemed like an eternity to get here, SDCC 2015 has come and gone.  However, I had a great time spending an extra week in San Diego (I even got engaged) and was able to be in the physical presence of my celebrity hero (more of this to come in a future blog post).  As you already know, I created this blog to showcase the awesome cover art of Tarantino Comics.  Ideally, I'd love to present the "Master of Genre" my sketchbook in person, but Hall H was just way too big for a personal meet and greet.

 

Fortunately, I was able to meet another giant in the entertainment world - Reginald Hudlin.  I was first introduced to his work through comics, where I read his Marvel Knights Spider-Man run which followed Mark Millar's arc.  I also watched his Black Panther cartoon from BET.  Although I loved his contributions to the Marvel Universe, I was most excited when he adapted Tarantino's screenplay of Django Unchained through Vertigo.

Knowing Mr. Hudlin was a film producer on Django Unchained, I scanned and printed a hardbound book collecting the first 50 covers of Tarantino Comics.  This book provides some written detail on how Tarantino Comics came into fruition and the general process of obtaining art commissions at comic book conventions.  Since I'd love to share this beautiful fan art with Quentin Tarantino, I presented this book to Mr. Hudlin.  Hopefully he'll be able to show these fantastic images to Tarantino through the reprints in this book.  As you can see from the pictures below, I was very excited to meet Mr. Hudlin and even had him sign a few of my Django Comics.

 

In the meantime, be sure to check out Reginald Hudlin's upcoming work - The Return of Milestone Media.  If you're unfamiliar with Milestone, they created a world of culturally diverse characters, my favorite being Static Shock (I loved the cartoon as a kid).  This is a great imprint that promotes diversity and was one of the first pioneers to do so.  I'm excited for Milestone's return and can't wait to see their continuing impact within the pop culture world.