This is the second entry in a series of commissions titled "Arkham Clashes", scenes depicting Batman facing off against a rogue or rogues inspired by the Arkham series of video games created by Rocksteady. This piece takes inspiration from the Mad Hatter "Tea Party" side mission in Rocksteady's second entry in the series, Arkham City. In this side mission, Batman enters a trippy Alice in Wonderland inspired world, complete with creepy bunnies, mushrooms, clocks, and lots of floating objects, all with the backdrop of Mad Hatter being larger than life. All the touches make you feel like Batman is on a psylocibin trip, complete with being outfitted with a super creepy bunny cowl, fighting thugs with bunny masks, on a floating arena that is a large clock. Super cool, super trippy, and a great side mission in a terrific game.

Like the first entry in the series, this piece was done by the amazing Eranga Devasurendra. I warned him that this one would be harder than the Scarecrow piece, and in his own words: "This one KILLED me but was a total bag of fun!" There were obvious similarities between the first 2 pieces since both involved a non ordinary world and perspective, and Eranga wanted to be sure that there was both consistency between the pieces (since this is turning into a larger series) while still enabling this piece to stand on its own. He chose an extreme bird's eye perspective and packed a ton into one image, which he said himself bore the risk of feeling overcrowded. I feel he did a fabulous job balancing this one out, and it is actually incredible how much he was able to pack in. The focus is of course on Batman, and boy is that bunny cowl super creepy. Eranga put it this way: "That Batman evil bunny mask is WTF but in an awesome way".

What I love about this piece is how it pulls several of the best images from the side mission into one super cool homage and ties them all together as if they should have been in the first place. The side mission begins with an Alice in Wonderland-inspired world, and you can find these touches all over the place. The background in particular was pulled right out of the book. You can see the Alice-esque arched gate behind Jervis. Check out those trippy giant mushrooms on the left (which are also incredibly detailed). Take a look at the details in the terrain. Right before Bats enters the arena, a larger than life Mad Hatter appears over him. Placing him overlooking the arena, towering over everyone else, is trippy and eerie, and demonstrates the power he has over the environment. Jervis is super true to form when compared to the Arkham City game model, with a ton of detail down to his Hat with the signature tag. The actual fight part of the mission takes place on a giant floating clock, and Eranga nailed it with his own twist. Check out the gears, the numbers, and all the free hand ovals (because circles don't work in this perspective!). The outfits for the thugs and Bats are super game accurate, down to the Alice rabbit infatuation, and did I mention how insanely creepy that bunny cowl is? All in all, a perfect blending of the best parts of the Tea Party, with Eranga's creative genius infused. I am so happy with how this turned out, and this one would be a crime not to be a published cover. DC, you will be hearing from me!

Like the first, I worked with Dennis Lehmann to get it colored. The second image shows the output of that, and he knocked it out of the park. It captures the essence of the game perfectly, and adds some cool lighting effects, color contrast, and really makes Bats eyes extra creepy with that glow! I cannot wait to see it as a giclee. I actually don't have either in hand yet, as Eranga will be hand delivering to me at Heroes 2022 in Charlotte.

Original art is accomplished in ink over graphite on 11" X 17" art paper. Colors were done digitally but have been printed on archival paper as an 11" X 17" giclee print (which Eranga signed / denoted as PP 1/1).

We have already decided on the 3rd in the series, and it will be a doozy! I am already salivating for that one and look forward to sharing in the future!