This is one of the most unique pieces I have in my collection, and it has a bit of a fun story to it. The actual piece is hand made by Metal Man Custom Metal Art, aka Jim Frisk, who is based in the Seattle area. He regularly sets up at farmer's markets and fairs and sells all kinds of cool forged metal creations that he creates and paints himself. He does a lot of Seahawks and Pacific Northwest themed art, but he has also done a bunch of stuff based on DC, Marvel, and Star Wars. I am known as difficult to shop for birthdays and holidays, and my family had never seen anything quite like this. I am also a Seahawks fan, and my family thought I would love a melding of the Bat Signal with the Seahawks colors and "12th man" tie in. They were not wrong. It is quite hefty and looks super cool in person, and the one of a kind nature makes it a super fun addition to my Bat collection.

Of course, I couldn't be satisfied with just a metal forged Bat Signal, so I cooked up the idea to bring it to a convention and have a few artists remarque and sign it. I brought it to Rose City Comicon (Portland, OR) in September 2019 and talked to a few artists about it, and several expressed concern that the gaps in the piece plus the metal itself would make a remarque difficult. Neal Adams was at Rose City, and I asked him his thoughts, making it clear that opinions were this was a difficult ask. He looked at me straight in the eyes and said this would be fun and no problem at all, but he would only do it if he could draw Joker. Who was I to argue with that? Honestly I was ecstatic, but then was literally floored watching him draw the Joker in real time on the right side of the piece. The gaps may as well have not been there at all, as the Joker looks perfectly superimposed on top of the piece. I actually videoed him drawing it, and it was incredible to watch. Neal literally set the bar for everyone else while creating an absolutely killer sketch for me.

I was picking up my first cover from Mark Brooks at the convention, so I asked if he would be willing to do a sketch for me. He saw Neal's work and immediately said yes, and he decided to draw Catwoman in multiple colors on the left side. It definitely has Mark's trademark look, and again I was super thrilled with the result. He also made the drawing seem effortless, speaking to his immense talent. I next went to Cully Hamner, who I have known for a long time (and have bought plenty of art from), and he decided to use the Bat head of the piece to draw Batman, but with an inverse perspective. It wasn't what I had initially imagined when thinking about various remarques, but I love how it came out and the uniqueness of it. Finally, I went to Jason Metcalf, who is also from the Seattle area and an artist I have known for awhile now. I asked him if he was willing to finish out the piece with something at the bottom. He immediately saw Penguin's pointy nose and sketched him at the bottom. Again, different than what you might typically see, but I love the result.

The piece itself is made of forged steel with 3 distinct layers and painted in Seahawks colors, all done by Jim Frisk. I don't have the exact dimensions at the moment, but it is more than 12" wide and is quite hefty. Each remarque was done in ink and signed by the artist (Mark Brooks on the left, Cully Hamner on top, Neal Adams to the right, and Jason Metcalf on the bottom). I doubt there is any other piece anywhere like this, and the fact that I got to watch each artist draw in real time makes it that much more special!