Shawn Crystal Batman

I can't say enough about the innovative inking of Shawn Crystal. Most artists use the brush to simply fill blacks, indicate some texture, or describe line weights, but Shawn uses his unique drybrush treatment to dig into what would normally be flat black areas to imbue them with an internal gesture that animates otherwise characterless forms. Every stroke picks up a rhythm from the structure beneath, or the environment of each panel, or sometimes even the panel's relationship to the larger page that would go undiscovered under a less sensitive artist's hand.