Batman by Jae Lee

There's many stories on unfinished commissions doing the rounds regarding super star artist Jae Lee (Inhumans, Namor, Batman). It's one of the reasons I never committed to anything online. At Fan Expo San Francisco, I did make that jump - and am very happy I did. His list was pretty full pretty quickly, but he could squeeze me in - during the Friday evening pre-show.

Quite a few years ago, Jae Lee came to FACTS in Belgium, but I was obligated to go on a trip with my girlfriend & in-laws. We hadn't been together for long, so, hey, I had to. I told Jae that story & he laughed.

He'd still do my commission, "despite me having chosen my now wife over him", but he added "I think you made the right choice back then if she is your wife now".

And I'm glad he did. I'm a big fan of Jae's take on Batman - always moody, shadowy & lushly inked. Hunched over, with his cape flowing, this is a Bruce Wayne you don't want to mess with. The diagonal cape flow also makes sure the paper is quite densely populated on this 9x12 half body commission in pencils, inks & some ink wash.

To sum up, I have nothing but nice words for Jae, this amazing piece & how kind and correct he was.