Batgirl by Philip Tan

I met Philip when he came over to Japan in 2012 for the first International Manga Festival in Tokyo (aka Kaigai, the closest thing Japan has to an American-style comic book convention). He was a friend of a friend, and I ended up having a few good meals and getting to know him and his wife a bit. He was even nice enough to draw the first sketch in my Kaigai sketchbook (a very detailed head sketch of Kamen Rider Black that he took back to his hotel room to work on and which I have posted elsewhere in my CAF gallery).

After meeting him and becoming a fan of his art, I began to follow his work more closely. Among other things, I have really enjoyed his work on the Batman titles, so when his agent put this Batgirl pinup that he did as warmup drawing up for auction, I decided to make a bid for it. It was close; the competition took me all the way up to my max bid, but, in the end, I came away the winner.