Bane

In recent years, I've been more into collecting Villain characters, as a really good friend mentioned what the point is, to have superheroes, when there are no super-villains. My friend had a very good point. So as a result, I felt inspired to collect supervillain sketches/commissions to fit along the Batman theme. Also, Tim is flat out the best in the industry when it comes to drawing villains, so I had to insist on a studio commission of a villain. I couldn't decide on the character, so his agent, Jason suggested I give Tim 3 choices. My 3 choices were Bane in Catacombs, Mr. Freeze, and Solomon Grundy in Sewers. Can't go wrong with any of those choices. I was curious about which character he'd choose. Tim asked me to pick one. I asked him to draw me Bane.

Getting into some background detail about what got me started in reading comic books, I first started reading comic books during the days of The Death Of Superman and Batman: Knightfall by Chuck Dixon and intriguing art by Kelley Jones, Norm Brayfogle, Barry Kitson, Klaus Janson, among others. The year was 1993. I was 8 years old at the time. I went over to a friends house that summer, and my friend showed me his collection of comics. I vaguely remember at the time, he got DC comic books: JLA, Green Lantern Corps, Batman Detective Comics, Flash, Superman: Man Of Steel. I asked him where he got them. He said he got them as a wholesale collection at Costco. I remember asking my mom if she'd get me comic books for my 9th birthday, as I wanted a wholesale collection that my friend had. So my parents got me one of the grab bag collections that Costco was selling. The day of my 9th birthday, I got to open my present, and low and behold, I was given the Costco grab bag collection. I remember opening it, and the first book I held in my hands was an issue of Batman: Knightfall. The book was so intriguing with Bane being this BIG buff man breaking Batman's back and a t-rex lurking in the background of a batcave. He looked like this Hulk-like figure with steroids after injecting himself with venom.

Bane is my favorite Batman Villain of All time. I wanted to see Tim's take on the character, based on the Batman: Knightfall days and his costume based on the look of wearing tubes to the back of his head and using the venom compound. I also wanted a catacombs background, drawing the pits where Bane broke Batman's back from Dark Knight Rises movie as inspiration. And in Bane's origin story, from the Knightfall series, he grew up in a prison, because he was serving out his father's life sentence. I wanted a background portraying the environment he lived in. I really like the small easter egg elements in the background. Skulls in the pit/catacombs, dungeonness gate bars, dungeonness chains hanging on the walls, pillars, water droplets, venomous snake and reptile to go with the skulls, and the leopard lurking/eavesdropping in the background. The dungeon-like atmosphere really gives you a good sense like you are in it. Tim's easter eggs are my favorites.

Tim really went above and beyond on this studio commission! I couldn't have asked for more. I'm just totally in awe and blown away!

Thanks, Tim and Jason! And special thanks to my buddy, Marko, for inspiring me to start the Batman rogue theme in my original comic art collection.