Stelfreeze, Brian - Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Oracle!

I made the trip to College Station for AggieCon again this March, specifically to add another Stelfreeze to my collection. Remembering that Brian most likely wouldn't have Bristol with him like last year, I brought a fresh pad just for him (admittedly so he couldn't use that as an excuse not to draw!). Last year I almost asked for a Zatanna and I fully intended to get one this time around... but on the drive to the con, I decided that Brian's more known for many delightful renderings of one of my favorite comic characters, Barbara Gordon. I decided I'd ask for Babs instead, except as Oracle rather than Batgirl like most other people do. I feel Babs has been such a superior character as Oracle than she ever was as Batgirl, so it just made sense to me. I decided that since (at the time) she was involved again with Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Nightwing (whose costume Brian actually designed), it'd be neat if he drew Babs wearing Dick's NW shirt. Brian showed up to draw, I told him what I wanted and he got started. He spent several hours on her, and believe it or not, that wheelchair was done with NO straightedges, NO oval templates, and NO reference - I am still stunned when I examine it closely and see how straight the lines are, how "on" the perspective is, how good the ellipses look, and all without using anything except pencil, marker, and an ungodly amount of talent. All done while regaling onlookers with jokes and stories - you haven't really had a fun con experience until you've spent a couple of hours around Brian's table. He has *no* fear about saying anything to boot... you will be in pain from laughing so much. The little pencil sketched head in the upper corner was his warm-up... I like to imagine it as Dick in the background saying "Babs, have you seen my shirt...?" But that's just me. Anyway, he was probably 75% done with inking her when I mentioned something along the lines of "wow, he went so much more complicated than what I had in mind - I was thinking of her lying in bed wearing nothing but Nightwing's shirt and a sexy come-hither look". The next sound you heard was Brian's head impacting on the table... and him muttering something about "I could have been done with this 4 hours ago". Oops, guess I should have mentioned that part ;) He put *so* much work into this one, it's really a sin to call it a "con sketch". Regardless of how hard I inadvertently made Brian work, I think this piece is just fantastic - it's just a classy piece of art of the DCU's smartest and classiest lady. This one will reside in my collection until I die, mark my words. Pencils and ink on 11" x 14" Bristol.