Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight 23 Cover

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #23 Cover Original Art (DC, October 1991). Batman is ready to deal some serious damage, wielding a Bat imprinted bat (no pun intended!), on this impressive cover for "Faith, Part 3". The Faith story line deals with the early days of the Dark Knight, his relationship with Dr. Leslie Thompkins and her discovering Batman's true identity, and his warming up to taking on a side kick with some references to a young Dick Grayson pre-Robin. This final story in the arc has Batman facing off with the "Bat-men", a misguided group of vigilantes, who he deals with throughout the story. The cover for this book is just amazing in my opinion, capturing a brooding and angry Batman in action ready to take down any bad guy in his way. His cape is magnificent in how it flows all around him, almost making him look monstrous as actual bats swarm around him. I love how dynamic it feels, and it seems like Batman is really jumping off the page right at you.

This is one of only 4 published Batman covers done by Bart Sears, all in Legends of the Dark Knight, including the 3 in this story arc. The inks are done by Randy Elliot, who I believe inked all 3 covers in this arc. Created in ink over graphite on standard DC Comics Bristol board, with an image size of 11" X 17". Signed in the left margin about 2/3 down the page by both Sears and Elliot. It does have an acetate overlay that has been fairly permanently attached to the art with the published stats for the Legends of the Dark Knight cover, including title, DC logo, etc.

CGC hosted Bart Sears for a signing in 2021, and I got all 3 books from this arc signed and remarqued. Given the hinting at Robin near the end of the story, I asked Bart to sketch Robin on the published book. I love how it came out and have included the picture of the 9.8 CGC Signature Series comic for this cover.