Batman (Vol. 1) 677 Original Variant Cover Art

Batman (Vol. 1) #677 Original Variant Cover Art (July 2008). This is the second issue in the R.I.P. storyline, which was written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Tony S. Daniel. This run also was the first run on the mainline title that Alex Ross was given the reigns to the primary covers, with Tony S. Daniel doing the variant covers. This story arc focuses on Black Glove and his assembled Club of Villains and had several companion storylines in other titles (e.g. Heart of Hush in Detective Comics). This variant cover, done by Tony, depicts a confident Batman, standing on a massive gothic looking monument (instead of a gargoyle interestingly enough), arms raised and cape flowing around him, ready to take on whoever would stand in his way. Tony's Batman is instantly recognizable, and it is almost hard to believe that this was only his 7th mainline Batman cover at the time as he was beginning what would be turn out to be a pretty epic cover run for the title. This was the first Tony Daniel cover I ever purchased, and I have had it for quite some time now. It was this cover that caused me to fall in love with Tony's approach to the Dark Knight. At this time, Sandu Florea was doing most of Tony's inking, and it really makes the image pop. The monument looks incredibly detailed and almost looks like it was hand carved and is popping off the page.



An interesting piece of trivia is that apparently DC was not sold on Florea's inks so asked David Rivera to ink over copied pencils, which were also submitted to DC for review. DC ultimately went with Florea's, and after having seen both, I definitely think Florea's inks were superior. Also of note is that this cover was published using 2 different color schemes.



Accomplished in ink over graphite on 11" X 17" art board. Signed by both Tony and Sandu on the right side of the monument. Signed again later by Tony in the bottom right margin.



I am also fortunate to own the Alex Ross main cover painting and Tony S. Daniel title DPS for this book, so check out those listings as well!