This is the sixth entry in a series of commissions titled "Arkham Clashes", scenes depicting Batman facing off against a rogue or rogues inspired by the Arkham series of video games created by Rocksteady. This piece is lifted from the fourth game, "Arkham Origins", which served as a prequel to the preceding 3 games. It is inspired by the battle where Bats dons the XE suit to battle Mr. Freeze, the preserved body of Victor's beloved Nora very visible in the background. Mr. Freeze is an imposing villain with his suit and ice cannon, and I loved how the game practically turned Batman into a human tank with the XE suit for this battle. I have the pair of 1:3 scale statues that Prime 1 Studio released, and they are absolutely imposing. I have tried to make each piece in this series a bit different, and this continues that trend.
This piece, like the others in the series, was done by the amazing Eranga Devasurendra. I wanted this to have a battle between titans feel, capturing the scale of each of the characters in their suits, with the same imposing feel that the statues had. I remember Eranga immediately commenting on the insane detail in the suits and how that would pose its own challenge. Of course Eranga is always up for the challenge, and I think he nailed it. Going the landscape route allowed the scene to develop while enabling all the details of the 2 characters to be front and center. Of course the background details are also impressive, from the ice, to the preservation chambers, to Nora herself. Eranga's attention to detail is extremely present as always, and I am so happy with how this one turned out.
Like the others, I worked with Dennis Lehmann to get it colored. The second image shows the output of that, and he knocked it out of the park. With the coloring it looks like it was lifted right out of the game. I love Dennis's work, and he continues to bring it on these pieces!
Original art is accomplished in ink over graphite on an 17" X 11" piece of art paper (in landscape). Colors were done digitally but are printed on archival paper as a 17" X 11" giclee print (which Eranga signed / denoted as PP 1/1).
