Big Barda & Mister Miracle - Elsa Charretier

I asked Elsa for a commission of these two in the same vein as the title pages from her excellent Love Everlasting series.

She absolutely delivered.

Elsa did a wonderful write up on Barda for her newsletter as well.

“I’ve always loved how Kirby drew Barda’s face. It’s very wide, especially compared to how female faces are usually portrayed—heart-shaped, cute, non-threatening, designed to be “pleasant.” With Barda, it’s almost as if her features have been compressed down: the wide eyes, the low-set brows that elongate her face even further. That placement is so unusual in traditional depictions of women, where brows tend to sit higher to open up the eyes and create a softer, more inviting expression. Barda doesn’t care about inviting. Her face isn’t expressive in that conventional way—it’s sculptural. Solid. Monumental. You don’t read fragility there; you read permanence. She is a god, after all, and her face feels carved rather than painted.

Her costume design is mastery. The helmet mirrors the width of her facial structure, reinforcing that powerful geometry and balancing her broad frame. It doesn’t try to slim her down or soften her silhouette—it celebrates it!”