Batman #368

This is the original Ed Hannigan cover sketch to Batman #368. It is my pleasure to have this in my collection.


Ed told me that this was one of his most requested cover recreations. As you can see, he first envisioned Robin on the left and Batman on the right. Seems the editors wanted the final cover with them in the reverse.


Ed Hannigan was the busiest comic cover sketch artist in the world. At one time or another he did cover designs for just about every comic at Marvel and DC. Ed tried to tailor cover designs to the style of whichever artist was going to do the final art, but he also introduced some trademark features of his own, most famously, "messing with the logo" in some way or another, destroying or distorting it. The sketches became more elaborate and often were fully colored. He continued to draw some stories ands even wrote a few (Defenders was his longest run), but cover sketches were his mainstay for the next several years, and that's what he is best known for in the industry. The Hero Initiative, a charitable organization that provides financial assistance to comic book professionals in need, and Marvel Comics have collaborated on a tribute book, Ed Hannigan: Covered, that features highlights from Hannigan’s artistic career. The Cartoon Art Museum will display some of Hannigan’s most notable covers alongside the cover and complete interior artwork for one of his most famous single-issue stories, The Spectacular Spider-Man #64, which introduced the crime-fighting duo Cloak and Dagger. From http://www.heroinitiative.org/NewsDetail.asp?NewsId=220


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