Standing 6 feet tall the Batman statue on display at the Comic-Con Museum stage is not only impressive in scale, but also in design. Take it from Todd McFarlane, who technically designed the statue back in 1988 when he drew the cover to Batman Vol 1 #423. Even though that was over 30 years ago the statue looks as modern and cool as ever.
“Cool works right? Right,” McFarlane explained as to why the cape flows the way it does. “When I did Spider-Man the anatomy that I’d put him in was impossible, for a human being could go into the pose as I put it. But it looks cool as hell right?” McFarlane went on to say it’s not about making something in comics look photo accurate all the time, but by capturing the attention of the reader. “If you have to bend the rules of reality, then you do it. Most of the melodramatic imagery that you do in storytelling and page to page continuity you can’t get a real camera to do it.”
And thus, the cover to Batman #432 was born. The cover was on display in an extra-large format at the future site of the Comic-Con Museum where Batman was being inducted into the superhero character Hall of Fame Wednesday night. Check it out below:
When asked what Batman means to McFarlane, he answered a bit hesitantly at first due to his bias for Spawn. “Minus Spawn, Batman is my number one hero. And the reason for it besides [the fact] his costume looks cool. He’s also a guy that, unlike Superman, he has to dodge bullets.” It’s the fact that he has no superpowers to, “cheat along the way,” as McFarlane put it.
Adding to this, McFarlane said he’s gained a new perspective on Batman after years running his own companies and working with people. What it comes down to is, “the thought of a guy who’s got nothing but money and girls that want to date him and he doesn’t care.” Instead, McFarlane said he waits all night until he says, “Get me the costume I’m going to scare the shit out of bad guys. In a weird way, I actually relate to that guy.”
The statue went on auction later in the night with funds to be used to help renovate the Comic-Con Museum. After some bidding, the statue ended up going for $6,000.
The @Todd_McFarlane statue sold at auction for $6,000! #SDCC50 #SDCC2019 @ComicConMuseum pic.twitter.com/XXaCYLwnpO
— AiPT! Comics @ SDCC (@AiPTcomics) July 18, 2019
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