HeroesCon 2023: Adding To My Personal Collection Of Batman Artwork

After back-to-back weekends of cons – not to mention the momentous haul from the Lake Como show just last month, I only added a few new pieces of artwork to my Batman collection at HeroesCon. Still, none of them disappoint.

My first piece is from Steve Epting, known for his Captain America and Avengers work. He’s also worked with smaller publishers on the titles including Velvet and Sara. I’ve only been to HeroesCon once before. Epting was there then, but he wasn’t able to get to my piece. So I made sure he was a top priority for me this time. I ended up being one of the first people at his table at Friday’s opening. He delivered this great-looking bust of the Dark Detective.

Leinil Yu was another big get for me. I’ve been doing cons for about a decade now, and can’t remember ever running into him before. He’s from the Philippines and doesn’t get stateside all that often. So again, I was at his table early on the first day. Yu is best known for his work on Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, Superman: Birthright and, of course, Secret Invasion. He actually got to Charlotte directly from the premiere of the Disney+ series in LA. (He said the show is nothing like the series he drew.)

I love his use of greys along with the blacks and whites. I think it makes all of his pieces stand out – and much more so for a character like Batman.

I’ve been after a commission from Ron Garney for a while as well. Garney is another Marvel veteran, having drawn Captain America, Wolverine and Daredevil. But he’s really hot right now after his BZRKR limited series, written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt. I asked him if he would draw a Batman for me, and he pulled this beauty out of his portfolio. He asked if this one would be OK since it was already done. That was the easiest decision of the day for me!

I had another easy decision to make when I visited Marcus To’s table. To is best known for his work on Marvel’s Excalibur as well as several Bat-family books including Batwing, Nightwing and Red Robin. He had a few original pages from that last title, and I was lucky enough to snap up one with Batman making quite an entrance. For the record, this is Red Robin #23, page 12.

I thought I was done at that point, but ended up attending the HeroesCon art auction, which is typically a highlight of the show. I had gone once before, but had forgotten how packed it gets – even more so than the charity auction at New York Comic Con. There wasn’t a ton of Batman art, but Michael Cho had something that interested me. With his Darwyn Cooke-esque style, Cho has illustrated the covers for DC’s Silver Age collections and did a number of Civil War II variants for Marvel.

I was fortunate enough to get a headshot commission from his years ago, but he’s since stopped doing commission at shows. At the auction, he offered up Batman: Urban Legends #21, page 7, which is the only page from that story that he will part with.

As I was paying afterwards, he was very sweet and thanked me for supporting the show.