Batman Looming Over Gotham's Green-Lit Skyline — Print & Oil Painting

More than half of this drawing is solid black, and that is the technique rather than the mood. The artist carves light out of darkness with dense parallel hatching: every fold of the cape, every plate of armour and every course of brick is described by lines that thicken until they close up entirely. There is no soft edge anywhere in it.

We are looking up. The figure is seen from just below the belt, which pushes the shoulders back and hangs the cape over us, and he is turned three-quarters to his left with the chin dropped and the eyes lost inside the cowl. The utility belt sits at the exact centre of the picture with its pouches picked out in ochre, the only warm colour on the page.

Behind him a sickly green light comes off the city. It fills a wide arc at the upper left like a moon or a searchlight, catches the tops of the towers at the right, and leaks up between the buildings along the lower edge. Lettering is visible on one facade, half swallowed by shadow.

The green does one specific thing: it makes the black look wet. From our DC Universe collection. The neon-green dystopian city reaches a similar colour with airbrush instead of ink, and the hunched watch over Gotham keeps the pose and drops the palette.