Years ago, I inked a Bernie Wrightson Batman vs. Solomon Grundy 22-page story for DC. Bernie had already done a cover painting and there was some talk of doing another story to go with it and publishing them as a flip book, You know, the kind with two stories and two covers, both starting at opposite ends so that depending on which side of the book you begin with, you're reading a different story. Then when you finish the first story, you flip it over and start reading the other story from the opposite end. I always wondered if retailers liked them because they could display two copies -- side-by-side -- one with the A-side showing and one with the B-side. If a customer grabbed them quickly enough, he might think that he was getting two different comics instead of two copies of the same book. Anyway, Bernie didn't have time to do the second 22-page story but I was up for it. Various ideas were tossed around... maybe Superman and Bizarro? Hmmmm... that seemed to have some nice symmetry...
I got inspired and did this pen and ink piece, totally on spec, thinking the drawing would be fun to do, even if it was rejected by DC. Later, a DC editor said we absolutely could not use Bizarro in our story so it all just died right there. But I liked the drawing anyway. Nick Morgan, the fellow who bought it from me, suggested that I do a painted version, which I was finally able to pull together a couple of years ago. I like the piece in black and white, but this it really seemed to benefit from color so I'm grateful to Nick for giving me the chance to do it up right. The painting is acrylic on gessoed masonite, roughly 13" x 17".
I'd forgotten how bad those old seps were. They really washed out the colors.
