It’s all about the cape! McFarlane Toys’ Batman Year Two and Jokerized statues by Todd McFarlane celebrate the illustrator’s signature look for the Dark Knight – a dramatic pose engulfed in an enormous idiosyncratically designed cape. Only this time, one of them seems to have been disrespectfully vandalized by the Joker.
It’s incredible to think that Todd McFarlane drew Batman in only five comics in his trailblazing career. Though he found true comic superstardom working on Spider-Man and creating Spawn, he developed such a distinct, instantly iconic look for Batman that the images have endured and will continue to do so for many years to come. Fantasy Studio Statue
The first of the two new statues draws from McFarlane’s work on Detective Comics #575-578 (1987) which represents three-quarters of the storyline Batman: Year Two. Inspired by the final page image McFarlane drew for the story, it utilizes a fantastic, forced perspective effect on the cityscape to give the impression of height. It also has some clever detail in the use of the dangling rope with the Bat symbol at one end which is a nice nod to the original page where the Bat symbol appears at the bottom corner, almost at the end of the rope, to signify the end of the story.
Then there’s that extraordinary cape. Impossibly large and with jagged lines to give the impression of an exaggerated animated bat. In the McFarlane Toys panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, whilst somehow balancing the statue on one hand, McFarlane revealed that the statue has “the biggest cape we’ve made… including Spawn.”
The second statue is an adaptation of the fourth time McFarlane drew Batman, which was for the cover for Batman #423 (1988). For this famous cover, McFarlane really let loose with the bat imagery lengthening the ears on the mask, distorting the shoulders, darkening the face, and hiding Batman’s form so that you could think that there was a bat-like creature under that enormous cape. McFarlane was reunited with the original artwork at a New York Comic-Con in 2022 and the video showed that it was clearly an important piece of work for him.
The original statue did away with the female in the original image so that the Bat symbol and face could be seen clearly… but, what’s this?! It seems that the Joker has broken into the warehouse and vandalized the statue! Following a recent trend at McFarlane Toys (also seen at Target) for releasing Jokerized versions of Batman figures and statues, this version of the Dark Knight has been touched up with luminous paint and a Joker face with smiling red lips over the mask. The Joker’s never far from Batman so it’s a great way of showing how they constantly haunt each other. The laughter written over the cape is particularly effective at evoking the mad spirit of the ultimate destructive prankster.
For those counting, the fifth time McFarlane illustrated Batman was for the Spawn/Batman crossover in 1994. Few artists have had such an iconic impact on a superhero with such a small amount of work. The Batman Year Two and Jokerized statues by Todd McFarlane cover the majority of that work and demonstrate the unique style that the man brought to the character. Given Todd McFarlane’s impact as a comic creator, plus his McFarlane Toys and Entertainment business, I’d say the Joker’s pretty brave messing with a McFarlane Toys statue!
The Batman Year Two and Jokerized statues are both available to preorder from McFarlane Toys.
McFarlane Toys Store Exclusive Limited Numbered Edition #/500. DC Direct Statue Batman Year Two is based on the artwork by Todd McFarlane.
Pulled from the pages of Todd McFarlane’s legendary run drawing Batman, comes the definitive Todd McFarlane Batman Statue. In 1:10th scale and dynamically flying over Gotham City comes this breathtaking Batman statue in his iconic blue and grey suit from Detective Comics #578.
McFarlane Toys Store Exclusive Limited Numbered Edition #/500. DC Direct Batman Jokerized by Todd McFarlane Resin Statue.
The iconic 100th Batman Black & White statue returns to market but with a very different look! Based on McFarlane’s cover work from Batman #423 the statue features an alternate look as if The Joker himself had applied the paint decoration. Don’t miss out on the Batman Black & White: Batman by Todd McFarlane (Jokerized) statue.
Images and press release courtesy of McFarlane Toys
Writer-For-Hire. All my life I've been writing. And a devotee of sequential art storytelling. Father to two. Married to (the) one. Forever learning to juggle and play the ukulele, though not at the same time - otherwise I'd become a jester. I have been known to go in the sea on Christmas Day.
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