Lynn Varley Fan Club newsletter
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Drawn by Trevor Von Eeden. Painted by Lynn Varley.
I was rooting around the internet and came across the cover art from
Batman Annual #8 on Trevor Von Eeden’s website. This comic rearranged my brain as a youth. I think it’s the perfect synthesis of lines and color: the essence of comics, right? I know, I know, it’s
Batman, but check out these
pages over on Mr. Von Eeden’s site. The colors are by
Lynn Varley. There’s a real
tension in the art. There was something that always struck me about this comic. It was
special. It took about twenty years to find out why. Here’s Von Eeden in his
Comics Journal interview about this book:
“The Batman Annual was the culmination of many years of intense effort and serious dedication. Lynn and I finally consummated our relationship after I got this gig. I lost my virginity between pages 4 and 5. It was well worth the wait.”
Labels: Lynn Varley, Trevor Von Eeden
One of my favorite comic book covers. Very cool to see it sans logo. The entire comic is great; you can really see Von Eeden breaking away from the “house style” and trying new, inspired things with his layouts and inking. And the coloring is something else, too.
I saw this cover being sold on Ebay, which is funny because I heard it had been stolen way back when.
Thanks Frank I had not seen this art before but I was just introduced to Trevor Von Eden’s work through Mr. Mazzucchelli, who told me to check out “Thriller.” I’m assuming you’ve seen it; it’s great stuff. For me it’s the missing link for Frank Miller. I imagine Miller looking at the layouts and really tough drawing style and saying to himself “of course!” I am missing a couple of issues of his run, i think the 2nd and 4th issues if anyone has extra copies let me know.
I suggest reading Mr. Von Eeden’s remarks in his TCJ interview for his thoughts on Miller. Although I don’t think he talks about Miller’s drawing style. Good interview.
Von Eden has been in the air this year, he was just interviewed here http://www.sidebarnation.com/my_weblog/2010/05/the-original-trevor-von-eeden.html
i think i forced a friend to buy this one a few weeks ago!
and dang, if 4-5 was their maiden voyage, things must have been getting pretty freaky by that 23/24 spread
I remember reading and rereading this annual when it came out. Still stands out in my mind as some kind of breakthrough. I like this approach to Batman. Grim and groovy.