After my review of Batman Beyond, the character and his world have been on my mind. Everything about Neo Gotham and its inhabitants is so interesting – familiar and different at the same time. Even old man Wayne isn’t quite as gruff as Bruce in his prime. Today’s Art Appreciation Moment of the Day takes a look at Bruce in a way I haven’t seen before.
Walter O’Neal is the mastermind behind the sculpture, and if he ever made this available for sale, I would pick it up in an instant.
I’m a huge fan of the DC Animated series Batman Beyond, and this is my more realistic take on old man Bruce Wayne from the series. For those who’ve never seen the show, Batman Beyond is set about 50 years in the future where Bruce Wayne is somewhere in his 80’s and much too old to still be prowling the rooftops of Gotham at night, but still the same mean old badass he ever was. The mantle of the Batman is passed on to a teenager named Terry McGinnis and Bruce serves as his watcher and mentor – doing his best to guide and mold the young man into the new Dark Knight that Gotham still so desperately needs.
So my main goal here was to take the major elements of the old Bruce character established in the show and try to envision him as if he were to step out of the animated cells and into the real world. For those of you who are up on your Batman pop culture, I’m sure you’ll be quick to point out to me that the Wayne Logo that appears on the base isn’t actually from the show – and you’re 100% correct. I thought that the Wayne logo from Batman Beyond that appears on the gates of Wayne manor was a bit too fanciful and more fitting of Willy Wonka than of Bruce Wayne. (no offense meant to whomever designed that logo of course! :blush: ) So I used the Wayne logo from Batman Begins instead and I think it serves the piece better and helps tie all of the Batman mythos (movies, TV, comics, etc.) together as a whole. Plus, I figured since I was putting my own slant on the character anyway, I thought “Why not?!!” ;)
The piece is a 1/6th scale mini-bust cast in gray resin. 100% sculpted, molded, and cast by me.
WOW. SIMPLY WOW!
While this piece by itself is fantastic, artist Dan Cope got a hold of one of these and painted it up.
