Because You Demanded It: CHRISTOPHER LEE as RA’S AL GHUL!

Artist Renzo Ventrella pays tribute …

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The glory of art is that you don’t need special effects or a big budget or a time machine. All you need is inspiration.

Well I’m honored that artist Renzo Ventrella found inspiration from a column I wrote a few days ago in the wake of Sir Christopher Lee‘s death.

I explained how, as a kid, I used to write to DC Comics with casting suggestions for a Batman movie — with Lee as Ra’s al Ghul.

The whole thing can be found here, if you’re inclined to check it out. I was really surprised by the warm response, which was pretty moving. Turns out it struck a bit of a chord with fellow fans.

Anyway, I was absolutely bowled over when I got a message from Renzo, whom I’ve never met. He sketched up this piece, giving vision to what was just a fanciful dream:

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Renzo is the chair of the Fine Arts Department and an instructor at Manhattan‘s prestigious Xavier High School. He’s also a comic book illustrator and designer.

His admiration of Christopher Lee goes back a ways. Here’s a piece he calls The Many Faces of Christopher Lee, which was, he says “interestingly enough, one of the last pieces I did practical zip-a-tone and splatter on (I do that stuff mostly digitally now), not to mention one of the first I colored with the computer as I learned Photoshop some eight or nine years ago!”

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Wanna know more? You do. Here’s his Facebook page, so go check him out.

Great pieces, Renzo! Thanks for sharing them with us.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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  1. Finally! CHRISTOPHER LEE Cast as RA’S AL GHUL — From Beyond the Grave | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture - […] story was well-received, I’m pleased to say — a fan even drew his own version of Lee as Ra’s…

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