Posted By 13th Dimension on Jul 3, 2014 | 3 comments

With EXCLUSIVE ART! One of our fave artists lifts the cape to show how he designed the Batgirl #33 variant cover for DC’s Batman 75 celebration this month.

Batman is front and center on DC’s variant covers this month, with the likes of Jim Steranko, Jock, Kevin Nowlan, Walt Simonson and many others doing special Batcovers. In the spirit of our series of Mike Allred commentaries about his Batman ’66-themed covers in May, we bring you superstar artist Cliff Chiang with the story behind the variant cover to Batgirl #33, out Wednesday, 7/9. And Cliff brought some work-in-progress art with him! (PLUS! Check out an EXCLUSIVE preview of Batgirl #33 here!)

The final version, including trade dress

By CLIFF CHIANG

My affection for the Batgirl character is a pretty open secret at this point, so I was thrilled when Mark Chiarello offered me the Batman 75 variant cover for Batgirl. The creative brief was simple: draw a Batgirl cover and make sure Batman’s on it.

With that much latitude, it took me a while to settle on an idea. While the whole set of variant covers is a celebration of Batman’s incredible 75 years of publishing history, I also wanted to acknowledge that Batgirl’s got some history of her own. From her early days as a member of the Batman family (brilliantly drawn by Marcos Martin in BATGIRL: YEAR ONE) to her bold reincarnation as Oracle after THE KILLING JOKE, fans love Batgirl for the way she’s triumphed over adversity, but I didn’t want to dwell on tragedy. Fundamental to Batgirl’s appeal is a sense of joy, in stark contrast to Batman’s brooding intensity and separate from Robin’s teen exuberance.

She’s been through the wringer and still came out on top, and that is the definition of a hero.

Pencils

Sketch version

No trade dress

Again, the final version, including trade dress