This past Free Comic Book Day, our little podcast crew originally planned to make a stop at All Star Comics Melbourne before visiting some other shops and then heading off to play some board games. We did two of those three things. All Star Comics ran a really great Free Comic Book Day. So great, in fact, that we ended up spending the whole morning there before leaving for an astonishingly un-P.C. game of Lords of Waterdeep. You see, All Star had set up an Artist’s Alley in Hardware Lane where talented local artists were made to slave away on sketches to please the whims of the demanding public i.e. us. (They got some sandwiches though!) We thought we’d have a little fun with our sketch requests, and decided to all ask for the same thing: Batman taking a selfie. Duckface not mandatory, but highly encouraged.  Below are the results of our silly quest, in no particular order:

1. By Ive Sorocuk.

2. By Scarlette Baccini.

3.By Ben Hutchings

4. By Sarah Howell

5. By Chris McQuinlan

6. By Laura Renfrew

7. By Dean Rankine

8. By (writer) Tom Taylor

It was really great to see the different interpretations of the request, which is the main reason we decided to stick to a distinct theme. Lots of different styles on display, and some really great expressions and poses. It was amazing to get such great art from some very talented and really nice people and all credit to All Star for organizing a fun Free Comic Book Day. You can also find more sketches in this album that the All Star staff have put up on Facebook.

Oh, also once we got back to my place, we couldn’t resist trying our hand at the assignment too. Allow me to present our amateur efforts:

This one’s by me (Aaron). I couldn’t do justice to his UNBELIEVABLE calves:

Evan had a stab too:

And bonus guest art by our friend Su Ann, who opted for a Batgirl instead:

Daniel also made one. We all agreed not to acknowledge it, since it was a cop out and we demand a proper effort. (Actually I just forgot to get a proper scan of it. Here’s a crappy photo in the meantime)

Finally, we also made one as a group!:

I hope you enjoyed the many faces of Batman taking a photo of himself. We had a blast at Free Comic Book Day this year, and with this little quest of ours. Hope all of you out there had a great one too!

BONUS ROUND!

This isn’t the first time I’ve asked for silly sketch commissions. I’ve actually done it once before at Comic Fiesta (2007, I think) in Malaysia with a good friend of mine. Back then, we asked for sketches of Ayanami Rei (of Neon Genesis Evangelion) doing the classic Ultraman specium ray pose. Unfortunately, we neglected to get all the names and contact information for all the artists back then, but if you recognise the art, please feel free to let us know and I’m more than happy to put in the correct credit. Please to enjoy:

I actually stuck this on my shirt as we were walking around:

I also couldn’t resist jumping in with my own version after we had gotten back from the convention: