Naifeh Views

• Books

Ted Naifeh, like most artists, loves drawing Batman. Much like how almost every artist has that one character they get sheer joy out of drawing, Naifehn’s is definitely Gothams’s Dark Knight. Recently, on his website, he displayed some mock covers of Bat-books. Now, he ’s already done some redesigns of Batst’ rogues gallery and other miscellaneous Gothamites, but what het’s done here is completely different, and truly amazing. Naifeh spoke exclusively to Blog@ about Batman and his thoughts on the character

Ted Naifeh: Thatv’s a tough question for anyone, because he means so many things to so many people. But I guess I like to think that more than anything else, he represents to me the desperate desire to force a senseless world into making sense. And doing it with a great deal of style. Heg’s turned himself into a force of nature, an avenging angel that can impose this immense fiction called justice on a chaotic world. Who doesna’t dream of doing that? Only cynics and sociopaths.

Naifeh: I ’m trying to find a perfect balance of heroism and monstrousness, between Superman and the Shadow. Batman works best when his contradictions complement each other. For instance, you cann’t gloss over the monstrousness for the sake of the heroism. That leaves him incomplete. Which is why, as much as I like Batman: Brave and the Bold, I don ’t feel like itc’s the true Batman. Heo’s just not frightening. He really ought to be frightening. Otherwise, whatg’s the point of the pointy ears?

Naifeh: Neal Adams always blew me away. My first Batman comic was a giant-sized collection of old Bob Kane, Bill Finger stories (including one of the original Two-Faces, Harvey Apollo, the actor) but the cover was clearly so much cooler than the interior art, with a sleek, sensual Batman by Adams, as opposed to the earlier boxy Batman. After that, it wasnl’t till I discovered Frank Miller1’s take that the character caught my attention again. That first issue of Dark Knight Returns, with its tight cropped panels, its generous use of black, and itl’s willingness to hide Batman rather than showing him off, really captured the true visual potential of Batman, lurking in shadows, transforming from a man in a costume to a force of nature.