DC Collectibles' Jim Fletcher on the McFarlane Batman Statue

In celebration of the 80th anniversary of Batman, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Collectibles are releasing the 100th Batman Black and White statue in the popular ongoing DC Collectibles line. The milestone #100 statue is based off Todd McFarlane’s own cover of Batman issue #423. ComingSoon.net got to chat with DC Collecitbles’ Jim Fletcher about the statue, which you can view in the gallery below!

As with the previous 99 in the series, McFarlane’s design, reinforces the core value of DC Collectibles to represent the printed page in 3D form and pays homage to Batman’s rich legacy.

“To simply be a part of the 80th anniversary of a character that has always held such a special place in my heart is an honor,” McFarlane said.

ComingSoon.net: This year you’ve reached the milestone of 100 Batman Black and White statues. Do you have two or three favorites from along the way?

Jim Fletcher: This is one of the hardest questions that I get asked but some of my top favorites are Jonathan Matthews, Kim Jung-Ji and of course we will give a shout-out to the 100th statue by Todd McFarlane.

CS: For the 100th statue, you got the legendary Todd McFarlane to design a piece. The look seems deeply influenced by his famous Batman #423 cover. What are the biggest differences between that art and the statue?

Fletcher: First of all, let me say how thrilled we were to work with Todd, since we have been talking about this project for years. As for the changes between the cover and the statue, we removed the woman that Batman is holding his cape over. When we took her out, we decided to add the Bat logo to his chest. We also added Batman’s whole face because we decided to fill in the shadows, after conferring with Todd.

CS: What input did McFarlane have on the sculpture, either before or after it was complete?

Fletcher: Todd was actively involved in this project right from the start. He was very helpful and gave us all the information that we needed before we actually finished the sculpt.

CS: It was amazing to watch the time-lapse process video of Jonathan Matthews digitally sculpting the piece in a computer. How long does something like that take? How many revisions will a typical sculpt go through before it gets the sign-off?

Fletcher: The sculpt went much quicker than we expected. It can always be a challenge to take a 2d photo and make it a 3d figure. Especially when you remove items from the 2d version, then fill the space back in for the 3d version. Even Todd was surprised at how fast Jonathan turned it around. Revisions will vary from piece to piece.

CS: DC Collectibles created a life-size version of the McFarlane design. How is the process of creating a life-size statue different from the smaller ones?

Fletcher: We worked with Monster City Studios, who also made the life-sized Harley Quinn, and it is a completely different process to get the full-sized statue made. The material isn’t the same, but they work from our pre-existing digital files.

CS: You also unveiled #99, which is based on a design by fan fav Doug Mahnke. What was the process of honing in on this particular pose?

Fletcher: Doug has done a lot of great work for DC over the years, so luckily, we had a lot of good poses to choose from. We wanted a really dynamic pose and we found that piece of art in Detective Comics #994.

CS: Based on fan response and sales, what would you say has been the most successful in the line so far?

Fletcher: Ironically, the most successful statue in the Batman Black & White line isn’t Batman himself, it’s actually Harley Quinn by Bruce Timm! We were really surprised when we pulled out all of the sales numbers!