Original Art Batman Mortality #1 (2011) 7 Pages Pencils by Denys Cowan, Inks by John Floyd
SOLD for $1,150.002011 DC
This group of stunning pages is a bit of an oddity, especially in determining whether or not it was "published". In 2011, DC Comics legend Paul Levitz teamed up with another comics legend, Denys Cowan for a miniseries entitled Batman: Mortality which would follow Batman through the lens of the five stages of grief. Of course comics fans will recognize that 2011 was a turbulent time for DC as they were preparing to reboot their entire line's continuity with the New 52 initiative.
According to some interviews with Cowan, the script went through several revisions as the decision on whether to set it within the new continuity or as a nebulous story from Batman's past went back and forth. Eventually, all of the disruption in the line resulted in the unfinished project being abandoned.
Several years later a portion of the story, the first five pages, were kind of published in Detective Comics 80 Years of Batman HC (2019 DC) The Deluxe Edition. The pages were 'kind of' published as Cowan and Floyd's art was downsized and placed at tilted angles alongside similarly sized and tilted images of Levitz's original script. This makes these original art pages the only way to see Cowan and Floyd's stunning work in a full format.
The pages themselves are a magnificent example of veteran comics creators tapping into the primal aspects of these long running characters as even without the dialogue and captions, we can see so much about Bruce's relationship with his father and the trauma his death caused in the first five pages. Pages 6 and 7 have, as far as we're aware, never been shown or published and see Cowan and Floyd in fine form depicting the Dark Knight dashing through the rooftops of Gotham City.
Also included are upsized scans of Levitz's 5 script pages taken from the anniversary hardcover. Pencil and ink on 7 sheets of DC Comics art board. Each measures 11" x 17".
