Rogues Gallery #4

Batman has very few female villains (Catwoman only half-counts as she's not really a villain more like jewel-thief/Batman's bit on the side), and really only Poison Ivy and the Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn spring to mind. They're a common pairing in the comics, even having their own spin-off. So I drew them. And not in a way they're usually portrayed. Now, every interpretation of Poison Ivy I've seen has her as an ultra-sexy scantily-clad vixen, which I can see the point of - she's meant to be beautiful like a flower. But I looked at the whole thing in a skewed fashion and took the opposite approach: what if she's skanky and rough-looking like a weed? My take on Poison Ivy is what you might expect an eco-warrior criminal to look like, and she's meant to remind you of something growing in the cracks of your patio: tangled hair that looks dragged through a hedge backwards, a scrawny build, and the torn green dress. If I was going to sum it all up, she's meant to look like a botanical witch.

Harley Quinn is also a busty bombshell in the comics and cartoons, and while I kept her smokin' body I decided to make the face look worn and rough in line with the Joker I did: smeared lipstick, pale make-up, crazy eyes: she's been drawn to be the female equivalent of the Joker. I toyed with the idea of giving her face a scar or two (what with the Joker's penchant for knives) but stopped at that. I did tear up the costume a bit - you want it to look like she's been in a few fights, either with Batman or her boyfriend. She's also striking the classic pose of holding an over-sized mallet behind her back.

Next up, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with Bane and Killer Croc (I refuse to draw the Clock King!)