In a meticulously detailed variant cover of Batman # 124 designed by Filya Bratukhin, Caped Crusader has a giant Bat-Mech stored in Batcave.
In a fantastic variant cover for Batman # 124 from DC Comics, artist Filya Bratukhin has created a finely detailed portrait of Batcave featuring a giant Batman Mech. The cover is made of Saved objects style, an art style that features large, carefully detailed scenes filled with things to discover. It fits Batcave, which has acquired a large amount of items over the years.
Batcave is Batman’s central base for operations, located below Wayne Manor. The Cave is a place for Batman to rest between missions, but it has many other purposes besides that. It contains Batman’s arsenal of gadgets and vehicles, including iconic devices like Batcomputer and Batmobile. In addition, Cave also features a variety of souvenirs from Batman’s most iconic cases, such as a giant penny and a mechanical dinosaur. Artists have portrayed the cave in many different ways over the years, but Bratukhin’s variant cover paints the cave in a whole new light.
While the cover masterfully shows the hollow size of the room, the truly unique part of the cover comes in the meticulous detail it includes. The electrical wires and hydraulic machinery that drive the platforms and electronics throughout the cave are exposed in a way that they rarely appear in other art. Spare tires and machine parts are strewn across the central platform, and the Batmobile appears to be in the process of getting a tune-up. The different screens on the Batcomputer each contain a different image, representing the various threats and emergencies that arise and that require Batman’s attention. All this chaos gives an impression of how many different things Batman has to juggle at the same time to the point where he does not have time to keep his cave neatly organized. And while the various trophies that Batman has amassed are immersed in all this chaos, sentient viewers can still find them if they examine the image carefully. More obscure details can also be found in this way, such as the rarely used Bat Train and Justice-Buster Armor, which Batman used to defeat the Justice League during Batman: Playoffs. But perhaps the most striking part of the cover is the giant Bat Mech that towers above everything else in the cave.
While Batman has used many types of robotic armor over the course of his crime-fighting career, this gigantic mechanism easily outperforms all of these suits in terms of size. Batman has used a giant robot in boats Batman ’66 comics and in a story written by Nick Dragotta in Batman black and white anthology comics, but none of these stories are canon in DC Comics’ main continuity. This mechanic could be a tribute to one of them, or it could be a reference to DC Mech series coming out later this year. Or it could just be a new Bat device that Bratukhin thinks Batman should have in his arsenal. Whatever it is there, nothing changes the fact that it is incredibly fat and is a pleasure to watch.
Among all the different devices and trophies in Batcave, Batman looks almost small. But the enormous amount of artifacts in the cave is a testament to how great his legacy and influence has been. And if he adds the giant Bat Mech on this cover to his arsenal, it could enable him to fight threats he has not been able to before, which improves Batmans legacy even more.
