Comic-style Batman & Bat-Grapple - Emerald City Comic-Con 2014

[IronJoe]

First thread on the RPF, woohooh! Although this costume pales in comparison to some of the amazing work I see on here daily, I'm happy to be a part of the community and I look forward to learning :-D

This is my comic-style Batman I've been piecing together for Emerald City Comic-Con, less than two weeks away now! The last piece of the puzzle is the belt buckle, which is a modified "Dead End" style buckle I have to paint & age. I posted some of this in the Batman discussion but I figured now that it's just about complete, I'd start my own thread.

Here's the breakdown:
-Cowl: Reevz Hush cowl
-Cape: Black cloth cape, handmade and purchased from eBay.
-Suit: Grey bodysuit with black Bat symbol stitched on
-Shorts: Matman briefs
-Belt: 10 Pocket belt dyed a golden yellow, Dead End style buckle
-Gloves: Rubies gloves but modified
-Boots: Gotham 100s

I modified the clasp on the cape to be able to wear the cape ON the shoulders, instead of "over" the shoulders. I don't like the idea of the cape "hiding" the rest of the costume, and I love seeing Batman in action poses like this from Hush, with the cape flowing behind him:

As I posted before, I love the idea of the Rubies gloves but not the execution. Many Batman cosplayers use the movie style gauntlets, or gauntlets strapped on over gloves, etc. I'm personally not a fan of this look - to me, the iconic Bat gauntlets & gloves are one-piece. So I modified the gloves to close up the pirate-like way the gloves flare out at the forearms. Not even the Hulk could have filled out those gloves!

And finished: true comic-style gauntlets that actually fit!

Here's how everything turned out so far:

And for the Bat-grapple, I am going for a Batman: The Animated Series look.

I used the garage-mat foam to build the main structure, then inserted coat hanger wire up through the middle to strengthen the handle area. I have ordered a "ninja grappling hook" from Amazon and will be inserting it in the top - giving it the look as if the grapple is firing out as I'm holding it.

It is pretty crude at this stage, as I will be covering the entire thing in a thin layer of funfoam, add the "columns" down the middle and the trigger button, and painting & aging.

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think! I would love all your ideas on how to improve the costume before ECCC!

 

[Peek73]

SWEET!!! Love the look, I like what you did with the gloves as well. I've always been a fan of the Bat, but I'm more of the old school Blue and Grey kind of guy. I've always wanted to put together my own style using those colors just to see if I could do it. I think the belt you have looks AWESOME, and the Cowl is BAD AZZ!! Iv'e never been a huge fan of the elongated ears. Looking forward to meeting you at ECC, LOVE EVERYTHING SO FAR MAN O. Keep up!!

 

[lukester]

Well done, looks great so far. :thumbsup I'm interested to see how the grapple looks completed.

 

[IronJoe]

A few updates - first off, I received the grappling hook. Good and bad news there: It's definitely what I was looking for, but I didn't realize it would be so heavy!

I am now rethinking my design of the Bat-grapple to compensate. Instead of making it entirely out of foam, my new plan is to use a 2x4 wood block as a base, drill 1/2" hole in the center (the diameter of the grappling hook's stem), and thread it through. By using the wood, it will be much sturdier and I will cover it in funfoam, add details and paint it.

The other benefit is that I can now rework the shape of the grapple - I did most of the design from memory and there are a few key details I missed the first go-around. 1) The main body necks down about half the way down. 2) the handle is actually wider than the body, not the other way around. I plan on straightening the end of the stem, and inserting that into a short block of wood that will become the handle. This way the entire structure is sturdy.

The second update: I received my utility belt buckle (HUGE thanks to BATIMAN!!) It is unfinished, so I will be painting it and based on the outcome, attempt to age it along with the belt itself.

 

[Jamie Ridder]

This is looking awesome bro! i cant wait to bump into you at ECCC

 

[statenjp]

I'll be at Eccc as red hood this year. Can't wait to see your batman


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[IronJoe]

Excellent, looking forward to meeting you guys!

My Batman will be *passable*, but you won't even notice me when I'm standing next to my Poison Ivy

 

[bigtrev503]

Wow that cowl looks sharp! Where'd you get it?

 

[IronJoe]

Alright, got lots of progress on Bats!

First off, I have the utility belt pretty much complete. I primered and painted the buckle, and affixed it to the belt. It's a dark gold color, not too shimmery, but matches the color of the belt well. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

The other order of business was the Bat-grapple. After watching Batman TAS over the weekend, I was inspired to revise my design. I started with a 2x4 and a 2x2, cut down the 2x4 to size and cut a notch in the end for the "stem". I then drilled a hole through the top of the "body", and cut down the length of the grapple to match. Using long wood screws, I affixed the handle to the body. The grappling hook gets inserted through the top, for a look as if it is "shooting out" of the grapple.

I then removed the hook and coated the body and handle in black funfoam.

Then I added the detail on the body from TAS as well as the button on the side of the handle. After re-inserting the grapple and epoxying it into place, I'm ready to call this finished!

 

[Darth Serberus]

Nice job!

 

[aioria2]

Re: Comic-style Batman & Bat-Grapple - Emerald City Comic-Con 2014

That looks amazing

- - - Updated - - -

That looks amazing

 

[IronJoe]

I'm pretty happy with this costume as a whole, but there were a few items still bugging me that I decided to address.

First off, the Gotham 100s. I know this is pretty much the "gold standard" for Batman boots, but being built tall and lean, my legs were absolutely swimming in them. I know I am not alone, as I've seen other Batman cosplayers with the same problem. With everything else perfectly fitted to my body, I just couldn't let this go... What kind of lunatic cuts up his bat-boots only a few days away from a convention? This kind!

So, I took out the x-acto knife and started cutting away. I cut out the middle "stripe" that is glued up the back of the boot. I then removed some material from either side of the boot shaft, then sewed both sides together. After that horrible process with a huge needle going through two layers of pleather & lining, I re-glued the "stripe". I have been letting the glue set up so I don't have any finished pics yet, but here's where I made my cuts:

The second issue was with the bodysuit itself. I purchased it on eBay (my next endeavor will be to sew my own bodysuits) and while it's a really well built suit, the Bat symbol was made from a really cheap material and slapped on rather poorly. What's worse is, it wasn't sewn close enough to the edges so all the corners were rolling up:

It all added up to a "soft" looking symbol. I'm sorry, but I just can't have my Batman looking "soft"!! So I seam ripped the design off, ran out at the last minute to get some fabric (shout out to the great folks at our local Hancock Fabrics for dealing with me at closing time!) and got to work with making an applique.

With the same method I posted here for my Symbiote Spider-Man symbol, I worked on creating a new bat. The toughest part was determining the right symbol to use. It came down to either Dead End or Hush. I ended up choosing the Hush Bat, however most of the "official" merchandise images I found online were slightly off. So, I took them as a base and altered them in PS to get the design closer to the Jim Lee art. Probably no one on earth will notice but me, but it's these details that really matter IMHO.

Here's the "official" Hush bat symbol WB puts on hats, t-shirts, etc.

And here's the Hush bat symbol on the Real Action Heroes Hush Batman. See the difference? The whole thing is shorter, and the curvature between the head and the wings is off.

Here's my design, in which I recurved the wings slightly and elongated the entire logo. Not exactly like above, but better than the "official" logo (LOL). I printed a pattern and transferred it onto a piece of Heat n Bond.

I then ironed on the Heat n Bond piece with the design on it onto a piece of black stretch lycra, and cut out the pattern. I positioned it accurately, and ironed it onto the bodysuit.

After ironing on the applique, it was time for the sewing machine. Again, I do not have access to a surger so I used polyester thread and a stitch supposedly better for stretch fabric. I applied a light stretch to the entire design as I made my way around, so it still stretches with me a bit as I move.

Here's the "before and after" side by side, I think it was well worth it!!

 

[JokerMan]

That Bat symbol is a big improvement - nice one!

Really looking forward to the final outcome!

 

[RevolverOcelot]

Yes, good choice on the upgraded of bat-emblem. I'm also a HUGH fan of the Animated series, so I'm loving the grapple gun. Keep it up!

 

[Peek73]

The Hush Bat looks Awesome! Well worth the last minute change.


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[Stronglikebear]

This is looking slick!

 

[dijon30]

Very nice mods to the suit. Really like your grappeling gun. Look forward to the convention pics.

 

[Albuin]

Your suit looks great. Isn't the symbol the one from the Arkham games logo?

Where did you get the belt? I've only found it on ebay.

 

[IronJoe]

I found my belt on eBay. I purchased the Khaki color, bleached it then dyed yellow with RIT. (Following in the footsteps of many Batman costumes I've found here!!) Honestly the bleached khaki made almost the perfect color, but I wanted a bit more "pop" so I ended up giving it a dye bath anyway.

 

[IronJoe]

I'm back from ECCC and it was a blast! This was only my second year cosplaying and I've stepped my game up quite a bit from a year ago - from basically buying complete costumes to sewing and hand making original props, and I think my hard work paid off.

My "comic style" Batman was pretty much the only one I saw of its kind - There were plenty of movie suits, Arkham game builds and even some classic '66 action - but I didn't really see any other Hush or other comic Batman the entire weekend.

What struck me was the overall lack of heroes at this con - there were SO MANY villains! Jokers, Banes, Harley Quinns, Riddlers, even a few Penguins! A huge showing from the Rogues Gallery, so I had plenty of opportunity to get some great "battles" in

Here's me facing off against the Scarecrow:

Had an altercation with Bane:

It didn't end well for me...

But we managed to work out our differences for a fan:

Met Yaya Han which was great!

The Bat-Grapple was a great success, got lots of positive feedback on it. There are so many TAS fans out there, myself included!!