Please Help Legendary Batman Artist Norm Breyfogle

In December of 2014, Norm Breyfogle suffered a stroke at the age of 54. Aside from the stroke's serious physical and mental effects, which left the left-handed artist numb on his left side, Mr. Breyfogle has been hit with a serious medical bill, and the prospect of more expenses to deal with long-term care and rehabilitation.

We've shared the Breyfogle family's fundraising link on our social media here and there, but with five days left in that campaign, it has raised just short of half of its $200,000 goal.

You can donate by clicking this link, and I have some more details on how you can help down below.

When I was a kid and Batman was king (and when you think about it, considering the job I'm fortunate enough to do every day and the current pop culture climate, not much has changed), there were two schools of visual Batman thought. You were either a Jim Aparo guy...or a Norm Breyfogle guy. Aparo was known for a more "classic," lithe Caped Crusader, and his place in Bat-history was assured long before I was able to read. 

But Norm Breyfogle was something else.

While superhero comics were chasing post-Watchmenand Dark Knight Returns realism and rising stars like Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane were bringing remarkable dynamics to stunningly detailed linework, Norm Breyfogle's art was an anomaly. A Norm Breyfogle Detective Comicscover jumped off the rack, because it simply didn't look like any of its peers. 

While Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo were telling the "big" Batman stories in his self-titled book (the death of Jason Todd, back when kids thought that the death of a superhero might actually mean something, came from this era), the stuff coming from Alan Grant, John Wagner, and Norm Breyfogle in Detective Comicswas something different.

Breyfogle's Batman was wild.

Here we all were, being told at every turn what a "serious" and realistic character Batman was, and the stories in Detective Comics were full of the same kind of gothic, operatic, insanity-laden tones that were hallmarks of the character. But with Norm Breyfogle on the pencil, Detectiveread like the greatest Batman animated series you could dream of. In fact, when I first laid eyes on Batman: The Animated Series (another revelatory moment in my life), I knew nothing of art-deco, film noir, or Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's visual influences. But my kid brain did kinda think everyone moved the way I imagined they would in Norm Breyfogle's Batman stories.

As superhero comics increasingly drifted towards a gritty sameness, a Norm Breyfogle Batman comic was like an explosion of awesome. There was no mistaking who you were reading, and characters really moved. 

Check this out:

Over the years I realized that when it was time to revisit my box of Batman back issues from the '90s, it was the stories drawn by Breyfogle I reached for. I'm not an artist. I'm hardly even a writer. I can't talk to you about what makes Norm Breyfogle the artist so good. But as a Batman fan I can tell you that this is the guy, perhaps more than any other artist of the last 30 years, who got to the very core of the visual appeal of Batman and his world.

Mr. Breyfogle co-created some enduring Batman characters of his own, including Mr. Zsasz (who can currently be seen on Gotham), Anarky (who showed up on the more recent Batman cartoon, Beware the Batman), and the Ventriloquist. Perhaps most importantly, it was Norm Breyfogle who drew Tim Drake's first adventures as a full-fledged Robin. Neal Adams (a Batman immortal) is credited for the Robin costume that Tim Drake wore, arguably the best Robin has ever looked, but there's a tremendous amount of Norm Breyfogle's artistic DNA in that design. You can read an excellent article about the genesis of Robin's new look, full of rarely seen Breyfogle sketches and a detailed memo on the design over at 1989Batman.com.

While Neal Adams gets credit for the design, fans got the first official look at the new Robin thanks to the pencil of Norm Breyfogle in this awesome spread:

DC Comics recently announced a premium Legends of the Dark Knight hardcover edition dedicated to some of Mr. Breyfogle's work. The timing of this should help get him some much needed royalty money. I can tell you with absolute certainty that every story in this volume is a treasure for Batman fans. I devoured them all as single issues as a kid. 

Here are the details:

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: NORM BREYFOGLE HC
Written by JOHN WAGNER, ALAN GRANT and others
Art by NORM BREYFOGLE and others
Cover by NORM BREYFOGLE
On sale JULY 1 • 520 pg, FC, $49.99 US
In these tales from BATMAN ANNUAL #11-12 and DETECTIVE COMICS #579, 582-594 and 601-607, all featuring the art of Norm Breyfogle, the Dark Knight faces the evil of the Ventriloquist and Scarface, the Crime Doctor, the Demon, a horde of Clayfaces and more!

Please keep in mind, this book isn't out until July, I don't know how much of the proceeds actually make it to Mr. Breyfogle's pocket, nor how long it will take. Please donate whatever you feel comfortable with at this link...and then be sure to order this volume, as well.

And please, share the Breyfogle family's fundraising link even if you aren't sharing this article.