Artbook Reveals DC's the Design-to-Statue Process

A coffee table book with explosive artwork.

By Joshua Yehl

The DC Collectibles Bombshells statue line has taken on a life of its own. There have been numerous variant covers by artist Ant Lucia featuring DC heroines reimagined as pinup girls from the ‘40s and ‘50s, a comic book featuring all of the characters set during the time of WWII, and of course the statues themselves finding a spot on many shelves and desks.

Now, DC Comics is publishing a handsome hardcover book, The Art of DC Comics Bombshells, featuring Bombshells design art, numerous covers, and insight from the lead art director and comic writer.

“The DC Collectibles team was absolutely thrilled when we learned that our publishing branch wanted to produce a hardcover book all about the Bombshells universe that included development sketches, [Ant Lucia’s] wonderful artwork and of course our amazing statues,” said Jim Fletcher, executive director of DC Collectibles and lead art director on the Bombshells line. “We had fun going through many of our early development notes to unearth some of the ‘behind the scenes’ concepts. The book is a dazzling tribute to our Bombshells heroines (and villains!), from the layout to the stunning photography.”

Below you can slide back and forth over each image to compare the original statue design to the final product.

Fletcher explained the process of taking each Bombshell from an idea on paper to a fully-realized collectible statue, using the Power Girl/Superman statue as an example.

• "Whenever we develop any statue from a particular artist, the first thing we do is look for a sculptor who we think can capture the artist’s art style. In this case, we reached out to award-winning sculptor John G. Mathews whose track record of sculpting beautiful women has already been proven."
• "The next thing is to study the pose to make sure we can accurately capture it in 3-D. In Ant’s original illustration, Superman is shown flying straight on PowerGirl’s shoulder. Our assessment was that this pose wouldn’t work due to production challenges as a statue, so we changed it up so that Superman would be perched on PowerGirl’s shoulder. We felt this change didn’t detract from what we were trying to convey in the piece."
• "Once the pose was decided, John worked with Art Director Brian Walters during the sculpting stage to make sure body proportions and facial details were consistent with the rest of the Bombshells line. Fun fact! This sculpt was done traditionally and not in a 3-D sculpting program."
• "After the sculpt was finished, a casting was made and the two figures get painted. We usually pick out pantone chips to choose the desired colors which are then sent to the painter."
• "Once approved, the figures are sent to us at the DC Collectibles office, where we photograph them and then send them to the factory to start production."

We also spoke with DC’s Bombshells comic writer Marguerite Bennett about how each Bombshell statue informed how she wrote that character in the series.

• "It is my solemn belief that Harley Quinn has a secret superpower where she can turn anything within 30 feet of her into comedy, and riding that bomb down became a Looney Tunes episode to turn everyone—and everything, in the case of the Joker—on its head."
• "Batwoman’s all-American aesthetic meant she was a radio adventure, socking Nazis in the jaw and kissing her girlfriend as the sun set behind them."
• "Hawkgirl had a delightful Flash Gordon feel, and her narrative was an Indiana Jones adventure set in the Northern Africa."
• "Power Girl and Superman are coming very soon—I’m just beginning to write the arc in which they will appear—but I can promise you’ll get a kick out of the moment they enact the poses of their statue."
• "Supergirl began with this sense of grace and wonder in flight—there’s such a sweetness and lightness in her design, and literally and thematically, it informed what became a difficult, weighty coming-of-age for her in a Soviet era."
• "Zatanna was one of the first, and her whole aesthetic put me quick in mind of the darkness, seediness, and desperate intrigues of the 1930s Berlin cabarets, and her story became a horror story."

As for what you can expect from her in the Bombshells art book, she said “My contribution is a lot of glowing and enthusing and rambling about the nature of women, power, personhood, and art, and the combination of these things is, quite sincerely, what makes Bombshells so striking and so appealing. Every page reveals the thoughtfulness and delight and design that went into each character, to assure that her actions and reimagining reflect who she is and what she values and why she fights. The book is a genuine treasure, with such gorgeous and clever photography, and I hope fans will love it just as they’ve shown so much love for the Bombshells.”

Check out The Art of DC Comics Bombshells on Amazon

Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

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