Chipp Kidd Presents Batman Black and White

Award-winning book jacket designer and Batman aficionado Chip Kidd brought his Manhattan Society of Illustrators 80th-anniversary Batman exhibition to Mainspace ARTSPACE in downtown Shreveport on June 24.

HOLY HUNDREDS OF BLACK AND WHITE BATMAN COVERS!! Chip Kidd, one of the greatest and most renowned graphic designers in the world, was also known as one of the world’s greatest Batman aficionados, and he brought his Manhattan Batman exhibition, “Batman Black and White: Sketch Covers, Commissioned by Chip Kidd” to Mainspace ARTSPACE in downtown Shreveport on June 24, 2022. “BatFans” had a chance to meet Kidd and hear him talk about his work on Saturday, June 25.

Kidd was unquestionably a “Batmaniac.” When he was commissioned by DC Comics in 2012 to write a Batman story for its “Batman: Black and White” anthology comics title, Kidd was inspired to invite some of the world’s greatest illustrators to sketch Batman black and white covers. Rob Pistella, a curator of the Society of Illustrators in New York City (where part of this exhibit originated), said that “Kidd had a profound understanding of the Batman character and liked having people who wouldn’t usually draw comics do covers for him that brought another richness to this collection. The result was a magnificent exhibition of design creativity.”

“I was born in 1964, and two years later the Batman TV show came out. That was my gateway drug, which led quickly to the comic books,” said Kidd. “All the different elements about it really appealed to me visually. I was a kid watching escapist fantasy, and it was exciting. And the way all of these fantastic creators over the years have contributed to the story—it's incredible,” added Kidd.

It was this curiosity to see how others might portray Gotham’s vigilante that resulted in the almost 150 Batman Black and White covers that were on exhibition at artspace in downtown Shreveport. Beloved cartoonist for The New Yorker Magazine Roz Chast put Batman and Robin arguing on a couch. Sutton Impact’s cartoonist Ward Sutton sketched “MadBatmen,” a spoof on the television series “Mad Men,” with a reference to the Joker stealing the Lucky Strike account. New York socialite Gloria Vanderbilt did a cover that portrayed Bat Woman with lush red lips and a sequined cat eyes mask. Shreveport’s former Moonbot Studios artist, Vanessa Del Ray, also opted for the feminine side—her cover showing a Batwoman with long, bright red hair. Hundreds of others jumped at the opportunity to pen their version of the caped crusaders, including a cover illustrated by Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, one by Pulitzer winner Art Spiegelman, one by Shreveport’s Academy Award-Winning illustrator William Joyce, and another by Joyce’s son Jack.

Kidd mused that it might have been his obsession with the design of the Batman comics that led him to a design career. His first major credit as an author and designer was for Batman Collected (1996), a photographic timeline of Batman collectibles and memorabilia. He was also the person chiefly responsible for bringing Jiro Kuwata’s fantastic Batmanga from Japan to the U.S. Kidd worked with fellow Batman collector Saul Ferris on Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan. He entered the world of graphic design via a passion for comic books, which had endured through the years, and today he is considered one of the world’s leading experts on Batman. He was fascinated with just where creativity can take you and how many ways Bruce Wayne can be portrayed.