One of the most challenging things about attempting to build a batman outfit is trying to figure out which style you want to go with. There are so many different styles and artist variations on the costume that trying to pin down one that fits you style wise and –ahem- body structure wise is actually a very challenging Endeavour!

“But, Panzer… Batman is Batman! You’re over analyzing this, stop being dumb!” I would have totally agreed with that statement 2 years ago when I first decided I wanted to build the costume for Halloween. But the further I dove into looking… the deeper I found myself into the madness!

Over the years DC comics has changed the appearance I would say more then any other super hero in history. First introduced May 1939 in Detective Comics #27. He was given a very basic look that included a yellow belt, floppy ears on his cowl, and white eyes. A lot of this was kept over the years, however the subtle difference play a big part in the over all look. While I could go on and on about all the differences in costumes over the years today I would just like to talk about the center piece of the outfit.  The cowl.

Now when I first started at this I had no idea how many variations on the cowl their actually were. I also had no idea how many artists have tried to reproduce all the difference styles! I went onto eBay to find a mask and found prices varying between $10 all the way to $5,000. Why? Because the licensed brand “rubies”, the costume company that does 90% of the garbage costumes you will find in your local Wal-Mart at Halloween, would mass produce out of china for the throw away outfits for next to nothing cost wise. While the local artists and vendors would custom build their goodies and sell it for hundreds of dollars.

Mask on the left created by internet famous sculptor Inferno. Mask seen on the right created by Rubies – leading retailor of halloween costumes.

The rubies version would work fine for Halloween once, so I figured that would be the one to go with and just get drunk and have a good time with it on. However, what they don’t tell you is that a rubies cowl is intended for someone with a 22” head. If you want to know how big of a noggin you have you simply have to measure from the center of your brow around to the back. Odds are, you are a 23” or higher (unless your still growing tee,hee). Your poor head would not fit into one of these masks.

Discouraged I decided to look into the serious end of things. I came across several forums of insanely dedicated “cosplayers”…. Cosplayers. I remember about 3 years ago giving Grokk a hard time about these people because they were the ones that would grab the foam swords and start screaming medieval battle cries and pretend to beat at each other while wearing Scottish garb. I was literally embarrassed to be surfing these sites trying to find contacts for this stupid cowl – that remember I wanted for Halloween. Eventually I came across a sculptor named “Inferno”… this guy was nuts, and best of all: he was Canadian!

Inferno is one of those “internet legends” that comes and goes like a ghost off eBay and these forums, but when he comes he arrives and drops what can only be called insane works of art on everyone and then magically leaves. He created a cowl based on the 2009 ps3 game called arkham Asylum, a batman game that got me interested doing the Halloween outfit to begin with. I had to have this mask. Getting in touch with him proved to basically be impossible. He wouldn’t answer emails, he wouldn’t respond to forum messages… and he wouldn’t advertise any other means to contact him. His sculpts were very good, but simply wasn’t active enough to work with. Keeping in mind that none of these guys use eBay or anything you have protection with – so it’s all a trust game.

Infernos 2010 “Arkham Asylum” cowl.

Having failed to get a hold of Inferno I continued looking for several weeks on the cosplay boards and eventually came across a very public sculptor. This guy makes a living building these masks and other sculptures – Reevz666. This guy had no problem answering emails and keeping in steady contact through the entire transaction. He is also one of the few sculptors that have tackled multiple variations of the batman cowl.

Reevz666 multiple cowls styles created over the past 3 years. All available on his website – http://reevz666.com

So there you have it. It took all of 6 months to find a cowl that actually fit that didn’t look like hell… and a full month of slavery to Lora as it cost an arm and a leg~!

— Panzer