Chris Burnham on the Variant Cover for ACTION COMICS #7
In ACTION COMICS #7, Superman’s powers will be tested to new extremes when he attempts to save Metropolis and its citizens.
Below, take an exclusive first look at BATMAN, INCORPORATED artist Chris Burnham’s variant cover for the issue. We caught up with Burnham to ask him a little bit about his creative process, his influences and how he adapted writer Grant Morrison’s story for this stunning piece of art.
“My initial instinct upon reading the issue was to do something with the bottled cities of Metropolis & Kandor,” Burnham exclusively told THE SOURCE. “I LOVE the bottled city of Kandor. A few years ago I was at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh with my then-3-year-old nephew, Noah. We stumbled upon this incredible sculpture exhibition by the late great Mike Kelley. The exhibit is simply called 'Kandor' and features dozens of astounding renditions of the bottled city. Google it. It's amazing. And well worth tracking down in person if you get the chance. It was my favorite part of the museum and it was Noah's too! I literally had to drag him out of there kicking and screaming after we'd spent almost an hour in there. Kandor love runs in the family!
ANYHOW. Rags had already done an excellent job with a literal approach to the bottled city idea, so I decided to go a little more conceptual. The pieces all fell into place for a good, old-fashioned split cover! Superman torn between two worlds! Kandor and Metropolis! Nature and nurture! Teflon and cotton!
The cover also gave me the chance to work with the incomparable Gene Ha's astoundingly complicated designs for Krypton and Kandor. It was a great challenge to be true to his vision without straight-up tracing what he'd already drawn. Did I pull it off? You decide!”
ACTION COMICS #7 goes on sale on March 7th. And don’t miss Burnham’s next collaboration with Grant Morrison on BATMAN, INCORPORATED #1, in stores May 23rd.
