Here are some inks I've been working on for awhile for the contest that is having. The theme is "Steampunk," with a subtheme of "Batman."

Anyway, I sort of got to thinking. Steampunk often has that awesome Victorian feel to it, yes? That blend of early industrial revolution high fashion and super advanced steam technology. And then I was like, well Batman is the greatest modern detective, so whose shoes can I put him in who was a great Victorian detective? Sherlock Holmes immediately leapt to mind. The story is as follows.

Bruce Wayne, sole surviving heir of two wealthy merchants, had a singular mind. He was a most observant man, and his observations lead him towards a career in detection. He was the foremost investigator of wrong-doings in the British Empire, using his intellect and instincts to root out even the most well-entrenched villainy. With his faithful partner, Dr. Dick Grayson (one-time medical examiner for Scotland Yard), at his side, he had solved the most complex cases in the kingdom.

However, when the two fast friends cornered the vicious criminal mastermind, Professor "Joker" Moriarti, then were unprepared for their oppenent's retaliation. Dr. Grayson was gunned down in a hail of fire from a steam-powered gatling gun, one of several new hellish inventions that were tearing up the streets of London. Enraged, but ever logical, Wayne realized that his powers of detection alone were no longer enough to counter the crime wave descending on his city.

Investing his parents' fortune into the new Steam Powered technology, he constructed himself a suit of armor that would stop even Moriarti's bullets. Though he has yet to catch up to his nemesis, Wayne has had plenty of opportunities to test his suit. The headgear's resemblance to the ears of a bat has not gone unnoticed by the denizens of the underworld, and there is a rumor going around that Bruce Wayne, once a man, has been transformed into a spirit of vengeance. Wayne, for his part, has done everything he can to enhance the image, including embracing his bat persona.

However, he has not been able to totally abandon the accoutrement that defined his early career, and still wears the same jacket and bowler he did when he was a younger man. In his breast pocket resides his trusty pipe and his turtle shell inlaid magnifying glass. As he often tells the commissioner of Scotland Yard, James Gordon, "The rules of detection are still the same. It is the world that has changed."