The art in this show is utilizing popular culture icons as the means of expression for other sets of ideas this doesn't diminish the properties of Batman and Robin in the slightest. I really hope, though, that the powers that be recognize that slash fan fiction is a more sophisticated and interesting phenomenon than simple plagiarism or vulgarity. Of course, if Time Warner really wants to go after us, they certainly have the money to do it. Justin Hall: I've talked to a couple of lawyers about this, and they agree that this should all fall clearly within parody. We aren't selling books or programs or charging admission, the only thing for sale are the pieces created by the artists, and I think comic book stores do these types of shows all the time. Also, within comics there's a big tradition of artist alley, where people can do their spins on the characters, and there's also the fact that artists are allowed to sell the original art for pieces that are made for reproduction.
![batman gay sex comics batman gay sex comics](https://www.pinknews.co.uk/images/2015/12/superhero4.jpg)
For one thing, most of the pieces fall into the category of commentary on the characters, we aren't presenting them as official products, and I think they're well within the definition of fair use. Rick Worley: I don't see any problem with that. SH: Batman and Robin are copyrighted characters, have you had any problems with using them as your inspiration for this exhibition? We have paintings, digital art, and some traditional comics-style pen and ink. We have female contributors, heterosexual contributors, even a lesbian Batwoman and Catwoman story. Rick Worley: The idea was to get as diverse a group of artists as possible to see what they would bring to it, as you can probably see from the samples (below). SH: How did you choose artists to contribute to the exhibition?
![batman gay sex comics batman gay sex comics](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/79/27/3b/79273b7c0ed0239527109fb8e861922e.jpg)
We'll even have some poetry read at the opening, along with the comics! It's really interesting how such a narrowly defined subject, homoerotic takes on Batman and Robin, can lead to such a tremendous range of art. We have everything from traditional comics art, to oil paintings, etchings, tattoo art, photograph, ink washes, digital prints, etc. As Rick said, we have an entire range of artists, men and women, gay, straight, and bisexual, doing everything from classic gay erotica, to curtain fiction ("domestic" slash), to really surreal pieces. A lot of artists came forward on their own with work, and the response in general has been remarkable, and incredibly diverse. Justin Hall: Rick and I first came up with a dream list of possible contributors to reach out to, but then the ball started rolling almost faster than we could keep up with. I was talking a little while ago to some friends who are heterosexual and who aren't really into comics, and when I told them the show was about Batman and Robin and the theme of the show their immediate response was, "Oh yeah, they totally fuck." It's something that's become such a part of the subtext of the characters over the decades that people get it right away. I think the show is going to end up with around 30 contributors, and we've already had people talk to us about traveling the show after it comes down in March. Actually, the show goes up tomorrow and I'm still getting messages from people asking if they can contribute pieces. Once we started to talk to artists about it, though, we found that there was no shortage of people who wanted to original pieces specifically for our show. The original idea of the show was actually to try to collect and do a retrospective of Batman and Robin slash stuff that already existed, since there's enough of that in the world already to probably do 10 good shows. I thought it was interesting how such a specific theme could provide such a variety of responses, and how some of those responses tell you more about the artists than they do about Batman and Robin.
![batman gay sex comics batman gay sex comics](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4d/2a/df/4d2adfdddbeed5d3fb1fa880f731988d.jpg)
![batman gay sex comics batman gay sex comics](https://www.dccomics.com/sites/default/files/BM13_6.jpg)
The stories reflect the life experiences and sexual inclinations of the people who draw them. What made me think it would be an interesting show is how, despite both being sex stories involving Batman and Robin, Justin's piece and mine were so completely different.