Viking Art of Batman Fighting Twin Dragons of Harley and Ivy

Neatoramanaut Joy Taney of kineticnovels sent us this awesome rendition of Batman fighting twin dragons of Harley and Ivy in the style of Viking-era art.

The Batman, Harley and Ivy illustration was inspired by a number of historical pieces of Viking jewelry, carvings and adornment. The Harley-Dragon design, Taney told Neatorama, is mostly designed based on Viking artifacts found in England. "A Viking rune stone from St. Paul's Churchyard gave me the idea for the basic shape of her dragon," Taney added, "while a shoulder clasp found in Sutton Hoo provide dmost of the patterns ... The double headed boar featured on the Sutton Hoo shoulder clasp was also the inspiration for the boar carving found on a cairn stone."

The Ivy-Dragon, on the other hand, is inspired by a Viking artwork from Norway. "The body of Ivy-Dragon was loosely based on the creatures ornamenting an eleventh century Vking ship's weathervane from Heggen, Norway. Ivy-Dragon's head was inspired by a dragon fighting scene carved into the ornate door jams of Hyllestad Church and sticks out her tongue like the dragon-headed tent frame supports from Gokstad. Her flowery patterns come from the carved doorway of Opdal Church."

"The pose of Batman holding both dragons by their throats comes from a pose of a man sitting and holding snakes in a similar manner that can be found on an ornament from Thorleif's stone in Kirk Braddan, Isle of Man, England." Taney further explained, "Human figures tend to be shown in Viking folk art with a little less geometric stylization than the animals. Interlocking legs, such as the one I chose for Batman, were usually the domain of animal figures, not human. However, since one of the running themes of the Batman stories is how thin the line separating the hero from the rogues' gallery really is, it seemed appropriate to render him in a way that was not so different from the villains."

Batman's logo, batarangs and utility belts feature the geometric knotwork that is universal in Viking folk art. "Viking knotwork has a characteristic, woven pattern where each strand moves over one piece it crosses, and then under the next, and continues this way throughout. I desigend the logo and utility belt separately so they would contain the number of twists, turns, and overlaps to emulate that over/under pattern."

Check out more of Taney's artwork over at her Tumblr and deviantART page. Thanks for sharing with us, Joy!