Gather ’round, people. I’ve a story I would tell.

Most folks know that Batman: The Animated Series owes its existence to the success of the Tim Burton Batman movie. BTAS was commissioned and developed in the wake of that first movie’s success, and then sort of ignored and left to grow on its own while the Schumacher movies squandered all that goodwill. During the run of BTAS and its many spin-offs, several characters were newly developed for the show and not reinterpreted from the comics. Among those was the intrepid reporter Summer Gleeson, filling the pivotal role of newshound that every superhero story seems to require.

Jump ahead 33 years later. Joe Quinones is the artist on Batman ’89, the comic book sequel continuing Burton’s vision of Gotham. (And ignoring Shumacher’s.) In one panel, we see a television reporter covering the scene, and it’s clearly Summer Gleeson. Her hair is different, and her name is not mentioned, but there’s no doubt as to her identity. I am going to guess that Sam Hamm, the writer, never intended the reporter to be anyone specific, and Joe snuck her in.

The circle of Life is complete!

Obviously, I had to act on that one panel of a comic book, and make Summer for my shelf. She was not difficult. The base body is the Diamond Select X-Files Dana Scully. I sculpted the tie. The head is the alternate head included with an obscure Marvel Legends X-Men character. (So obscure I have already forgotten the name.)  It had the headband and a similar haircut, so I ran with that. The rest is paint.

Created May 2023