Meet the Singapore artists and entrepreneurs making their mark on Batman and Western comics

SINGAPORE – On May 13, the world’s most famous sidekick, Robin, makes his debut in the 20th issue of Absolute Batman – a series that has electrified the world of comics since its 2024 launch.

It is a landmark event for collectors. More than 90 comic book stores globally have commissioned their own exclusive variant covers, including Singapore’s Comic Grail Vault in King George’s Avenue.

Local talent is also at the forefront. Singapore artist Kendrick “kunkka” Lim was enlisted to create an exclusive cover for US-based Dark Collections/Unknown Comics. Thai artist Rachta Lin, who is based here, created a cover for JAMS Fortress Comics in the US. 

This cavalcade of retailer-exclusive covers is a rarity. Typically, publishers might release two or three variants. Retailer exclusives are often reserved for debut or other special issues, and limited to a handful.

But Absolute Batman – penned by the American powerhouse duo of comic writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta – is no typical comic. 

According to entertainment media outlet The Hollywood Reporter, the series – alongside other titles in the Absolute imprint, like Wonder Woman and Superman – has sold almost 12 million copies. This has helped DC Comics overtake Marvel Comics in market share for the first time this century. 

Absolute Batman reimagines the Caped Crusader for a new generation. He is a city engineer by day and a vigilante by night. The title has made waves for its cliffhanger plot points and inventive visual design. For instance, the logo of this Batman’s uniform can be removed and used as a savage “Bat-Axe”.  

The Straits Times finds out more about the artists and entrepreneurs propelling Singapore to stake its unique claim on an iconic character – and on the Western comics industry.

Comic Grail Vault: Come for the comics, stay for the vibes 

It is a sleepy April afternoon in Jalan Besar when a gaggle of teenage girls tentatively walk into local comic book store Comic Grail Vault (CGV).

They are there to ask about Free Comic Book Day: an occasion commemorated by comic bookshops around the world on the first Saturday of every May.

“Does that happen often?” this reporter asks. “Young women wandering in?”

After all, the stereotype of the comic book fan as a male nerd has existed for a long time.

“It happens more often than you might expect,” says CGV co-founder Randolph Tan, 34.

And what characters or books are they usually interested in?

“Dick Grayson,” is Mr Tan’s immediate response. “Maybe Jason Todd.”

These are not A-list characters with broad name recognition outside the comics world, but they are closely associated with one who is: Batman.

Grayson and Todd began as Batman’s young crime-fighting partner, Robin. Grayson was the first Robin from 1940 to 1984, and Todd took over from 1984 to 1988. 

Despite not appearing in any recent movie adaptations featuring Batman, Grayson and Todd – and many others who have taken on the mantle of Robin over the years – have experienced a surge in popularity in the last five years.

This is partly why CGV shifted its Free Comic Book Day celebration to May 16.

“We want to commemorate our first exclusive retailer variant cover for DC Comics, which is for Absolute Batman #20,” says Mr Tan, who founded CGV with Mr Bryan Ku, 27. 

Absolute Batman ($9.50 at CGV), which is currently the Western comic industry’s best-selling monthly comic, is the most popular title among CGV’s customers, says Mr Tan.

And the 20th issue, which comes out on May 13, will feature the highly anticipated appearance of not one but five Robins, including Grayson and Todd.

None of these characters are new to DC Comics, but they are new to the Absolute universe, which takes place in a parallel reality.

Creators Snyder and Dragotta have drawn inspiration from the Japanese gundam genre to reimagine the Robins as pilots of giant “mecha” robots.

While exclusive retailer variant covers are typically arranged by individual stores, the comic’s publisher retains approval rights over which ones the artist is commissioned for, as well as the final images produced. 

CGV commissioned Italian artist Davide Paratore to illustrate its wraparound cover, which depicts the comic’s titular character with all five mecha-Robins.

American comic books are a niche market in the Republic. There are not many comic book stores here, and no others that commission retailer-exclusive variant covers.

But the goal was always to build a community and a brand, rather than be just a distribution or consignment service, says Mr Tan. 

CGV was born during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when he began selling his and his father’s old comics on Carousell and Facebook live streams.

In 2021, Mr Tan and Mr Ku opened CGV’s first physical store at Roxy Square. They stayed there until 2024 before moving to Sim Lim Square for a year. CGV finally settled at its current 1,100 sq ft space in King George’s Avenue in November.

“We’re not planning to move again soon,” Mr Tan says. “We have a nice, big space here, and the vibe of the neighbourhood suits us.”

“Our goal is to elevate CGV to not just a place where people can order new comics, but also something like the comic book shop in The Big Bang Theory,” he adds, referring to the popular American sitcom that ran from 2007 to 2019. 

“We want new readers to be excited to dig into the world of comics through our extensive back catalogue, and for our regulars to be comfortable to just hang out with us.”

These regulars include teenager Lael Lee, who owns what may be the world’s biggest collection of comics featuring the Marvel Comics character Galactus, pending an official Guinness World Records evaluation.

During the June school holidays in 2025, the 15-year-old spent a few days as an intern at CGV. He received a small internship allowance, which he used to fund more comics purchases.

“The community vibe at CGV definitely fuelled my passion for Galactus. It’s a fun place to hang out and chat with other comics fans,” says Lael. 

“And it’s great that we can still find spaces in Singapore where people appreciate human-made art that hasn’t been touched by artificial intelligence.”  

The CGV team – two full-time staff in addition to Mr Tan and Mr Ku, along with six part-timers – has also consciously set out to uplift local and regional artists. 

For the 2025 Singapore Comic-Con at Sands Expo and Convention Centre in December, CGV brought in eight regional and local artists to its booth to meet fans. 

“We travel often to international comic conventions to meet and network with comics creators and publishers, and so many of them have told us the same thing – that they see Singapore as the rising comics hub for South-east Asia,” says Mr Tan.

“So it’s important to us to be at the forefront of supporting and championing that talent, and nurturing the local comics community as it continues to grow,” he adds. 

Kendrick Lim: From video games to teaching and comics 

In 2005, Singaporean artist Kendrick Lim faced a choice: continue working in Tokyo for Japanese video game developer tri-Ace, or return to Singapore to start something new.

The 44-year-old decided to take a leap of faith and returned here to launch artist collective Imaginary Friends Studio. 

Some two decades on, it counts advertising agencies, comics companies, and film and video game studios among its clients. 

Its co-founders include Hong Kong artist Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, who is highly respected for his extensive portfolio of comic book covers for Marvel Comics, DC Comics and more. 

Lim himself has been hired by both comics publishers. He illustrated the main covers for all 15 issues of Carnage (2022) and all 10 issues of Hellverine (2024), both published by Marvel. 

He has also drawn one-off variant covers for DC Comics titles such as Batman, Harley Quinn and Absolute Wonder Woman.

And he has been commissioned by comic book retailers to create exclusive variant covers, such as an upcoming one for Absolute Batman #20, featuring multiple Robins. 

Breaking into Western comics – which for him happened in the late 2010s, when publishers and retailers began to notice his fan art online – was never a specific career aspiration. 

“I’ve always been a casual fan, but never really collected comics in a serious way,” Lim says.

And there are other, easier ways to make money as an artist.

“But it’s fun and rewarding to draw and paint these popular characters in an official capacity,” he says. 

The bucket-list characters he would still love to draw are those from the cartoons of his childhood – He-Man and X-Men, for instance.

He demurs when asked to describe his illustration style, which straddles the line between photorealistic and fantastical.

“My art is a subconscious mishmash of all my favourite artists, who include Japanese illustrators Katsuya Terada and Shinkiro, and American illustrators Frank Frazetta and Mike Mignola,” he says. 

In a few years, there may very well be a new generation of rising artists who cite Lim as an influence.

He divides his time between comics work and teaching part-time at 3dsense Media School in Clarke Quay, which offers digital arts programmes such as game art and 3D animation. 

“I plan to transition out of teaching and work on comics full-time as opportunities continue to expand for me in that scene,” says Lim. 

Rachta Lin: Drawing her way to success, haters and all 

In April, Singapore-based Thai artist Rachta Lin waded into Reddit to directly address her critics and detractors.

Her retailer-exclusive variant cover for Absolute Batman #20 had drawn more than 150 comments on a comics-related subreddit, many of which were negative.

“This is awful,” wrote one user. Another simply said: “Kinda bad.”

Critics were also out in force on X and TikTok, criticising Lin’s anime-inspired art for over-sexualising DC Comics character Stephanie Brown, who will appear in the comic as one of five “Robins”. 

“I understand that art styles are not universal and that is fine,” Lin wrote in a comment on the original Reddit post. “I hope that we all remember that at the end of the day, we are all united by our love for comics, our heroes and villains and all things in between.”

The artist, who is in her 30s and moved to Singapore in 2011, tells The Straits Times: “Criticism and differences in opinion are a part of life and definitely a part of being a professional. I’m grateful that people actually take the time and effort to comment on my work.”

She understands where some of the criticism comes from. “At the same time, I have a vision and a target audience in mind. I have to honour that.”

Besides, pursuing art while growing up in South-east Asia has always been fraught for Lin. She became a full-time artist in 2015, following a successful career in graphic design. 

Many discouraged her from her choice of vocation, while art teachers told her to drop her preferred anime-inspired style in favour of something more like “actual, real art”.

“There was a period of time when I tried to change my style, by making my characters’ eyes smaller, less big and ‘anime-like’, the noses more ‘realistic’ and the face shapes more Westernised,” she says.

But it was not a comfortable fit, and she eventually returned to her preferred style.

She is in the throes of her own manga project, The Wonderverse Saga. A crowdfunding campaign is ongoing on Kickstarter for the second book in this series, which Lin describes as a dark superhero fantasy.  

While manga and anime have always been her passions, her foray into American comics was unexpected. 

“A retailer reached out to me in 2020 and asked if I’d be interested in creating an exclusive variant cover. At the time, I was mostly focused on anime and video game art, although I was also drawing comic characters for my supporters as collectible pieces.”

Not long after, a DC Comics editor got in touch. Lin’s first work for the company was a variant cover for an issue of Harley Quinn, released in 2021.

More opportunities followed with other big comics publishers, such as Dynamite and Image. Today, she is credited with more than 30 variant covers for DC Comics titles, including Batman and Superman.

Lin says that Singapore, which she considers her second home, has been vital to her success in the comics industry. 

“American comics weren’t very accessible in Thailand, where I grew up,” she recalls. “I wasn’t fully exposed to the American comics scene until I moved to Singapore. The scene is much more vibrant and accessible here.”

If not for that, she says: “I never could have imagined I’d have the chance to create something for a comic at the level of Absolute Batman, which is an industry juggernaut.”