The Bats statue by Dreaming Images is inspired by an artwork of the famous Italian cartoonist Gabriele Dell'Otto and when, some years ago, I had the opportunity to put it in my collection I did it immediately, as a fine exception to my rigorous propensity for the Marvel Universe. The piece was sculpted by Roberto De Meo and painted by Davide Decina, two talented professionals mainly working in the field of hobby modeling. The piece was released in 2013 in a very limited edition (presumably, a few tens of copies), although no number is specified at the bottom of the base. The statue has a rather limited size (a height of 23 cm and a weight of approximately 1 Kg), corresponding, more or less, to the 1:9 scale. The hero is depicted in a static and frontal pose, wrapped in a huge, long cloak, which completely covers the character down to the ground. This feature avoids the usual sculpt of a human body and gives the piece a great originality and appeal. The attention, in fact, is captured by the folds and awesome hues of the cloak, which have to follow and somehow to suggest the position of the underlying body. The arms are crossed on chest and the right hand is visible on the left shoulder, holding an edge of the cloack with a black glove. Note the excellent design of the fabric's folds at the groin level, down to the feet, on the right forearm and also on the back, where a lot of rounded and centered creases appear below the neck and three deep and straight wrinkles emphasize how the whole cape perfectly fall on the hero's body. The painting is very charming: a brilliant blue starts from the top and gradually becomes darker and darker, up to turn into a deep and opaque black to the ground. Like in the original artwork, two arched decorative elements embellish the figure on shoulders. Also the head is very well sculpted and colored: it is characterized by the classic, long tips at both sides, a rigid and pointed shape on nose, some dark and deep shades on cheeks and around the mouth and two thin, white eyes which give the face a mysterious and captivating expressiveness. The base has an irregular shape, depicting a simple, black terrain, where two small and pyramidal columns act as a support for many floating (and very fragile) bats which notably enriches the overall aesthetics and the scenic design of the piece. In my opinion, this statue really represents a top-quality collectible and a clear demonstration of how the intelligence, the creativity and the talent of professional artists may generate small jewels of great appeal!