Birds of Prey was a short-lived TV series loosely based on the comic book series of the same name. It featured our first and only live-action portrayal of Huntress and the Oracle version of Barbara Gordon. Seemingly attempting to mimic the success of Smallville, the series only aired for a few months before being cancelled. I’ve never seen the series myself, but I’ve only ever heard good things about it. The only thing I’ve ever seen of the series was Barbara’s flashback to the moment she was paralyzed by the Joker, which was relatively well done, except for the bad dubbing job. Mark Hamill was, of course, great as the voice of the Joker.
The cancellation seemed so unexpected at the time, as marketing material was still in the middle of production as the show was pulled. Why do I say this? Well, artist Joe Jusko, known for his pin-up covers and Marvel trading cards, was commissioned to do a TV guide cover (Remember those?! Boy, I feel old.) of Ashley Scott as Huntress and before he could finish it, the show was cancelled. So, in the age of the Internet, he posted it for people to see.
Take a look:
Cool, huh? He posted the image with a explanation on his Facebook page.
Unpublished Birds of Prey TV Guide cover and the unused first idea. I thought a classic Amsel portrait style cover would be cool but a more comic booky approach was requested. I was really excited about the assignment but unfortunately the show was cancelled as I was working on the cover (!) and the final painting was never used. Bummer, as I really like the finished piece.
Instead of telling me to stop where I was and paying me a kill fee, the AD told me to finish it and voucher the full amount. Classy move.
Here’s the second, unfinished layout he had considered:
For any fans of the show, these would have been pretty great collectibles. I really love how he incorporated the Bats and the Cats in the background as ethereal figures. Very cool, indeed.