Thread by @jamesdleech

Now that I’ve read all the issues of Batman that @And_Sorrentino contributed to, I feel like there’s a pretty strong case that AI Art is being used. I’d love to be wrong about this, especially as the run has been so great, but it’s hard to avoid. I’ll explain in this thread:

First off, there are the usual telltale signs - strange anatomy, errors a human is unlikely to make. The weird hands, Joker being insanely ripped in one panel and wasting away in another. His wandering nipples!

Secondly, there’s the style, which Sorrentino doesn’t appear to have used before outside of a couple of instagram posts. His other work is very distinctive - heavily photo-referenced, high contrast lighting. This is quite a departure from that. Not enough on its own, but telling.

This shift in styles becomes more suspicious when you note there seem to be additions in a much more basic brush - look at the repetition in shape on the large black stroke in the 1st image, the daubs of red in the 2nd & 3rd. If you’re actually painting these, why skimp here?

This image in particular feels like a prompt that’s been modified to look Jokerish. Why the washboard abs, the ripped jeans and sneakers? Hardly screams “Joker”. Smart move hiding the hands, though

Another thing that stands out is how low resolution the “painted” panels are compared to the rest of the art. Look at the pixelation and jpeg artefacts compared to the smooth speech balloons and non-painted art.

Here’s a good example of seemingly carefully painted art being modified in pretty rudimentary fashion, presumably because it didn’t fit the intended purpose. The sharp outlines around the cut & pasted hair in comparison to the brush strokes around it, the repeated elements

I’ve seen people say that you can’t achieve that kind of look with a machine, so here’s some examples of similar-looking AI art.

AI is useful for lots of things. There are medical applications, things that make our lives smoother, even photo restoration can be ok if not overdone (sadly it usually is). It’s not *all* bad. But generative AI art is soulless plagiarism. Keep it out of comics @DCOfficial

@DCOfficial It’s worth noting: people wondered if the more recognisably Sorrentino panels are AI art too, as it looks exactly like Batfleck. I’m sceptical of this; the more likely answer is he’s used his usual tracing process on screenshots. Not great, but I guess DC owns the rights

@DCOfficial Not that it’s the main point here, but I genuinely did love the work before and after this. Zdarsky’s a hell of a writer and Jorge Jiménez is perfect for Batman - so expressive and dynamic. The stuff I love about comic art that’s being drowned out by this stuff

@DCOfficial Here's some tests that I think back up the claim (they added the text and panel framing to their AI generated image)

@DCOfficial one of the tweets I was referring to is embedded within the other one, here it is for convenience