DC Comics has taken exception to watercolours of Batman and Robin snogging and generally getting it on and has ordered the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery in New York to take down Mark Chamberlain's provocative representations or face the legal consequences.

Also at the receiving end of DC's wrath is art website Artnet, which carries some of the images. Artnet's 18 August "magazine" notes they have received a "cease & desist" letter similar to that slapped on gallery owner Kathleen Cullen for displaying "images of Batman and Robin exchanging a kiss, a watercolor titled Robin's Baby Pictures depicting the Boy Wonder's cute rear end, and a rendering of the Caped Crusader, sans shirt but otherwise in costume, striking a languorous pose".

Holy homoerotica! Cullen "admits she has spent the last two weeks of my life consulting lawyers", after DC Comics demanded she "hand over all unsold work and invoices for the sold work".

Artnet advises visitors to "stay tuned", and in the meantime continues to punt Chamberlain's gay Batman and Robin to an astounded world. ®