Squad19 Deathbat

When I drew this I was thinking biker gang but with skateboards. It was later brought to my attention that it looks like an Avenged Sevenfold logo rip-off. I’m not real familiar with them so I did some investigating and sure enough, they use the deathbat as their logo.

I also learned that they’ve been accused of ripping it off from the band Overkill, not only by Overkill fans but by the band as well. I have to disagree there.

Avenged Sevenfold uses the same image every time with different stuff designed around it. Overkill uses the deathbat like Iron Maiden uses Eddie, it’s always fresh art, different settings, poses etc. In this case, one band uses it as a logo and the other uses it as a mascot.

That said, the oldest Deathbat known in the world is a sculpture of a bat-winged skull over a doorway in the Durham Cathedral, which was built between c.1093-1133 AD so, neither band can really claim it as their own original idea.

Historically, a skull is representative of the transitory nature of life and death and the winged skull has symbolized the flight of the soul from mortal man for centuries.

What do you guys think? Should I scrap it? Or produce it?