angelophile | COMIC WAR ON 'SUPER QUEEROES'

Holy Homophobia, Batman.

A Manhattan art gallery was threatened with legal action if it didn't take down a display of some risqué watercolor paintings of Batman and Robin in several — er — compromising positions.

DC Comics has asked the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery on West 26th Street to cease and desist from showcasing artist Mark Chamberlain's work of the Dynamic Duo in flagrante.

The comic company has also demanded that an art Web site — Artnet — remove Chamberlain's portraits of the duo's dirty doings — some of which have found buyers, with a starting price of $200.

The Caped Crusader is shown in one painting entitled "Pin Up" without his bat shirt, lounging like a gay-porn magazine model. Another, "Robin's Baby Pictures," has the Boy Wonder lying on his stomach baring his buttocks. An untitled portrait has Batman and Robin sharing a passionate tongue kiss.

"DC Comics wants me to hand over all unsold work and the invoices for the sold work," Cullen told Artnet News. There was no answer at her gallery yesterday.

DC Comics has also demanded they remove Chamberlain's work depicting the stripped-down superheroes.

There was no answer at DC Comics yesterday.

Chamberlain, whose work was still displayed on the Artnet site yesterday, did not immediately return a call for comment.