Dallas' Custom BATMAN - THE DARK KNIGHT Kotobukia Bat-Signal Lamp

Here's a couple of craft project photos from our buddy named Dallas. He created this Custom Light-Up Bat-Signal by converting a Kotobukia Statue of Batman perched on top of the Bat-Signal. Of course, it's the version from "THE DARK KNIGHT" movie. Basically he took the Bat-Signal piece & retrofit a light inside it. He also added a different lens cover ( I think ) so that light would shine through it. overall, Dallas did an amazing job on this new piece because it now looks extremely cool! OK, I have seen a few other people do this & it makes me wonder, "Why didn't Kotobukia do this in the 1st place? I mean, it seems so obvious". I'm sure it had something to do with production cost. Plus, they make art statues & they're NOT in the lamp business. Anyways, I didn't mean to loose track here. Plus, I also wanna thank Dallas for sharing his photos. If any other Bat-Blog Readers have any Bat-Craft Projects going on then please let us know. We always love to hear from creative people.

Funny - BATMAN Character MR. MEN Parody Art

For every person who is familiar with the Classic MR. MEN Children Books this post will be totally hilarious! A Graphic designer named "Seven Hundred" recently did a series of "Fake Book Covers" that are all a complete parody of the MR. MEN books but instead of the Mr.Men characters he used comic book super heroes. They're kind of silly ( which they're suppose to be ) but they're very well done & retain the "Mr. Men art-style". He did a lot of Batman ones & I'm only showing a couple of examples here. To see them all be sure to click HERE!

Original 1960's BATMAN POP ART OIL PAINTING By Bob Kane!

WOW! The Bat-Blog is known for sharing a ton of news about Batman but this is actual BAT-HISTORY right here! The image you see up above is a photo of the original Batman Pop Art Oil Painting "done by" Bob Kane, the co-creator of Batman. The pics were sent in by a Bat-Blog Fan named Rick, who actually owns this amazing piece of art ( Be sure to click on it for a larger, sharper, image ). He explained how he got it in this email, he wrote:

In 1966, after the television show hit big, Bob Kane did a series of 12 large pop art oil paintings. This is one of them and, I think, the best of the bunch. I saw about 8 of them in the early 90's when Kane exhibited them at an art gallery in Beverly Hills. Mine was owned by Cary Grant for 20 years and hung in his guest bathroom. I've owned it since 1987.

Oh man! I've known about these paintings for years & it's so cool to actually meet someone who owns one. I've never seen one in real life, only publicity photos. To publish an actual photo of this on my blog is a total honor, no kidding, it's great! Thank you Rick for sharing your story.

NEW Batman DETECTIVE COMICS Variant Comic Book Cover - DC 75th Anniversary

Comic Book Fans might be noticing all the variant covers for recent DC Comics titles. It's apart of their "75th Anniversary" event. Well, be sure to look out for Detective Comics # 866 because it's variant cover will be drawn by Artist Walt Simonson & it's an homage to the Golden Age Batman. The inspiration is the iconic cover of Detective Comics # 69, which was originally drawn by the legendary Jerry Robinson. It features a sinister-looking Joker looming over the Dynamic Duo ( Click on it for a larger version, it's so very pretty! ).

In 1976 Dave was Robin, The Boy Wonder!

I love it when Bat-Blog Fans send us their vintage family photos & share their love of the Batman Universe. This group of pictures is our buddy Dave back in 1976! That Summer he made this incredible Robin, The Boy Wonder costume!! Dave said,

"Growing up in New Jersey, I was consumed with reruns of GET SMART, original STAR TREK, The MONKEES, and of course, BATMAN!! Adam West was fantastic as Batman, but he was a grown-up ( and kind of beefy! ). Weighing only 80 pounds, I found it much easier to relate to the lean, acrobatic Boy Wonder as portrayed by the great Burt Ward. Looking back, my primitive sewing skills were not that polished, but I think that my homemade Robin outfit holds up pretty well."

Yes, this homemade costume is really GREAT! Thanks for sharing the fun pics. As a side note, that one picture of you on the ladder looks exactly like a famous publicity photo of Burt Ward. It's the same angle & pose, everything, that's cool! If any other Bat-Blog Readers out there have similar pics to share then please mail them in. Our email button is always on the top right-hand side of this blog page, thanks.

SIMPSONS COMICS Homage to the 1966 BATMAN Batmobile Vending Machine Ride!

You gotta love this recent comic book cover for SIMPSONS COMICS # 164 where they feature Homer Simpson totally hogging a 1966 Batmobile Car Vending Machine Ride in front of his local Springfield Grocery Store! The other kids all look pretty mad, ha ha! I also love that one kid is all geeked-out in a Robin, The Boy Wonder costume....funny! So, I decided to show the cover of the comic, all complete, & then use a part of it to make a Batman Desktop Wallpaper.

Williams' JOKER & BATMAN Comic Book Logo Tattoo Art!

A Loyal Bat-Blog Reader named Williams sent us this cool pic the other night of a set of BATMAN AND JOKER TATTOOS he recently got. The cool thing is that the images are the original vintage comic book logos that were popular in the 1970's & 80's. I remember these from my childhood & they have always been a favorite ( especially "The Joker" ). The Tattoo Artist here did a really great job on both the colors & sharpness of line. I also wanna thank Williams for sharing this photo. Thanks Dude, your Bat-Tats look awesome!! Remember Bat-Blog Fans, if you ever get some ink done please be sure to send us a photo.

BATMAN ANIMATION - Free Desktop Wallpaper Backgrounds

Hey Kids, BATMAN Wallpapers! Yes, it's time again for "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday" ...OH YEAH! This time I thought I would go with an "animation theme", meaning, all the backgrounds are related to "The World of Batman in Animated Form". The 1st one is a great image of BATGIRL from the 90's Batman Animated TV Series. This graphic was made using an original cartoon animation cel so the lines & colors are really sharp. The next image is way more modern. In fact, it's a DC Universe animated film that has not even come out yet. It's the DVD box art for the BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD Movie. ( With the release of every tiny bit of news they feature about that movie it just keeps looking better & better! ). The last background ( Yes, I'm posting 3 of them this week ) is an image from the current BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD TV Cartoon. Besides Batman, you also get the Plastic Man too!! Anyways, hope you like them all, or at least one of them, ha!

You Don't Have To Be Batman To Save Lives

Back in 1989, to capitalize on the popularity of the Tim Burton BATMAN Movie, the New York Blood Center ran a promotion called "You Don't Have To Be Batman To Save Lives". Basically it was a major blood drive where they used the Caped Crusader as a theme. It was pretty successful. Shown here are 2 pieces of memorabilia from that event. The first photo is a T-Shirt & the 2nd one is a small advertising poster. It's cool they didn't use the same exact graphic. Plus, it's the comic book-style artwork & not the movie ( but "movie images" would have been great too! ). Now, it's kinda hard for me to tell but I'm guessing that the art was drawn by either Jose Luis Garcia Lopez or Dick Giordano! If anyone knows exactly please let me know. Either way, it's a very cool part of Bat-History!

First Look BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM Video Game Action Figures

Wow! Check out these BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM Action Figures! As everyone knows the video game was a smash hit. I mean, it won "Game of the Year" around the world! With it's popularity Warner Bros has capitalized on a few products. Mainly there have been a few T-Shirts & Statues. Well, now they're going to make some action figures & they look pretty awesome! The first wave will feature Batman, The Joker, Scarecrow, & Harley Quinn. Oh yeah, the Joker figure will also come with a small Scarface Ventriloquist Doll . About the only information on these new toys right now is that they will be about 6" tall & heavily articulated. DC Direct has not given an exact release date yet but stay tuned to the Bat-Blog & we will let you know. In the mean time here's some pictures to totally drool over, ha! ( Thanks to Guenter for the heads-up! )

New 1966 BATMAN TV SHOW BATMOBILE SLOT CAR RACE SET From Auto World!

The 1966 TV Batmobile Car has just resurfaced on the cover of the Auto World Slot Car 2010 Catalog!! It looks like they will be making a Special '66 BATMAN TV SHOW Slot Car Race Set with the Batmobile & another "Villain Car". I'm not sure which evil doer it will be because the prototype box art show a vehicle that looks like it belongs to the Joker & the Catalog says "Penguinmobile" where they show the race track layout ( see pics ). But don't worry, the Bat-Blog will let everybody know once we get some more information. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos & totally drool!! The 1st image is an idea of what the box art might look like. The remaining photos are directly taken from the Auto World 2010 Slot Car Catalog. Oh man, this looks extremely cool...I'm completely excited!!

Movie BATMAN - UNDER THE RED HOOD New Images

This post sort of explains itself with the title. Here are some brand new images from the BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD Animated Movie due to come out on July 27th, 2010. There are some cool graphics here of Batman, Joker, The Red Hood, Alfred, Nightwing, Ra's Al Ghul, etc... Oh yeah, the very last picture ( of the joker smiling ) is a Exclusive Collector Lithograph that will be available if you order the 2-disc DVD Set at Amazon. For more information be sure to visit the Official Warner Bros / DC Comics website for the movie, just click HERE!

BATMAN ODYSSEY Variant Comic Book Cover by Neal Adams

Oh yeah, everybody here at the Bat-Blog is totally excited about the soon to be released #1 issue of BATMAN: ODYSSEY that is going to be written & drawn by the legendary Neal Adams. Of course this comic book series is going to be a 12-part story with the first issue coming out in July ( Stay tuned to the Bat-Blog for reminders & more news, as it appears ). In the mean time, here's what the variant cover art is going to look like!! Be sure to click on the above graphic for a larger version, it's pretty sweet!

BATMAN 1:2 Scale ART BUST STATUE - New Custom Paint Job

OK, here's sort of a sad story but with a happy ending. Shown here are 3 photos of an excellent Batman Art Bust Statue ( Large 1:2 Scale ). But many of you who are familiar with this piece, made by DC Direct, is gonna say, "Hey, the colors are all wacky!" Ha Ha! Well, this Bat-Statue is owned by our friend Dallas & he had to have it both restored & repainted. Why? Because his small Son accidentally knocked this thing off a table & broke it in a few places leaving obvious damage. The nose was now gone & the cowl had broken areas. He had a friend fix it for him & since it was going to need to be repainted they decided to make it the traditional blue instead of the original black color. WOW! The statue now looks really great! Dallas' friend did a great job on it. The "blue" was an interesting choice & sort of reminds me of the older Silver Age Batman...very cool! ( Thanks to Dallas for sending us the cool pics ).

New Bat-Blog Contest - BATMAN MINI-BUST STATUE

The Bat-Blog is happy to announce another contest! Enter here to win a FREE BATMAN MINI-BUST STATUE, Mint in the Original Box!! This statue is AWESOME! Seriously, it looks way better in-person than in my bad photo, ha! It's the older "Silver Age Version" of the character like you might have seen in the Batman comic books. This beautiful piece of ART was sculpted by Jonathan Matthews & measures approx. 5 3/4" tall. Here's the simple rule to enter our contest, just e-mail us your full name & address. Please put "BAT-BLOG CONTEST: BATMAN MINI-BUST STATUE" in the title. The contest runs until May 31st, 2010 till 11:59pm. The winners will be picked out of a hat at 12-midnight & then announced on June 1st, 2010. I guess for legal reasons we need to state that DC Comics, DC Direct, & any other companies are not involved with this contest in any way, shape, or form. This is just our way of thanking all the Bat-Blog Fans who read the blog every day ( especially the ones who help spread the word about the site ). Plus, this contest was made possible by an extremely generous donation by another Bat-Blog Reader known as The BATFAN! The contest will only run about 10 or so days so hurry up & enter today!

CONTEST RULES:

1. The contest is open to the general public as well as anyone currently reading the BAT-BLOG on a daily basis. Employees of the Bat-Blog and employees' immediate family members and persons with whom such employees are domiciled are excluded from this contest.
   
   
2. The prize is not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded.
   
   
3. Decisions of the contest judges are final - no substitutions will be available.
   
   
4. By claiming the prize, the winner authorizes the use, without additional compensation of his or her name and/or likeness and/or voice/photograph and municipality of residence for promotion and/or advertising purposes in any manner and in any medium (including without limitation, radio broadcasts, newspapers and other publications and in television or film releases, slides, videotape, distribution over the internet and picture date storage) which Bat-Blog may deem appropriate.
   
   
5. In accepting the prize, the winner, and any reader(s), acknowledges that the Bat-Blog may not be held liable for any loss, damages or injury associated with accepting or using this prize.
   
   
6. The person whose name is drawn as being the winner of the specific prize will be required to send us their correct mailing information before the prize is awarded to them. Postage to be paid, free of charge, by the Bat-blog.
   
   
7. Detailed contest rules applicable to this contest, including contest entry dates, how to enter, and prize value, number and any restrictions applicable to these prizes are available upon request by reading these Contest Rules, ha ha!
   
   
8. The Bat-Blog retains the rights, in its absolute and sole discretion, to make substitutions of equivalent kind or approximate value in the event of the unavailability of any prize or component of the prize for any reason whatsoever.
   
   
9. This contest is subject to all federal, provincial and municipal laws.
   
   
10. The Bat-Blog reserves the right to withdraw or terminate this contest at any time without prior notice.
    
    
11. Approximate value of prize varies.
    
    
12. Contest open to loyal Bat-Blog Readers only.
    
    
13. One entry per person, per household.