At the recent 2010 San Diego Comic Con the Mattel Toy Company released a ton of information ( & beautiful photos ) of all the cool new Batman toys coming out for the rest of the year, 2010. But, they even shared pics of new action figures for 2011! Here's the news on the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD toy line. Shown here a few new mini-figures, a ton of new action figures, & a totally brand-new line of toys called "Total Armor" ( the last photo ). Now, please keep in mind that these are just the "Brave & The Bold" toys. There will also be some special Batmobile Hot Wheels, Imaginext Toys, & other Action Figures that we will be posting later. So please be sure to visit the Bat-Blog again to see them all!!
A friend turned me on to this website the other day Called BATTLE ROYALE WITH CHEEZE & I have to admit that I'm very impressed with it so far. Basically, it's the online artwork portfolio of a Graphic Artist named Steve Willaredt and it looks like he has been doing a tribute to the old 1960's BATMAN TV Series. He's doing some very funny caricatures of the characters from the show & they really look like the actual actors. In fact, the art is pretty cool! As an example I'm showing just a few here but please be sure to visit his site to see the rest, click HERE!
Warner Bros just released BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD but their next DC Universe animated feature is already starting to get some hype, it's called SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE. The animation looks pretty decent...check it out!
Back in 1990 DC Comics published a one-shot Batman Graphic Novel, written & drawn by Pepe Moreno, called BATMAN: DIGITAL JUSTICE. I remember when it came out & it was a very big deal. I bought it & have totally loved it all these years. The main thing about it was that the artwork was totally created on a computer and, at that time, it was extreme state of the art. I mean, it was groundbreaking! Now, by today's standards, the art may seem kind of cheesy ( no offense to the artist ) but back then it just blew everyone's mind!! Plus, the artwork was really great especially if you consider that it was drawn with the earliest of computer graphic programs. It must have been painstaking to draw between computer crashes, ha! The other cool thing was that the story was really good too. So, all around, it was just a very wonderful Batman book. Over the years it has been translated into many different languages ( the pic up above shows the Spanish version cover ). The sketch of Batman, up above, was the original mock-up drawing for the cover. Obviously the story was set in the far far future. It was actually way after the death of our modern-day Batman. Parts of it were almost sort of like the TRON movie, but not really. It dealt with a deadly "Joker computer virus" that was threatening the future Gotham City. Anyways, it's a book I highly recommend. Another thing, if you have already read this novel & you're a fan of it then you might be happy to know that the artist Pepe Moreno has been posting a lot of personal sketches from this classic book on his art blog. They're really great to see & they're a very interesting piece of bat-history. Here's a link to check it out, just click HERE!
OK, I finally got around to posting this "PUG SINGS BATMAN" Video here at the Bat-Blog. The reason I didn't before is because it is so viral I know people are going to see it anyway ( it's everywhere ). But now I'm posting for the few who have not heard of it yet. It's pretty funny!
OK, as a Major Batman Toy Collector I'm usually obsessed with finding good reference material showing the older vintage toys & items. Scanning through old store catalogs, newspaper ( and comic book ) ads, & wholesale pamplets you can discover a treasure trove of items you have never seen before. Shown up above are 2 great examples. One is an old ad for a Batman Yo-Yo from the 1960's called the BAT-YO! It was manufactured by the PLAY-MORS Toy Company. It looks like they used some Carmine Infantino-inspired artwork, cool! The next picture is another ad, this one is from an old 60's comic book ( exact issue unknown ) showing a special "Life-Size Batman poster" you could order...for one dollar, ha ha! Now, I've seen the actual poster before & it's really nice. Sadly, I have not found it for my personal collection just yet but someday IT WILL BE MINE!!
DC Comics announced recently that they have teamed-up with Converse Shoes to bring a new series of sneakers with graphics of their comic book characters. Well, a few pair have the Dark Knight himself, the Batman! Check out the pics up above & start drooling! Also, if you're interested in finding a store location, or seeing all the other shoes they have, then check out this LINK.
Oh yeah, at this year's 2010 San Diego Comic Con there was a lot of news about brand-new Batman toys & action figures that will be coming out later this year but my favorite thing is the fact that Mattel, in their DC Universe line, will be coming out with "The Gray Ghost"! He was a character created during the TV run of Batman: The Animated Series & appeared in an episode called "Beware the Gray Ghost". It's one of my all time favorites! It was a really great story but the cool thing was that they got Adam West to do the voice acting for that character. It was really a big deal at the time. You know, to sort of have West come back to the "Batman world". Basically, the Gray Ghost was an old time TV series that a young Bruce Wayne, as a small child, loved to watch with his Father & it inspired him deeply. In fact, after becoming Batman, he used his memory of the floor design to the "Gray Ghost's Lair" to design the total look of the Batcave. In other words, the Gray Ghost was Batman's childhood hero. The story had some interesting angles like showing the life of the "Gray Ghost" actor in modern times & how he was always broke & having a hard time paying the rent. He thought he was a has-been, but all the while he never knew how important he was to so many people who grew up watching his show. It was a very heartwarming side-story, sort of a cautionary tale. Anyways, just check out the photo of the figure, it's AWESOME! Also, for fun I posted this video down below of a Fox TV promo for the "Beware the Gray Ghost" episode.
At the last minute I just realized it's Wednesday & that means "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday", Whew! So here's 2 brand-new desktop backgrounds I made using some fun Batman graphics. The 1st one is a comic strip drawing showing the Dynamic Duo having a problem with their dinner at a restaurant, ha ha! The next one is an image from that "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe" Video Game. What ever happened to that? It sort of died. I never really cared for the MK franchise but this game was pretty cool. Please feel free to check out the BAT-BLOG ARCHIVES for many more wallpapers. It's located on the left-side of this page, near the middle.
I know that Fans of BATMAN BEYOND are going to be completely happy about this news, I know I'm totally spazzing-out! Later this year Warner Bros will be releasing a special 9-Disc DVD Boxed Gift Set titled "BATMAN BEYOND, THE COMPLETE SERIES". It's gonna have all 52 episodes, brand new bonus content, & a booklet with images from the DC Archives. This is just like the recent BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES set ( which was extremely beautiful ) & will only be out for a limited time. The release date looks like it will be around November 25th & it will retail for approx. $99.98. Hey, I know what I want for Christmas this year!
People who have been reading the Bat-Blog for awhile might remember a video we posted recently called "IRON MAN vs BATMAN - INTERACTIVE STOP MOTION". It's a very cool fan-made animated movie made with some high-end digital equipment & some wonderful HOT TOYS figures. The animation is really well done & the best thing is the story is pretty funny! Well, here's a "Making Of..." documentary explaining some of the techniques used.
Just a quick post to let people know that the "Batman: The Brave and The Bold" 2010 Hot Wheels Car is starting to surface in retail stores right now. In fact, my friend Doug sent these pics to me recently ( Thanks Doug! ). So, keep an eye out for it on your next trip to Target, Wal-Mart, etc. I love this car, it's...so...beautiful!
Here's a CBS News video on the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD panel at this year's 2010 San Diego Comic Con. We get to hear from Producers James Tucker and Michael Jelenic plus some of the amazing voice acting talent of Diedrich Bader ( Batman ) and John Di Maggio ( Aquaman ). The sad news is that, after the 3rd season is over, there won't be anymore episodes. But, once the show starts back up pretty soon there will be 28 more episodes so we'll still get to enjoy the show for quite awhile. Plus, even though Warner Bros is letting this series go ( which I don't know why, because it's very successful & many people love it ), there are rumors of a brand-new Batman cartoon that will be CGI. So, that's cool!
There's a toy company I really love named Funko & they're mainly known for making Wacky Wobblers ( Character-Related Bobblehead Nodders ). Well, they now have the license to do DC Comics Comic Book characters. Yes!! Now, the Bat-Blog reported about most of these new toys awhile back but we finally got some actual photos instead of prototype pics! Plus, some extra news. First the pics: Shown here are the "Batman Computer Sitter" figure, it's sa-weet! Look for it around August, 2010. The next item is the "Batman Wacky Wobbler Bobble-Car". Basically it's a bobble-head inside a Batmobile car...very cool! ( There will also be 2 color variations, one black, another blue ). Now the new stuff: The next few photos are their Funko-Force 2.0 Vinyl Figures. Shown here is Batgirl & 2 different Batman variations. OK, they look the same in these pics but one of the Batman figures have metallic paint. OK, the very last picture is totally amazing! Here are the 1st seven figures that will come out. We have Batgirl, Batman, Robin, Green Lantern ( what's he doing in there? Ha! ), Penguin, Joker, & The Riddler! Oh man, all this stuff is totally cool. Is Funko trying to torture me?! Well, what do you think about these new pieces of bat-merchandise?
BAT-MITE! OK, I just saw this painting the other night & I have to sort of show it off...mainly because it's done by done by my good buddy Javier Hernandez and it's pretty cool. He did it as a donation for the Shel Dorf Artist Fund. Shel Dorf recently died & he was responsible for creating the San Diego Comic Con some 40 years ago. Now, you might have heard of Javier before. He does an indy comic book called "El Muerto", it's cool. Check out his website, right HERE!
Here's a wacky piece of Bat-History that I never knew about. Back in the mid-1960's there was a nightclub in Sunnyvale, California named The WAYNE MANOR. The club was decorated like the Batcave with Batman-themed wall murals. Plus, the wait staff all dressed-up like Batgirl or Catwoman, MEOW. It only lasted a little over a year but it must have been really really great! I was only 3 years old at the time it was open but I know I would have loved it, ha! To check out this very interesting story ( and see many more pictures ) be sure to click this LINK.
This is really cool! The Bat-Blog is pretty famous for showcasing a lot of BATMAN inspired Tattoo Art but this one is actually an inspirational message about Batman! Our friend James recently got this tattoo that looks like a small torn piece of paper that has this message, "Batman Thinks of Everything" ( with "everything" underlined ). Now, I'm guessing that this means that, like the Caped Crusader, you "should always plan ahead & be prepared for things in life"...very cool! Well, it might have another meaning for James but I wanna thank him for sending us this great pic of a very unique bat-tat! Remember readers, if you have some ink done then send us your photo!
OK, You know I love me some paper-craft toys! This is a niche within the custom toy field that's just a lot of fun & anybody with a PC printer can join in on the action. Basically you download a PDF or JPG file of some artwork, print it out, then cut / paste...TAA DAA! You now have a fun toy to display! Here's a great example, Check out this HEATH LEDGER JOKER By Ewout Van Lambalgen. He's an awesome Illustrator & Web Designer in the Netherlands. He was inspired by Heath Ledger's amazing performance of THE JOKER in THE DARK KNIGHT Batman movie & made this free Paper Toy for everyone to download ( click on the image for a larger version ). If you would like to see more of his awesome artwork then just click HERE!
This is just a quick post to show some eye-candy from the brand-new DC UNIVERSE ONLINE Video Game. These pics mainly show "Joker location" scenes with the Clown Prince of Crime, Harley Quinn, & Batman. One is the lobby is at the "Regal Hotel" and another one is inside the "Fun House". Also, the 1st pic is the box art for the packaging...nice! This game might be coming out sometime in November. That would be cool because it would be a great Christmas gift! ( Hint Hint )
Here's a wonderful family portrait sent in by our friend Stuart. It shows him & his family all dressed-up in Batman T-Shirts. Now how cool is that?! They are ALL Super Batman Fans!! Here are his 2 beautiful children, Max and Dena, and their Grandpa Eddie ( his dad ). I totally love this picture, thanks for sending it Stu. If any other Bat-Blog Fans want to share pics like this then please do. Sharing the love of the Batman character is what this blog is all about!
OK, the main stream press has been having a hay day with these pics so I thought I would wait to post them. Then, I could pick out the best pictures, ha! Warner Bros is doing a remake of the classic 80's film ARTHUR. You remember, it starred Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, & John Gielgud. I loved that movie, it was really great! Let's hope the remake is just as good. Anyway, the new film stars Russel Brand & Luiz Guzman. They're shown here dressed-up as Batman and Robin ( The Batmobile car from BATMAN FOREVER will also make an appearance ). The costumes are sort of over the top & I like that special Bat-Belt! I mean, it has everything a shallow spoiled billionaire could need, ha!
