Video - Adam West on Meeting Batman Co-Creator Bob Kane

Here's an interesting video that's a small segment from the EMMY TV LEGENDS series. It's from the Adam West interviews & it's the one where West tell the story of meeting Bob Kane ( Batman Co-Creator )for the first time, it's kinda funny, enjoy!

BATMAN AUCTION NEWS - Bob Kane's Original 1939 Page Proofs for Detective Comics 27 at Heritage

The big news in both the auction world & comic book fandom is that Heritage Auctions ( Dallas, Texas ) is offering the Original Production Proofs for Detective Comics # 27 ( 1939 ) that were once owned by Batman Co-Creator Bob Kane. Of course we're talking about the first appearance of the character here! A "Proof Page" in comics was a test printing of an uncolored page used by artists and writers to see how their work would look on the printed page. Now, while this is not the actual original art, this is probably the closest anybody will ever come to owning some production material from this landmark issue. They're estimated to sell for at least $1000 each & they have 5 of them for sale, which are pages 2-6. The image up above shows page 3 & if you click on it, it's extremely sharp, you can see the amazing details of this item. The "Batman Page Proofs" will be part of Heritage Auctions' Signature Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction held on February 24th, 2011. For more details, click HERE!

Vintage Photos of BOB KANE, Co-Creator of Batman

If you're a real Bat-Fan then you know about the debt we all owe Bob Kane. I mean, he "created" Batman, our favorite superhero! So, here's a few vintage photos of him. The 1st one is sort of a fake promo showing him "painting" a Pop Art Masterpiece with a model dressed-up in a Catwoman Costume...MEOW! The next one is more candid ( real ). This is an original photo taken by a fan at a 1970's Comic Book Convention. I think the year was 1973 & you gotta love that groovy purple silk shirt, ha! Of course he's holding up an issue of Batman #1. I thought I would post these because they're images you don't usually see of him. If you know of any other ones that are rare then please let us know.

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.

BATMAN: YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW - Cartoon Art Museum Exhibit

The CARTOON ART MUSEUM in San Francisco, CA is planning an exhibit that is a celebration of Batman's 70 year history! The exhibition starts at the end of this month ( January 30th ) & runs till June 6th, 2010. The title of the show will be BATMAN: YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW. Featured artists include Bob Kane and Bill Finger, who created Batman in 1939; Neal Adams, whose detailed artistry redefined comics in the 1970s; Frank Miller, whose graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns pioneered the modern, mature concept of Batman; Pepe Moreno, whose Batman: Digital Justice was the first graphic novel with entirely computer-generated art; Jiro Kuwata, who was the Japanese artist for the 1960's Bat-Manga that appeared in Shonen King magazines in Japan; and acclaimed artist Paul Pope, whose Batman: Year 100 pays homage to the original Batman comics and looks ahead to Gotham City of the year 2039.

 For more information about the event be sure to visit their website by clicking HERE!

New BOOK: THE BAT STRIKES AGAIN AND AGAIN By Johnston McCulley

OK, I don't have any idea how this new "Batman Book" could have passed by my radar! If some of you knew about it & didn't tell me then shame on you! OK, I'm kinda-sort of kidding here, ha ha! But it's so weird that I have NEVER heard of it before! I guess that's the main reason for me posting it. You know, because some of you might not have heard of it either. The title of the book is THE BAT STRIKES AGAIN AND AGAIN & was written by Johnston McCulley with a forward by Pulp Historian Will Murray. For the first time, in one volume, all four appearances of THE BAT are collected. These stories originally appeared in Pulp Novels from 1934 to 1935. The stories detail the adventures of Dawson Clade, a man who was inspired to fight crime by a bat's sudden appearance ( sound familiar? ). These books are regarded by some Comic Book Historians as the inspiration for Bob Kane to come up with his "original idea" of a special Crime Fighter named the Bat-Man. I guess I gotta say upfront that I have not read this book yet, so this is NOT a Book Review or a recommendation, but I'm posting it mainly out of curiosity & because it looks really cool! Also, I know some people don't think Bob Kane ever stole any material so please don't flood me with e-mail, ha ha!

BATMAN & VILLAINS Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday

OK, it's the middle of the day & I am finally posting the "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday " backgrounds. I know, "I'm Late", ( sorry ) but really I was working on the Bat-Blog almost all night ( technical issues ) & slept in late. So, like my Grandmother used to say, "Better late, than never!" But, I think you'll enjoy these backgrounds so here we go! The 1st one was made by me using some graphics I found at the DC Comics website. The visuals were just too awesome to NOT make into a wallpaper, ha! Plus, besides Batman, there are some cool villains: Catwoman & The Penguin! The next wallpaper, I'm very proud to say, was sent in by a Bat-Blog Contributing Artist named Sean Hartter. Both the artwork & art direction are really great! He came up with this very clever idea of making a fake issue of PLAYBILL. These are small booklets you used to get when you went to the theater of a Broadway play. Ironically, it looks EXACTLY like an original issue...making it a wonderful parody. Now the other thing that's pretty funny is that, to give it a heightened sense of realism, he used the real names of famous actors & writers. The play is titled "BATMAN: The Joker's Five Way Revenge", which is a very classic comic book story actually written by Dennis O'Neil. Plus, the 2 real-life Famous Actors are John Barrymore & Lon Chaney. The picture is an actual photo of them but shopped with the Batman & Joker costumes...awesome! It also says that the play was produced by Robert Kane ( Bob Kane ). Which is funny because he's the guy who "created" Batman. I'm not surprised that Bill Finger didn't get a mention, ouch!

1940's Golden Age BATMAN AND ROBIN Comic Strip Press Sheet

Here's an amazing piece of Bat-History! This is an Original Newspaper Press Sheet showing the BATMAN AND ROBIN Daily Comic Strips for the week of May 15th through the 20th, 1944. It was test-printed by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate ( Be sure to click on the above photo for a way larger, more readable, version ). Now, for people interesting in reading these today then be sure to check out this book published by Kitchen Sink Press reprinting all the Dailies from 1943-1946. They also made a separate book covering all the Sunday Strips.

Vintage GOLDEN AGE BATMAN Comic Book Cover, Issue # 5

This is just a quick post to enjoy some sweet "Golden Age" goodness. A Bat-Blog Reader named Matt sent me this ultra-sharp photo to the cover of 1940's Batman # 5 and it's totally beautiful...a Masterpiece of ART! I always loved these abstract-style covers where Batman & Robin were drawn very big. ( Be sure to click on it to see it way larger ). Thanks Matt, it rocks! If any other readers ever have anything Batman-related to share then please do. Our e-mail button is always on the top right-hand side of this page.

Rare 1960's BATMAN 45 rpm RECORD ALBUM with Bob Kane

Shown here is an old advertisement for a special BATMAN 45 rpm RECORD that was "supposedly written" by Bob Kane, the "creator" of Batman. This ad appeared in the back of comic books in the late 1960's. Bob Kane wrote the main song "Have Faith in Me". It was performed by Hank Leids & the Bat-Group COURAGE. The song on the B-Side was titled "You've Got Me Crying". As a BONUS, when you bought this record, you also got a 4 X 5 photo of Bob Kane sitting in the original Batmobile Car, signed by him of course! This product was published by Downing Records. Now, I'm wondering... has anyone EVER seen this record or the autographed photo? It's gotta be super-RARE as, in my 20+ years of obsessive bat-collecting, I have NEVER ever seen it! If anyone has a photo of this rare gem I would appreciate you sending a pic of it to share. Remember, the Bat-Blog is ALL ABOUT the love of collecting Batman Memorabilia!!

Video: JERRY ROBINSON and the Creation of The Joker

At the New York Comic Con 2009, on the Living Legends panel, Jerry Robinson, the creator of The Joker, talks in detail about how his Golden Age comic book creation came to be. He talks about his old friends Bill Finger & Bob Kane. Sorry the audio isn't very good but crank up your speakers & it should be fine. This guy is a National Treasure!

FREE BATMAN DESKTOP BACKGROUNDS Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday!

This week we present 2 brand-new BATMAN DESKTOP WALLPAPER BACKGROUNDS. The first one was sent in by a Bat-Blog Reader named Andrew. He, like most of us, is a huge fan of the 1980's comic book artwork of Norm Breyfogle. So, he took some of Breyfogle's black & white inked art then colorized it. I think he did an incredible job coloring it. It features 3 Bat-Villains: Catwoman, The Penguin, & Joker! ( Thank you Andrew for sending this in ). The next one has a "Golden Age Batman" theme. It's vintage 1940's artwork by Bob Kane. OK, We all know this was probably drawn by Bill Finger or somebody else, ha ha. But, the art is still awesome!

GOLDEN AGE COMIC BOOK EXHIBIT: Jewish Museum of Florida

Tonight I got a very interesting e-mail from a Bat-Blog reader named Fernando. He works for a magazine called "Aventura Americana" & recently they covered a Comic Book Art Exhibition being held at the Florida Jewish Museum of Miami Beach. It's simply called: "The Golden Age of Comic Books 1938 - 1950". The exhibit runs from Oct 16th, 2007 to the end of this month, April 30th, 2008 so there is still some time for readers who live in that area to check it out! The exhibition features original artwork of Batman, including Detective Comics #67, #69 and #71 original covers. Also there are covers of “All Star Comics”, “Action Comics”, “Green Hornet”, “The Spirit" and "Action Comics" among others. Over 70 works & artifacts from the Golden Age of comic books are on display. They showcase the work of 15 comic book artists & writers from this era, including Joe Shuster & Jerry Siegel who created Superman & Bob Kane and Bill Finger who created Batman. The exhibition is curated by Jerry Robinson, who created the Joker & named the boy wonder, Robin. This sounds like an incredible event to see! ( Thank you Fernando for sending this information ). For a nice news story about this event ( with great photos ) be sure to click on the "Aventura Americana" button down below:





Also, Here's a link button to the "Jewish Museum of Florida" in case you want more information about the event:

KOOL, The Advertising Icon Character That Inspired BOB KANE To Create The Penguin.

A friend to the Bat-Blog recently sent us these 2 photos showing the KOOL CIGARETTES PENGUIN ( Advertising Icon ) & the Batman Comic Book PENGUIN Villain. This Vintage Advertising Character is well known for being the inspiration to Bob Kane for creating the Penguin. If you look at the 2 pics you can see the resemblance. Thanks for sending us the pictures & readers, be sure to send your interesting Bat-photos today!

Video: The Testimony of Robert "Bob" Kane, Batman Co-Creator

One of my friends has a really great website called DIALBFORBLOG.COM & recently he posted this very interesting video on YouTube. It's an interview with Bob Kane that was shown on Canadian TV around the time of the 1989 Batman movie. In it he takes TOTAL credit for creating Batman, funny stuff.

MEET THE ARTIST: Bob Kane Mini-Biography in Batman # 1

Some super-lucky comic book collector, who owns a RARE copy of the original Batman #1 comic book, posted this picture on the net. He scanned the page that features a mini-biography of Bob Kane ( the co-creator of Batman ) called "Meet The Artist". It's large enough to read ( click on the picture for a larger version ). The part where it says "Bob is not a copyist" kinda makes me laugh. I mean, from what we now know about how he was a major "art swiper". But, the staged photo of him working is kinda cool & it's a great piece of Bat-History!

BOB KANE ( Batman Co-Creator ) Nice Publicity Photo

Just a quick post of a random Batman-related picture I found on the net, a nice publicity shot of Bob Kane. I think it's from around 1989 during the 1st movie. He looks pretty proud of himself, don't ya think?

2 Comic Book Legends: Bob Kane and Stan Lee

The other day I found this amazing vintage black & white photograph. It shows Bob Kane & Stan Lee together, a very historical moment. The creators of Batman ( DC Comics ) & Spiderman ( Marvel ), very cool!

WOW ~ The Bat-Blog Has Over 1000 Posts & Still Going!

The other day I posted the 1000th post here at the Olde Bat-Blog & totally forgot to celebrate. Arrrggghhh! I was gonna make a big deal out of it, ha ha! So, I thought I would do a simple thing & just post 2 favorite pictures of Batman. The 1st one is an original sketch of The Dark Knight by Bob Kane, the creator. He did this in 1988 or 1989. The next one is by the classic cartoonist Fred Hembeck ©2007. I love his "cartoony-style"! I wanna take this moment to thank all the loyal readers, people who have given us links, people who have sent in material, just everybody...this blog has been a lot of fun & I do plan on doing it for quite awhile. If anyone has any ideas for improvement or promotion then please shoot us an e-mail. If you've been following the Bat-Blog for awhile then you know we obsess over trying to bring fresh clever material & we're always trying to improve the design of the page. Another thing, I wanna ask, is that people who have blogs, websites, MySpace pages, or participate in Message Boards please help try to spread the word about this page. We have "Link Button & Banner" Graphics all over the place & if you need a special size then please contact us & we'll make a custom one for you! OK, I gotta get back to work now. I got the next 1000 posts to work on, ha ha! Thanks for reading this. IMPORTANT NOTE: TO ENJOY THE PREVIOUS 1000 POSTS HERE JUST EXPLORE THE ARCHIVES LOCATED ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE BAT-BLOG...GO AHEAD, YOU'LL ENJOY IT!

Batman Creator BOB KANE Endorses The CHILD WELFARE LEAGUE Charity

In 1985-88 Bob Kane worked with the CHILD WELFARE LEAGUE Of AMERICA to create some Batman-related promotional material, mainly posters. Here's an example of the art work he submitted & his actual letter to the president of that wonderful charity. OK, I sort of have 2 reasons for doing this post. One is to show the historical value of the artwork as related to Batman & Robin. The other is to ask my readers to please check out this charity & maybe send a donation. This is a very well-known & much respected organization that does a lot to help children, mainly in areas of child abuse & AIDS. I've included a link button to the Official CWLA website, please check it out sometime. You'll be glad you did!