Video - Michael Uslan BATMAN The Dark Knight Phenomenon

Here's an interesting video shot at New York Comic Con of an almost 1-hour speech by Michael Uslan, the Producer of the Batman Movies. This is part one ( 10 minutes ) & there are 5 total, that you can enjoy at YouTube. Basically, he shares his stories about being a HUGE Comic Book Fan & going to early Comic Book Conventions. In fact, he went to the VERY FIRST Comic Con in NYC back in the 1960's. Now the reason I'm posting this video is because he talks about Batman, a lot!

New Book - THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN By Michael Uslan

THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN, The True Story of How a Comics-Obsessed Kid Conquered Hollywood to Bring the Dark Knight to the Silver Screen. This is the new memoir written by Michael Uslan that will be coming out later ( No exact release date has been issued yet. But please stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because, "we're on it!" ). Now, some of you might think, "Hey, I recognize that name". Well, Michael Uslan has been the Movie Producer of all the BATMAN Movies. Yes, this is the guy responsible for bringing the Dark Knight to the big screen! In this new biography he shares the story of growing-up in the 1950's & totally being obsessed with comic books, especially Batman ones. He also shares his 10 year fight to get Batman to film. It sounds like a great story! Once we get more information we'll keep ya updated.



Important Side-Note:

A friend on Facebook just told me the release date will be around August 8th ( Thanks Torsten )

Vintage 1950's BATGIRL SQUADRON JACKET PATCH - US Navy VP-24

OK, I know the Bat-Blog reports some strange stuff every now & then but I thought this was pretty cool, from a "Military History" point-of-view. This is an Original US Navy VP-24 Squadron Jacket Patch from the 1950's ( probably from the "Korean War" ). It was made by the Ace Novelty Patch Company in Tokyo, Japan. The cool thing is the mascot is BATGIRL! OK, That's kind of a stretch, but it could also be BATWOMAN! I mean, look at the bat-wings cape & the mask, ha! This particular Military Patch was once owned by a US Navy WWII Enlisted Pilot who later retired as a Lieutenant. He was a survivor of Pearl Harbor & became an Aviator. He also served in the war in Korea. Toward the end of his career he was involved in Search & Rescue missions.

BATMAN NEWS: Bruce Wayne Went To Yale University!!

Batman is on the cover of this month's YALE Alumni Magazine! No, seriously! Some very serious Scholars have done a lot of research and found more than one example of proof that Bruce Wayne, while in his early "Batman training days", had gone to Yale & even got a Diploma! They cite "Detective Comics # 439, page 16" where there's an image of Batman standing in Bruce Wayne's office & it shows a framed YALE Diploma on the wall, ha! They also use the proof from another piece of Bat-Hstory where Batman is looking at a Wayne Family Photo Album & there's a picture of his Grandfather wearing a Yale Football Uniform & there's some comment about 3 generations of the Wayne Family going there. There are also many more fun references that are total proof that "Batman Went To Yale", ha! For the complete story be sure to visit the YALE Alumni Magazine website, just click HERE!



Side Note: Remember that there are different articles to read online, just look for the "March/April 2011" issue.

VIDEO - Comic Book Villain Origins - CATWOMAN

From WATCHMOJO we get this wonderful video to teach us everything we need to know about the origin of Catwoman. It covers the character from the Comic Books ( Golden Age & Modern Day ) to the Movies. It's both entertaining & educational! With "Selina Kyle" to be played by Anne Hathaway in the next Batman movie, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, this video has perfect timing... MEOW!

VIDEO 3-Minute Expert: - Who is Bane?

With the Batman BANE character expected to be in the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, we thought that a lot of Bat-Blog Readers might want to learn more about this popular Villain. So, here's this really great "3-Minute Expert" Video titled, "Who is Bane?". Check it out!

New Book - ICONS - The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee

Here's a very cool comic art book you might consider on your next trip to the bookstore. It's titled "ICONS, The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of JIM LEE". Basically it's a retrospective of his prolific artistic career. In this volume, Titan Books has completed the almost impossible task of compiling a generous amount of the last twenty years of Jim Lee’s work. Batman fans should totally love it because there is a ton of Bat-Art! There are also a lot of preliminary sketches that have never been seen before. Now, it's important to note that there are 2 different printings of this book. There's the regular edition with 296 pages. It's the one shown with a "Color Cover". Then, there is a "Previews" Special Edition, with the "Pencil Sketch" cover. The previews Edition has 8 additional pages & the variant cover. It's a little harder to find, but you might be able to get one using the link button down below.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE BATMOBILE

Here's a graphic image that has become pretty popular lately on the internet. The images are very BIG so you will have to click on each individual graphic to see the whole thing. I mean, this thing is HUGE! It's called "The Evolution of The Batmobile" & it's brought to you by both the BATMOBILE HISTORY and CAR INSURANCE websites. I kinda know the guy who does the "Batmobile History" page & it's great! It's been a favorite of mine for a long time & is an awesome reference for every Batmobile ever made. Now, back to this picture. Basically, it covers the entire history of the Batmobile car & besides being sort of educational, it's actually a lot of fun... check it out!

Book Review - JERRY ROBINSON: Ambassador of Comics

If you've been reading the Bat-Blog for any length of time it probably didn't take you very long, maybe a few seconds, to find out that I'm totally obsessed with Batman! ( ha ha ) So, when I heard the news that Abrams was going to publish a definitive biography about Jerry Robinson's life, I was pretty excited! I mean, Jerry Robinson was right there with Bob Kane & Bill Finger during the early creation of Batman. He drew most of the iconic Golden Age Batman artwork we now enjoy, especially the comic book covers. He is the person who created the greatest villain in pop culture history, The Joker! He also co-created Robin, the Boy Wonder! What I'm getting at is this, his contribution to the character is extremely important. So, as both a serious Batman fan & comic book history nut, I couldn't wait till this came out. The book I'm talking about is titled JERRY ROBINSON: AMBASSADOR OF COMICS.



It is the very 1st illustrated biography of the comics legend & it was written by N. C. Christopher Couch ( who had direct access to Jerry the whole time ). The book is loaded with beautiful artwork & photos from his entire career. Which, by the way, is still going on. It starts out like any other biography, telling his parent's history & sharing his childhood story. Which, is very interesting, but the great thing is that it gets to the "Batman part" pretty quick, ha ha! Now, when you're reading this book it's done in a style where you feel like you are "right there in the moment". So, hearing the origin of the Batman character & how it all came about is pretty cool. We find out how Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson actually met for the 1st time. There's a ton of "behind the scene" details on who did what & how. There's a lot of things I never knew about the actual characters that I was very pleased with learning. For example, Alfred the Butler was not introduced in the comic book. He made his 1st appearance in the 1940's Batman Movie Serials, & then later, was added as a comic book character ( Weird I never knew that ). The book goes into great details about the whole "Batman events" thing, which is just really great stuff! Now, to be honest, I thought I might be bored once they got out of the "Batman era", but I wasn't ( no offense to Jerry! ). Mr. Robinson had a very full career outside of comic books doing Illustration Work, Syndicated Comic Strips, & Political Comics. A lot of this stuff I was not familiar with because it ran in popular newspapers I never saw. Plus, he did draw, write, create, many other comic books & hearing those stories are just as wonderful.



Now, back to the actual book. The quality of the printing was the very 1st thing I was really impressed with. I'm a serious reader ( and even collect books ) & I love a well-designed book. The cover is beautiful, the inside photos & illustrations are BEAUTIFUL! I spent a lot of time enjoying the full-page photos of the original art for many of the comic book covers, especially the Batman ones. They almost always present the original art right next to the actual comic book. Both pictures are so extremely sharp that it's almost like you're looking at the real thing, it's a very neat experience. They also have a photo of the very 1st Joker drawing, the prototype, that's really neat to see. I guess I need to add some technical information, like: It's a hardcover with dust-jacket, it measures about 8" X 11", & has 224 pages. It also has 220 full-color illustrations & it's retail price is about $35.00. So, overall, I gotta say that this book is very well written, very high-quality, & if you're a serious Batman Fan, it will make you drool for days! Oh yeah, TFAW has it on sale, just click the button down below:

JERRY ROBINSON, THE AMBASSADOR OF COMICS - New Batman History Book!

Jerry Robinson is one of the living legends of American comics. As a member of the original Batman team, he created the first and most iconic of all super-villains, the Joker, and co-created Robin, the Boy Wonder sidekick. During the Golden and Silver Ages of comics, Robinson worked on every comic book genre there was. His artistry also extended beyond comic books into editorial cartooning and popular syndicated newspaper strips such as Still Life and Flubs & Fluffs, as well as magazine and book illustration, fine arts, academia, and humanitarian affairs. Robinson has been an influential teacher, an important curator of cartooning art exhibits, and a tireless champion of artist's rights. This rich, fully illustrated collection of his work was written in collaboration with the artist himself. Written by N. C. Christopher Couch; illustrated by Jerry Robinson; introduction by Pete Hamill; foreword by Dennis O'Neil. It will be released as a hardback edition with dust jacket, 8" X 11" in size, & will have around 220 full-color illustrations. This book sounds really awesome & I'm very excited about it....should be pretty cool!

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!

Promo Video: BATMAN VAULT a Museum-in-a-Book BOOK!

Here's a very well done promotional video for the BATMAN VAULT Book. It gives you a really good idea what this very interesting item looks like on the inside. As you can see it's loaded with a lot of fun reproductions to remove & look at. I still have not bought this yet but plan to get one later.

Video: Vintage TV News Footage of 1989 Batman Movie VHS Release

OK, it keeps freaking me out a little bit that the 1989 Batman Movie was 20 years ago. I feel so old now! Here is some old Local TV News Footage from back then talking about the release of the Warner Bros BATMAN VHS Video Tape in Retail Stores. The moment was almost as hyped-up as the original movie premiere, ha ha! In fact, at the time, it did set a record for fastest time for a movie to become available in stores ( 4 months ).

New BATMAN VAULT "Museum in a Book" BOOK

It's been really weird lately but the brand-new BATMAN VAULT "Museum in a Book" Book has been popping-up in conversations with people on the web...a lot! Also, I have got a few e-mails about it too....very strange. So it got me curious about this book's popularity & this is what I came up with. It's just got some really cool stuff with it, especially for the price! The book is 212 pages with a lot of Bat-History & wonderful photos from the DC Archives. But that's not the neat thing really. The cool thing is that it comes with a lot of fun replicas of Vintage Batman items. A Batman Mask, a Bat-Plane Paper Airplane Glider to Make, Production Art From The Set of the 1st Batman Movie, Golden Age Comic Book Cover Art, etc...The Replica Toys are my favorite because they are pieces of Bat-Memorabilia that are extremely hard to find & very rare! All the e-mails I got were mainly from Batman Fans who were really excited after buying this book & didn't know about all the stuff inside. Now, HEY! The Bat-Blog reported about this book a long time ago & you should have known, ha ha! But anyway, the book is available now, so at your next Book Store visit be sure to check it out.

GALEXO HAS BEEN FOUND! ( 1960's Batman Comic Strip History )

OK, Regular Readers of the Bat-Blog might remember a post done in the past where we were trying to find out about a "Batman character" named Galexo. The short version of a long story is that there was once a syndicated Batman comic strip in the 1960's & 1970's but toward the end of it's run the company lost the rights to represent Batman but actually kept the thing going for a little while with a fake superhero named Galexo...yeah, crazy! The other weird thing is that they kept drawing Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson, ha ha! But the deal is that these last few strips only ran in a very small amount of Newspapers & finding out what this character even looked like has been a goal of many Batman Historians. Well, my buddy Steve over at the BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY Blog finally found him!! He received an e-mail from a guy named Todd who runs the Barnacle Press ( a blog dedicated to vintage comic strip history ). Todd has an amazing archive of many "lost strips" & was able to find one with Galexo! So, Congrats Steve! WOW! GALEXO has been found!! For further information be sure to visit Steve's post located at this HERE!

Book Review: WAS SUPERMAN A SPY? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed ( Paperback )

There's a new Paperback Book out right now on the history of comic books titled "WAS SUPERMAN A SPY? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed". It is written by Brian Cronin & published by Plume. Bouncing around the Internet I have seen a mention of it here, a review there, so I was curious & decided to check it out. Basically the book is sort of a myth busters-type book where the author explores all the "urban legends" surrounding the long 70+ year history of comic book creators & characters. There have been all kinds of interesting myths & with this book he does extensive research to find out which ones are true & which are false. The book is broken down into 3 parts: DC Comics, Marvel, & Other Publishers. But all the chapters have a lot of extremely interesting stories so even if, for example, you don't like "Marvel Comics", it's still a great read. Now the only reason I felt this book would be possible as a review here at the Bat-Blog is that it does cover a few of the events involving BATMAN. Mainly all the controversy around who really created the character & how much did Bob Kane actually draw the comic book. There's some other interesting information about the Caped Crusader in there too like who created certain characters. For example, "Did Jerry Robinson really create the Joker or was it Bob Kane?" Also, the book covers a lot of other territory in it's 256 pages. Some of the other questions it answers is, "Was the trademark hairstyle of Elvis Presley really based on a comic book character &, if so, which one? Was Wolverine of the X-Men originally meant to be an actual wolverine/animal? Did the creator of the Lie-Detector Test also create Wonder Woman's "Lasso of Truth"? and on & on! It seems that Brian did TONS of research & covers a HUGE amount of material. Overall, I found the book to be pretty entertaining. Brian's writing style is very precise ( he gets right down to business ). It's written to be sort of "conversational" & easy to understand. But he does a good job with relaying a lot of facts like exact names, dates, etc...so that's cool. Now, about the overall design of the book ( which I think is important ). The cover is absolutely amazing! In fact, I'm linking this review to an interview with the Graphic Designer who created the cover, it's that nice. The material used for the cover feels really good in your hands, it's very durable & has a great texture. Plus, graphically it just looks very cool with sort of a retro-style. Now the inside of the book. The font size is wonderful to read, which is something a lot of people don't think about but reading many books lately I've noticed publishers use extremely small font sizes to make books with less pages. They're total hell to read, but not this book, that's nice. My only complaint about the whole thing...some of the inside photos & illustrations. Now, most of the photos are pretty decent ( & there's a lot of them ) but just a few are kinda murky & hard to see. It seems like the editor was a little weak about that ( Sorry Brian & Plume, I gotta be honest ). But really it doesn't distract that much from the book & I seriously enjoyed reading it. I mean, when I started, the experience was so good that I ended up reading about half the book before I put it down. If I had not been tired ( it was bedtime ) I would have read the whole thing all the way through! If you love comic books then I think you'll find it very entertaining & you just might find yourself laughing out loud a little bit every now & then, ha ha! Plus, you'll learn a lot of very interesting facts about the Comic Book business & it's properties. If you would like to know more about the graphic design of the book cover then please check out this LINK for more information. I've also included a link to Amazon, so if you buy stuff from there please use one of our links because it helps to support this page a little bit ( a VERY little bit, ha ha ).

BATMAN COMIC BOOK LOGO DESIGN STUDY At Todd's Blog

I have been meaning to do a post for this topic for a very long time but totally forgot. Yes, sometimes I am a total moron, ha ha! There's a website called "Todd's Blog" where a guy named Todd Klein has done an extensive study of the Batman Logo over the years. He starts with the one seen in the VERY first Batman story, Detective Comics #27, & then he works his way up to modern day. Seeing the evolution of the logo is pretty interesting, from a historical point of view. Plus, if you love graphic art design, then it's pretty neat too. I've included a few examples but at his website there are many many more. In fact the posts are broken-up into "parts". I think there are 5 of them. If you use the "Search Box" at the top of his page you can find the rest. Just type "Logo Study Batman" in there, pretty easy. The amount of attention used in this story is what makes it really clever. Plus, there's a lot of beautiful eye-candy to enjoy! Just click on the link button down below, you'll see.

BAT-MANGA! THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN By Chip Kidd

OK, Regular readers of the Bat-Blog all know how totally excited I am about this new book by Chip Kidd titled BAT-MANGA! THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The basic premise of the book is that in Japan, during the 1966 Batman TV Show craze in the US, a weekly Japanese Manga magazine called SHONEN KING licensed the rights to do its own Batman and Robin stories. Both the artwork & stories were totally original. They were never collected in Japan, and never translated into English. Now, in this awesome new book, hundreds of pages of Batman-manga comics more than four decades old are translated for the first time, appearing alongside stunning photographs of the world’s most comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys. The Batman Memorabilia from Japan in the 1960's will include a ton of Batmobile Tin Toys, Tin Toy Robots, Dolls, Vinyl Figures, etc...way too much to list here! OK, now, you're probably wondering, what are the 4 comic pages up above?? Well, Chip Kidd is a big fan of the Bat-Blog & was kind enough to send a few pages of his book to be featured here! I'm not sure if this is an EXCLUSIVE but it's still pretty cool to get an e-mail from such a well-respected Batman Collector & Author! Anyways, these pages represent a part of one of the stories in the book titled "The Man Who Quit Being Human". Now, if you click on the above graphics then they will enlarge to a readable size. Another thing to remember is that they are formatted for Japanese audiences & you will have to "read them backwards". Another way to explain it is you read them top to bottom & right to left ( not "left to right" like we Americans read ). I know it's kinda disorienting but once you get the hang of it you'll really enjoy reading this story...it's wonderful! I seriously love the old vintage-style artwork. Another neat thing they did with these stories is they photographed the actual Japanese magazines to get the artwork because all of the original art is incomplete or totally gone forever. Another thing they did was make the photos so extremely sharp & super-high resolution that it's like you are reading the original magazines & getting the same exact experience that Japanese kids enjoyed way back then. It's a very cool concept from a "graphic art" point of view. The book comes out October 28th, 2008 & I can't wait! I wanna thank Chip Kidd for sending these pages to share with my readers, that's awesome!!

Video: BATMAN GEEK Reads Detective Comics # 27

A friend to the Bat-Blog, nick-named "Batman Geek" ( Actually his name is Heath, a really nice guy ), did this cool video sort-of dramatizing the reading of Detective Comics # 27. Of course that comic book was the very first appearance of Batman, which came out in May 1939. He did this video while kind of inspired by a memory he had of his children when they were little. One day he was given the opportunity to read anything he wanted to his kid's classroom. He picked this classic! He said it was a lot of fun & the kids really loved it, especially the pictures. He did all the different voices sort of like the way they're in this video...enjoy.

Video: Every Original BATMAN Comic Book Cover From #1 To Current Day!!

Here's a video, that as soon as I saw it, I knew it was worthy of posting at the Bat-Blog, ha ha! It's sort of a video montage showing all the original Batman Comic Book Covers from the very 1st "Golden Age" Issue all the way until the more recent Batman #671. It's really neat to see how the cover design elements have changed over the years, especially the logo...check it out!!