World-Wide Batmania!

Shown here, for your viewing pleasure, are 3 cool foreign Batman Comic Books. The 1st one is Arabic, the 2nd is Italian, & the 3rd is English ( but from the UK ). All of these are vintage comics & not modern-day. So, I'm curious. Does anyone out there live outside the USA where there are "foreign language" bat-books currently being published? If so, then please let us know. Also, if you have some photos of what they look like then that would be great too, thanks!

More BATMAN TOYS and COLLECTIBLES From Around The World!

OK, today I'm on sort of a "foreign kick"! That means I'm focusing on some of the extremely cool Batman Merchandise & Toys made in other countries. But trust me, this stuff is pretty cool to see so you'll like it, ha!



The 1st example is an extremely RARE item. This is a packaged Bat-Ball Toy made in Italy in 1966. This Italian Toy is almost non-existent in the US. It's probably even hard to find over there! I love the vintage-style graphics. Plus, this is one of those toys where the packaging is "everything". I mean, once you open it & there's just that generic rubber ball, then it's no longer a "character item".



The next item is fun because it's Japanese & we all know that some of the coolest Bat-items come from Japan! It's a Video Game Disc for the Sega-Saturn by Aklaim. It's also tied-into the BATMAN FOREVER Movie.



Third, is this BATMOBILE Diecast Toy Car from the UK. It's a Hot Wheels Colour Shifters Car made by Mattel.



Now, the last photos, these are really great! I really love these! This is a complete set of 6 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Jelly Glasses from France. I think these might have been for the UK market too. If anybody remembers those Welch's Grape Jelly Glasses we have here in the US then I think these are a little smaller. Now, you might be looking at the photo & saying, "Hey, There's 12 Glasses?!" Yes, this photo shows both the front & back of each glass. The 6 on the left are the "front". The "fronts" have Batman & the "backs" have villains. Well, one of them has the Batmobile, ha, but you get the idea.



OK, I'm hoping somebody who reads this either learned something or at least enjoyed it! What do you think? Do YOU have any wacky Batman "foreign items" you would like to share? If so, then please shoot us a pic, or pics! Remember, the main focus of the Bat-Blog is to share the love & joy of collecting.

Ivan's NEW Vintage-Style BATMAN T-SHIRT Retro 1970's Graphics

Here's a quick post to share a nice photo sent in by a Bat-Blog Fan from Italy. This is Ivan & here is a Batman T-Shirt that he just bought in an Italian Store. Yes, BATMAN is popular enough in Italy that they actually market products there... and that is so AWESOME! I also think it's cool that the graphics look very retro-style. Check out the Bat-Logo, just like the comic books from the 1970's & 80's. I wanna thank Ivan for sharing his pic. Plus, if any other readers from outside the US come across ANY brand-new pieces of bat-merchandise then please let us know.

Vintage Foreign BATMAN Movie Poster & Books

As a totally obsessed ( yes, crazy ) Batman Toy Collector one of my favorite areas in the genre are "foreign items". They're pretty hard to find here in the US & they're always interesting. Here's a few examples: This 1st item is a Vintage Movie Poster for the 1960's BATMAN film. But what make it unique is that it's from Italy & the language is completely Italian...awesome! I love the graphics on this thing. Now, the next 2 pictures show some cool Batman books from around the globe. The 1st book was published in France ( Yes, it's all in French, ha ha ) & it reprinted some Golden Age stories from 1943-44. It was released as a hardback around 1989, during the Tim Burton movie craze. The next book is a paperback & one of the things that make it extremely interesting is the size of the book is very very weird. It has a standard width, but it was made to be extremely tall ( or very long ). The next great thing about it is that it's from Uruguay! It was published around 1968 & is extremely RARE! So, I guess I'm gonna ask all Bat-Blog Fans who live outside the USA if they have any "foreign bat-books or toys" in their collections to please send us some photos. Thanks!

THE BATMAN in ITALY - Cartoon Network Promo in Italian

OK, I'm probably the only person who thinks this is cool, ha ha! But here are some Italian television channel "Bumpers" for THE BATMAN CARTOON in Italy. They're short promo video clips announcing the TV show.

BATMOBILE Italian CODATRONCA CAR - TV Commercial : This is Not Gotham City!

Here's an Italian TV Advertising Commercial from Italy. It's a short ad for the Italian CODATRONCA Car Company. The basic message, I guess, is that their new automobile looks like Batman's Car, but it is NOT the Batmobile! Ha Ha, enjoy.

VIDEO: BATMAN - The Animated Series TV Show Theme Song Intro in Italian : Cavaliere Della Notte

When I came across this video the other day I knew it had to be posted, it's so RARE & AWESOME! This is actual footage taped off of Italy TV for the Batman: The Animated Series ( Actually, The New Batman Adventures, but same thing! ). The theme song is in Italian and it's very interesting! I don't know why but I love to see unusual stuff like this. It's great that Batman is so popular all over the world. The show is titled "Cavaliere Della Notte" which, I think, means "Knight of The Night"...enjoy!

Vintage Batman Toy : Foreign BATMOBILE CAR Made in Italy!

Here's a bat-treasure from Italy that shows both the Batman toy car & the original box. It's the "Italian-Version BATMOBILE" by the REEL Toy Company ©1980. It had lights that actually work & while it's not completely remote control, it does have a steering wheel knob on a handle with a cord that goes to the car. Both the box & toy have really great graphics all over them. I'm sure the following photos will totally torture all the Vintage Batman Toy collectors, enjoy!

BATTMANN Italian Batman Parody Comic Book Art By Mario Perrotta

I discovered an artist on the internet the other day who, I think, lives in Italy. At least I think his site is in Italian. ( If not, I apologize ). But, the main thing, is that his comic strip cartoon-style is pretty funny & he does a really great parody of Batman he calls BATTMANN. Shown up above are some examples of his work & you can see more by visiting his site ( link button down below ). His name is Mario Perrotta. Oh one last thing, the 2 large pictures up above are actually BATTMANN WALLPAPER BACKGROUNDS ! Click on them for the larger version & send to your desktop...ENJOY!

Vintage 1960's BATMAN TOYS and MEMORABILIA From Around The World! ( Japan, The UK, & Italy )

OK, The Bat-Blog has been reporting a lot on the Dark Knight Batman Movie lately & to be honest it's getting a little old, ha ha! Don't get me wrong. I'm totally excited about this movie & can't wait till it comes out, but I also love the vintage toys too! So, I thought I would post a few Super-RARE pieces of Batman Memorabilia from around the globe. We start in Japan, where in the 1960's, some Japanese company produced this wonderful Batman Action Figure (Doll?). It must be kinda boot-leg because the colors are wayyyy off! But I think that gives the piece a lot of charm & it does make it a variant figure, something different for the collection. The next item comes from England, or as I like to call it, The UK! It's a Batman Ballpoint Pen shown on the original blister card...beautiful vintage graphics, a favorite item! The 3rd photo is also an item from the UK. It's a RARE Corgi Car vehicle from their "Husky Extra" line #1003. It's a Bat-Boat with Trailer from the 1966 TV Series. This was sold to go with their 1966 Batmobile from the same Batman TV Show. Oh my god, look at the price! It was only 59 cents, ha ha! The last photo is a very obscure item from Italy. It's a Batman Costume Playset in original bag with header card. I love the vintage Bat-Logo on the card & the "toy" itself is pretty cool too. It was made by Il Giocattolo, an Italian company. OK, I should not have "went off" at the beginning of this post about being tired of The Dark Knight Movie News but I just wanted everybody to know that we have not forgot about the people who love the vintage toys. Mainly, because we love them too!

Video: THE BATMAN - TV SHOW OPENING THEME SONG ( Italian Language Version )

Our friend Andrew sent us this link with a translation too. ( Thanks Andrew! ) Ya see, the video is the opening sequence for THE BATMAN Cartoon TV Show but it's in Italian. They must play this animated series in Italy. He wrote this nice piece of information, "Thought the Bat-Bloggers would get a kick out of this. Anyway, I think the song is strangely catchy, so I've translated the chorus for your readers' amusement so they can sing along. It's repeated lots towards the end.

Batman,
Batman of the Future,
Grande amico della verità,
Gotham City ti ringrazierà,
Batman of the Future,
Sei tu!

...which means...

Batman,
Batman of the Future,
Great friend of truth,
Gotham City will thank you,

Batman of the Future,
Is you!

Italian Nesquik Ad with DC Comic Characters Gets Translated!

In a recent post here at the Bat-Blog we showed a cool Italian vintage comic book ad that featured some DC Comic Character Premiums ( Batman, Robin, Superman, & Wonder Woman Jet-Planes ) that were given away inside Nesquik Chocolate Drink Mix boxes. Well, our friend Andrew knows Italian very well & sent us this translation:

Robin/Batman/Wonder Woman: "Our spaceships"

Superman: "Gift in Nesquik Astroquik"

Landing on Nesquik and obtainable free with Astroquik, the magnetic spaceships of the superheroes.

From today in every 400g box of Nesquik Astroquik, you will find one of the magnetic spaceships preferred by Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman. Every Astroquik is complete with super pilot, a magnet and coloured decals to attach. You can find 4 different Astroquik to make your magnetic astro fleet and invent your spacial adventures.

With the taste of chocolate, it captures the milk.

Thanks for translating this for us Andrew, that's cool! I would love to find some of these jets, they're kinda neat, & the container has very nice graphics too.

Another Comic Book Artist Pays Tribute To Heath Ledger With Personal Artwork of The Joker

In response to a previous post made today about a piece of "Heath Ledger Tribute Art" by Jim Lee a Bat-Blog Reader from Italy wrote, "Hi, I'm an Italian reader of the Bat-Blog. I've seen the great tribute by Jim Lee to Heath Ledger and I think you may appreciate this tribute by Massimo Carnevale, cover artist for Y The Last Man, Northlanders, and a lot more. Bye, Bapho. P.S. Sorry for my English, I know it sucks a bit :)" Ha Ha, No Bapho, your English is very very good & we sincerely appreciate you sending us this very beautiful piece of art, it's wonderful. Please tell your artist friend that he has done an incredible tribute. Thank You.

Italian RAT-MAN Comic Book Does Detective Comics #27 Homage Cover!

In Italy there's a popular comic book by Leo Ortolani called RAT-MAN which is a silly cartoon parody of Batman. For one of the covers he did an homage to the Classic Golden Age Comic Book Cover ( Detective Comics #27 ) which was the very 1st appearance of Batman. Most of the language is Italian so I can't read it but the artwork is really great. I love this parody, it's hilarious!

Foreign BATMAN TOYS: Mexico, Argentina, and Italy

One of the types of Batman Toys I personally like are the "Foreign Toys". They're usually very very wacky!! Plus, it's neat to see a foreign language on them (I think it's great that the character is loved all over the world ). Yeah, I'm kinda weird, ha ha! Anyway, here's some very cool examples: The 1st photo is a "Bootleg" Inflatable-Toy of Batman. He looks kinda pretty with that bold red lipstick, don'tcha think? The 2nd picture is an extremely RARE Slot Car Race Set made by Polistil. I think it's from Italy or Poland. Either way the graphics are awesome! The weird thing is the Batmobile looks like the one from the 1989 Tim Burton movie but the graphics on the box of Batman & the logo are retro 1970's! The next 2 items are from our friends in Argentina. The 1st example is a plastic ring toss game that I have never seen before ( Thanks Paulo for sending that pic, appreciate that! ). The 2nd item is a small packaged puzzle. I think it's a carnival prize or something. It has some really nice graphics that look like they were swiped from Dick Giordano artwork. Whew! We just went around the world. OK, if any readers in "foreign lands" have some photos they would like to share then please send them in today. Thanks!

Batman Comic Books in Different Languages

Shown in the photos up above are some examples of foreign Batman comic books that are in different languages. They are Spanish ( Argentina ), Italian ( Rome ), & Portuguese. We really love these kind of comics because they're really RARE & very unusual. Speaking of foreign languages, the BAT-BLOG uses a "Google Translator" to alter this website from English to 8 different languages. Just click on one of the FLAGS you see on the very top right-hand side of the blog. This will translate the page into Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, & Korean.