Here are some amazing examples of the fantastic artwork of Alex Toth! Most of his fans know him for his Golden Age Comic Book Art but he was also a leading Graphic Designer in the World of Animation. In fact, he created most of the visual look for the Super Friends Cartoon TV Show back in the early 1970's & here are 3 totally awesome "Model Sheets" to prove it! A Model Sheet is something used by an Animator to keep an exact idea of what certain things are suppose to look like. It helps to make artwork consistent & sets the correct scales, sizes, & colors too. In these examples you see the ones for Batman himself, his Batmobile Car, & the famous Bat-Jet! I totally love this old animated cartoon & when I was a very little kid I really loved it too. I wanna thank our friend Scott for sending these great pictures & reminding me of my childhood. Also, I'm a HUGE Alex Toth Fan so seeing anything by him is a great treat.
During the making of the1989 Batman movie, directed by Tim Burton, the Production Designer for the film was Anton Furst. He designed Sets, Custom Vehicles, & even the Movie Poster! Here is a photo of his original blueprint to the now famous Bat-Jet, also known as The Bat-Wing! I thought I would post it in case anyone wanted to build one ( ha ha, OK, a dumb joke...but be sure to click on the pic up above for a larger photo ). Actually I thought it was a pretty cool drawing. In fact, Warner Bros should make a poster of it for sale...people would go nuts! Remember when this vehicle saved Gotham City from those evil "Joker Gas" Balloon Floats? Good times, good times.
In this new teaser for Cartoon Network's BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Batman teams up with Green Arrow in a car chase with The Joker. Also, the Catwoman makes a special appearance. This episode airs tonight on Friday, June 5th. Please be sure to check your local listings for correct time. Oh yeah, I gotta say, I totally love all the cool Superhero ( & Villain ) Vehicles in this clip. Let's hope they end up making toys out of all of them, ha ha!
You might remember this video, I posted it here at the Bat-Blog about a year ago ( it's buried in the Bat-Archives now ). But a friend sent it to me recently & this one is a way better version, very nice quality! The basic story on it was that Blur Animation Studios created this CGI movie for Warner Bros to use in one of those "Virtual Ride" events at one of their Six Flags theme parks. It shows "you", as Batman, flying around Gotham City in a Bat-Jet chasing after many different villains like the Joker, Catwoman, & Mr. Freeze. I love the little Bat-Jet planes because they look a lot like the one from the 1989 movie. The video is extremely well done & is actually very fun to watch, enjoy!
Another big news item for Batman: The Brave and The Bold Action Figure line by Mattel at this years TOY FAIR 2009 was the release of the new BATMOBILE CAR Vehicle. The cool thing about it is that it will transform from a car into the Bat-Plane ( or is that "Bat-Jet" ? ). Either way it's totally AWESOME!! I'm really excited about this new toy & I gotta have it!
Here are some BATMAN: The Brave and The Bold Desktop Backgrounds I made to help remind you about the new episode tonight. Enjoy. Oh, by the way, I seriously LOVE the retro-style of the animated BAT-JET vehicle!!
Here's a new Fisher-Price Imaginext DC Superfriends item to keep an eye out for. This Gift Set is a Target Store Exclusive so you can only find it there. It retails for about $30 & that's a pretty good deal for what you get. So, don't pay the idiot scalper prices you see on eBay, ha ha! Once they restock their stores it should be around. I have pictures of almost all the figures & vehicles included but couldn't find a decent picture of the Robin figure & his special Motorcycle Bat-Bike. The other action figures include: The Joker, Mr. Freeze, & 2 different Batman. The vehicles are great too! They include: Bat-Copter, Bat-Wing Jet, & the Joker Car. I'm gonna be looking for one of these because as a multiple set it's really cool!
Everybody's all excited about the new LEGO BATMAN: The VIDEO GAME & I gotta admit the graphics do look pretty cool. Here's a nice video showing off some of the bat-vehicles they will have. There's a very cool Batmobile, Bat-Jet, Robin Cycle, & even some Water Jet-Skis... enjoy!
A new friend to the Bat-Blog, named Chip, sent these 2 amazing photos showing this ultra-cool & extremely-rare BATMAN BAT-JET TOY PLANE! It was made in Argentina in 1967. I think he sent these pics just to torture me, ha ha! In all my years of collecting Bat-Memorabilia I have NEVER ever seen this thing, it's completely beautiful! Actually, "sharing the joy of Batman Toy collecting" is the main purpose of the Bat-Blog so that's perfect. All kidding aside, thanks Chip for sending these, I appreciate that!
All I have been hearing lately about DC Comics' new BOOSTER GOLD Comic Book is that it's really awesome! I've seen the artwork & it's quite good but I've also been told that the stories are really well-written. It's sort of a secret among comic book nerds so don't tell anybody ( I mean "Nerd" in a good way, ha ha ). Basically he & his 2 sidekicks teleport everywhere & in the new October 2008 issue ( #11 ) they land smack-dab in the middle of the Batcave! In the graphic up above, behind Booster Gold, you can see the 1966-Style Batmobile & 60's Bat-Boat, the Bat-Jet from the 90's Animated Series, a 1970's-looking Bat-Cycle, & a few more!! ( Click on the photo for a larger, more detailed, picture ). As a side note, I've been dying to use the phrase "smack-dab" in a sentence for a very long time now so this is quite exciting, ha ha!
Here's a really great original vintage 1990's TV Commercial for BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Action Figures by Kenner. This one features the Batman & Catwoman figures with the Bat-Wing Vehicle ( Bat-Jet ) ....awesome!
Here's a very cool Vintage Batman Toy TV Commercial featuring the 1995 Kenner CRIME SQUAD series! Ohhhhh My God, These Batman & Robin figures had special "rapid deploy techno-capes"! Showcased here are the Land-Strike Batman, Ski-Blast Robin, & Bane, the evil villain, action figures. It also shows the Triple-Attack Bat-Jet with Attack-Drone. I hope you enjoy this wonderful piece of Bat-History. Now go watch the video already! ( Oh yeah, one last thing, at the end of the TV Commercial they attached a DC Comics Company Promo that's pretty cool to see ).
Here's some brand-new photos of some new Batman Toys that are gonna come out during The Dark Knight movie. Two of them are "Toy Vehicles" with Batman figures. One looks like a Space-Age Super Bat-Jet, the other a Snow Plow. Does Batman go into the snow removal business? OK, The second one looks very military, like a tank, ha ha! I don't think these are gonna actually BE in the movie, just "made up", who knows. The Bat-Jet would be kinda cool! The picture in the middle shows an Action Figure Play Set that comes with a Bat-Gun that shoots a suction-cup ( Be careful, you'll put your eye out ). After you release the line you can put Batman on there so the Dark knight can slide over to the scene of the crime. That one looks pretty cool. "Take that Joker!"
