THE SUPER FRIENDS Batman CARTOON ANIMATION MODEL SHEETS By Alex Toth!

I opened my email box recently & nearly cried! What made me almost cry? These extremely beautiful Batman animation drawings by Alex Toth, that's what! Our friend Scott sent these pictures of some real-life ANIMATION MODEL SHEETS that were created for Hanna Barbera Productions, Inc © 1973. They were made for THE SUPER FRIENDS TV Cartoon. "Model Sheets" are basically a blueprint for all the different Animation Artists to use as a guide. They help keep the artwork consistent & perfect ( In size, scale and color ). These show the Basic Batman Figure ( in costume ), The Batmobile Car, & The Batplane... or is it Bat-Plane? ha! Now, readers, you might check the Bat-Blog Archives ( located on the left-side of this page, near the middle ) because I have posted more of them in the past & they're always fun to see. Plus, I wanna thank Scott for sending these, they're beautiful! These really bring back a ton of wonderful memories of my childhood. I totally loved this TV show. OK, I'm crying again, all over my keyboard. I need a minute.

1970's: THE SUPERHERO CATALOG OF GAMES, BOOKS, TOYS, & PUZZLES #1

I hope this post brings back a lot of fond memories for many readers. I grew-up in the 1970's & was totally into comic books at that time, a super-collector! I even liked toys & action figures too but was not really a big toy collector like I am now ( In hindsight I WISH I would have bought a bunch of stuff then, ha ha ). I remember one day, in the mid-1970's, I saw an ad in the back of one of my favorite comic books. You could get a catalog for, I think, 50 cents + postage that promised to be filled with all kinds of superhero goodies. Because I was a big fan of this kinda thing I mailed away for one. WOW! Was I ever happy I did! This is the 1st Issue of The SUPERHERO CATALOG OF GAMES, BOOKS, TOYS, & PUZZLES!! This catalog was pretty unique for 3 main reasons. One, It was published in a comic book format. Two, instead of photos for all the products they were hand-drawn like comic book art, and Three, it was jam-packed with tons of very cool superhero items that, at the time, you would NEVER SEE at all the department stores or even the best-stocked comic book shops. Now, I'm mainly sharing the pages that are "Batman-related" but this baby was filled with Comic Books, Specialty Books about Comics, Star Wars Toys, Super Hero T-Shirts, Action Figures, Micronauts, Novelty Clocks, Mego Dolls, Clothing, and many many other pieces of merchandise with all the DC & Marvel Comics Characters you could ever dream about!! And, oh man, I used to totally drool over every single issue. It was just filled with magic & I would fantasize about buying everything in it. I remember that I did buy a few pieces from it. I used to (still do ) totally love those HUGE Treasury Comics that DC made. I collected them & the ones that were harder to find I would get here. I bought a few weird Star Wars items. I fondly remember getting a Star Wars Stormtrooper Costume Helmet. I also remember buying a few Mego Dolls ( in the original boxes! ). One neat thing about the art was that the whole catalog was done by art students from the Joe Kubert School of Comic Art ( still in business today ). Kubert even drew a lot of it & the stuff he didn't was still sort of drawn in his style. I was a big fan of his artwork at the time ( really loved his Sgt. Rock books ) so this was just a bonus! So, does anybody else remember these? If so then please leave a comment & share your stories. I know there's gotta be a lot of people who loved these as much as I did. Also, I guess, if you have never seen one of these RARE catalogs before then there are some really great collectible toys to drool over, ha ha!

VIDEO: TOY FAIR 2009 - Batman : The Brave and the Bold BATMOBILE / BAT-PLANE TOY

Here's a very interesting video from the 2009 TOY FAIR where a rep from Mattel shows off the cool function of the BATMOBILE / BAT-PLANE Toy Vehicle. It is, of course, from the new line of Batman: The Brave and The Bold Action Figures. It shows how it transforms from the car into the airplane...extremely cool! This toy is gonna be very popular with both little children & adult collectors!

TOY FAIR 2009: Batman The Brave and The Bold BATMOBILE CAR Action Figure Vehicle

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!

NEW BATMAN TOY : Mattel DC SUPER FRIENDS Action Figures BAT-PLANE

Just a quick note. Mattel's DC SUPER FRIENDS is a new action figure toy line that everyone is getting really excited about because they take the DC Comics universe and make it all super cute & adorable...goo goo goo. They have already released a few figures & vehicles. Well, later this year, Mattel will be releasing another new vehicle to go with Batman's Batmobile. It's called the BAT-PLANE!

BATWING TOYS: Bat-Plane from 1989 Batman Movie

I collected the Batman comic books along time ago & even bought a few toys but I blame the 1989 Batman Movie for turning me into a super-huge toy collector / Bat-Fan! That year was also the 50th anniversary of the character so it really sparked my interest in the vintage toys. It's hard to believe that this movie came out 18 years ago! I love it, it's a classic. One of the Batman vehicles featured in the movie ( & pretty cool too ) was the BATWING, Batman's Jet Plane that was in the shape of the Bat-Symbol logo. My only gripe about it was that all the Joker ( Jack Nicholson ) had to do to defeat it was shoot it one time with a small Joker-Pistol gun....lame. Ha Ha! Still, a great movie! Here's a few vintage toys of the BATWING they made during the 1989 Batman Movie. We hope these pictures bring back some fond memories.

BAT-PLANES: Different Vintage Batman Airplanes

With the BAT-BLOG I always strive for variety & there seems to be so many different angles on the many aspects of the character that I can do that. One thing I do is collect pictures for awhile until I see a pattern. Here's an example: Tonight, out of the blue, I noticed I had a lot of pics of many different Vintage Batman BAT-PLANE TOYS. So, here's some examples of Bat-Plane Toys made thru the years. The 1st one is probably the rarest of them all & was made in 1966. It's a beautiful Bat-Plane that looks more like a military cargo plane than a plane he would actually have. The 2nd piece of Bat-Memorabilia is this 1970's Bat-Plane that is really cute. Yes it is, it's the cutest little plane ever, yes it is. This was contributed by a friend at the BAT-BLOG Message Board. I personally don't have this item in my collection & wish I did, it's cool. The 3rd bit of Bat-Nostalgia is a Bat-Plane from Canada, called the BAT-GLIDER. It's actually a Vintage "bootleg" Batman toy put out during the 60's to rip-off the TV Series, kind of funny! The last photo is the extremely hard-to-find Bat-Plane that was an accessory in the Batman Justice League of America Play Set made by Ideal ©1966.

1966 Batman BATMOBILE & BATPLANE Aurora Model Kits

Here's a vintage 1960's comic book ad that ran for the Batman 1966 Batmobile & Batplane Aurora Model Kits. We know a lot of BAT-BLOG readers collect models related to Bat-Memorabilia. It's kind of shocking that these sold for only 98¢.

DC Comics Superheroes Vintage 1970's Toys Comic Book Ad

Remember this famous Comic Book Ad? ( Click the small picture up above for a larger, more detailed, photo ). In the 1970's there was a really cool catalog you could get thru the mail that sold a lot of really obscure toys & superhero items you couldn't find anywhere else. I used to get these in the mail & dream about buying stuff. Yes, I was a Bat-Nerd even then, ha ha. This vintage ad shows some really cool Batman Memorabilia. The 1st is a RARE Bat-Plane Toy that came with a launcher. Next up is the classic Bat-Belt with accessories: Bat-Ray, Bat-Cuffs, Bat-Grappler, Bat-Walkie-Talkie, & Vintage 70's Batman Logo Bat-Buckle!! There are also some cool Beach Towels that are pretty RARE to find now. I really want the one with Batman & Robin running thru Gotham City with the Bat-Signal in the sky. The last cool things are the different Mego Action Figure Dolls & Mego Green Arrow Car! That car is now an icon in the Mego collecting world for it's rarity. If you have one you should donate it to a museum! The dolls included Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Shazam, & Robin. They were only $3.79 with 59¢ postage!

Vintage 1966 Batman Toys Sales Catalog Pictures

Here's a group of pictures taken out of some really cool & Super-RARE Batman Toys from a 1966 Toy Sales Catalog. This was an industry publication for people who owned toy stores in the 60's & they could order stock from it. Shown in the pics are some extremely RARE Batman Toys like: Batman Bullhorn & Batman on a Stick, made by Bayshore Industries. Some Batman & Robin Society 3 1/2" Buttons with Display Box, made by Button World Mfg, Co. The Official Batman Hat made by Arlington Hat Co. The last picture shows some very RARE items made by the Irwin Corp: The injection-molded plastic Batman Plane, Batman Helicopter, Batman Ride-On Bike, & Batman Club Horn with header card!! OK, now the Society Button is kinda common to find but everything else is a total holy grail piece because they are almost non-existant! Click on the small picture up above for a larger, more detailed photo so you can start drooling! Drool, drool!! Be sure to check the BAT-BLOG ARCHIVES, located on the right-side of the blog, for many more Vintage Batman Toys!!

Ideal 1966 Official BATMAN & JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA PLAY SET, Mint In Box!

A good friend to the BAT-BLOG, named JOKERSCROWBAR, recently posted a photo at the BAT-BLOG Message Board of the Super-RARE BATMAN & JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA PLAY SET made by Ideal ©1966. This Vintage Toy is a Holy Grail to many toy collectors & not just for people who collect Batman or Superhero-related items either. It's just an extremely cool toy with great visual appeal! Plus, it's extremely RARE! The original box is really large with a big window to see the contents inside. It came with small plastic figures of the superhero team & many accessories too, like the Batmobile & Bat-Plane! The superheroes included Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, & Flash!

Here's a LINK to that posting with many more photos & while you're there you might as well JOIN THE BAT-BLOG Message Board, it's FREE!

http://com3.runboard.com/bbatblog.f1.t80