The Publisher, Chronicle Books, has just released this cool new BOOK PROMO VIDEO to start early hype for "THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN". This book was written by Michael Uslan who has been the Executive Producer for all the recent Batman Movies. We're talking "1989 BATMAN" all the way up to the next Bat-Film, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. But, besides working in Hollywood, Michael Uslan is an extremely serious Batman Fan, and has been since early childhood, this is his story.
"Batman's Biggest Secret is NOT Bruce Wayne...", reads the front of this brand-new Promo T-Shirt. The back says, "Put Your Finger on it, July 2012, NOBLEMANIA". OK, This post is sort of mysterious but here's the deal. There's a Book Author named Marc Tyler Nobleman who is in the very very early stages of promoting his next book ( The actual release date is almost a year from now, July 1st, 2012 ). You might know him as the guy who wrote "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman". Well, his next major book will be all about the uncredited Batman Co-Creator, Bill Finger. Serious Batman Fans know who this guy is because his story of how he never got any credit for helping create the greatest comic book superhero in history is legendary. But the unusual thing is that he was so "hidden" that even serious Fans don't know much about him. Well, hopefully that's gonna change after the book comes out. Basically it's going to be a very serious Biography about Mr. Finger & his contributions to the Comic Book genre, especially the Dark Knight character. I've been following the creation of this book for awhile now & the attention to details, & the interviews with other Artists/Writers, is extremely meticulous. I'm predicting it's gonna be a really great book.
OK, to get back to the T-Shirt. The shirt you see up above was created as a promotional Tool for the next 2011 Comic Con. Marc is set-up to do a lecture & panel discussion at that event for the "Bill Finger" Book. We're hoping a few people buy the shirt & wear it to the event. It's designed in such a way that it's sort of "vague", & then if somebody asks what the shirt is about then you can get into a dialogue about the "Finger Book". So, if you wanna support this great project then please be sure to visit SKREENED where you can buy this shirt.
Now, please keep in mind that the shirt is sold in TWO ways: 1. You can get a shirt that is screened with both designs on the front & back, Or 2. You can get a shirt that has JUST the "front" design with nothing on the back. Either way it's a great item! Seriously, all your friends will be super-jealous, JEALOUS!
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 )
I guess this post is sort of a "photo reference". These are some pics I collected awhile back where it's the Vintage 1966 BATMAN TV SHOW and MOVIE Paperback Books, but these are all "foreign-issued" copies. The 1st five are from England & were reprinted by Four Square Illustrated. These special UK editions have slightly different covers than the US versions. My favorite one is THE JOKER with all the weird "Pop Art" colors. I'm not sure about THE CATWOMAN Book & I'm wondering if it's from the UK too. It looks like it was reprinted by some other publisher. Now, the very last photo, is THE PENGUIN Book that was made in Argentina. It appears to be wayyyy more thin than an actual paperback. What's up on that? OK, I'm wondering if anybody has any other versions of these. If so, then please let us know. I think it would be cool if there were German, Spanish, or French editions, ha!
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.
Picture Window Books ( a division of Capstone Publishing ) just released a brand-new series of Children Books called DC SUPER-PETS. The Illustrator for these are none other than Art Baltazar. You might recognize his name from the successful TINY TITANS comic books. The basic concept for this new series is that they tell stories about the adventures of SUPER-PETS who are owned by some of your favorite DC Comics Superheroes: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, & Green Lantern. Their names are Ace the Bat-Hound, Krypto the Super-Dog, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, and Jumpa the Super-Kangaroo.
Now, to celebrate the launch of this new series, Picture Window Books is sponsoring a writing contest for students in grades 1-3. Children enter the "My Pet is Super" contest by writing an article for an imaginary newspaper, The Daily Planet, about why their own pet is super! Art Baltazar will create an illustration of the winning Super-Pet that will appear in a future book in the DC Super-Pets series. The winning student will receive the original art as well as copies of the book. Authors of the top 50 entries in the contest will also win free books. For complete rules and to enter, visit CapstoneKids.com The contest runs from January 15th, 2011 - February 28th, 2011.
All serious BATMAN Fans know who Bill Finger is, I mean, he's the Co-Creator of Batman. But because of an exclusive contract Bob Kane had with DC Comics Bill Finger has been robbed of his credit for years. There's a lot we don't know about this artist. Well, the good news is that our friend Marc Nobleman is writing the definitive biography on Bill Finger. It's due to come out next year in 2012. You might know him from his previous book, "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman,". Up above is a rare photo of Bill Finger as seen on a trading card in a series called "Famous Comic Book Creators". Personally, I can't wait until this book comes out!
This video comes straight from Neal Adams & shows the Famous Comic Book Artist drawing a wonderful profile sketch of our favorite Caped Crusader, Batman! He's drawing this inside a copy of "The Art of Neal Adams", a new book published by Vanguard Productions. Would you like a signed copy? Just click HERE to visit Adams' Official Website. Once there, click on the "STORE" button.
The New 1966 BATMAN TV Show History Book "Gotham City 14 Miles: 14 Essays on Why the 1960s Batman TV Series Matters" has finally hit the shelves & if you're having a hard time finding it then here's one way to get it, just click HERE! Now, it's also available at you friendly neighborhood comic book shop. The store owner just needs to order it ( if they don't already have it ) through Diamond Distributing. The basic premise of the book is 14 different stories about how the '66 TV Show was important to the over-all history of Batman... a great read!
Here's a very cool "Book Promo" video featuring artist Matthew Reinhart talking about the just released Little Brown and Co.’s DC SUPER HEROES: THE ULTIMATE POP-UP BOOK. I've always loved pop-up books & this one looks pretty interesting.
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:
Check out this BATMAN BAT-MANGA Japanese Style Wallpaper!! Our buddy Saul sent us this graphic he found on the web that I thought would be totally beautiful as a desktop background ( Thanks Saul ). The artwork is totally inspired by the art of Jiro Kuwata, who was the Japanese manga comic book artist who created some original Batman stories back in the 1960's. His work was the focus of the recent "Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan" book by Chip Kidd. Speaking of artists, the guy who created this image is named Jordan Gibson and he lives in Austin, Texas. So, I wanna thank him for letting us use his artwork. If you wanna see more of his work ( and you should because it's cool ) then here's a LINK!
It looks like our buddy "Brohawk" aka David Williams has been pretty busy since we talked to him last. Check this out, he has published a brand-new hardback book of his amazing artwork titled "Brohawk's Weapons of Choice, The Art of David Williams". This cool "Book Promo" video was created ( see down below ) to promote it. He will have some copies at San Diego Comic Con 2010 at the "Big Wow" booth #4902 so look for him there or visit his website by clicking HERE!
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!
Here's a really great vintage 60's Batman item that I know a lot of people may have never seen before. In my collection I have almost every single Batman paperback from this era, except this one, it's very hard to find! In fact, I've always been familiar with what the cover looks like but I didn't know what the content was. So, here we go! This is a vintage paperback book titled IT'S FUN TO BE A BATMAN! ( Written by Leonard Goldstein ). It was made around the time of the 1966 TV Show & it featured a lot of altered B&W photos where they took some person in the picture & made them into Batman or Robin. Plus, they gave them funny captions. It's a really weird book. I wanna thank our buddy Chris who shared these pics. I told him I never knew about the strange photos inside. I hope to find myself a copy of this book someday...it will be MINE, ha ha!
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!
One of the things I love about doing the Bat-Blog is getting to meet other Batman Fans from all over the world. Like, I recently met a very nice guy named Silvio Ribas who lives in Brazil. He's a major Batman Collector & he has a blog that shares what it is like to be a Batman Fan in his country. It's pretty cool! He also wrote a book in 2005 titled "Dicionario Do Morcego", which means "Dictionary of The Bat" in Portuguese. Hopefully he will send me a Review Copy, then I can give you more information about it. Now, unfortunately, I can't read the Portuguese language but I still like to visit Silvio's website every now & then because it does have some cool pictures & with translation software I can sort-of read it. Here's a LINK to check it out.
Shown up above are a few panels of Batman-related artwork created by a very talented Graphic Artist named Ted Naifeh. Ted's plan is to pitch a new Batman Book idea to DC Comics. You see, he has taken the Batman Universe & sort-of recreated it in his own unique style. Most of the characters are easily recognizable like: Scarecrow, The Penguin, Catwoman, The Mad Hatter, & so on but they're also just a "little different". He's been working on this concept for awhile & has created a ton of cool pencil sketches & inked drawings to back-up his idea. If you visit his website there is way more art to enjoy: The Joker, Batwoman, Robin, Batgirl, etc... It's gonna be interesting to see how this project comes along. So, if you wanna see more of Ted Naifeh's Graphic Art, & also keep up to date with what is going on, then please be sure to visit his website by clicking HERE!
Today is the date that all fans of the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Animated Cartoon have been waiting for! It's the release of the Trade Paperback Book of all the collected comic book stories. Inspired by the hit Cartoon Network TV series, The Caped Crusader teams up with heroes including Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Aquaman and others. In these tales from the first six issues of the monthly series, Batman and his allies tangle with The Time Lord, save the world's children from the Queen of Fables, and more! Get it at TFAW & save 20%.
