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"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!
Right now there's a book publishing company in Chile called LA TERCERA who are planning to come out with a collection of 12 books of Batman stories called "LA MUERTE DE BATMAN"( "The Death of Batman", in Spanish ). Basically they're gonna be "reprint comics" in book form. It really sounds like a very cool foreign Batman item to add to a collection. I'm not really sure if they are hardback or soft cover. They are also giving away 3 different posters as the promotion continues. Sorry, their website has totally weak information ( Plus, it's in a foreign language I can't read, ha! ) so as soon as I learn more I'll let everybody know. In the mean time, here's a link to their page, click HERE! If you visit the site be sure to scroll down to see a cool "Motion Comic" Video! ( Thanks Rubén )
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.
We just received an email from a Bat-Blog Fan named Justin & it was loaded with a bunch of cool pics! Justin said that he has been a Fan of the Dark Knight since age 5 & he is now 19. The thing he really enjoys is collecting the Batman Trade Paperback Books ( Graphic Novels ), Hardback Books, & Comic Books. Here are some photos he sent of his collection. Because of space limitations I couldn't publish them all but these do give you a really good idea of what an awesome library he has. On a side-note, I like how he has a Post-It Note attached to the shelf, near the Batman books, that reads, "DO NOT TOUCH!", that's funny! Thanks Justin for sending in these photos & sharing your collection with us. You have some great stuff! As always, I want to invite all Bat-Blog Readers to share your pics of anything Batman-related. It can be a Vintage Toy Collection, a photo of you meeting Adam West, your recent Bat-Birthday Party, whatever!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Since it's the very 1st day of a brand new year I thought it would be a good time to mention a really great charity that I just discovered. It's called the TOYS FOR TOTS Literacy Program. Now, long time Bat-Blog readers know we hype the regular TOYS FOR TOYS charity every year around Christmas. It's that organization run by the US Marines where they give toys to under-privileged children. Well, now they have another charity where they circulate new books to children who do not have access to libraries. They not only make sure lots of kids get books of their very own but they also teach them how to read. You see, it's all about teaching kids how to read & learn to love books. This is something I believe in very strongly. I love reading, love books, & can't imagine a life without being enriched by them. So, this charity has now become very important for me. What I would like to do right now is ask every reader of the Bat-Blog to please consider making a donation to TOYS FOR TOTS or even just spreading the word about it. At the end of this post will be a link to their website. Please consider going there & seeing what YOU can do. This would make an excellent "New Year's Resolution"! You can visit their website by clicking HERE! Thank You.
OK, By now you must have heard all the hype about a whole new publishing concept by DC Comics. They will be releasing some brand-new Graphic Novel material that will be collected like "Volume 1, Vol 2, Vol 3, etc...". The idea is that instead of being published as comic books first they will go straight to book form. Their experiment will involve their 2 best properties: Superman & Batman ( with the Caped Crusader being the way better of the two, ha ha ). Each character will get their own book, plus another part of the concept will be that they will be living on "Earth One". Meaning, the stories will not be considered to be apart of the actual continuity of the "real characters". In other words, the writers & artists have full reign to do whatever they want & it will not effect the actual characters in the regular DC Universe. I imagine they will be going totally nuts & I think it might be kinda fun, we'll see. For our favorite Dark Knight the title will be called BATMAN: EARTH ONE. The writer of this series will be Geoff Johns & the artwork will be drawn by Gary Frank. Up above is a BATMAN: EARTH ONE Desktop Wallpaper Background I made using his artwork, check it out! ( Thanks Knipp for the heads-up on this new DC Comics concept ).
I was gonna write a book review on the new Batman/Superman novel “Enemies and Allies” By Kevin J. Anderson that just came out. But my friend Christopher Huff already did so why should I? Actually I have not read the book yet & since I feel kinda lazy today I thought I'd just link his review here, ha ha. I mean, he wrote one that's just as good as mine would be, OK, actually a lot better! A long time ago, ever since hearing about this book, I have been pretty curious about it & hoped it would be good. Almost all the reviews I have come across lately all say that's it's really interesting. The story is set in the 1950's so there's a lot of "Cold War period" stuff to deal with & you get a lot of "vintage style" story-telling. It just sounds like it would be really cool! So, this book is going on my wish list. Now, Christopher wrote a really great review & I'm asking everybody to please check it out by clicking HERE!
I know this is totally off-topic for a Batman Fan blog but I wanted to take this moment to honor Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, who would have been 105 years old today. All of his books will always remain total literary classics. There are way too many to list: The Cat In The Hat, Green Eggs & Ham, The Butter Battle Book, And To Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street, Fox in Socks, The Foot Book, Horton Hears a Who, Hop On Pop, and many many more! The "Cat In The Hat" graphic down below & the Black and White Photo of Dr. Seuss are actually Desktop Wallpapers you can use today to honor this great man, please do so. He has taught millions of children all over the world the joy of reading. He's a National Treasure & we will always be in his debt. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!
OK, I know it's about 2 months away but I'm really excited about a new book coming out by TwoMorrow's Publishing called THE BATCAVE COMPANION! The delays are over, and it’s finally in print! Michael Eury, the writer/editor of the critically acclaimed The Krypton Companion, and Michael Kronenberg, the designer of the eye-popping Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu: The Art of Paul Gulacy, team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in The Batcave Companion! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by Dennis O’Neil and its iconic cover painting by Neal Adams, The Batcave Companion is a must-have for every Bat-Fanatic & comics fan! It's due to be released around April 15th, 2009. Here's a link for more information:
OK, This morning I drew the very last name out of the hat for the recent BAT-BLOG CONTEST where we have been giving away Signed-Copies of Chip Kidd's New BAT-MANGA THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN BOOK! The responses have been totally crazy & I think this is the most successful contest so far. For the last month or so we have been giving away a free Autographed Copy of this amazing book. Today, we pic the last winner of the 5th book. It goes to Mike M. of Hamilton, Ontario ( Canada ). Congrats Mike & please contact us so we can confirm your address. Then, we will mail you the book. I wanna thank everybody who entered & if you didn't win, I'm sorry. But the good news is we will always have more contests in the future soo keep an eye out for those. I also wanna thank Chip Kidd for personally autographing all the books & his publishing company for supplying us with this great material. These books were an incredible item to be giving away & I really appreciate that.
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA, THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, this morning I picked another name out of the hat so here we go! The WINNER of the FOURTH Signed Copy of the BAT-MANGA Book is... Jennie E. of Fairbanks, AK.! Thanks Jennie, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. I hope that postage for Alaska is not gonna be outrageous because I am kinda poor right now, ha ha! Now, for everybody else who entered there is one more book to give away so you at least have one more chance so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, this morning I picked another name out of the hat so here we go! The WINNER of the Second Signed copy of the Bat-Manga Book is... Rogelio G. of Bloomington, CA.! Thanks Rogelio, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. Now, for everybody else who entered there are still a few to give away so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, I decided last night to finally pick a name out of the hat so here we go! The very 1st Signed Bat-Manga Book Winner is... Chad C of Gallatin, TN! Thanks Chad, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. Now, for everybody else who entered there are still a few to give away so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
OK, I know we have been kinda crazy with the contests lately but it's because we have received a lot of material from generous readers & there's some that I already had planned so they just all clashed together, ha ha! But, this contest is special & sort of connects to the release of a current book so I had to get it in now. Plus, I'm super-excited about it & couldn't wait any longer so HERE WE GO! The latest Bat-Blog Contest is for an Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's new book titled BAT-MANGA, THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN ( Paperback Edition ). You might have read my book review on this a few days ago. To summarize, the book is incredibly AMAZING! Famous book designer & author Chip Kidd teamed up with Super-Collector Saul Ferris & Photographer Geoff Spear to create this wonderful "Batman Japanese History" book. Basically, it reprints a ton of totally lost material done by the Manga ( comic book ) Artist Jiro Kuwata during the 1966 Batman TV Show craze in Japan and, as a bonus, features a lot of beautiful Vintage 1960's Batman Toys made in Japan. The book is really great & we were lucky enough to get a few signed copies to give away as a contest! You read that right! There's more than one autographed book so your chances of winning are way better than those other crappy "Batman Fan" wannabe-websites, ha ha! The rules are pretty simple: Just e-mail us your FULL NAME / ADDRESS with the phrase "CHIP KIDD'S BAT-MANGA BOOK" in the title. Once we get enough entries we'll start pulling names out of a hat every few days. Like I said there's more than one copy so you'll have more chances to win but you can ONLY enter one time. All the names stay in the hat until all the books are gone & we will announce winners right here at this blog so stay tuned. Remember, your chances are better if you enter early so get busy & shoot us an e-mail... Good Luck!
CONTEST RULES:
- The contest is open to the general public as well as anyone currently reading the BAT-BLOG on a daily basis. Employees of the Bat-Blog and employees' immediate family members and persons with whom such employees are domiciled are excluded from this contest.
- The prize is not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded.
- Decisions of the contest judges are final - no substitutions will be available.
- By claiming the prize, the winner authorizes the use, without additional compensation of his or her name and/or likeness and/or voice/photograph and municipality of residence for promotion and/or advertising purposes in any manner and in any medium (including without limitation, radio broadcasts, newspapers and other publications and in television or film releases, slides, videotape, distribution over the internet and picture date storage) which Bat-Blog may deem appropriate.
- In accepting the prize, the winner, and any reader(s), acknowledges that the Bat-Blog may not be held liable for any loss, damages or injury associated with accepting or using this prize.
- The person whose name is drawn as being the winner of the specific prize will be required to send us their correct mailing information before the prize is awarded to them. Postage to be paid, free of charge, by the Bat-blog.
- Detailed contest rules applicable to this contest, including contest entry dates, how to enter, and prize value, number and any restrictions applicable to these prizes are available upon request by reading these Contest Rules, ha ha!
- The Bat-Blog retains the rights, in its absolute and sole discretion, to make substitutions of equivalent kind or approximate value in the event of the unavailability of any prize or component of the prize for any reason whatsoever.
- This contest is subject to all federal, provincial and municipal laws.
- The Bat-Blog reserves the right to withdraw or terminate this contest at any time without prior notice.
- Approximate value of prize varies.
- Contest open to loyal Bat-Blog Readers only.
- One entry per person.
OK, anyone who's been reading the Bat-Blog for the last year or so knows how excited I have been about the gossip of a brand-new Batman book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. It was being done by Chip Kidd who, a few years ago, came out with another great Batman book titled BATMAN COLLECTED. That book was amazing, so I knew this one was gonna be great too! Well, it has finally come out & it's even better than I dreamed about! It was released on October 28th, 2008. All I can say about BAT-MANGA is that it is extremely well-designed & a total delight to read! But, I can't just say that because that would be a totally lazy book review, ha ha! So, here's why the book is so awesome. First, for people totally unfamiliar with this title, in the 1960's there was a magazine in Japan for kids called Shonen King . During the crazy hype of the 1966 Batman TV Show ( Adam West & Burt Ward ) this company reserved the rights to do Batman stories. They did them for about a year & then they were gone. For years these wonderfully written & beautifully drawn stories were lost...until now! To do this book Chip Kidd teamed up with the photographer Geoff Spear & Super-Collector Saul Ferris ( Japanese translation by Anne Ishii ). Both Chip & Saul had a few issues of this super-rare magazine & while doing research found out that the artwork was done by Jiro Kuwata, the artist responsible for creating "8 MAN", a very popular Japanese character. Anyway, Kidd hired a Japanese translator & actually found the guy! To his regret he found out that all the original artwork had been lost to time. But, a neat thing about getting in touch with him was that they got to do an exclusive interview about his "Batman experience". So, working with Geoff & Saul, they photographed every issue they had their hands on. This actually turned out to be a "wonderful accident" because looking at the original magazines is pretty cool. Geoff did an amazing job photographing all the pages. The neat thing is that the photography is so extremely sharp that you can actually see the texture of the newsprint & it sort of gives you the experience of reading the actual magazine that children got to view in the 1960's. One other thing that's kinda neat too is that, back then, Jiro Kuwata was given total license to write anything he wanted. So, the stories are very unique & have a nice Japanese sensibility to them. Now, please keep in mind that this is manga so ya gotta "read it backwards". But, don't worry about that because after about 5 minutes you totally get used to it & the stories are really enjoyable. Jiro Kuwata was given permission to do anything he wanted so many of the villains ( except Clayface ) were created by him. They are really well thought out & have great names like Lord Death Man, Go-Go The Magician, Dr. Faceless, Professor Gorilla, & The Man Who Quit Being Human! Now, another great thing about the book is that it features some very sharp color photography of many Vintage 1960's Batman Toys...a total bonus! This is kinda where Saul Ferris came in. He has an amazing collection of super-rare Japanese Batman Toys. The photos are sort of sprinkled every few pages so while you're reading the stories you get a small break. Plus, You get to enjoy these lost pieces of Bat-History. It gives the book a nice rhythm & each time they popped up it was a very pleasant surprise! The book is created in 2 formats, hardback & paperback. The hardback has about 32 extra pages. It mainly has a few more toy photos & a section in the back that covers some stories written in Chinese! But, don't worry because everything has been translated into English so you can enjoy the whole experience. The retail price for the hardback is $60.00 while the paperback is $29.95. Right now Amazon is offering them as new releases at a cheaper price & I seriously recommend the hardback, just for the extras. Well, I hope this has been a decent review & it's a book I can highly recommend for ANY Batman Fan!
Later this year Scholastic Publishing is going to publish a few Batman-related children's books that focus on the characters from the new DARK KNIGHT Batman Movie. The artwork is pretty cool if you ask me! They will feature Batman and The Joker but it looks like they will also have Alfred, The Butler & Jim Gordon, The Police Commissioner too. Look for these later in fine book stores everywhere or grab some online at Amazon.
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