Here's a very special photo that I actually stole from a friend's website, ha! I mean, it was just way too cool NOT to steal, ha! Our friend, Marc Nobleman, is writing an extensive Biography on BILL FINGER, the Golden Age Comic Book Writer who helped co-create BATMAN. Finger has never got any credit & is sort of an unsung hero among serious Batman Fans & People who love comics. The book won't be out until next year and we're dying to read it!
OK, about the photo. Marc has been traveling all over the United States interviewing every single person he can find who knew or worked with Bill Finger. One guy is Carmine Infantino. Yes, the Legendary DC Comics Editor, Writer, & Artist! Marc went to his house! While there, he took a visit to the restroom & what did he see? In Infantino's Bathroom there is a framed signed drawing of Batman sleeping on Snoopy's Dog House... drawn by Charles M. Schulz himself!! Oh man, what a piece of Bat-History! This has gotta be the ONLY example of the Dark Knight drawn by this Iconic Cartoonist!!
This post is just a friendly reminder that the Famous BATMAN Comic Book Artist JOE KUBERT will be LIVE at the Dewey's Comic City Store in Madison, NJ on Saturday, June 4th ( that's tomorrow! ). For more info, click HERE!
As a little kid back in the 1970's I became an obsessed comic book collector & one of my very most favorite things in the entire world were "Treasury Comics". They were put out by both DC Comics & Marvel ( I was more of a "DC Guy" ). If you have never seen or experienced these beautiful books then your life is completely sad, ha! Treasury Comics were basically reprints of classic stories but sold in a giant-size format. I mean, these babies were HUGE! It was almost like reading a newspaper, ha! I totally loved them & still have about 15 or 20 of them stored away in the very very back of my closet, in protective plastic bags of course.
Which, gets me to the reason for this post. The other day, while trolling on eBay, I came across a guy selling the Original Comic Book Art for the Cover to the 1975 BATMAN Treasury Comics Limited-Collectors-Edition #C37. The Artist back then was Jim Aparo!! I have always been a HUGE Aparo Fan & totally love his artwork. Now, as you can imagine, this baby is out of my price range, but I would kill to have it, ha! To own an actual piece of your childhood history like that, is what gives Collectors a reason to live. Oh well, I guess I can just drool over the photo posted up above ( Please click on it for a larger, more beautiful, picture ). The later photos show the actual product ( front & back ) and also a few advertisements that showed-up in comic books back in the day. By the way, if your a big fan of treasurys, or just wanna learn more, then please let me suggest TREASURYCOMICS.COM, it's a great reference site!
In "Batman Auction News" this week there was a special item on eBay that ended recently, some Frank Miller original artwork of BATMAN AND ROBIN as they appeared in his famous 1980's Graphic Novel, The Dark Knight Returns. It was drawn on DC Comics comic book cover stock paper ( measuring 12" X 17" ). Frank Miller sketched it in 1990 as a special 75th birthday gift to former DC Comics Editor Julius "Julie" Schwartz. This is a fully penciled and inked art illustration with a signed inscription from Miller on it, to Julius. The artwork is just totally wonderful, a great piece. The auction ended the other night at a closing bid around $11,300.00... WOW! I mean, who has that kind of money? Ha! But regardless of the price, it looks awesome & also has the bonus of having a lot of historical significance. Plus, I love that Robin is the "Carrie Kelley" version.
One of my favorite things about the internet is getting to meet new people from all around the world. It's so cool how you can just spark a casual conversation with somebody, anywhere! Like here, I recently met this guy named Grant Hunter. He's an Artist & Illustrator living in Newcastle, Australia. His artwork is really great! It looks sort of child-like and very abstract. It's also slightly Gothic looking too. Well, I'm sorry, it's really kind of hard for me to describe but if you look at it you'll get the idea. It's some very cool stuff!! Shown here are 2 recent Batman Drawing he has done. Also, if you wanna see more than just click HERE!
Back in the 1960's there was a major BATMAN Comic Book Artist named Carmine Infantino. He was extremely influential for saving the character from obscurity. He also created a lot of great artwork! The 1st image shown here is a piece he did that has since become very iconic. So much so that there have been posters, statues, & a ton of parodies of it. Here are 2 wonderful examples: The 2nd photo shows a recent drawing by Christopher Franchi. He not only did an homage to Infantino, but the whole thing is drawn in the cartoon-style of another famous Batman Artist named Dick Sprang. The combination is AWESOME! The next drawing was done by a Graphic Designer who calls herself "Black Cat". She has a webcomic called "Batman and Sons" that is also worth checking out, click HERE!
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.
Check out this amazing Batman drawing! This fine artwork was sent in by our friend Michael & it's a scene from the 1989 BATMAN Movie starring Michael Keaton... a Bat-Fan Favorite. Thanks Mike! If any other Bat-Blog Readers out there are creative too then please send us some pics of your art.
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.
A panel from DC Comics' BATMAN AND ROBIN #16, written by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Cameron Stewart. Drawn with Manga Studio 4 Ex, with a Wacom Cintiq 21UX. Video speed increased 200%.
Back in 1990 DC Comics published a one-shot Batman Graphic Novel, written & drawn by Pepe Moreno, called BATMAN: DIGITAL JUSTICE. I remember when it came out & it was a very big deal. I bought it & have totally loved it all these years. The main thing about it was that the artwork was totally created on a computer and, at that time, it was extreme state of the art. I mean, it was groundbreaking! Now, by today's standards, the art may seem kind of cheesy ( no offense to the artist ) but back then it just blew everyone's mind!! Plus, the artwork was really great especially if you consider that it was drawn with the earliest of computer graphic programs. It must have been painstaking to draw between computer crashes, ha! The other cool thing was that the story was really good too. So, all around, it was just a very wonderful Batman book. Over the years it has been translated into many different languages ( the pic up above shows the Spanish version cover ). The sketch of Batman, up above, was the original mock-up drawing for the cover. Obviously the story was set in the far far future. It was actually way after the death of our modern-day Batman. Parts of it were almost sort of like the TRON movie, but not really. It dealt with a deadly "Joker computer virus" that was threatening the future Gotham City. Anyways, it's a book I highly recommend. Another thing, if you have already read this novel & you're a fan of it then you might be happy to know that the artist Pepe Moreno has been posting a lot of personal sketches from this classic book on his art blog. They're really great to see & they're a very interesting piece of bat-history. Here's a link to check it out, just click HERE!
Remember: The Bat-Blog posts FREE Batman Wallpaper Backgrounds every Wednesday! This week I thought I would showcase some of the super-creativity of our readers! The 1st one is a group shot of a few Batman-related Vinyl Kits made by our friend Nick. They're really great & you can see Harley Quinn, Joker, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, & The Penguin!! The next 2 were made from a pencil drawing sent in by our friend Brian. He said it is sort-of a 1920's style Batman. It's a "Steampunk" version. How cool is that?! I made 2 wallpapers out of this image because one is a traditional background & the 2nd one shows off the entire drawing. Nick & Brian, both you guys did really excellent jobs on all this artwork. Thank you!!
OK, yesterday I was pretty happy about the official announcement from DC Comics that the 1st issue of BATMAN: ODYSSEY will be coming out in July, 2010. Of course, this is the special project being done by the legendary Neal Adams and I mean HE will be doing it. Neal Adams is set to write it, pencil it, & even ink the first few issues! Now, he has said that because of time restraints he won't be able to ink the entire series, but it will be drawn ( penciled ) totally by him. This is super-great news! So, being all excited about this I searched the Internet far & wide to come-up with ANY new artwork that has been leaked. Now, the Bat-Blog has featured a lot of it in the past & that kept showing up in my searches, ha ha. But here's some brand-new BATMAN: ODYSSEY artwork I found!! It looks like there will be some action with MAN-BAT & why not? I mean, this is a character created by both Neal Adams & Frank Robbins in 1970. In another piece of original art we get to see is an interaction between Bruce Wayne & Alfred in the Batcave, that's cool! Then there's a splash page where Batman is getting shot by a high-powered rifle ( I feel sorry for the guy who did that, ha! ). Now, most of the art shown here are smaller samples but if you click on the very last one it is pretty BIG. In fact, I made it a Desktop Wallpaper you can use as a background. Or, at very least, just enjoy looking at it in high-def! Remember, stay tuned to the Bat-Blog for more future news about this highly anticipated comic book event!
Here is an amazing graphic showing the cover art for the soon-to-be-famous BATMAN # 700, Yes WOW! 700 issues!! The artwork was done by the Artist David Finch & is totally amazing! ( Click on it for a larger version ). Now, to celebrate this event, I made 2 special Batman 700 Wallpaper Backgrounds you can use to brighten your desktop. The 1st one is the "Digitally-Colored Version" & the 2nd one shows the raw pencil drawing ...both, totally beautiful!
HA HA HA HA, whew! OK, Lately we have been getting a few more drawings sent in by Bat-Blog Readers for the DRAW BATMAN'S FACE challenge. I gotta say that I'm putting them in the order we got them & this time they're all sort of crazy. I mean "crazy" in a good way! The 1st one is from our friend Ray. He decided to draw the Adam West version of the Dark Knight. For using the Microsoft DRAW program it turned out pretty great! The next 2 were done by our friend Gary. He said that the one with the scary face is the scene in the movie where Batman gets sprayed with Scarecrow's Fear Toxin ( it's awesome! ). The 2nd one is "Batman Dog Face", ha ha! The last one was drawn by a Good Citizen named Logan & it shows Batman enjoying a 3-D Movie ( IMAX maybe? ). It's pretty cool! I wanna thank everyone who sent these in. All you guys are totally great Graphic Artists!!
Our friend Kai sent us this cool digital-drawing he did recently. It's a beautiful piece of art showing Terry McGinnis from the BATMAN BEYOND Animated Series. It's a mash-up of a few graphics added with his own art techniques. I've always loved that cartoon so seeing this is a rare treat, thanks Kai!
HA HA HA HA HA! The 1st photo is one I randomly found on the Internet. It's of a mother who dressed-up like the Joker to take her small son out for his birthday. It looks like they are using public transportation. He's wearing a kid's costume of our favorite Caped Crusader, BATMAN! I thought it was kinda sweet that a Mother would do that. Speaking of buses. The next image is a funny new Humor T-Shirt featuring Batman, in Gotham City, using a bus to get around. Maybe his Batmobile was in the garage? ( Yes, we'll be here all week folks, har har! ) The next pic is the best one, so that's why I saved it for last! Remember our "Draw Batman's Face" Art Challenge? Well, this one was sent in recently by our friend Aaron. He made Pokemon into the Dark Knight and it's awesome!! Seriously, I cracked-up when I first saw it, totally unexpected! ( Thanks Aaron, great drawing & the coloring is nice too ). Now, if you guys come across some funny Batman-related Humor then please let us know, thanks!
I recently posted a piece of art showing Batman with NO face & dared people to draw one on. Well, I got a few emailed to me & I gotta say that I'm very proud of all of them. All the artwork is really great! So, here they are. I'm not posting them in any "favorite order", but I'm posting them in the order that they were received. The 1st two were done by David Morefeld. He did one of Batman but added the "Turtle" because the whole thing reminded him of that famous "Art School Contest", that's hilarious! Plus, his Batman Drawing is really great! The 3rd one was created by Kai Kumpulainen. The shadowing & realistic detail is very good. Especially when you consider that he drew it with crappy software. Can you imagine what he could have done with some Adobe Illustrator? He did a really GREAT job! The 4th one is from our friend Timothy San Fllippo. WOW! He went all totally crazy adding color & a funky background ...love it! The last one is from our buddy Zdravko Genov, who lives in Bulgaria. He said that all he had was MS Paint. But regardless of this his sketch is still really wonderful. I totally love all of these & wanna thank everyone who participated. I thought it was a fun art experiment & was also surprised by how many people took me up on the challenge....Well Done, Gentlemen.
