OK, it's the middle of the day & I am finally posting the "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday " backgrounds. I know, "I'm Late", ( sorry ) but really I was working on the Bat-Blog almost all night ( technical issues ) & slept in late. So, like my Grandmother used to say, "Better late, than never!" But, I think you'll enjoy these backgrounds so here we go! The 1st one was made by me using some graphics I found at the DC Comics website. The visuals were just too awesome to NOT make into a wallpaper, ha! Plus, besides Batman, there are some cool villains: Catwoman & The Penguin! The next wallpaper, I'm very proud to say, was sent in by a Bat-Blog Contributing Artist named Sean Hartter. Both the artwork & art direction are really great! He came up with this very clever idea of making a fake issue of PLAYBILL. These are small booklets you used to get when you went to the theater of a Broadway play. Ironically, it looks EXACTLY like an original issue...making it a wonderful parody. Now the other thing that's pretty funny is that, to give it a heightened sense of realism, he used the real names of famous actors & writers. The play is titled "BATMAN: The Joker's Five Way Revenge", which is a very classic comic book story actually written by Dennis O'Neil. Plus, the 2 real-life Famous Actors are John Barrymore & Lon Chaney. The picture is an actual photo of them but shopped with the Batman & Joker costumes...awesome! It also says that the play was produced by Robert Kane ( Bob Kane ). Which is funny because he's the guy who "created" Batman. I'm not surprised that Bill Finger didn't get a mention, ouch!
Over at the Bat-Blog's MySpace page we received a message from a friend named "Billyman" who likes to draw Batman. His artwork was pretty amazing so I knew I had to post it here to share with my readers. Please leave a comment & let us know what you think about it or which one is your favorite. As always, I wanna invite all creative Bat-Blog Readers to send us your Batman-related artwork. Our e-mail button is always on the top right-hand side of this page, thanks. Oh yeah, thank you Billyman for sending this great art, you ROCK!
Last week I posted a few photos from the amazing Original Art Collection of THE BATFAN. He sent us some pictures to share of some recent art he had commissioned by Joe Pekar. That was "Part One", this is Part Two. In this set there are some major Batman Villains: Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, & The Joker. I really love these because they're so well done & the style of them is pretty cool. Thank you "BATFAN" for sending these great pics, I appreciate that. If any other readers have Batman-themed art to share then please send it in. Also, if you would like to check out more of Joe Pekar's pin-up art then here's a link button to his website:
We got to meet an extremely Famous Comic Book Artist recently named Art Baltazar! I mean, in real-life, in-person, not on the internet, ha ha! Art was visiting Oklahoma City ( where I live ) to do a speaking event at a local University on "The Magic of Comics". Later, he did a book signing ( & drew some awesome drawings ) at NEW WORLD COMICS, a local comic book shop. He's the creator & artist of TINY TITANS, a DC Comics title for children. He's the main artist of that comic book & it's always a lot of fun. Meeting him was kinda cool. In person, he's a very nice guy & very funny. He told me about how he has a hobby of customizing 8" Mego Dolls. He likes to make Superhero Characters that Mego never made. I've seen a small part of his collection & it's really neat. He also drew us a few sketches ( shown here ), which was pretty cool! For Kandye, he drew Catwoman ( Modern day version ) & he made me a drawing of Adam West as Batman. It's funny, all the artwork he did that day he would write the proper name of that character. Like, Catwoman's "real name" is Selina. The artwork was done with a Black Sharpee Pen & then he would color it with Crayons. It sort of replicates the look of his Tiny Titan's art. I wanna thank Art Baltazar for the awesome drawings he made for us & I hope to meet him again. His art style is very clever & if YOU would like to see more of his work then you can do so by clicking HERE! Also, be sure to keep reading TINY TITANS!!
Here are some NEW BATMAN WALLPAPER BACKGROUNDS to celebrate the next new episode of BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD! The title of the Cartoon TV Show will be "DEATH RACE TO OBLIVION" & It's gonna star a ton of Superheroes & Villains. I mean, there's almost no way too list them all, ha ha! But here we go: Batman ( Duh! ), Green Lantern, Green Arrow, The Huntress, Plasticman, The Joker, Catwoman, Mongul, & many more! Basically there's a huge car race among all the heroes & villains....to the DEATH! The original air date for this is on November 20th, 2009 on the Cartoon Network so look for it this Friday! Also, for even more information, be sure to check out our next post where we present 2 brand-new Preview Videos. This episode looks pretty cool!
DC Direct recently announced that they will have a special BATMAN: BLACK & WHITE STATUE of CATWOMAN! With that news Selina Kyle now becomes the 1st female character in that line and villain # 3 to join this popular series ( previous villains include The Joker & The Penguin ). The other cool thing about this original design is that it is styled after artwork done by Steve Rude, a fan favorite among most comic book fans. Well, the ones that have any taste anyway! I'm really loving this one. She has that great Silver-Age style...MEOW! Look for it to be released later this year on July 7th, 2010. It's Limited Edition & will run about $80.00.
Well, it looks like DC Direct is going to release a few statues to capitalize on the popularity of it's new multi-player video game titled DC UNIVERSE ONLINE. Now, for people who have not heard of this game it's going to be a lot like "World of Warcraft" where you can become any DC Comics Comic Book Character & then enter the DC Universe ( Batman's Gotham City, Superman's Metropolis, & other famous places ). It's been totally art directed by Jim Lee so you know it will look extremely cool! In fact, he's the artist who designed each statue here: Batman & Catwoman! They are both a hand-painted, cold-cast porcelain figure measuring a little over 7" tall & will be packaged in a 4-color box. The release date is November 17th, 2010 so be sure to keep an eye out for them...MEOW!
A friend of mine over at the 1966 Batman Message Board shared this link he found of a very cool '66 BATMAN-Themed Video Game he found online. It's one of those "Free Flash Games" you see a lot & this one was created by TV LAND awhile back to promote the fact that they had the Batman TV series & Movie on their channel. It's called "BAT-ATTACK, The Road To Gotham". To be honest, it's really sort of cheesy, ha! But if you're a Batman Fan it's actually kind of fun to play. A lot of the villains ( The Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, etc...) from the TV show make an appearance. Go ahead & give it a try, see how high YOU can score, by clicking HERE!
Here's a recent Batman-Style Tattoo done by the Famous Tattoo Artist Josh Reynolds. It's a very detailed piece of art! ( Be sure to click on it for a larger, more detailed, photo ). Of course, it's CATWOMAN from the 1992 Batman Returns movie. The thing that's co cool about it is that it looks EXACTLY like Michelle Pfeiffer! Josh is really good at the "Photo-Realistic" tattoos. In fact, if you're interested in seeing more of his artwork ( both tattoo art & paintings ) then just click right HERE!
Here's a very lovely graphic illustration showing Catwoman stealing one of her beloved cat statues. Unfortunely Batman & Robin are there to ruin everything, ha ha. It's by a really cool artist named CAL SLAYTON. I discovered his artwork while surfing thru MySpace & instantly loved his work! He has a crisp clean graphic style with a great sense of color. His main focus is good girl art & pin-ups....meow! If you enjoy great eye-candy then you need to check out his site. He's easy to find on Google, so try that & get ready for some cool ART. Be sure to check the BAT-BLOG ARCHIVES for more artists!
I have some very sad news to report. Today, on December 25th, Eartha Kitt, the Award-winning film, theater, music, and TV star passed away at the age of 81 ( Born January 17th, 1927 ). Early reports say colon cancer was the cause of death. Of course all of us Batman Fans know & love her as "The Catwoman" on the 1966 Batman TV Series. As a tribute I would like to ask our readers to watch the following video. It's a RARE 1962 TV appearance where she sang one of her hit songs, "I Want To Be Evil". In it, you will see what a truely original & amazing voice she had. She continued to entertain people, all over the world, all the way up to her passing. She was a very special lady. Also, at the very top of this post ( the 1st large image ), you will find an "Eartha Kitt Tribute Wallpaper" that you can use on your desktop to remember her. She will be missed. Eartha Kitt 1927 - 2008, R.I.P.
In Argentina, in 1978 & '79, DC Comics teamed up with Pepsi-Cola for a very cool DC SUPER HERO Promotion! They had special Super Hero Bottle Caps placed on their Pepsi Soda Pop Bottles with very cool graphics of a comic book hero or villain. Quite a few of them were Batman-related so that's what you see in the 1st photo, click on it for a larger version. They made ones for Batman, Robin, Commissioner Gordon ( Comisionado Gordon ), Batgirl ( Batichica ), Bruce Wayne ( Bruno Diaz ), The Joker, The Riddler ( El Acertijo ), The Penguin ( Pinguino ), Catwoman ( Gatubela ), Ra's Al Ghul ( Ragul ), & The Scarecrow ( El Espantapajaros ). The next two photos show a special in-store Paper Place Mat that contained a "Collector Board" on one side ( in color ) & a "Checker Game" on the other. These photos also show the other Bottle Caps of Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Flash, etc...so be sure to click on one of those to see them! I gotta say that I am totally loving the vintage graphics on all of this stuff, great stock art! The last photo is a super close-up of the BATICHICA Bottle Cap. I really love the sound of that word, Batichica! Speaking of her, these photos were all sent in by our good friend Milotik who lives in Argentina ( Thank You! ). These DC Comics Bottle Caps are a part of his amazing Batgirl Toy Collection. You see, Milotik's main collecting focus is on her & that's very cool. He has some very neat stuff, some of it extremely RARE! He even has a great website where he shares his collectable adventures called EL BLOG DE BATGIRL which you can visit by clicking HERE!
A new friend to the Bat-Blog, named Rick, sent me an e-mail about his cool hobby of making custom dolls & action figures. He calls his company DARKSIDE CUSTOMS & his work is totally amazing! His focus is on the many different characters from the classic 1966 Batman TV Show. The attention to detail is totally insane! Plus, I really enjoy that he made a few of the obscure villains. Now of course he made a Batman & Robin ( Adam West, Burt Ward ) but the rouge's list includes: Catwoman ( Julie Newmar ), The Riddler ( Frank Gorshin ), Bookworm ( Roddy McDowall ), Mr. Freeze ( Otto Preminger ), The Madhatter ( David Wayne ), & Egghead ( Vincent Price ). I'm showing only a few examples here so if you like these be sure to visit Rick's website!
