Over at the BOINGBOING GADGETS website they recently featured this Homemade Batmobile that totally cracks me up! A friend to the Bat-Blog sent this link & I almost died laughing ( Thanks Patron, I needed that! ). It looks like some Bat-Fan took a 1973 Opel GT & customized it to be a very cool Batman car! It's actually pretty nice & if ya wanna read the complete details then be sure to check out their page, here's a link button:
Check it out, here's a brand-new comic book that I know all serious Batman Fans will totally love! It's called PARODY, BAT TO THE FUTURE and was written & drawn by Rob Archey. The book is amazing! Now, Rob was generous enough to send me a Review Copy but my major warning was that I would have to be totally honest about it. He went ahead & sent it to me anyway, ha! Oh man, I'm glad he did. First off, I was sort of shocked by the high quality of the book. The color cover is of a thick glossy stock and the 50 pages within are quality paper, as well. The inside is totally black & white but it doesn't take away from the piece at all. Like I said, the artwork is really great! Plus, oh my god, there's FIFTY PAGES! But the thing that ties it all together though is the story. The storyline is very clever & unique. Plus, it's just extremely fun to read. The basic premise ( No Spoilers Here ) is that Batman, Robin, Joker, plus a few other characters, are totally done in the style of the 1966 BATMAN TV Show. They all think & act completely like they did in the classic series, with their personalities intact & everything. But, because of an evil trap set-up by another villain, they are all transported to the future, the year 2012. Everything in this time is dark & gritty. It's an interesting concept & there are a TON of references to both the '66 TV Show, more modern day comics, & movies like Tim Burton's BATMAN and Christopher Nolan's version ( yeah, there's a little "Schumacher" in there as well ). In fact, many Batman Fans will recognize a lot of them & be totally delighted. The good thing is that it's not an overly done gimmick. Rob just sprinkles some interesting Bat-History here & there and most of the time it's pretty funny. Overall the book has a sort of "campy feeling" about it, perfectly reflecting the spirit of the '66 TV show. Plus, when they're in the future, that time seems different, so there is a very literal shift in both time & attitude. Sorry if I'm not explaining that very well but it's a really neat experience when reading the book. So, overall, I guess I highly recommend this fan-made book. You can get your copy by emailing Rob directly at robarchey@yahoo.com. The price is $6.99 per book with $3.00 shipping and handling. He has a PayPal account or you can send a money order. Please note if you want the book personalized and signed inside. I guess I should make clear that I'm not getting paid in any way for this book review. It's just that it's a very well made product that I know a lot of Batman Fans will really really enjoy, thanks.
OK, a Bat-Blog Reader sent me this photo the other day & it totally cracks me up! This is a "Homemade Bat-Pod" Motorcycle. It's just like the one used by Batman in The Dark Knight movie! Well, not exactly "just like it", because this one is made out of cardboard, bubble wrap ( tire tread ), black duct tape & LOVE, ha ha! The cool thing is that the Bat-Signal Headlight actually works. Come on, ya gotta love this thing, it's great ART!!
OK, This is kind of funny! As the main writer of the Bat-Blog I am always constantly stressing out about how I can promote the site. It's a very difficult thing to do. If I were to study the growth of this blog ( or ANY blog for that matter ), it's an extremely slow process to obtain new readers. It totally drives me crazy, ha ha! For example, awhile back I printed a small ad-sheet that I gave to people to advertise the site ( I still do it even today ). But one time, about 2 years ago, I got all "Guerrilla Marketing" about it, & taped one onto a Newspaper Vending Machine. Now the part that's totally hilarious is that it lasted for almost 2 1/2 years! I always wonder if it had any value at all...did it bring in any new people? Probably not, or if so, not too many. One thing I've learned is that the best response is by "word of mouth". So, what I'm gonna do here is ask every single reader of the Bat-Blog, at least those who enjoy the site, to please tell all their friends about it. You can do it inside a Message Board, with a Banner or Bulletin on your MySpace page, a Link on your own Blog, a Link-Post on your Facebook Page, e-mail a friend who likes Batman, etc... But please don't do what I did this one time & plaster a sign on some property, ha ha! If you need to know ways to promote the Bat-Blog or if you need a special-sized banner then just please shoot me an e-mail. I would be more than happy to help! One last thing, I hope a lot of people out there enjoy this site & I want to thank everyone who comes back to read it every single day. It really means a lot.
A friend of ours over at Facebook sent us this link to a really great BATMAN Fan Film. Now the thing that's extremely cool about it is that it was done in 1967! Yes, some kids back then must have had an 8mm camera or something & they put this BATMAN movie together! The thing that's so cool is that the "vintage look" of the movie gives it a lot of charm. Plus, they used some old Batman Halloween Masks as props, which are great to see! They also featured a fun 1966 Batmobile toy car that acts as the car in the movie. It's use is really clever... enjoy!
Shown here is a beautiful graphic created by our good friend Sean Hartter. It's a fake Vintage Movie Poster / Lobby Card featuring Donald Pleasence as Mr. Freeze! Oh man, he would have been great in that role. I always loved seeing him in movies. He was the perfect character actor, very creepy! I know you guys have seen him, just do a Google Search sometime & you'll say, "Oh yeah, that guy!" It's also funny to note, that in this total fantasy film, Batman would have been played by Burt Reynolds, ha ha ha! I really wish they would have made this movie : ) Thanks to Sean for sharing his fun artwork.
"The Greatest Fan Film of All Time" is a sequel to "Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face". The primary filmmakers are Jacob Drake, who animates the projects, and Larry Longstreth, who does everything from writing to producing the recording sessions and casting the roles. The film stars PAUL MOLNAR as THE JOKER, VINCE BRUNO as BATMAN, LARRY LONGSTRETH as SUPERMAN, AARON LONGSTRETH as THE HULK, and tons more. The story is really good & there are many different moments in the film that are edited, or done, extremely well. I like the "Nightwing on the rooftops" sequence & when The Joker uses his hand to "walk on top of Gotham City buildings" is pretty clever. The fan-film even makes a few references to the classic 1970's Superman Movies that you'll see right away. Also, there's a ton of superhero characters here both from DC & Marvel Comics. I guess I gotta mention that there are TV Cartoon characters as well. It seems like hundreds, ha ha! Overall, if you're a comic book fan, then you'll love it!
"Born Laughing" was written to chronicle the early crimes of Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger's incarnation of the Joker character. The acting is pretty good for a fan-film. Also, The Joker's costume, hair, & make-up look very much like Heath Ledger's version...nice!
OK, There's a few people who hated the new Tumbler Batmobile from the recent Batman movies & there's a ton of people who totally loved it ( I loved it ). But regardless of your opinion, you just gotta admit that this is an extremely clever Custom Golf Cart! Yes, this thing was totally inspired by "The Dark Knight" films. It's crazy! Unfortunately it's not an official product. It was customized by a Warner Bros employee & is currently used to get around the lot. Now, my question is, how many of you would totally buy one of these?
Check this out, here's a brand-new video of a Batman Fan-Film that is starting to get a lot of attention. It's titled PASSING ON THE SMILE & it revolves around the beginning of the JOKER & HARLEY QUINN relationship that started at Arkham Asylum. The production values are good & the actors do a decent acting job. Plus, the shooting locations are impressive for a fan-made film. Now, I don't think I'm ready to do a complete full-review on this movie yet because I have only had time to watch a few parts of it ( it's in 6 parts ). But so far it's been pretty good. So, for everybody who watches it please let me know what you think about it. Enough talk, here's PART ONE down below & you can click inside the video after it's over for Part Two, enjoy.
I received an email this morning from a guy who is working on a new fan-made film called "Passing on the Smile". Basically, the movie is all about the creation of Harley Quinn. She is an employee of Arkham Asylum in Gotham City & we all know that she turns into a villain ( and Joker's girlfriend ) ...but, how does it happen? I think this film is going to try & explain that. This is the teaser trailer & you also get a small glimpse of the Joker.
Here's a quick post to sort of promote 2 very cool Batman-related Websites by some friends of the Bat-Blog. They're both brand-new & have a clever twist. The 1st one is called "HOLY SMOKES BATMAN!" & it's main focus is recounting ALL the different times that Robin ( Burt Ward ) said the phrase "Holy..." on the 1966 TV Series. There are actual audio clips of every phrase & if you check out the site then be sure to click on "Play The Entire Library" to hear them all & have a really great laugh! Our friend Jay did a great job on this site & it's a lot of fun. Just click HERE!
The next Batman-Fan website is actually a re-vamp of an older, existing page, except our friend Stephanie changed it around to the blogging format & it's really way better. It's called "BATMAN-CITY, The Ultimate Batman Trading Card Guide on the Web" & it's obsessive focus is collecting very detailed information about all the different Batman Trading Card Sets & Promo Cards from around the world. You know how I am totally goo-goo over "the foreign stuff" so I'm really liking it so far, ha ha! She just recently started this blog but if it become 1/2 as detailed as her other "Reference Guide" website then it should be quite good...keep an eye on it. Just Click HERE!
The other day a friend reminded me of this awesome Batman Fan Film titled ARKHAM ASYLUM. I had this on the bat-Blog awhile back when it premiered but thought it was worthy of another look. It's a short fan-film by Miguel Mesas (www.miguelmesas.com). It's based on the famous comic book graphic novel BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM (Written by Grant Morrison. Art by Dave Mckean). It's also a "foreign language" film so that's why there are English subtitles. The art direction, costumes, & overall quality are totally insane ...enjoy!
This fan-made video of the Dark Knight teaser movie trailer done with clips from Batman: The Animated Series is a beautiful piece of ART!! Leave a comment & tell us what you think!
