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!
Yesterday I posted a story about the release of the New LEGO BATMAN Video Game & then later I got an e-mail from a friend named Kev who wrote, "Check this out, I never got into MUGEN, basically its modding a PC Capcom style game engine, replacing sprites, and adding your own characters, effects, etc. I wouldn't mind playing this, Azrael and Catwoman look particularly bad ass". Here's a video:
Kev continues, "I work in the games industry so I'll see if anyone knows more about Mugen and if its easy to sort out, and then see if I can get a copy. I hear its normally download-able easy enough but a bit of a pain to set up. Still, looks like its worth it".
WOW! Thank You Kev! This game looks pretty fun & I really appreciate the links. I know my readers will love this! Even if you're not into retro-video games it's still very cool to see. Just a few of the characters are Azrael, Catwoman, Ra's Al Ghul, Bane...awesome! Thanks again. If anybody is interested here's the dude's website: http://www.scruffydragon.com/
OK, this is sort of the ultimate in comic book nerdage right here but somebody actually took the time to study the differences between many different printings of some classic Neal Adams & Dick Giordano BATMAN art. Mainly, the famous kiss of Bruce Wayne & Talia ( Ra's Al Ghul's Daughter ). The examples show the coloring techniques used each different time period, the separate printing methods, & different formats ( standard comics & modern graphic novels ). If you study them for a little while you can see that the tiny differences create an adverse effect. The four pictures represent:
Batman #244 (1972)
The Saga of Ra's Al Ghul (1987)
Tales of the Demon (1991)
Tales of the Demon (2008)
Personally, I like the example from the 1970's. I mean, why mess with perfection! ( Thanks to Jerry for sending the cool pics ).
Do you remember the HUGE over-sized comic books published by both Marvel & DC Comics called TREASURY COMICS? In the mid-1970's, when I was a little kid & seriously into comic books, I used to really love these & still do! ( I wish they would bring them back ). A friend of mine, named Rob, has a website totally devoted to these special books & it's an amazing site. In fact, I stole these pictures from there, ha ha! This issue was devoted to Batman & called LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION #C51 & came out in 1977. Basically it reprinted the Ra's Al Ghul storyline that took place in Batman #232, 242-244. The story & art was done by Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Irv Novick, & Denny O'Neil. This story was a classic. As sort of a side note: DC Comics recently gave a cash award to Neal Adams for creating the Ra's Al Ghul character because he was used in the new Batman film BATMAN BEGINS. Also, shown here, is the original DC Comics advertisement that was featured in a lot of the comic books at that time. Sometime, if you get the chance, you should check out this site, it's way cool!
WOW! In response to asking people to send in their Halloween Costume photos to the Bat-Blog I got this one from a reader named Nick. Now, Nick is not IN the photo but this is his brother Paul dressed-up as Ra's Al Ghul. Paul's friend Josh is Mr. Freeze, & Josh's Brother Amos is The Joker. The 2 women are Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy but I don't think Nick knows their names. They were at the same convention, I guess. Either way, ALL of these costumes are totally & completely incredible! Thank you Nick for sending in this wonderful picture. Like all the other costume photos sent in recently it really is an inspiration. Please tell your Brother & his friends that all of their outfits are EXTREMELY GREAT!! I would be proud to wear any of these to a Halloween Party, or Comic Book Convention, any day!! I want to extend the same invitation to all Bat-Blog Readers that you can send in your Batman Costume pics, both past or present, to the Bat-Blog today!
Lately I have been sort of obsessed with "Foreign Batman" comic books. They're really hard to find in the US. I like the ones that have a total foreign language on the cover. I can't read them at all, but they're cool to look at, ha ha! Here are a few examples of a title called BATMAN KLASSIK. They're published in Germany by the Hethke Publishing Company. This series reprinted all the classic "Neal Adams Batman" stories from the 1970's, mostly the ones featuring the characters that Neal Adams created, R'as Al Ghul & Man-Bat. I always loved those stories from my childhood so they're kinda great to see in another format. If there are any Bat-Blog Readers from other countries who could send some information or photos that would be great, thanks!
This post sort of explains itself with the title. Here are some brand new images from the BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD Animated Movie due to come out on July 27th, 2010. There are some cool graphics here of Batman, Joker, The Red Hood, Alfred, Nightwing, Ra's Al Ghul, etc... Oh yeah, the very last picture ( of the joker smiling ) is a Exclusive Collector Lithograph that will be available if you order the 2-disc DVD Set at Amazon. For more information be sure to visit the Official Warner Bros / DC Comics website for the movie, just click HERE!
Since the 1970's, when Neal Adams created this character, I have always been a HUGE Fan of Ra's Al Ghul. Now the thing that's really cool is that he will be making a first appearance on tonight's brand-new episode of BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD! The show's title is "Sidekicks Assemble" & will mainly feature Robin, Speedy, & Aqualad ( awesome! ) but the teaser part will have Ra's!! The animators did a really great job in capturing his personality & I love that they gave him a Silver-Age look...BEAUTIFUL! The voice acting is really good too, totally dead-on. Shown here is a Video Clip from the TV Series & then to sort of celebrate the 1st appearance of this character to the show I made a few RA'S AL GHUL Wallpaper Backgrounds...enjoy!
I seriously love when Bat-Blog Readers contribute stuff because it helps to create a wide variety of Batman News. Here is a great example of that. I received an e-mail the other day from a loyal reader named Jennifer who is a total Batman Fan! ( She called herself a "Girly Bat-Fan", ha ha ). For her birthday she received a beautiful flower arrangement that was totally inspired by the Batman Begins movie. It was created by Black Dahlia Floral Designs of Orlando. OK, let me explain a second, remember that "special blue flower" that Bruce Wayne ( Christian Bale ) had to find on the mountain top so that Ra's al Ghul ( Liam Neeson ) could make a special potion to "help Bruce find the truth"? Well, that movie prop was a combination of 2 real-life flowers put together to create a foreign unknown "blue flower". The base of the flower was created using the broad-spike leaf-pattern of a Blue Thistle & the part in the center, that was the "Blue Flower", was a Blue Anemone Bud. They were both dried out & combined to make the special blue flower that Bruce Wayne had to find. Well, as you can see from the photos one of the main components to this flower arrangement is the Blue Thistle. It's interesting to note that the florist's supplier called this flower the "Batman Flower". It must be pretty popular. I wanna thank Jennifer for sharing both the wonderful photos & the cool information. I didn't know that day that I would learn something new, ha ha. ( I always wondered, "What is that special blue flower used in the Batman Begins movie?" ) Plus, the flower arrangement is totally awesome, it's really beautiful. Thank you Jen.
