Regular Bat-Blog Readers know the drill! Every Wednesday we post 2 Brand-New BATMAN WALLPAPERS you can use as a background in a MySpace layout or to decorate your PC Desktop! Here are some with a JOKER theme. The 1st one is a new one at the Official DC Comics website where they kinda hype the soon-to-be-released BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE 20th Anniversary Graphic Novel Book ( I can't wait till this comes out & they're also gonna make some very cool Action Figures too ). The next Joker Wallpaper is extremely special because it was created by a friend of the Bat-Blog named "Bacon". He's a graphic designer dude with a lot of talent. He made this just for you guys & it's really cool! I like how, in the background, there's the phrase "WHY SO SERIOUS?" & the letter have a drop-shadow to give them a 3-D look. The graphic of Joker has the same shadow & it's just a neat trick-of-the-eye that I like. We wanna invite other readers to send us LARGE graphics we can use as backgrounds. Sharing information & the joy of Batman collecting is what this blog is all about!
It's hard to believe that Batman: The Killing Joke came out 20 years ago, this makes me feel really old! I remember when it came out (I still have my original copy). Even back then it was a very BIG deal because it was written by the famous comic book writer Alan Moore & the artwork by Brian Bolland is still extremely beautiful by today's standards. In fact, this graphic novel is ICONIC. Shown up above is the original 1988 comic book ad hyping the release of the original graphic novel, 20 yrs ago! That famous picture of The Joker has been made into T-Shirts, Posters, Banners, etc. If you have never read The Killing Joke you should because it's really an important piece of history in the Batman Comic Book Universe. Plus, it's just so incredibly well-written & drawn, a great book! Recently, DC Comics published a Special "20th Anniversary" Edition. Here's a link for more information, check it out!
Here's a very cool JOKER Tattoo Photo sent in by a Bat-Blog Fan named Kevin. He has a large tattoo inspired by Brian Bolland's artwork in the BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Graphic Novel. This book ( and comic book artist ) is a total favorite of mine. Also, this is a great choice for a tattoo because this image is so iconic. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Kevin for sending us this cool pic. Plus, if any other readers out there get some ink done then please shoot us a picture, thanks!
A friend to the Bat-Blog, named Brad, sent us this very cool photo of an amazing tattoo he just recently had done. It features art of Batman & The Joker. Many Batman Fans will recognize the artwork used is from THE KILLING JOKE Graphic Novel with original art by Brian Bolland ( shown in the photo on the right side ). The tattoo artist's name is Blake Bristow from Clear Lake, Texas. Brad, please pass along to Blake that he did an incredible job on this, it's totally beautiful! The shading & colors look really great! I know in your e-mail you said that it's not 100% done yet, that he will be adding some background design to it, but so far it's amazing! Please be sure to send a photo of the completed artwork because now I'm totally curious how it's gonna turn out, thanks. Also, If any other readers have had some tattoo-work done, that's "Batman related", then please send us some photos!
Awhile back we got an e-mail from a Bat-Blog Reader who lives in Bogotá, Colombia. He had written to show us this cool piece of fan art he made. It's a manipulated photo of the cover to the "Batman - The Killing Joke" graphic novel. But, instead of having the regular "comic book Joker" using the camera he replaced it with Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight Batman movie...very very cool! The 1st photo is the picture he submitted & the 2nd one is a Desktop Wallpaper I made out of it. Be sure to click on both of them to see the larger versions & remember you can use the 2nd one to brighten your desktop background. I also wanna thank the person who sent this in...good job!
Later next year (March 19th) DC Comics will be releasing a special-edition hardback book celebrating the 20th Anniversary of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE. The classic Batman tale by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland returns in an all-new special edition! This edition - celebrating the 20th anniversary of the landmark work - features all-new coloring by Bolland, and includes the story "An Innocent Guy," previously featured in BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE! It will be 64 pages & $16.99 retail. Then, on June 4th, DC Direct will release a BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Action Figure Collector Set! This collector set features newly sculpted versions of legendary foes Batman and The Joker as they appear in this classic story! It's everything "Killing Joke Fans" could want! It will be packaged in a 4-color window box. BATMAN and THE JOKER will both be 6 3/4" tall. Includes 48-page prestige format comic book ( NOT the hardback book )! The figures w/ special comic book will be $34.99.
I just came across a very nice website that features the custom work of a small group of very talented artists. It's called HIMESIS. For this post I am showing 2 of my favorite examples which was hard to do because they have a lot of nice stuff, ha ha! The 1st piece is a small sculpture that is a bust of the Joker as seen on the cover to Brian Bolland & Alan Moore's THE KILLING JOKE. It's sort of a 3-D creation of the classic cover. It measures approx. 5" tall & is very well detailed. The next piece is another statue which shows Batman still shocked by the death of his parents, Thomas & Martha Wayne. It's based on artwork from a comic book by Jim Lee, Batman #617. Besides statues there are also a lot of custom toys, action figures, vehicles, & other art at their website. Here's a link to check them out. Please be sure to BOOKMARK the Bat-Blog before ya leave!
The other night, on Comedy Central's SOUTH PARK Cartoon TV Show, they did a total homage to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's classic Batman Graphic Novel JOKER: THE KILLING JOKE. Yes, the ultimate JOKER book! One important thing that true Batman Fans will love too is the fact that they used the original version of the book & not the 2008 re-issue. Now, I have not seen it yet. In fact, our friend Dan was the guy who told me about it & to torture me he sent these amazing screen shots ( Thanks Dan! ). As you can see, they do a spot-on parody of the book! Be sure to click on them for larger versions. I have been trying to find the episode online & that's turned into a small problem. You see, the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are under a lot of trouble right now because this episode depicts an image of the Prophet Muhammad & it has a lot of very serious Muslim groups pretty angry. Like, usually after a South park episode has aired ( & you missed it ) you can visit their website a few days later to see it online. Well, this episode is the one under fire from religious groups & they might not ever post it there. Stay tuned to the Bat-Blog for more details.
Besides sharing the love of the character & the fun of collecting Batman Memorabilia one of the joys I get from doing this blog is meeting a lot of very cool people who also like Batman. And I mean people from all over the world! Some of them are really talented in some field of art or design. Here's an example: We have a friend named "Bacon" who works in graphic design. He has a really great style, sort of grunge-like. For awhile he would periodically send us a nice desktop wallpaper & then, all of a sudden, he stopped! Ha Ha, so the other day I wrote him a message & said, "Hey, where's the wallpaper?". I think he was amused by that ( hopefully so, because I meant it as a joke ). Anyway, a day or 2 later, I got this awesome wallpaper in my mail box! It uses some artwork by Brian Bolland from The Killing Joke graphic novel, a great image! I was gonna save it for Wednesday, because that's "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday", but it's way too cool & I wanted to share it now. Just click on the image up above & you'll see a larger version. Then, if you have a PC, just right-click on it & click "Set As Desktop Background". Be sure to "center" it & not use the "stretch function" as that will distort it. I wanna personally thank Bacon for sending us this wallpaper. Dude, your graphic-style is amazing & we always look forward to getting cool stuff from you, Thank You & I really do appreciate it. I guess at this time I also want to invite other talented people to send us some cool graphics. A HUGE proportion of our readers us 1024 X 768 sized wallpaper so if you send one of those please use that size. Thanks!
A friend told me about this extremely interesting video he found the other day & it's really great! It's an excerpt from the BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE comic book graphic novel by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland. It's acted out by voice artist Patrick Girts and animated with Batman & Joker LEGO Toys by filmmaker Forrest Whaley. Enjoy.
Tonight I received this very cool Batman/Joker Tattoo photo from a loyal Bat-Blog Reader named Neil who wrote, "Here's a picture of my tattoo, to blog with as you please! It was done by Matt Lloyd, tattooing out of Red Hot and Blue Tattoo in Edinburgh, Scotland (but now he's tattooing at Illicit Tattoo in New Zealand). It's the image taken from the back cover of the original The Killing Joke graphic novel." Neil, your Batman & Joker Playing Card tattoo looks great, really great! The graphics are sharp & the coloring is bright, looks awesome! Matt did an incredible job on it, please let him know that. Thank you very much for sending this photo, I appreciate it! I wanna invite all other readers with Batman-related photos to send them in too. They don't have to be tattoos but can be ANYTHING about our favorite Dark Knight!
