Video - Adam West on Meeting Batman Co-Creator Bob Kane

Here's an interesting video that's a small segment from the EMMY TV LEGENDS series. It's from the Adam West interviews & it's the one where West tell the story of meeting Bob Kane ( Batman Co-Creator )for the first time, it's kinda funny, enjoy!

BATMAN AUCTION NEWS - Bob Kane's Original 1939 Page Proofs for Detective Comics 27 at Heritage

The big news in both the auction world & comic book fandom is that Heritage Auctions ( Dallas, Texas ) is offering the Original Production Proofs for Detective Comics # 27 ( 1939 ) that were once owned by Batman Co-Creator Bob Kane. Of course we're talking about the first appearance of the character here! A "Proof Page" in comics was a test printing of an uncolored page used by artists and writers to see how their work would look on the printed page. Now, while this is not the actual original art, this is probably the closest anybody will ever come to owning some production material from this landmark issue. They're estimated to sell for at least $1000 each & they have 5 of them for sale, which are pages 2-6. The image up above shows page 3 & if you click on it, it's extremely sharp, you can see the amazing details of this item. The "Batman Page Proofs" will be part of Heritage Auctions' Signature Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction held on February 24th, 2011. For more details, click HERE!

BATMAN: YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW - Cartoon Art Museum Exhibit

The CARTOON ART MUSEUM in San Francisco, CA is planning an exhibit that is a celebration of Batman's 70 year history! The exhibition starts at the end of this month ( January 30th ) & runs till June 6th, 2010. The title of the show will be BATMAN: YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW. Featured artists include Bob Kane and Bill Finger, who created Batman in 1939; Neal Adams, whose detailed artistry redefined comics in the 1970s; Frank Miller, whose graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns pioneered the modern, mature concept of Batman; Pepe Moreno, whose Batman: Digital Justice was the first graphic novel with entirely computer-generated art; Jiro Kuwata, who was the Japanese artist for the 1960's Bat-Manga that appeared in Shonen King magazines in Japan; and acclaimed artist Paul Pope, whose Batman: Year 100 pays homage to the original Batman comics and looks ahead to Gotham City of the year 2039.

 For more information about the event be sure to visit their website by clicking HERE!

New BOOK: THE BAT STRIKES AGAIN AND AGAIN By Johnston McCulley

OK, I don't have any idea how this new "Batman Book" could have passed by my radar! If some of you knew about it & didn't tell me then shame on you! OK, I'm kinda-sort of kidding here, ha ha! But it's so weird that I have NEVER heard of it before! I guess that's the main reason for me posting it. You know, because some of you might not have heard of it either. The title of the book is THE BAT STRIKES AGAIN AND AGAIN & was written by Johnston McCulley with a forward by Pulp Historian Will Murray. For the first time, in one volume, all four appearances of THE BAT are collected. These stories originally appeared in Pulp Novels from 1934 to 1935. The stories detail the adventures of Dawson Clade, a man who was inspired to fight crime by a bat's sudden appearance ( sound familiar? ). These books are regarded by some Comic Book Historians as the inspiration for Bob Kane to come up with his "original idea" of a special Crime Fighter named the Bat-Man. I guess I gotta say upfront that I have not read this book yet, so this is NOT a Book Review or a recommendation, but I'm posting it mainly out of curiosity & because it looks really cool! Also, I know some people don't think Bob Kane ever stole any material so please don't flood me with e-mail, ha ha!

BATMAN & VILLAINS Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday

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!

1940's Golden Age BATMAN AND ROBIN Comic Strip Press Sheet

Here's an amazing piece of Bat-History! This is an Original Newspaper Press Sheet showing the BATMAN AND ROBIN Daily Comic Strips for the week of May 15th through the 20th, 1944. It was test-printed by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate ( Be sure to click on the above photo for a way larger, more readable, version ). Now, for people interesting in reading these today then be sure to check out this book published by Kitchen Sink Press reprinting all the Dailies from 1943-1946. They also made a separate book covering all the Sunday Strips.