Last Saturday, August 20th, was a special day for Batman Fans. Well, ones who live near New Jersey anyway, ha! Michael Uslan, the Author of "The Boy Who Loved Batman", had a Book Signing Party at the Ashbury Park Convention Hall on the Boardwalk in NJ. Our Bat-Reporter Buddy "BatDave" was there and got some incredible photos! He also said that the event was a total blast & Mr. Uslan was a lot of fun to be around. He also said he was a very gracious person, that's cool.
The first photo shows the Author Michael Uslan in a 1966 TV Batmobile Replica Car. In fact, there were a few different Batmobiles made available for the event & tomorrow we're gonna post a special "Wallpaper Background" that's a really great pic of the 1989 Movie and 1966 TV Show Batmobile... TOGETHER! So, stay tuned for that.
Now, up next are 2 photos that feature a Costumed Batman Fan getting his book signed & the 3rd pic shows our Buddy "BatDave" ( he's the guy on the far-right ). Last, but not least, I wanna remind everybody about the book. I recently received a copy & will be doing a major "Bat-Book Review". Please look for that soon. Also, Thanks to BatDave for sharing this wonderful experience. I wish I could been there, arrgghh!
This Saturday, on August 20th, Michael Uslan will be holding a BATMAN Event at Ashbury Park, the Famous Boardwalk in New Jersey, to promote his new memoir book, "THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN". Of course we're talking about the Executive Producer of all the recent Batman Films so this should be pretty cool! There will be a Book Signing, Lectures, Drinks, & they'll show the original 1989 BATMAN Movie on the Beach! Plus, the entire thing will be free! Well, you might have to pay for your own drinks, ha! But there is no admission cost.
Plus, There will also be five original Batmobile Cars from Gotham City Supercars sprinkled all over the Boardwalk. Down below is the basic schedule for the event. Then, there's a photo of our good friend, Bat-Chick, she's standing next to an original promo poster she spotted on the Boardwalk in NJ.
The schedule includes:
Noon - 1:30PM: The day starts off at 12 PM at The Sundry Times, Asbury's Beach Shop and News Stand, where fans will have their first opportunity to meet Michael Uslan LIVE and in person to purchase their own copy of "The Boy Who Loved Batman" and have it signed.
2:00PM - 4:00PM: Located at the top of the First Avenue Pavilion on the AP Boardwalk, Watermark is an upscale lounge where there will be a very special discussion and Q & A. There, Michael takes questions in this intimate insider look behind this amazing career.
6:00PM - 8:00PM: The next stop is The Beach Bar, located off of the 5th Avenue Boardwalk on the Oceanside deck adjacent to the world famous Convention Hall. Here, you can take a small break & enjoy specialty beverages while you take in the unbelievable view.
8:30PM - 10:30PM: Finally, you will finish this amazing day with a very special screening of the Classic 1989 BATMAN Movie on the Beach with a special introduction from Michael. Yes, Re-live all of the thrilling action and adventure in this epic film experience... like you never have before!
The Publisher, Chronicle Books, has just released this cool new BOOK PROMO VIDEO to start early hype for "THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN". This book was written by Michael Uslan who has been the Executive Producer for all the recent Batman Movies. We're talking "1989 BATMAN" all the way up to the next Bat-Film, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. But, besides working in Hollywood, Michael Uslan is an extremely serious Batman Fan, and has been since early childhood, this is his story.
"Batman's Biggest Secret is NOT Bruce Wayne...", reads the front of this brand-new Promo T-Shirt. The back says, "Put Your Finger on it, July 2012, NOBLEMANIA". OK, This post is sort of mysterious but here's the deal. There's a Book Author named Marc Tyler Nobleman who is in the very very early stages of promoting his next book ( The actual release date is almost a year from now, July 1st, 2012 ). You might know him as the guy who wrote "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman". Well, his next major book will be all about the uncredited Batman Co-Creator, Bill Finger. Serious Batman Fans know who this guy is because his story of how he never got any credit for helping create the greatest comic book superhero in history is legendary. But the unusual thing is that he was so "hidden" that even serious Fans don't know much about him. Well, hopefully that's gonna change after the book comes out. Basically it's going to be a very serious Biography about Mr. Finger & his contributions to the Comic Book genre, especially the Dark Knight character. I've been following the creation of this book for awhile now & the attention to details, & the interviews with other Artists/Writers, is extremely meticulous. I'm predicting it's gonna be a really great book.
OK, to get back to the T-Shirt. The shirt you see up above was created as a promotional Tool for the next 2011 Comic Con. Marc is set-up to do a lecture & panel discussion at that event for the "Bill Finger" Book. We're hoping a few people buy the shirt & wear it to the event. It's designed in such a way that it's sort of "vague", & then if somebody asks what the shirt is about then you can get into a dialogue about the "Finger Book". So, if you wanna support this great project then please be sure to visit SKREENED where you can buy this shirt.
Now, please keep in mind that the shirt is sold in TWO ways: 1. You can get a shirt that is screened with both designs on the front & back, Or 2. You can get a shirt that has JUST the "front" design with nothing on the back. Either way it's a great item! Seriously, all your friends will be super-jealous, JEALOUS!
THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN, The True Story of How a Comics-Obsessed Kid Conquered Hollywood to Bring the Dark Knight to the Silver Screen. This is the new memoir written by Michael Uslan that will be coming out later ( No exact release date has been issued yet. But please stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because, "we're on it!" ). Now, some of you might think, "Hey, I recognize that name". Well, Michael Uslan has been the Movie Producer of all the BATMAN Movies. Yes, this is the guy responsible for bringing the Dark Knight to the big screen! In this new biography he shares the story of growing-up in the 1950's & totally being obsessed with comic books, especially Batman ones. He also shares his 10 year fight to get Batman to film. It sounds like a great story! Once we get more information we'll keep ya updated.
Important Side-Note:
A friend on Facebook just told me the release date will be around August 8th ( Thanks Torsten )
I guess this post is sort of a "photo reference". These are some pics I collected awhile back where it's the Vintage 1966 BATMAN TV SHOW and MOVIE Paperback Books, but these are all "foreign-issued" copies. The 1st five are from England & were reprinted by Four Square Illustrated. These special UK editions have slightly different covers than the US versions. My favorite one is THE JOKER with all the weird "Pop Art" colors. I'm not sure about THE CATWOMAN Book & I'm wondering if it's from the UK too. It looks like it was reprinted by some other publisher. Now, the very last photo, is THE PENGUIN Book that was made in Argentina. It appears to be wayyyy more thin than an actual paperback. What's up on that? OK, I'm wondering if anybody has any other versions of these. If so, then please let us know. I think it would be cool if there were German, Spanish, or French editions, ha!
Here's a very cool comic art book you might consider on your next trip to the bookstore. It's titled "ICONS, The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of JIM LEE". Basically it's a retrospective of his prolific artistic career. In this volume, Titan Books has completed the almost impossible task of compiling a generous amount of the last twenty years of Jim Lee’s work. Batman fans should totally love it because there is a ton of Bat-Art! There are also a lot of preliminary sketches that have never been seen before. Now, it's important to note that there are 2 different printings of this book. There's the regular edition with 296 pages. It's the one shown with a "Color Cover". Then, there is a "Previews" Special Edition, with the "Pencil Sketch" cover. The previews Edition has 8 additional pages & the variant cover. It's a little harder to find, but you might be able to get one using the link button down below.
Picture Window Books ( a division of Capstone Publishing ) just released a brand-new series of Children Books called DC SUPER-PETS. The Illustrator for these are none other than Art Baltazar. You might recognize his name from the successful TINY TITANS comic books. The basic concept for this new series is that they tell stories about the adventures of SUPER-PETS who are owned by some of your favorite DC Comics Superheroes: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, & Green Lantern. Their names are Ace the Bat-Hound, Krypto the Super-Dog, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, and Jumpa the Super-Kangaroo.
Now, to celebrate the launch of this new series, Picture Window Books is sponsoring a writing contest for students in grades 1-3. Children enter the "My Pet is Super" contest by writing an article for an imaginary newspaper, The Daily Planet, about why their own pet is super! Art Baltazar will create an illustration of the winning Super-Pet that will appear in a future book in the DC Super-Pets series. The winning student will receive the original art as well as copies of the book. Authors of the top 50 entries in the contest will also win free books. For complete rules and to enter, visit CapstoneKids.com The contest runs from January 15th, 2011 - February 28th, 2011.
All serious BATMAN Fans know who Bill Finger is, I mean, he's the Co-Creator of Batman. But because of an exclusive contract Bob Kane had with DC Comics Bill Finger has been robbed of his credit for years. There's a lot we don't know about this artist. Well, the good news is that our friend Marc Nobleman is writing the definitive biography on Bill Finger. It's due to come out next year in 2012. You might know him from his previous book, "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman,". Up above is a rare photo of Bill Finger as seen on a trading card in a series called "Famous Comic Book Creators". Personally, I can't wait until this book comes out!
This video comes straight from Neal Adams & shows the Famous Comic Book Artist drawing a wonderful profile sketch of our favorite Caped Crusader, Batman! He's drawing this inside a copy of "The Art of Neal Adams", a new book published by Vanguard Productions. Would you like a signed copy? Just click HERE to visit Adams' Official Website. Once there, click on the "STORE" button.
One of the things I love about doing the Bat-Blog is getting to meet other Batman Fans from all over the world. Like, I recently met a very nice guy named Silvio Ribas who lives in Brazil. He's a major Batman Collector & he has a blog that shares what it is like to be a Batman Fan in his country. It's pretty cool! He also wrote a book in 2005 titled "Dicionario Do Morcego", which means "Dictionary of The Bat" in Portuguese. Hopefully he will send me a Review Copy, then I can give you more information about it. Now, unfortunately, I can't read the Portuguese language but I still like to visit Silvio's website every now & then because it does have some cool pictures & with translation software I can sort-of read it. Here's a LINK to check it out.
Shown up above are a few panels of Batman-related artwork created by a very talented Graphic Artist named Ted Naifeh. Ted's plan is to pitch a new Batman Book idea to DC Comics. You see, he has taken the Batman Universe & sort-of recreated it in his own unique style. Most of the characters are easily recognizable like: Scarecrow, The Penguin, Catwoman, The Mad Hatter, & so on but they're also just a "little different". He's been working on this concept for awhile & has created a ton of cool pencil sketches & inked drawings to back-up his idea. If you visit his website there is way more art to enjoy: The Joker, Batwoman, Robin, Batgirl, etc... It's gonna be interesting to see how this project comes along. So, if you wanna see more of Ted Naifeh's Graphic Art, & also keep up to date with what is going on, then please be sure to visit his website by clicking HERE!
Today is the date that all fans of the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Animated Cartoon have been waiting for! It's the release of the Trade Paperback Book of all the collected comic book stories. Inspired by the hit Cartoon Network TV series, The Caped Crusader teams up with heroes including Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Aquaman and others. In these tales from the first six issues of the monthly series, Batman and his allies tangle with The Time Lord, save the world's children from the Queen of Fables, and more! Get it at TFAW & save 20%.
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!
Here's a very well done promotional video for the BATMAN VAULT Book. It gives you a really good idea what this very interesting item looks like on the inside. As you can see it's loaded with a lot of fun reproductions to remove & look at. I still have not bought this yet but plan to get one later.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Since it's the very 1st day of a brand new year I thought it would be a good time to mention a really great charity that I just discovered. It's called the TOYS FOR TOTS Literacy Program. Now, long time Bat-Blog readers know we hype the regular TOYS FOR TOYS charity every year around Christmas. It's that organization run by the US Marines where they give toys to under-privileged children. Well, now they have another charity where they circulate new books to children who do not have access to libraries. They not only make sure lots of kids get books of their very own but they also teach them how to read. You see, it's all about teaching kids how to read & learn to love books. This is something I believe in very strongly. I love reading, love books, & can't imagine a life without being enriched by them. So, this charity has now become very important for me. What I would like to do right now is ask every reader of the Bat-Blog to please consider making a donation to TOYS FOR TOTS or even just spreading the word about it. At the end of this post will be a link to their website. Please consider going there & seeing what YOU can do. This would make an excellent "New Year's Resolution"! You can visit their website by clicking HERE! Thank You.
OK, By now you must have heard all the hype about a whole new publishing concept by DC Comics. They will be releasing some brand-new Graphic Novel material that will be collected like "Volume 1, Vol 2, Vol 3, etc...". The idea is that instead of being published as comic books first they will go straight to book form. Their experiment will involve their 2 best properties: Superman & Batman ( with the Caped Crusader being the way better of the two, ha ha ). Each character will get their own book, plus another part of the concept will be that they will be living on "Earth One". Meaning, the stories will not be considered to be apart of the actual continuity of the "real characters". In other words, the writers & artists have full reign to do whatever they want & it will not effect the actual characters in the regular DC Universe. I imagine they will be going totally nuts & I think it might be kinda fun, we'll see. For our favorite Dark Knight the title will be called BATMAN: EARTH ONE. The writer of this series will be Geoff Johns & the artwork will be drawn by Gary Frank. Up above is a BATMAN: EARTH ONE Desktop Wallpaper Background I made using his artwork, check it out! ( Thanks Knipp for the heads-up on this new DC Comics concept ).
I usually don't post new Batman Toy information this early ( these won't be out until the middle of next year ) but when I saw these "new" Batman Action Figures I thought they were really great so here they are! I love the "Silver Age" look of them. It looks like DC Direct is going to re-release a set of 5 figures that they have done before, but now they have a slightly different paint job, & will also come with a special graphic novel book of collected stories. Here's what DC Direct actually says about them:
Five of Gotham City's most colorful figures are collected in this special action figure box set, in both 3D and comics form! A 64-page original collection of classic stories featuring Batman, Robin, Batgirl, The Riddler and Bat-Mite is packaged along with an action figure of each character. The stories included in the special DETECTIVE COMICS CLASSICS book are "The Riddler's Prison-Puzzle Problem!" from DETECTIVE COMICS #377, "Tall, Dark, Handsome – and Missing!" from DETECTIVE COMICS #384, "Hunt for the Helpless Hostage!" from DETECTIVE COMICS #385, "The Invader from Hell!" from BATMAN FAMILY #1, and "Bat-Mite" from WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITE DIRECTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE #2. On Sale: June 23rd, 2010
It's been really weird lately but the brand-new BATMAN VAULT "Museum in a Book" Book has been popping-up in conversations with people on the web...a lot! Also, I have got a few e-mails about it too....very strange. So it got me curious about this book's popularity & this is what I came up with. It's just got some really cool stuff with it, especially for the price! The book is 212 pages with a lot of Bat-History & wonderful photos from the DC Archives. But that's not the neat thing really. The cool thing is that it comes with a lot of fun replicas of Vintage Batman items. A Batman Mask, a Bat-Plane Paper Airplane Glider to Make, Production Art From The Set of the 1st Batman Movie, Golden Age Comic Book Cover Art, etc...The Replica Toys are my favorite because they are pieces of Bat-Memorabilia that are extremely hard to find & very rare! All the e-mails I got were mainly from Batman Fans who were really excited after buying this book & didn't know about all the stuff inside. Now, HEY! The Bat-Blog reported about this book a long time ago & you should have known, ha ha! But anyway, the book is available now, so at your next Book Store visit be sure to check it out.
