BATMAN AND JOKER 1989 Movie Collectibles

One of my many favorite areas of BATMAN TOY Collecting is all the crazy merchandise made during the 1989 Tim Burton Movie. This film was a HUGE blockbuster & they made a ton of tie-in products. Here are just a few really fun examples: The 1st pic shows a Promo Poster for TOPPS Bubble Gum Trading Cards. The graphics are pretty simple but also very cool! Dealers could find this poster inside a case of cards & it was made available to them to promote the product. The 2nd photo shows a BATMAN Playdoh Play Set. It was made by the, now classic, Kenner Toys Company. The graphics on the box are really great! I love how it combines both photography AND graphic art... nice. Plus, it came with a Batmobile & Joker-Car! Speaking of Joker, the next item is a really nice JOKER FACE Cloisonné Pin. It's more of a "Comic Book" version but still came during the film. Now, the last item shown here is actually kinda hard to find ( Here in the US anyway ) because this was a Magazine published in Canada. It was called TRIBUTE GOES TO THE MOVIES & it's best feature was that it always came with a few promo posters inside. This one as a nice color photo on the cover of Michael Keaton & Jack Nicholson, in costume. I hope a lot of people enjoy seeing this stuff again.

Some Brand-New BATMAN FAN Websites Worth Checking Out!

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!

Vintage BATMAN TOYS & COLLECTIBLES Eye-Candy!

The main focus of the Bat-Blog is really about the joys of Collecting Batman Toys. So I thought it would be a good idea to get back to that, ha ha! Up above are some photos of a few really RARE pieces of Bat-Merchandise! The 1st item is from the 1970's & is one of the weirdest Batman Products I have ever seen. It's an unopened package of SILLY-SACKS Wastebasket Liners. Yes, Trash Bags! The company that made these printed DC Comics Superhero Characters on white trash bags, ha ha! I guess it tricked a lot of kids to take out the trash? But overall I think these are pretty cool just on the rarity scale! The next picture is guaranteed to make Vintage Bubble Gum Card Collectors totally drool. This is the original Retail-Display Box for the 1966 Batman TV Series Trading Cards made by Topps. This was a later series where all the cards had color photos of the actors instead of painted illustrations...nice! Now, the last photo is sort of weird but when you think about it, it's a really cool toy! This is a BATMAN Inflatable Swimming Pool Toy that was made by Ideal in the 1960's. It's so cool that it is still in the original package with the header card & everything! OK, I hope you have enjoyed some of these & if YOU have any photos of special Batman Toys that you would like to share then please send them in today. Our e-mail button is always at the top right-hand side of this page!

Zdravko's Favorite BATMAN MEMORIES

Here at the Bat-Blog we have a good friend named Zdravko. He recently came across some great Batman-related photos while looking through some old family pictures. The 1st one shows him as a little boy standing next to a special Batman Birthday Cake that his Dad had made for him...that's cool! His Dad did a great job because the cake looks really nice. The 2nd photo is from his Baptism as a small child. His Mother is carrying him in Church. In it, you can see he's holding a Batman figure. Yes, he took Batman with him! The photo is from the mid-1990's & the toy is actually a Topps Bubble Gum Candy-Filled Hard Plastic Figure that was made around the time of the BATMAN RETURNS movie. I have one of those, how funny! Thanks Zdravko for sharing these wonderful photos, they're both very awesome! As always, I want to extend an invitation to all Bat-Blog Fans to please send us your "Bat-Memories". Our e-mail button is always at the top right-hand side of this page.

BATMAN's HOT ROD BATMOBILE! Art By Drag Daddy!

I just recently met an artist on MySpace who has some really fun artwork. He does "Custom Hot Rod Caricatures" that are done in a cool Retro "Hot Rod" Style that must have been inspired by "Big Daddy" Ed Roth. Here's a piece he did with Batman in his Hot Rod Batmobile Car! His art also reminds me of those Topps Trading Cards from the 1960's & 70's. The artist's name is Ben Mitchell. But he's also known as "Drag Daddy" & you can view more of his awesome stuff on MySpace by clicking HERE! ( Thanks Ben for letting me post some of your work ).

RARE 1966 TOPPS Batman TV Show Trading Cards

Sometime one problem with being a Batman Collector is trying to find inventive ways to display your favorite items. You want to be able to enjoy it, but you also need to protect it as well. OK, here's a perfect example you might like ( Click on the pics above for larger examples ). Our friend Dallas recently had one of his favorite pieces framed. It's a set of TOPPS 1966 Batman TV Show Trading Cards, still in the original package. Now the special thing about these is that it they are not the "wax wrapper" package but it's another type of packaging that TOPPS did later where you got 3 sets of cards, sealed in clear cellophane, that were placed in a long narrow bag which had a Cardboard Header Card attached to the top ( also, I don't think these came with bubble gum like the others did ). These packages hung on hooks in retail store displays & are extremely rare! But Dallas found a very clever way to display this unusual item. He had it framed between 2 pieces of glass with a die-cut mat background. This way the item has some space around it so it's not flattened & because it's "open on the back" you can remove the frame from the wall to still read the other side...AWESOME! I wanna thank Dallas for sharing the cool pics & great idea. If any other Bat-Blog Readers have come up with clever ideas like this then please be sure to let us know so we can share it! Also, CLICK HERE for some more examples of these RARE BATMAN Topps "Hangers" Cards & other Wrappers and Display Boxes.

New BATMAN, ROBIN, & JOKER T-Shirts To Keep An Eye Out For!

I'm always trying to keep up with Batman T-Shirts Designs & when I come across some that I think are pretty cool I like to share them. Here are 3 new ones that I think are very well done. Now the 1st one is my favorite because it's a graphic of what the original 1966 TOPPS BATMAN Bubble Gum Card Package ( Wax Wrapper ) looked like. That real-life piece of Bat-memorabilia has always been very special to me because I really loved these Trading Cards as a very little kid! The next one has more of a "Pop Art" feel about it & I'm actually trying to figure out who's comic book art they used. I'm thinking it might be the artist Dick Giordano but I'm not sure. Either way, it's the "Silver Age" Batman that I have always liked with the blue / gray bat-suit & yellow-oval bat-symbol logo. For the last example I included this one with split-faces of Batman & The Joker. The reason is because it totally reminds me of all the T-Shirts that were produced during the 1989 Batman Movie craze. It just has a nice "Vintage 80's Look" about it. Now remember, I've included a link button down below so you can see other examples of new shirts offered. So, check it out!!