Warner Bros & Pentax have teamed-up to release a special DC SUPER HEROES Digital Camera around the time of the release of the Green Lantern Movie. Pentax is gonna sell a "DC COMICS Collector Pack" for their Optio RS1500 Digital Camera. Basically, it comes with seven different skins you can change on the front ( 3 of them are "Batman-related" ). The characters will include: Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Batman, Joker, and Catwoman! I really like the fact that they're using older comic book art...nice!
Just the other day I got an email from a Bat-Blog Reader asking me about a Batman Promo Glass he found at a Garage Sale. He sent a photo of it and as soon as I saw it I knew what it was. I mean, I totally remembered these from my childhood in the 70's. It's a glass from the 1976 DC Comics Superhero Pepsi Series. If I remember right, they were a promotion at Burger King, the Fast Food Restaurant ( or was it Arby's? ). But either way here's a photo that shows the complete set of 6 glasses ( Click on the pic for a larger sharper version ). OK Rob, you now need to find Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and the Flash!
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.
OK, Since the Bat-Blog is ALL about the Dark Knight I'm just posting photos of the Batman-related statues, Batman and Catwoman. But before I get ahead of myself, here's the deal. For 2011 DC Direct is coming out with a huge set of statues to celebrate the entire DC UNIVERSE ONLINE Video Game world. They measure approx. 7 1/2" tall & are cold-cast porcelain. They're also based on the comic book art of Jim Lee. So far there are 10 statues planned to be released in small waves during 2011 but I think they will add even more once the video game becomes very popular. Who are the characters made so far? You have Batman, Catwoman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Solomon Grundy, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna! If you would like to see them then just click the button down below.
While surfing through eBay the other day I came across this Life-Size BATMAN Statue & knew it had to be shared. Why? Well, besides being extremely cool, the same company also makes many other members of the Justice League. Just check out the 2nd photo: Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern!!
You might remember reading about the brand-new SQUATZ toys here at the Bat-Blog about 2 weeks ago. We had some prototype pics of the packaging & mentioned them. Well, I have now seen the actual product, in my hands, & they're extremely cool! What I'm talking about is the new line of DC UNIVERSE / SQUATZ FIGURES made by Wild Planet. They are compact collectible figures of our favorite DC Comics characters embedded in dissolving tablets. They are sold 2 figures per pack. One figure is visible & the other is hidden. The list of Core Characters ( visible ) include: Batman, The Joker, The Penguin, Green Lantern, Superman, & The Flash. The list of Bonus Characters ( hidden ) include: Aquaman, Robin, Lex Luthor, Gorilla Grodd, Green Arrow, Hawkman, & Wonder Woman. Overall there are 13 different ones to collect. Each package will have a retail price of around $9.99 & you can find them at the end of this year, during the holiday season. In fact, I think they would make very excellent stocking stuffers. So, remember to keep an eye out for these later! Now, for the Toy & Action Figure Collectors out there, who will probably be collecting all of these, I have created this special SQUATZ - DC UNIVERSE Checklist! OK, actually it's a Desktop Wallpaper you can use as a background on your PC ( you could also print it out ). It shows the complete 1st wave of 13 figures. One last thing, If you wanna check out the official WILD PLANET website, just CLICK HERE!
In this just released video clip we get an inside look at the making of the DC UNIVERSE ONLINE Video Game Cinematic with Jim Lee, DCUO Exec. Creative Director and Tim Miller of Blur Studio.
Later this year Warner Bros. Pictures will present an examination of the creative forces behind the World's Greatest Super Heroes in "Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics", an all-new documentary that takes viewers behind the scenes of the iconic company with unprecedented access to the Warner Bros. and DC Comics archives. Narrated by Ryan Reynolds, the movie actor who will soon play the Green Lantern. But don't look for it real soon, the release date will be November 9th, 2010. It will be available on DVD ( box art shown up above ) & the retail price will be $24.98.
Learn about the amazing tales of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and a host of other well-known characters, plus the equally impressive story of the challenges, creativity and triumphs of the company that brought those characters to life. This new movie is both a celebration of the best writers and artists in comics and a thoughtful exploration of 75 years of DC Comics history.
Produced by the Academy Award ® -nominated team behind Spellbound (Feature Documentary), Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics combines excerpts from comics,films and television series with the insight of some of history's most influential comic book creators and editors, among them Neal Adams, Karen Berger, Mike Carlin, Dan DiDio, Neil Gaiman, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Paul Levitz, Dwayne McDuffie, Grant Morrison, Dennis O'Neil, Paul Pope, Louise Simonson, Mark Waid, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman. Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is written and directed by Mac Carter. Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound, The Office) served as executive producer. Producer is Gregory Noveck and co-producer is Ivan Cohen. OK, now I'll shut-up so you can enjoy the video.
To sort of continue the "DC Comics 75th Anniversary" event Mattel has released a special boxed set of POLLY POCKET Figures called "Dressed For Justice!". You get 3 dolls of the main Polly Pocket characters dressed-up in Supergirl, Wonder Woman, & Batgirl costume! Personally, I really like the one of Batgirl, very cute, & the packaging is pretty cool too the way the box-lid slides open to reveal the figures inside. That's a neat design concept. This toy will hit stores soon & the retail price will be around $20.00, keep an eye out. ( I know that little girls are gonna go totally crazy for these! )
A Fan of the Bat-Blog, a Good Citizen named Lazlo, sent us these totally hilarious & completely funny Batman Comic Strips that he found! Thanks Lazlo, YOU ROCK, Sir!
In 1977 General Mills offered a special mail-away premium on boxes of Cheerios Cereal called the SUPER HEROES MAGNETIC DART GAME. It came with a Target Game Board ( with a sheet metal backing ) & 4 "Superhero Magnet-Darts". The 4 playing pieces looked like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin. The 4 evil super-villains, featured on the target game board, were the Joker, Penguin, Cheetah, & Lex Luthor. Now, if I did the math correctly I was in the 7th Grade when this cereal box came out & I don't ever remember seeing this. Oh man! I would have mailed away for this, the vintage graphics are really cool, ha ha! Thanks to Doug for sending us the cool photos. By the way, I think the artwork was done by Dick Giordano. Or, at least, it looks like his stock art.
Here's sort of a funny newspaper advertisement sent in by our good buddy Ed. It shows 3 Hot Babes pushing Halloween Costumes, with one of them being Batgirl. It's from this year's 2009 Army and Air Force Exchange (AAFES) Halloween sales flyer. He said he thought it was interesting that, of all the costumes they could have picked, they chose the Bat-Babe as one of the three highlighted. Well, Ed, I do have to agree that she is a Bat-Babe for sure! But that Freddie Kruger "Nightmare on Elm Street" Babe isn't too bad either, ha ha! Thanks for sending it in.
In response to a recent post here at the Bat-Blog, where we had a video of this subject, we got this Vintage Comic Book Advertisement. ( You can see the video by clicking HERE! ) I remember this ad! It was always on the backs of comic books in the1980's. It advertised a "DC Superhero" Water-Ski Theme Show they had at SEA WORLD. I always lived way too far away from these things to go & was always bummed-out by the distance, ha ha! But, other than remembering a serious childhood trauma, I do wanna sincerely say Thank you for sending it in, it's really a cool piece of Bat-History, from the "comic book character + Amusement Park" angle. I know lots of people will remember it fondly. Maybe they went. If you're a Bat-Blog Reader who has some photos or stories like this then please share them.
Back in 1979 some tourist shot this video so that, in the future, we could see it! This is the SUPER FRIENDS event at the Cypress Gardens Water Amusement Park. Performers dressed up as Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Mr. Freeze, The Joker, The Penguin, etc. all get totally crazy. Finding video, or even any information, about this event is really difficult. Plus, I don't think there is any audio in this video. That, or my speakers are broken, ha ha! But really I think the best part of the video is seeing the cool Bat-Boat! If you saw this event as a child then this video will bring back some great memories of a fun summer vacation!
I hope this post brings back a lot of fond memories for many readers. I grew-up in the 1970's & was totally into comic books at that time, a super-collector! I even liked toys & action figures too but was not really a big toy collector like I am now ( In hindsight I WISH I would have bought a bunch of stuff then, ha ha ). I remember one day, in the mid-1970's, I saw an ad in the back of one of my favorite comic books. You could get a catalog for, I think, 50 cents + postage that promised to be filled with all kinds of superhero goodies. Because I was a big fan of this kinda thing I mailed away for one. WOW! Was I ever happy I did! This is the 1st Issue of The SUPERHERO CATALOG OF GAMES, BOOKS, TOYS, & PUZZLES!! This catalog was pretty unique for 3 main reasons. One, It was published in a comic book format. Two, instead of photos for all the products they were hand-drawn like comic book art, and Three, it was jam-packed with tons of very cool superhero items that, at the time, you would NEVER SEE at all the department stores or even the best-stocked comic book shops. Now, I'm mainly sharing the pages that are "Batman-related" but this baby was filled with Comic Books, Specialty Books about Comics, Star Wars Toys, Super Hero T-Shirts, Action Figures, Micronauts, Novelty Clocks, Mego Dolls, Clothing, and many many other pieces of merchandise with all the DC & Marvel Comics Characters you could ever dream about!! And, oh man, I used to totally drool over every single issue. It was just filled with magic & I would fantasize about buying everything in it. I remember that I did buy a few pieces from it. I used to (still do ) totally love those HUGE Treasury Comics that DC made. I collected them & the ones that were harder to find I would get here. I bought a few weird Star Wars items. I fondly remember getting a Star Wars Stormtrooper Costume Helmet. I also remember buying a few Mego Dolls ( in the original boxes! ). One neat thing about the art was that the whole catalog was done by art students from the Joe Kubert School of Comic Art ( still in business today ). Kubert even drew a lot of it & the stuff he didn't was still sort of drawn in his style. I was a big fan of his artwork at the time ( really loved his Sgt. Rock books ) so this was just a bonus! So, does anybody else remember these? If so then please leave a comment & share your stories. I know there's gotta be a lot of people who loved these as much as I did. Also, I guess, if you have never seen one of these RARE catalogs before then there are some really great collectible toys to drool over, ha ha!
Regular Bat-Blog Readers were recently assaulted here with our special wacky celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the 1984 Kenner SUPER POWERS Action Figures. Just scan down below for all the posts, it was crazy! Well, a new friend named Scott read them a few days ago & was inspired to send us this very cool photo! Scott said, "...a long time ago, when he was a little kid, his Dad begged their local Burger King to please please give his son this special store display sign that they had there" ( What a great Dad!! ). Of course we're talking about the SUPER POWERS CUP HOLDER COLLECTION Promotion they had back in the mid-1980's. I totally remember these, they were kinda cool! They made 4 Plastic Cups with Figural DC Comics Super Hero Characters: Superman, Wonder Woman, Darkseid, & the Dark Knight himself, Batman! Actually, Darkseid was a Villain, but you get the idea. Thank you Scott for sending this wonderful photo & sharing that great story, that's really neat. Also, this sign is pretty awesome if ya ask me!
When Donna gives Eric an ugly ring Kelso imagines the gang becoming superheroes. This funny clip from the TV Series "THAT 70's SHOW" features Ashton Kutcher as Batman! Oh yeah, there's some other Super Friends too like Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, & The Wonder Twins! The costumes & the set design are actually pretty good!
