This post is just a friendly reminder that the Famous BATMAN Comic Book Artist JOE KUBERT will be LIVE at the Dewey's Comic City Store in Madison, NJ on Saturday, June 4th ( that's tomorrow! ). For more info, click HERE!
As a little kid back in the 1970's I became an obsessed comic book collector & one of my very most favorite things in the entire world were "Treasury Comics". They were put out by both DC Comics & Marvel ( I was more of a "DC Guy" ). If you have never seen or experienced these beautiful books then your life is completely sad, ha! Treasury Comics were basically reprints of classic stories but sold in a giant-size format. I mean, these babies were HUGE! It was almost like reading a newspaper, ha! I totally loved them & still have about 15 or 20 of them stored away in the very very back of my closet, in protective plastic bags of course.
Which, gets me to the reason for this post. The other day, while trolling on eBay, I came across a guy selling the Original Comic Book Art for the Cover to the 1975 BATMAN Treasury Comics Limited-Collectors-Edition #C37. The Artist back then was Jim Aparo!! I have always been a HUGE Aparo Fan & totally love his artwork. Now, as you can imagine, this baby is out of my price range, but I would kill to have it, ha! To own an actual piece of your childhood history like that, is what gives Collectors a reason to live. Oh well, I guess I can just drool over the photo posted up above ( Please click on it for a larger, more beautiful, picture ). The later photos show the actual product ( front & back ) and also a few advertisements that showed-up in comic books back in the day. By the way, if your a big fan of treasurys, or just wanna learn more, then please let me suggest TREASURYCOMICS.COM, it's a great reference site!
In "Batman Auction News" this week there was a special item on eBay that ended recently, some Frank Miller original artwork of BATMAN AND ROBIN as they appeared in his famous 1980's Graphic Novel, The Dark Knight Returns. It was drawn on DC Comics comic book cover stock paper ( measuring 12" X 17" ). Frank Miller sketched it in 1990 as a special 75th birthday gift to former DC Comics Editor Julius "Julie" Schwartz. This is a fully penciled and inked art illustration with a signed inscription from Miller on it, to Julius. The artwork is just totally wonderful, a great piece. The auction ended the other night at a closing bid around $11,300.00... WOW! I mean, who has that kind of money? Ha! But regardless of the price, it looks awesome & also has the bonus of having a lot of historical significance. Plus, I love that Robin is the "Carrie Kelley" version.
One of my favorite things about the internet is getting to meet new people from all around the world. It's so cool how you can just spark a casual conversation with somebody, anywhere! Like here, I recently met this guy named Grant Hunter. He's an Artist & Illustrator living in Newcastle, Australia. His artwork is really great! It looks sort of child-like and very abstract. It's also slightly Gothic looking too. Well, I'm sorry, it's really kind of hard for me to describe but if you look at it you'll get the idea. It's some very cool stuff!! Shown here are 2 recent Batman Drawing he has done. Also, if you wanna see more than just click HERE!
Back in the 1960's there was a major BATMAN Comic Book Artist named Carmine Infantino. He was extremely influential for saving the character from obscurity. He also created a lot of great artwork! The 1st image shown here is a piece he did that has since become very iconic. So much so that there have been posters, statues, & a ton of parodies of it. Here are 2 wonderful examples: The 2nd photo shows a recent drawing by Christopher Franchi. He not only did an homage to Infantino, but the whole thing is drawn in the cartoon-style of another famous Batman Artist named Dick Sprang. The combination is AWESOME! The next drawing was done by a Graphic Designer who calls herself "Black Cat". She has a webcomic called "Batman and Sons" that is also worth checking out, click HERE!
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.
Check out this amazing Batman drawing! This fine artwork was sent in by our friend Michael & it's a scene from the 1989 BATMAN Movie starring Michael Keaton... a Bat-Fan Favorite. Thanks Mike! If any other Bat-Blog Readers out there are creative too then please send us some pics of your art.
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.
A panel from DC Comics' BATMAN AND ROBIN #16, written by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Cameron Stewart. Drawn with Manga Studio 4 Ex, with a Wacom Cintiq 21UX. Video speed increased 200%.