The Bat-Blog has a friend on Facebook who sent this amazing photo! Scott said, "My sister in law sent me this, apparently they're shooting the Dark Knight Rises outside of her office in London." In the photo we can see a Gotham City SWAT Van... AWESOME!! ( Thanks Scott ).
Over at the Official Website for the BATMAN LIVE: World Arena Tour they have finally opened their online store! Inside you can find a cool Souvenir T-Shirt & Ceramic Coffee Mug. The shirts are sold in both Adult & Kids sizes. The prices range from around $25 to $32, ouch! The Mug is about $11.34. Remember, their prices on the site are in British Pounds, so if you're an American then use the Currency Converter to see Dollars. CLICK HERE!
This is a very quick post to share some extremely cool Batman Collectibles from the UK. These wonderful pics were kindly send in by a good friend named Kevin who is lucky enough to live near there. What are they? These are beautiful display boxes for Batman Easter Candy ( Milk Chocolate Eggs with Fruit-Flavored Gum ). One is in the shape of the Dark Knight's head & his eyes are die-cut open so some happy kid can see the goodies inside. The next one is more of a "box shape" with a great scene of Batman and Robin in Gotham City. Both of these boxes came out during the existence of the "Animated Series" cartoon on TV so that explains the cool graphics. I have a few of these UK items in my collection & they're different ( They would be added here if they were not so deep in storage right now ). So, that makes me wonder how many variations they made. But that's what is so great about being a Batman Toy Collector. There seems to be a TON of stuff out there to find & you can stay busy for 2 lifetimes, ha! ( Thanks Kevin for sending in these photos ).
Well, it looks like the BATMAN ARKHAM CITY Video Game is showing up, like crazy, on covers of some UK Gaming Magazines in England. Here are 2 examples: Playgamer and 360. Of course each magazine covers different consoles, the Playstation 3 ( PS3 ) and XBox 360. If anyone, anywhere in the world ( ha ), sees some other covers soon then please let us know.
OK, today I'm on sort of a "foreign kick"! That means I'm focusing on some of the extremely cool Batman Merchandise & Toys made in other countries. But trust me, this stuff is pretty cool to see so you'll like it, ha!
The 1st example is an extremely RARE item. This is a packaged Bat-Ball Toy made in Italy in 1966. This Italian Toy is almost non-existent in the US. It's probably even hard to find over there! I love the vintage-style graphics. Plus, this is one of those toys where the packaging is "everything". I mean, once you open it & there's just that generic rubber ball, then it's no longer a "character item".
The next item is fun because it's Japanese & we all know that some of the coolest Bat-items come from Japan! It's a Video Game Disc for the Sega-Saturn by Aklaim. It's also tied-into the BATMAN FOREVER Movie.
Third, is this BATMOBILE Diecast Toy Car from the UK. It's a Hot Wheels Colour Shifters Car made by Mattel.
Now, the last photos, these are really great! I really love these! This is a complete set of 6 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Jelly Glasses from France. I think these might have been for the UK market too. If anybody remembers those Welch's Grape Jelly Glasses we have here in the US then I think these are a little smaller. Now, you might be looking at the photo & saying, "Hey, There's 12 Glasses?!" Yes, this photo shows both the front & back of each glass. The 6 on the left are the "front". The "fronts" have Batman & the "backs" have villains. Well, one of them has the Batmobile, ha, but you get the idea.
OK, I'm hoping somebody who reads this either learned something or at least enjoyed it! What do you think? Do YOU have any wacky Batman "foreign items" you would like to share? If so, then please shoot us a pic, or pics! Remember, the main focus of the Bat-Blog is to share the love & joy of collecting.
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!
We're excited! The Bat-Blog just got some awesome new photos showing the costumes and set design for the UK stage show of BATMAN LIVE WORLD ARENA TOUR!! They were very large pics so I decided to offer them as super-fun BATMAN LIVE WALLPAPERS you can use to brighten your desktop's background. All the photos are pretty much self-explanatory! The 1st one shows the costumes for some of the characters: The Joker, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Batman, Robin, Riddler, The Penguin, & Poison Ivy. The next wallpaper features just Batman and Robin, but it shows a lot of details to their costume design. Last, but not least, the final photo shows what the "Gotham City" Set Design of the Stage will look like. So, which costume is your favorite?
YES! FINALLY! We finally get some decent press coverage from the BATMAN LIVE World Tour Show that will start in the UK & then arrive later in the US. Oh yeah, Featured in these 4 Video Clips: We get to see the Set Design, an Animation Sample for the Stage Video Screen, a CG representation of Harley Quinn's Carnival & also Wayne Manor ( with a very small teaser of the Bat-Cave ), and then the very last video shows all the Actors & their Costumes! Oh man, everything looks really really AWESOME!! I think this show is going to be incredible!
Eaglemoss Collections, the UK company that brought us the cool "DC Superhero Figurines", is now coming out with a new collection of Batmobiles! These new cars are die-cast, 1:43 Scale, & come inside a presentation case that has a 3D lenticular backdrop. Also, each car comes with a collectible 12-page magazine that gives the history of the vehicle. The 1st car in the BATMAN AUTOMOBILIA Series will be the Batmobile from the 1989 Batman Movie! Then, they're making the 1966 Batmobile from the Classic TV Show!
Here's a list of the five cars in the 1st wave:
1989 Batman Movie
1966 Batman TV Show
2005 Batman Begins Movie
2009 Comic Book Version
1944 Comics Version
They plan on continuing the collection & those cars, in the 2nd wave, will include: 1992 The Animated Series, 1985 Comic Book Version, 1939 Comics, 1995 Comics, & 2008 The Dark Knight Movie Bat-Pod!
Oh man, these sound really great! Plus, the production photos of the 1st five cars so far look really really good, I'm totally excited!! Now the bad news: I gotta say that these cars will take a little trouble to find in the US. You see, they're made in the UK exclusively for the European Market & will only be made available in the USA through special outlets. One rumor I've heard is that they might be distributed through Diamond Distributors, they supply American Comic Book Stores with product. So, you might check one of those. Another source will be a few online stores that do ship in the US. Once I get that list compiled I will be doing another post here so be sure to stay tuned to the Bat-Blog!
OK, here at the Bat-Blog we publish a lot of Batman Tattoo Photos because it's a very fun form of ART & I think they're always interesting to see. But this one is very special to us because the guy who got it said he was inspired to get off his couch & go get inked by reading a few posts here at the Bat-Blog...WOW! We're really honored, seriously! Plus I'm glad that the tattoo work turned out so well, ha! The BATMAN TATTOO we're talking about belongs to a guy named Stu. Of course it's the ADAM WEST version from the 1966 TV Series ( Awesome! ). Stu told us it was inked by Tony Evans of Opulent Ink, Wolverhampton ( in the UK ). Well Stu, please tell Tony we think he did an amazing job! The shading is very well done & it gives this Bat-Tat an almost photo-realistic look, very nice! I mean, it really really looks like WEST!!
You're not going to find these BATMAN AND ROBIN Mugs ( Coffee Cups ) in any retail store today. These babies were made in the 1960's by Washington Pottery of the UK... probably around 1966, to capitalize on the popularity of the TV Show. In fact, they were only sold in England & are kinda hard to find. Well, thanks to the Internet they're not extremely rare. Here are some pics sent in to me by a friend of mine who collects pottery. He knew that I would love these. I do, they're great! Now all I have is one mug & somewhere I have a small platter. Unfortunately they're in deep storage. Yes, they also made Batman Plates, Patters, Bowls, and ( I think ) even an Ashtray! But for now we have these photos to drool over ( Thanks Dave ). The graphics are totally vintage & completely wonderful. Seriously, I love the sharpness & color. The one with the Batmobile car is just beautiful.
Every Wednesday, here at the BAT-BLOG.COM, we have "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday!" So, be sure to visit every week for brand-new BATMAN-themed Backgrounds & also dig through our BAT-ARCHIVES ( located at the far left-hand side of this page, near the middle ) to see many many more! This week I thought I would post a few I made the other night that were inspired by the new BATMAN LIVE Arena Show that will start in the UK. I used some comic book art by Jim Lee of a few Super-Villains that will appear in the play. We have The Joker ( with his Girlfriend, Harley Quinn ), The Penguin, & even The Riddler! Also, please remember to be sure to share the BAT-BLOG.COM with all your friends. In other words, tell everybody you know about this website!
Here's a recent newspaper advertisement run by a company called "Circus Space". They work with the BATMAN LIVE TOUR that will be starting in England & they need both Aerialists & Acrobats for their show. If you have these skills & live in the UK, then this is THE job for you! For details just check out the ad.
BATMAN LIVE is a new all action live arena show - with Batman and Robin fighting The Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, The Riddler and a host of other top villains. It begins it's world tour in the UK next summer, 2011. Watch The Star's exclusive chat at the world launch press conference, at DC Comics, New York, with Executive Producer Nick Grace, DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee and DC Entertainment's Chief Creative officer Geoff Johns.
I know that some Batman Memorabilia Collectors like to focus on collecting magazines with the Dark Knight on the cover. Well, here are 2 great examples: The 1st one is totally vintage & is also pretty dang RARE! It's the June 1966 issue of HOT ROD Magazine & the cool thing is that they did an exclusive interview with George Barris, the Custom Car Designer who created the Batmobile car for the 1966 Batman TV Show / Movie. I have never seen an actual copy of this in real-life but imagine that it's gotta be very interesting. The next cover is wayyy more recent. OK, it's totally "modern-day" but it's gonna be sort of hard to get because it's sold in the UK. This is a recent issue of 360. It's cover story is about the brand-new BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY Video Game. I hope you have enjoyed seeing these. Do you have any RARE Bat-Mags? If so, then please send us some pics, thanks.
Oh man, here is some amazing news for Batman Fans!! Warner Bros & DC Entertainment have announced that there will be an action-packed LIVE show based on Batman called "BATMAN LIVE". It will first tour across the UK and Europe, beginning in summer 2011 and arriving in the USA by Summer 2012... WOW! BATMAN LIVE is expected to be a huge production with an original story. Of course it's going to feature Batman, Robin, and Alfred the Butler. but we're also going to see some famous Villains such as The Joker, Catwoman, The Penguin, & Riddler. WOW, This sounds totally crazy! Now remember, the first shows will appear in Europe & tickets for both the UK and Ireland will go on sale on Friday, November 12th, 2010. For more information be sure to visit BATMAN LIVE on the web. Plus, please stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because we'll be reporting on this like crazy!
