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This does not, however, indicate any degree of feeling on my part toward the team. Even my pathetic nephew Damage fails to elicit warm feelings in my heart. Why would I care about any of the other losers on that team?
No, I am displeased because my replacement is showing me up. Or at least he's trying to. He's stolen my name (though it is now innacurate), copied my powers, (though to a lesser degree) and is apeing my costume (to a hideous degree). Now he wants to steal my reputation! Seize for himself a place of glory as one of the villains who "took down the JSA."
I will not allow it! If I have to step in and fight side to side with my whiny, college-dropout nephew then I will do it. Anything to show "Mister Polaris" who's boss...
Well, this is where we left Black Hand last time, looking straight out from the page and talking to someone named "Reader". What is that all about?
In addition to his awesome power of cliches, Olympic-level note-taking skills, and an 89-cent pen flashlight ("Flashlight? Flashlight! FLASHLIGHT!!!" see at 4:18) with which he sucked up morsels of Green Lantern energy like a leather-tanned old man searching for nickels with a metal detector on the beach, he had one other power. An amazing power. The most rare and unusual in all comics. The power of...
TRANSQUARTOMURALISM!
Yes, Black Hand was not only aware of his status as a literary character, he perceived the Fourth Wall and YOU ... AND he read your mind through it. Eat your heart out, Grant Morrison.
"The usual things. You know. Like villainizing in a business suit, in my personal LEGO shop." Creepier than Alan Moore, weirder than Grant Morrison, able to violate the fourth wall in a single balloon... it's Black Hand.
I'll forgo the obvious "closet joke" below...
Mothers of Coast City: heed the warning signs of corruption. If your child hangs its clothes with the hangers facing the wrong way, kill it immediately. Society will thank you.Even in defeat, he still had the power to violate the Fourth Wall, and what's even creepier...
He still does.
Starting August 1st, 2009, the TOONSEUM at The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh will have a special art show titled TOM RICHMOND:The MAD ART OF CARICATURE. Basically, since 2000, Tom has been one of the main artists for Mad magazine. This show will feature tons of his original artwork & the reason I'm posting it here is because there will be some Batman drawings shown too. Plus, I'm a huge fan of comic art & it's my blog, ha ha! But seriously, if you live in the area ( Pennsylvania ) then you should check it out because I bet it's gonna be a real treat to see. The show runs until October 4th. For more information, please be sure to visit their website by clicking HERE!
OK, I swear that I don't mean for the Bat-Blog to be all "Adam West - Batman Day" today, it just worked out that like that, ha ha! But I had to post these 2 new photos I found because I'm really proud of them. A friend of mine, named Chuck, who's an extremely talented artist & sculptor, makes these totally amazing 1966 Batman Cowl Replicas that I consider to be Masterpieces of ART. I'm really trying to be sincere here when I say that & I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything, I mean, just look at the photos! Chuck made this by hand & it's almost better, no, it is better, than the original ones they made for the 60's TV Series. The attention to details, in every way, is totally insane! It's just completely beautiful! I seriously wish I could afford one of them. In fact, I would buy 2. One to put in a glass display case with security guards watching it 24 hours a day & the other to wear every single moment of my life!
Well, it looks like Adam West revamped his personal website & one feature of it is a STORE area where you can buy autographed items. He has his biography paperback book titled "Back To The Batcave" on sale, signed of course. Then there's a brand-new DVD movie called "Adam West Naked". Here's what the site says about it, "A brand new 2-Disc DVD produced by and starring Adam West. It contains over 3 hours of footage in which Adam goes episode by episode, recounting his personal memories and telling never-before-heard stories about his experience creating the iconic 1960’s Batman TV series. Amusing and intimate, this DVD immerses fans in the world of the classic Batman series in unparalleled depth. The classic Batman speaks alone to you, the viewer, in a variety of amusing settings, whispering in the attic, or astride an imaginary horse at his home. This DVD is a must for any true Batman fan. It will be signed and personalized on the DVD jacket any way you wish." Now, the DVD movie sells for $50.00 which isn't too bad considering that it's both autographed & has about 3 hours of wacky entertainment. Oh yeah, you can visit his site by clicking HERE!
Hot Hollywood Women Celebrities
You'll have to forgive me. I'm not feeling particularly great tonight. I'm so tired I can barely think. But that won't stop Thursday Night Thinking!
Continuing our long tradition of using throughts from classsic Silver Age covers here's Hal Jordan from Green Lantern #7:
... in my comics this week.
- I always said Todd was well-rounded.
- Superman is full, of, well, action. And lots of scenes.
- I'm impressed she took the time to have the razor blade personalized.
- Wonder Woman is a racist who only talks to white animals. What about Mammals of Color, huh?
- Crabby King Chimera; has he met Zatara?
- Zatara's suprising new old assistant.
- "How do you think I'd look in a trenchcoat?"
- Alice goes Demosthenes one better!
- Roulette's opponent at cards.
- The Mad Mod's makeover!
- Can't wrap... head ... around ... Dr. Light + Guardian...!
- Detective is so beautiful, I'd buy it even if I couldn't read English.
- That's Atlas's boss? Uh-oh.
- Miss Martian's three-inch heels.
- "These boots seem completely impractical in a combat situation."
- All-American Kid.
- Heh. Steel must have learned that one from the Joker.
- Wow; finally, a team the JSA doesn't simply overwhelm.
- Atlas is evil... but really hot.
- Kids; they always wind up stabbing you in the back.
- Black Canary's Fun Closet. Yeah, I am so sure that stuff is for "undercover" work. More like "under covers".
- Aquagirl to the rescue!
- Tellus and Sodam.
- I could watch Batwoman kick ass all day.
- Zatara's big hat.
- Abe Lincoln gets take-out.
- I very much enjoy the swoopy thing, too.
- Wait, did Black Canary just call Wonder Woman a lesbian? Snort.
- Steel getting punched through not one, but two panel borders.
- I love the fact that Alice is basically a nut with a gun. I just love Gotham City.
- The Royal Flush Gang. Really, it doesn't matter what they're doing, because they are the Royal Flush Gang. But they are doing just what they are supposed to.
- Dog versus Question.
- Mark Merlin!?
Y'know, DC really should get Len Wein to write more comics. Really. I mean, look at this week's Justice League of America. It may not have the "Big Guns" but it sure does have a lot of things that have been missing from JLA these days.
There's action, villainous reveals, and quipping. I mean, I'm starting to remember why I liked Red Tornado in the first place (namely the dry wit of his Young Justice mentoring days).
We want more Wein.
Recently, DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz accepted an award on behalf of DC from the Guinness World Records, recognizing DETECTIVE COMICS as the longest-running comic book periodical in the United States. Pretty cool, huh? The event took place yesterday afternoon at the DC booth, with Paul accepting the award from Guinness’ own Craig Glenday, VP, Publishing and Editor in Chief. Shown up above is the very 1st issue of this classic comic book title & then next to it is issue #27, the very first appearance of Batman! Congratulations to DC Comics for their award!!
I just recently met this new friend on Facebook who's a major Batman Fan. How major? Well he got this awesome "Batman Movie Logo" Bat-Symbol Tattoo on his lower back. Now, ya can't get any more devoted than that, right?! Thanks Mark for letting me use the photo. If you get a chance please tell the artist he did a great job. The lines are really sharp & crisp...nice work.
Anyone who read comic books in the 1970's or 1980's has got to remember all the Hostess Cupcake, Twinkies, & Fruit Pie ads starring some of their favorite Marvel & DC Superheroes. They ran these all the time & I totally loved them! First, it wasn't like a regular advertisement. They made it look like another page of the comic book to trick you into reading them. Second, they were always such fun because the hero would use Hostess Treats as a way to confuse the criminals. Apparently, if you throw packaged Fruit Pies at crooks or bank robbers their brains just totally short-circuit & they go nuts for the fruit filling! But, I mean, who can blame them? At the time they had Cherry, Apple, & Peach! My personal favorite was Cherry. As a little kid I used to completely love them & I would beg my Mom to buy some at the store, ha ha! ( Be sure to click on the ad up above for a more readable version. You'll be glad you did because it is quite the adventure ).
I've been sorting my comics as I prepare for my big move. Earlier tonight I found myself delving into some of the earliest comics in my collection. And let me tell you: some of these things are beat to hell.
They're missing covers, they've got creases, and they're falling apart. Obviously this is because they've been very well read. I'm not one of those people who sees comics as an "investment" or a "collection." Hell, if I didn't read the damn things over and over I probably wouldn't even bother keeping the old stuff.
My question is this: are there any of you out there who also have comics that look like they've been through the wash? Are they beaten and broken with love? Or is your stuff carefully sealed in plastic bags and stored in a climate controlled vault?
Share with me your stories, for I am interested.
Dean Trippe is an extremely talented comic book artist, graphic designer, & cartoonist. He's also a friend of mine...well, on Facebook & MySpace anyway, ha ha. In this video you can watch him start with a blank sheet of paper, do some roughs, the pencils, then totally ink a complete sketch drawing of Black Canary & Batman. It's pretty interesting to watch! At least I think so & I hope you do too.
This post is just a simple "image dump" where each picture is pretty self-explanatory. They are all totally funny in their own way but I guess the 1st one needs a little explaining. My good friend Dave was recently traveling through Oklahoma when all of a sudden he's like, "Oh My God! Stop the car! We gotta get a photo of this funny mailbox for Tommy's Bat-Blog!!". Ya'see Dave & a buddy were driving around near Stillwater, OK when all of a sudden they saw this mailbox for BAT MAN. Actually, at one time, it was for "BATEMAN", but the "E" fell off, ha ha ha! ( Thanks Dave for sending the wacky photo, I love it! ). Oh yeah, the comic strip FULL FRONTAL NERDITY is kinda small here but if you click on it you can see a larger, more readable, version...please do so because it's pretty funny! Plus, you might wanna visit that cartoonist's website because most of his stuff is just really great.
So, we had ourselves a comic-con last weekend, did we? Obviously I didn't go, but I did try to follow the news on the Internet. It's got to be good for something, right? Here's what I took away from the con (so to speak):
The Good: Geoff Johns on a new Flash ongoing! It's not a suprise; I think everybody expected this. But it's still a very good thing. Johns has turned Green Lantern into a top book. If he can work his magic on the Flash (a character I've always preferred to Green Lantern) I'll be a happy camper.
The Bad: JSA All-Stars! I know, that sounds like a strange thing to be "bad." Especially since I do like Matt Sturges' work. But I'm not made of money, people! Now if I want to read about guys I like -- the Flash, Wildcat, Stargirl, etc. -- I've got to buy two different books! And I'm still stuck with Magog...
The Good: T. H. U. N. D. E. R. Agents in the DCU! I've never actually read a book about them but I remember reading about the aborted DC series from a few years ago. I remember putting it on my pull list and being very excited about it. And I remember being disappointed when it never materialized. Now I'll get another chance.
The Bad: Yaaah! That T. H. U. N. D. E. R. Agents book is going to cost me money! And aren't those guys kind of redundant now that Checkmate works out of the United Nations?
The Good: James Robinson's Justice League of America! Now that we've got a tease of the team I'm even more excited than I was before. Mon-El's new costume is snazzy, and I'm curious to hear what his new "super" name is...
The Bad: Donna Troy is on that team.
Now THIS is more like it! Party at the Chinese Communist Party platform!
Oh, wait;this being in World War II, those are probably Japanese, aren't they? Darn. Well, in ten years, they'll be Chinese, and probably drawn the same way; you know what they say, "They're all drawn alike".
Judging from the layout of this melee, I can only assume that our heroes have decided to crash the catwalk at the opening of Rei Kawakubo's spring line.
Finally, the Hangman is doing something remotely useful, like feeling up Captain Swastika. Actually that's not the original Captain S; you can tell because he's not wearing the hideous color scheme from the previous Pep cover. It appears to be a black man with better fashion sense, replacing the original. Very progressive, those Nazis. Or perhaps by this point they were jealous of Jesse Owens... . Or maybe Captain Swastika is just being played by Morgan Freeman (who'll do anything for a buck).
The Shield, meanwhile, is making a highly uncharacteristic stage left entrance from above. Must be Dusty's day off. Explains why the Hangman stole his cape starch.
What th==?! It's the same lady in red from the cover of Pep 25. Who do you think you are, sweetie, Lois Lane? Well, Lo-lo knows better than to wear a red low-cut dress to dangerous places like prison yards and Japanese fashion shows. Might as well paint a bull's-eye on your forehead.
Our good friend "Batmobile Billy" sent us a photo from his iPhone recently of his trip to Toys-R-Us in Oklahoma City, OK. It looks like there are some new Mattel BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Action League Figures on the shelves & if you go to Toys-R-Us they have an exclusive "Arch Rivals Battle Pack" with 6 special figures ( Be sure to click on the photo up above for a larger version & it's the package in the middle ). Now, these are the smaller-type action figures that I guess are made for very little kids. But, we adult bat-toy collectors really love these too because they're so gosh darn cute! Thank you for sending the cool pic Billy & if any other readers learn about any new pieces of Batman Merchandise ( anything Bat-related! ) then please send us a message. Our e-mail button is always on the top right-hand side of this website.
Just a quick post to let all Tim Burton Fans know that his website to promote his new art book is finally open! The title of the book will be "The Art of Tim Burton" & will be made in both hardcover & deluxe edition. When you go there you can preview a few pictures. It's sort of at the "teaser stage" where they don't really show that much but it should be bursting out pretty soon. While there be sure to look for the picture of The Joker, it's crazy!
Bat-Blog Contest Winner Announcement: Set Of Three Hot Wheels - 1966 Batmobile, Batboat, & Batcycle!
OK, It's finally time to announce the winner for our recent Bat-Blog Contest where we are giving away three 1:50 Scale Hot Wheels, The 1966 Batmobile Car with Trailer Hitch, The Bat-Boat with Trailer, & the Classic '66 Bat-Cycle Motorcycle!! But first I would like to thank our good friend THE BATFAN for donating these 3 gifts. Without his amazing generosity this contest would not have existed. So, Thank You BATFAN! I would also like to thank everyone for entering. These toys must be pretty well liked because we received record responses! As you should know the contest ended last night, at midnight, & a little after that I put a ton of numbers in a hat. After mixing them up for quite awhile one number was randomly picked from the batch. The lucky winner of the latest Bat-Blog Contest is...Steven M. of Westville, NJ!! Steven, please be sure to contact us soon so we can confirm your mailing address & get these mailed to you. In fact, I already have them very carefully packed & when you get them you're gonna cry! They are really beautiful, seriously! Now, everybody else please stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because we have some more contests lined up that you will not want to miss. For the very next contest I'm thinking about doing a mini-one where it's real quick & will only last a few days. Then we're gonna have a really BIG one with some extremely cool items. Also, Thanks Again to BATFAN & all the people who entered!
OK, most Batman Fans & Game Geeks are totally excited about the brand-new, soon to be released, BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM Video Game. So far all of the game play videos & trailers have looked really amazing! One character, a villain, that everybody is really starting to love is Harley Quinn! Of course we're talking about the girlfriend of The Joker! So, as sort of a celebration, I created these 2 Harley Quinn Wallpapers you can use to brighten your desktop or use as a background in a MySpace layout...enjoy!
Recently I have been thinking about how this year, 2009, is the 70th Anniversary of one of the greatest comic book characters ever, Batman! The weird thing is that DC Comics ( Warner Bros ) has not been hyping that fact very much. Oh, they have mentioned it a little but there's NO huge fanfare like I would like to see. So, then later I got to wonder what was THE very very first appearance of Batman? I'm not talking about Detective Comics # 27 where they introduced the character. I started to wonder if they showed him in any other way as sort of an introduction or teaser. Well, here it is! The graphic you see up above is the VERY FIRST TIME anybody, mainly children, got to see the Dark Knight! This image is from the 1939 issue of Action Comics # 12. It hyped the fact that there would be a brand-new superhero added to their lineup & said to look for the May issue of Detective Comics! Now, you really have to wonder...what did kids think when they 1st saw this small image of the Caped Crusader for the very first time? Wow! That must have been really cool!! Looking at the sale figures for that book they must have loved it, ha ha!
"Are you planning on bringing back some of the '40s heroes who have died, like Sandman or Starman?" Johns: "Yes."
| "Even Vibe is going to come back." Johns said. |
Thanks, Ryan!
Here are 2 very interesting videos I came across recently. They're TV Commercials for the "Lending Tree" with a special guest voice, the actor Adam West...who we all know & love as Batman / Bruce Wayne from the 1966 TV series. Funny!
On the internet awhile back I came across some amazing Batman Promo items that I wish I would have known existed, back when they did the promotion. It seems that, at Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants ( in the Philippines ), they had special Chicken Buckets & Plastic Soft Drink Cups decorated with graphics of Batman, Robin, Batgirl, & Catwoman! I found these on the personal website of the graphic designer who designed them. His name is Brian & he's an extremely talented artist. The weird thing was that it combined a few different "themes of Batman", namely, THE BATMAN animated cartoon & "THE GOTHAM GIRLS". But, where's Poison Ivy & Harley Quinn? They were an internal part of Gotham Girls. Plus, Batgirl was NOT a Gotham Girl but a member of the Bat-Family...weird. But regardless, I would like to have these KFC buckets & cups though, they're pretty cool!
So last night I had a really weird dream. Well, weird for normal people. Not so out of the ordinary for me.
Anyway, the dream was very likely kicked off due to a late yesterday sighting of this Justice Society of America cover:
My dream featured a very strange comic scene. Even stranger was that I saw it as though from a great distance, but it was still a comic page. There were panels and word balloons and everything.
The specific scene was taking place (for reasons unknown) on a Japanese-style subway train. A bunch of villains were sitting on the seats chatting (likely on their way to assault the JSA).
One villain (I don't remember which one) turned to a guy who appeared to be Doctor Polaris. Now, this Doctor Polaris didn't have his colors all messed up like that cover. This was the proper Doctor Polaris.
Anyway, the unknown villain turns to the apparent Doctor Polaris and asks him: "Are you the original Doctor Polaris or the new one?" Doctor P turns his head and says something like "I'm the real deal." But here's the trippy part: the costume was completely empty!
That's right, there was no one wearing the costume. It seemed that through sheer force of will the spirit of Doctor Polaris had returned to the land of the living and used his awesome magnetic powers to create a semblence of form for himself by magnetically tying together a costume made of metal. I can only assume the hair was a wig.
The one consolation about being as weird as I am is that at least I know I'm weird...
