I have some very sad news to share this morning. The Golden Age Comic Book Artist Sheldon Moldoff died last Wednesday, he was 91. In 1940 he created Hawkman for DC Comics and became a major Cover Artist for many very iconic comic books. His work was always amazing! In the 1950's he became Bob Kane's "Ghost Artist" ( with Kane, of course, taking all the credit ). He drew "Batman" from 1953 to 1967. He was responsible for creating many very iconic characters like Bat-Mite, Ace The Bat-Hound, Batwoman, and the Original Bat-Girl ( Betty Kane ). He also co-created Clayface, Poison Ivy, Dr. Achilles Milo, and Mr. Freeze.
To say that he was extremely important in "Bat-History" is no exaggeration. During his life he became a Cult Hero among Cartoonists, Animators, & other Comic Book Artists. In later life he was seen at a lot of Comic Book Conventions where he loved to meet his Fans. The artwork shown here are some of the Comicon Sketches he did. He will be missed & his contributions to both BATMAN and the Comic Book Industry are unlimited. I'm personally very sad about his passing and wish to extent my deepest condolences to his Friends and Family, "Shelly" will be missed, deeply. R.I.P. Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff.
Here's a Vintage TV Commercial we have featured here before at the BAT-BLOG.COM but this one is special because it's the "Italian version"! Yes, this advertisement also appeared on Television in Italy and was made to sell the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Video Game for the Wii Console and Nintendo DS... how cool! I don't know, I think it's neat hearing BAT-MITE, GREEN ARROW, and BATMAN speaking Italian, ha ha!
The BAT-BLOG.COM has some sort of bad news to report. Tonight ( Friday, November 18th, 2011 ) is the very VERY last episode of BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. It's titled, "MITEFALL!" and will star Bat-Mite! On a personal level I really loved this show for it's Humor, Animation Quality, Art Direction, Vehicle Design, and most of all... bringing back a TON of great Superheros and Villains from the Silver-Age History of DC Comics. Man, they found some extremely obscure characters sometimes, ha! It will also be kind of sad watching the last episode tonight. But, this highly-rated TV show did have a great 3 year run! So as always, I guess, all good things come to an end. On a happy side-note: There is news of a brand-new CGI Animation "BEWARE THE BATMAN" to become a part of Cartoon Network's new DC NATION line-up. YEA! we all have that to look forward to!!
Up above are some "MITEFALL!" Wallpaper Backgrounds I hope you enjoy. Yes, the 1st one is a shameless promotion for the BAT-BLOG, Ha Ha! Then, down below are some Trailer Videos for the Season Finale Episode:
Check out these extremely cool characters in the Second Wave of 6" BATMAN LEGACY Action Figures by Mattel. We got: Golden Age Batman, Batgirl ( Love the black & yellow costume ), Catman, and Bat-Mite. Yes, Bat-Mite!! It's also cool that there's a Catman too, I mean, what an obscure reference! Plus, I'm really loving the vintage look of these brand-new toys... great stuff here! Now, these are not in stores right now but be sure to look for them later. Hey, the Bat-Blog will keep ya updated, ha!
Included here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few BATMAN WALLPAPERS I made this morning using images from the recent "Batman: The Brave and The Bold" TV Cartoon where they did a parody of Mad Magazine, Japanese Bat-Manga, & Scooby Doo! I wanted to totally hype this episode on my blog & YouTube page, before it came out, but the WB Publicity Department sent the promo package late ( I'm really getting tired of that crap! )
Anyways, the episode was yesterday & it was one of the very best so far! There was a part of the show where they showed Bat-Mite, in his own dimension, where he displays his personal Batman Toy Collection ( Check out the 2nd Wallpaper ). He had a special room with display cases of cool vintage stuff. Plus, there were cool pieces of bat-memorabilia just floating around.
Now, the part that was extra special for me is that I know the guy who contributed all the rare Batman toy photos. I'm not sure if I can say who he is but he's a very good friend & I was very very proud to see his stuff on the show. Plus, I know he must have been going crazy seeing it on TV, ha!
BAT-MITE! OK, I just saw this painting the other night & I have to sort of show it off...mainly because it's done by done by my good buddy Javier Hernandez and it's pretty cool. He did it as a donation for the Shel Dorf Artist Fund. Shel Dorf recently died & he was responsible for creating the San Diego Comic Con some 40 years ago. Now, you might have heard of Javier before. He does an indy comic book called "El Muerto", it's cool. Check out his website, right HERE!
I usually don't post new Batman Toy information this early ( these won't be out until the middle of next year ) but when I saw these "new" Batman Action Figures I thought they were really great so here they are! I love the "Silver Age" look of them. It looks like DC Direct is going to re-release a set of 5 figures that they have done before, but now they have a slightly different paint job, & will also come with a special graphic novel book of collected stories. Here's what DC Direct actually says about them:
Five of Gotham City's most colorful figures are collected in this special action figure box set, in both 3D and comics form! A 64-page original collection of classic stories featuring Batman, Robin, Batgirl, The Riddler and Bat-Mite is packaged along with an action figure of each character. The stories included in the special DETECTIVE COMICS CLASSICS book are "The Riddler's Prison-Puzzle Problem!" from DETECTIVE COMICS #377, "Tall, Dark, Handsome – and Missing!" from DETECTIVE COMICS #384, "Hunt for the Helpless Hostage!" from DETECTIVE COMICS #385, "The Invader from Hell!" from BATMAN FAMILY #1, and "Bat-Mite" from WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITE DIRECTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE #2. On Sale: June 23rd, 2010
If you're lucky enough to be going to the San Diego Comic Con 2009 today then please be sure to check out the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD event on Friday at 10:00, Room 6DE. There will be a special "Batman: The Brave and the Bold Screening and Q&A". Gotham takes over San Diego as Diedrich Bader, the voice of Batman, returns to Comic-Con alongside John DiMaggio, the voice of Aquaman, and executive producer Sam Register, producer James Tucker, producer and story editor Michael Jelenic and voice director Andrea Romano. Fans will also get to catch the world premiere screening of the upcoming "Mayhem of the Music Meister" episode — featuring the voice of Neil Patrick Harris ( Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog ) as the Music Meister plus enjoy a lively discussion and Q&A with the show's dynamic creative team. From Warner Bros. Animation, Batman: The Brave and the Bold airs Fridays at 8:30 pm ET/PT on Cartoon Network. Batman: The Brave and the Bold Volume 1 will be released on DVD August 25. As a special reminder for people I have made these 3 Desktop Wallpapers featuring scenes from this special BATMAN: THE MUSICAL episode...enjoy! Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention, Warner Bros will be handing out free BAT-MITE MASKS at this event so please please be sure to pick me one up...because I'm a Loser & can't be there!! Thank You!
OK, this morning I got NO sleep last night at all. So, I'm really tired but I thought since I was up & it is "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday" that I would post a few Desktop Backgrounds. I plan on trying to sleep a little bit & then I'll do the posts that I had planned for this morning. So, please come back later today to see those. Now the great thing about these Batman Wallpapers is that they were both sent in by 2 Bat-Blog Readers who also happen to be very creative artistic-type people! The 1st one was done by Sean Hartter & it totally cracks me up, ha ha! It's a cool concept, sort of a mash-up between Bat-Mite & the Christian Bale Batman from the Batman Begins movie...very funny! The artwork is pretty cool too. The 2nd one was submitted by a new friend named Ronnie who didn't exactly do the actual artwork but did do the coloring & added a special background to it. I really like his choice of colors here & it looks really awesome! Now, like I said, I'm totally exhausted & plan to take a nap but please return later for some more content...you'll be glad you did! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I wanna say thanks also to Sean & Ronnie for sending these in, they're really great & I appreciate that! 
Remember, every Wednesday here at the Bat-Blog is "Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday™" & this week I thought I would use a few images of BAT-MITE from the soon to be released Batman: The Brave and The Bold animated TV series. YES! Bat-Mite is returning from the 5th Dimension to create total chaos in Gotham City! The cool thing, is that WB hired the actor Paul Reubens ( Pee Wee Herman ) for the voice of Bat-Mite. This episode, titled "LEGENDS OF THE DARK MITE", premieres this Friday, May 22nd, 2009.Another thing that's kinda neat is that there will be a dream sequence where Bat-Mite has to fight Catwoman, Penguin, The Joker, Riddler, Zebra-Man, Cat-Man, Killer Moth, & many other vintage classic bat-villains...and the retro-style artwork looks really awesome!
Here's a recently submitted photo from a loyal Bat-Blog Reader named Hans ( who lives in The Netherlands ). It's a beautiful piece of art that was drawn by his daughter while he was in the hospital. It shows 2 of his favorite characters, Batman & Bat-Mite! I always love art done by children. She's a sweet kid to have drawn this, it's wonderful. Hans, please tell Dana she did a really great job on it. If you haven't already, you should frame this for the wall, it's worthy! Thanks for sending us this pic & sharing your story, that's cool. Readers, be sure to click on the above Art Masterpiece to see a larger, more detailed, view!
