Batman Book Publisher INSIGHT EDITIONS Announces Appearance at 2012 San Diego Comic Con

OK, if you have plans to go to the 2012 Comic-Con International this weekend at the San Diego Convention Center ( July 12th to July 15th ) then you need to be sure to visit Booth #1035 because the Publisher INSIGHT EDITIONS will be there! They are the company who came out with 2 recent "Batman History" Books that everybody is raving about: "The Dark Knight Manual" and  "Batmobile: The Complete History".

Also, appearing at the Insight Editions booth for book signings will be:
 

Artist and illustrator Scott Campbell, Amazing Everything: The Art of Scott C.,Thursday, July 12th at 2 PM.
 

Writers Micky Neilson, Flint Dille, Matt Burns, Book of Cain, Friday, July 13th at 10:00 AM.
 

Game creators Chris Metzen, Sam Didier, The Art of Blizzard, Friday, July 13th at 4 PM.

Cartoon Historian and Creator of Cartoonbrew.com Jerry Beck, The Hanna-Barbera Treasury and 100 

Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons, Saturday, July 14th at 12 PM.
 

Award-winning illustrator and concept artist Iain McCaig, Shadowline: The Art of Iain McCaig, Saturday, July 14th at 3 PM.

Frank's Awesome BATMAN TOY and MEMORABILIA COLLECTION Photos

Check out these really great photos we got recently from a Bat-Blog Fan who lives in Dallas, Texas. His name is Frank and this guy loves Batman. The cool thing is that he is really into collecting Vintage Toys, Newer Collectibles, Statues, Action Figures, Diecast Cars, Books, etc... and here is the photographic proof! I really like how everything is displayed here and I asked him about those shelves. I think he said something about Ikea. I like that company, they make cool stuff. These Bookcases are great. I wanna thank Frank for sharing these wonderful photos. It's always very cool to see other people's collections.

BILL THE BOY WONDER! - New BATMAN History / Biography Book

WOW! Here's a brand-new book that every serious Batman Fan and Comic Book Historian is going to want to read. It's titled "BILL THE BOY WONDER! The Secret Co-Creator of Batman". Basically, it's a very well researched Biography on Bob Kane's Ghost Writer, Bill Finger. It was written by Marc Tyler Nobleman, Author of  "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman", and Illustrated by Ty Templeton, a fan-favorite Batman Comic Book Artist. 

Please check out the BOOK TRAILER up above for an idea on what this book is about. Also, It's being published by Charles Bridge and you can get more details by clicking HERE!

New BATMAN BATMOBILE and BAT-SIGNAL Gift Books

Here's an update to a previous post here on the BAT-BLOG.COM. Awhile back we reported about a new series of "Gift Books" from a Publisher named "Running Press". So far they have TWO Batman-related items ready, the BATMOBILE and BAT-SIGNAL stories. Now, I say "Gift Books" because the books are very very small and come boxed with a special prize. These are available in stores and online right now so keep an eye out. Also, I totally LOVE the retro-style of that Batmobile car, very Vintage 1980's!! It kind of reminds me of the Kenner Superpowers Action Figure vehicle, nice!

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - Book Publishing News

OK, it looks like Book Publishers are gonna go totally crazy pumping out THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Movie-related books this time around. Here are just a few examples that have popped-up recently on Amazon and other retail sites, there will be many many more! Please keep in mind also that these are books marketed more toward younger readers ( weird ), but there will also be some very serious books too. I really like some of the graphics used here and it's neat to see more pics of Bane & Catwoman. Oh yeah, the merchandising for this film is gonna be crazy! Remember, if YOU, the Bat-Blog Reader, see ANY brand-new Bat-Products out there ( even if it's not "movie-related" ) then please be sure to let us know, thanks!

Books for Gifted Children

As a popular saying goes, the best companion of a person is a book. This saying is true for every one of us, and even for children that have extraordinary gifts and talents.

New 2012 GOLDEN AGE BATMAN Graphic Novel Books in Argentina!!

Oh Man, BATMAN Fans and Collectors who live in Argentina are having fun right now! The local CLARIN Newspaper chain has published a special series of Batman Graphic Novels that reprint the first 100 Batman Stories starting with the Classic Golden Age 1939 DETECTIVE COMICS #27 Story. I think they're basically reprints of the "Batman Chronicles" Books we had here in the US, but in a different format. Anyways, there will be 16 Issues to collect and Volume # 1 is out, right now, as we speak! The books have 100 pages and are in full-color. Our good friend Cesar told us about these ( He lives there. Oh, and Thanks Cesar! ) and he said they're pretty nice quality. Shown here is the cover to Volume #1, an advertisement showing other issues, and then the last photo is a pic of some die-cut promo items that were suppliments inside the Clarin Newspaper.

HOLY COW, BATMAN! New DC Super-Pets Book Out Now!

The next new DC Super-Pets book, titled BARNYARD BRAINWASH, is on sale now! The Mad Catter is brainwashing all the livestock in Gotham City and it's up to the BATCOW to put an end to this udder madness! Illustrated by the amazing Art Baltazar and written by John Sazaklis. Little Kids totally love these!

BATMAN'S BIGGEST SECRET

"Batman's Biggest Secret is NOT Bruce Wayne...", reads the front of this brand-new Promo T-Shirt. The back says, "Put Your Finger on it, July 2012, NOBLEMANIA". OK, This post is sort of mysterious but here's the deal. There's a Book Author named Marc Tyler Nobleman who is in the very very early stages of promoting his next book ( The actual release date is almost a year from now, July 1st, 2012 ). You might know him as the guy who wrote "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman". Well, his next major book will be all about the uncredited Batman Co-Creator, Bill Finger. Serious Batman Fans know who this guy is because his story of how he never got any credit for helping create the greatest comic book superhero in history is legendary. But the unusual thing is that he was so "hidden" that even serious Fans don't know much about him. Well, hopefully that's gonna change after the book comes out. Basically it's going to be a very serious Biography about Mr. Finger & his contributions to the Comic Book genre, especially the Dark Knight character. I've been following the creation of this book for awhile now & the attention to details, & the interviews with other Artists/Writers, is extremely meticulous. I'm predicting it's gonna be a really great book.



OK, to get back to the T-Shirt. The shirt you see up above was created as a promotional Tool for the next 2011 Comic Con. Marc is set-up to do a lecture & panel discussion at that event for the "Bill Finger" Book. We're hoping a few people buy the shirt & wear it to the event. It's designed in such a way that it's sort of "vague", & then if somebody asks what the shirt is about then you can get into a dialogue about the "Finger Book". So, if you wanna support this great project then please be sure to visit SKREENED where you can buy this shirt.



Now, please keep in mind that the shirt is sold in TWO ways: 1. You can get a shirt that is screened with both designs on the front & back, Or 2. You can get a shirt that has JUST the "front" design with nothing on the back. Either way it's a great item! Seriously, all your friends will be super-jealous, JEALOUS!

Foreign Reprints - Vintage 1966 BATMAN TV SHOW Paperback Books

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!

Keith's AWESOME BATMAN TOY COLLECTION Photos

Here are some very neat photos of a great collection of BATMAN TOYS sent to us by a friend over at facebook. His name is Keith & the cool thing is that he lives in Ireland. It looks like he is pretty serious about collecting all the Batman Movies on DVD. He really likes Action Figures, & if you look closely, you can see a lot of those Eaglemoss Pewter Figures. He has some great books & a few misc toys. Oh yeah, there is also an Autographed BATMAN Movie Script, very cool! ( I can make out the signatures of Danny DeVito & Michael Keaton, not sure who the 3rd one is ). I also like how everything is displayed. Thanks Keith, for sharing this. I always enjoy seeing other people's collections so if there are any other Bat-Collectors out there then please share some pics with us.

New THE DEATH OF BATMAN - Special Comic Books in Chile

Right now there's a book publishing company in Chile called LA TERCERA who are planning to come out with a collection of 12 books of Batman stories called "LA MUERTE DE BATMAN"( "The Death of Batman", in Spanish ). Basically they're gonna be "reprint comics" in book form. It really sounds like a very cool foreign Batman item to add to a collection. I'm not really sure if they are hardback or soft cover. They are also giving away 3 different posters as the promotion continues. Sorry, their website has totally weak information ( Plus, it's in a foreign language I can't read, ha! ) so as soon as I learn more I'll let everybody know. In the mean time, here's a link to their page, click HERE! If you visit the site be sure to scroll down to see a cool "Motion Comic" Video! ( Thanks Rubén )

New DC SUPER-PETS BOOKS - Book Launch Celebrates with Contest

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.

Vintage Foreign BATMAN Movie Poster & Books

As a totally obsessed ( yes, crazy ) Batman Toy Collector one of my favorite areas in the genre are "foreign items". They're pretty hard to find here in the US & they're always interesting. Here's a few examples: This 1st item is a Vintage Movie Poster for the 1960's BATMAN film. But what make it unique is that it's from Italy & the language is completely Italian...awesome! I love the graphics on this thing. Now, the next 2 pictures show some cool Batman books from around the globe. The 1st book was published in France ( Yes, it's all in French, ha ha ) & it reprinted some Golden Age stories from 1943-44. It was released as a hardback around 1989, during the Tim Burton movie craze. The next book is a paperback & one of the things that make it extremely interesting is the size of the book is very very weird. It has a standard width, but it was made to be extremely tall ( or very long ). The next great thing about it is that it's from Uruguay! It was published around 1968 & is extremely RARE! So, I guess I'm gonna ask all Bat-Blog Fans who live outside the USA if they have any "foreign bat-books or toys" in their collections to please send us some photos. Thanks!

Justin's BATMAN TRADE PAPERBACK BOOK Collection!

We just received an email from a Bat-Blog Fan named Justin & it was loaded with a bunch of cool pics! Justin said that he has been a Fan of the Dark Knight since age 5 & he is now 19. The thing he really enjoys is collecting the Batman Trade Paperback Books ( Graphic Novels ), Hardback Books, & Comic Books. Here are some photos he sent of his collection. Because of space limitations I couldn't publish them all but these do give you a really good idea of what an awesome library he has. On a side-note, I like how he has a Post-It Note attached to the shelf, near the Batman books, that reads, "DO NOT TOUCH!", that's funny! Thanks Justin for sending in these photos & sharing your collection with us. You have some great stuff! As always, I want to invite all Bat-Blog Readers to share your pics of anything Batman-related. It can be a Vintage Toy Collection, a photo of you meeting Adam West, your recent Bat-Birthday Party, whatever!

Please Support TOYS FOR TOTS Literacy Program!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Since it's the very 1st day of a brand new year I thought it would be a good time to mention a really great charity that I just discovered. It's called the TOYS FOR TOTS Literacy Program. Now, long time Bat-Blog readers know we hype the regular TOYS FOR TOYS charity every year around Christmas. It's that organization run by the US Marines where they give toys to under-privileged children. Well, now they have another charity where they circulate new books to children who do not have access to libraries. They not only make sure lots of kids get books of their very own but they also teach them how to read. You see, it's all about teaching kids how to read & learn to love books. This is something I believe in very strongly. I love reading, love books, & can't imagine a life without being enriched by them. So, this charity has now become very important for me. What I would like to do right now is ask every reader of the Bat-Blog to please consider making a donation to TOYS FOR TOTS or even just spreading the word about it. At the end of this post will be a link to their website. Please consider going there & seeing what YOU can do. This would make an excellent "New Year's Resolution"! You can visit their website by clicking HERE! Thank You.

New BATMAN: EARTH ONE Graphic Novel Book - WALLPAPER!

OK, By now you must have heard all the hype about a whole new publishing concept by DC Comics. They will be releasing some brand-new Graphic Novel material that will be collected like "Volume 1, Vol 2, Vol 3, etc...". The idea is that instead of being published as comic books first they will go straight to book form. Their experiment will involve their 2 best properties: Superman & Batman ( with the Caped Crusader being the way better of the two, ha ha ). Each character will get their own book, plus another part of the concept will be that they will be living on "Earth One". Meaning, the stories will not be considered to be apart of the actual continuity of the "real characters". In other words, the writers & artists have full reign to do whatever they want & it will not effect the actual characters in the regular DC Universe. I imagine they will be going totally nuts & I think it might be kinda fun, we'll see. For our favorite Dark Knight the title will be called BATMAN: EARTH ONE. The writer of this series will be Geoff Johns & the artwork will be drawn by Gary Frank. Up above is a BATMAN: EARTH ONE Desktop Wallpaper Background I made using his artwork, check it out! ( Thanks Knipp for the heads-up on this new DC Comics concept ).

Book Review: ENEMIES AND ALLIES - BATMAN / SUPERMAN STORY Novel By Kevin J. Anderson

I was gonna write a book review on the new Batman/Superman novel “Enemies and Allies” By Kevin J. Anderson that just came out. But my friend Christopher Huff already did so why should I? Actually I have not read the book yet & since I feel kinda lazy today I thought I'd just link his review here, ha ha. I mean, he wrote one that's just as good as mine would be, OK, actually a lot better! A long time ago, ever since hearing about this book, I have been pretty curious about it & hoped it would be good. Almost all the reviews I have come across lately all say that's it's really interesting. The story is set in the 1950's so there's a lot of "Cold War period" stuff to deal with & you get a lot of "vintage style" story-telling. It just sounds like it would be really cool! So, this book is going on my wish list. Now, Christopher wrote a really great review & I'm asking everybody to please check it out by clicking HERE!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!! ( THE CAT IN THE HAT Wallpaper )

I know this is totally off-topic for a Batman Fan blog but I wanted to take this moment to honor Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, who would have been 105 years old today. All of his books will always remain total literary classics. There are way too many to list: The Cat In The Hat, Green Eggs & Ham, The Butter Battle Book, And To Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street, Fox in Socks, The Foot Book, Horton Hears a Who, Hop On Pop, and many many more! The "Cat In The Hat" graphic down below & the Black and White Photo of Dr. Seuss are actually Desktop Wallpapers you can use today to honor this great man, please do so. He has taught millions of children all over the world the joy of reading. He's a National Treasure & we will always be in his debt. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

NEW BATMAN BOOK : THE BATCAVE COMPANION Coming Out in April!

OK, I know it's about 2 months away but I'm really excited about a new book coming out by TwoMorrow's Publishing called THE BATCAVE COMPANION! The delays are over, and it’s finally in print! Michael Eury, the writer/editor of the critically acclaimed The Krypton Companion, and Michael Kronenberg, the designer of the eye-popping Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu: The Art of Paul Gulacy, team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in The Batcave Companion! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by Dennis O’Neil and its iconic cover painting by Neal Adams, The Batcave Companion is a must-have for every Bat-Fanatic & comics fan! It's due to be released around April 15th, 2009. Here's a link for more information: