Video: The Testimony of Robert "Bob" Kane, Batman Co-Creator

One of my friends has a really great website called DIALBFORBLOG.COM & recently he posted this very interesting video on YouTube. It's an interview with Bob Kane that was shown on Canadian TV around the time of the 1989 Batman movie. In it he takes TOTAL credit for creating Batman, funny stuff.

Video: Vintage 1989 BATMAN MOVIE Cereal TV Commercial

With all the excitement over the brand-new General Mills' line of cereal boxes having the special DARK KNIGHT promotions (with Batman, Scarecrow, & Joker premiums inside) I thought I would show this vintage 1980's TV commercial featuring the 1989 BATMAN CEREAL BOX from 19 years ago!

Photos: RARE Old Vintage Batman Collectibles & Memorabilia!!

No offense, but I'm kinda tired of reporting on THE DARK KNIGHT movie, ha ha. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally excited about it being released soon & completely love it but as a writer for this blog I have to really really really cover it...a lot! So, I thought I would post some wonderful vintage toys from the past. Here...we...GO! The 1st photo is an extremely RARE ( & also very weird ) item called the 1966 BATMAN BAT-GRENADE. It's a rubber hand grenade toy you throw & when the end of it hits the ground it make a loud POP sound. It makes that sound because you take cap-gun ammo & load it into the mechanism on the top end. When it hits the ground, it goes off, BAAMMM! The weird thing is that the grenade has wings, ha ha. But I seriously love the vintage graphics on the display card...nice! The next item is newer but still pretty hard to find, especially in the original box. It's the 1989 BATMAN MOVIE ELECTRONIC LCD HAND HELD VIDEO GAME made by Grandstand. The reason it's RARE ( for American collectors anyway ) is that it was issued in the UK. The game play on these things were usually very weak but they still have a nice charm from a bygone era! The 3rd photo is a super cute & kinda goofy Batman item, it's the BATMAN SUPER BABY DOLL in original box! This was made by Amsco in the 1970's, 1974 to be exact. They also made a Superman & Wonder Woman doll as well. So, I hope you have enjoyed some of these super-rare pieces of Batman Memorabilia. If you have ANY photos you would like to share then please send them in today! Our e-mail button is always at the top right-hand side of this blog.

Batman Homage Scenes From The Simpsons TV Cartoon

A friend of mine sent this hilarious picture because she knew my readers would love it. It is pretty neat ( Thanks, Debra ). It shows the actual Batman "movie scenes" that were parodied on The Simpsons. That TV show is famous for making "Pop Culture references". On the left is the scene from the cartoon & on the right is the "moment" it is making fun of. Most of them are from the classic 1989 Batman Movie but the last one is the 1966 Batman TV Show where they hit the Bat-Poles to go to the Batcave. You might have to click on the photo up above for a larger, more readable, version but it's really worth it... very funny!

BATMAN TATTOO ART : Vintage Bat-Logo 1989 Movie & The Dark Knight

A friend over at MySpace sent me this photo of an amazing Batman Tattoo he recently got. He explained that as a child he grew up on the "Tim Burton version" of Batman & he also loves the new Christopher Nolan Batman movies. So...he got them BOTH! As you can see, the new DARK KNIGHT bat-logo is crashing through the old 1989 movie Bat-Symbol. WOW! It looks pretty cool & I gotta give the artist credit for doing something very original. Thanks Vincent for sharing this photo. The Bat-Blog is all about the love of the Batman character & this really shows it.

Vintage 1980's BATMAN TV Commercial Spot From Peru - Fénix Galleta ( Batman Cookies )

During the Batman Movie craze of 1989 a company in Peru called F nix made some BATMAN COOKIES. Over there they call them "Galletas". Here's a RARE old Vintage TV Commercial Spot for the product. Man, I would love to have a package pf those!!

Actor PAT HINGLE Died - He played Commissioner Gordon in the early BATMAN Movies

Actor Pat Hingle, who played Commissioner Jim Gordon in the Batman movies from 1989 through 1997, died on Saturday. He was only 84 years old. Friends of the family say he has battled heath problems the last few years. His last role was in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" which came out in 2006. On a personal level I always liked this guy, both in the Batman movies, & many other films he did. Plus, as a regular person, he always seemed like a really cool guy. He will be missed. . . Rest in Peace. As sort of tribute I found this recent video of him talking about his life. It's titled "Pat Hingle, In His Own Words".

NEW BATMAN TOY NEWS: 2009 HOT WHEELS BATMOBILE VEHICLES 2nd Series

Photos for the 2nd series wave of Hot Wheels Batmobile Vehicles are starting to appear. The 1966 Batboat & '66 Batmobile Car with Trailer Hitch are in stores now & the others should arrive soon after. The top photo is from a recent Hot Wheels Collector Convention where they showed off the 1989 Movie Batwing, 1989 Movie Batmobile, 1966 Bat-Cycle ( reissue ), Super Friends Batmobile, & the Bat-Boat with 1966 Car. The next picture shows the back of the packaging for the Bat-Boat & on that we get to see the Dark Knight Bat-Pod Motorcycle, very cool! These vehicles are really great & I can't wait to get them all!!

BATMAN MOVIE ( Michael Keaton Version ) TATTOO ART By Jeremy Shock

I have a friend on MySpace named Jeremy Shock. The other day his page popped up in a random fashion & I decided to check it out because, at the last minute, I realized he lives in the same city as me, Oklahoma City! His MySpace page is mainly about his artwork. He paints & sometimes makes drawings. Anyway, I thought I'd search his pics to see some of his artwork. While surfing his galleries I noticed he had one for tattoo art. That's where I found this amazing BATMAN TATTOO that I knew I had to share here. It's an older version of Batman from either 1989 or the early 90's, a Michael Keaton version. It really looks a lot like the actor who played Batman so I thought that was pretty cool. Shock's other artwork is very impressive too & if you're interesting you should check it out at http://www.myspace.com/kcjamesyall


One last thing, if you're a MySpace Member then please add us! Here's a link:

PROFILES IN HISTORY Auction is Selling Some Amazing Batman Memorabilia

OK, This post is for all you "Millionaire Collectors" & is sort of in 2 sections. In one, Profiles in History is holding an auction on May 1st, 2009, where they are selling off a huge proportion of the Hollywood Wax Museum statues. These are the original wax statues displayed at the famous museum & there are a ton of great ones like James Dean, Lucille Ball, Wizard of OZ, Henry Winkler as The Fonz, John Travolta, Bob Hope, etc...way too many to list here but it's totally crazy how many there are! Included in that sale are life-size figures of 1989 Batman ( Michael Keaton ), '89 Joker ( Jack Nicholson ), & 1992 Catwoman From Batman Returns ( Michelle Pfeiffer ).

Now, the 2nd part of this post is about Profiles in History ALSO selling original movie props from another collection, sort of two-auctions-in-one. The Batman-related items in that sale include: a Screen-Used Cowl from Batman & Robin, Jim Carrey's Riddler Cane from Batman Forever, Val Kilmer's Sonar Bat-Suit Costume, 1966 Catwoman Cat-Suit & Belt ( Lee Meriwether ), Adam West's Tights, Val Kilmer's Panther Cowl, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze Costume & Freeze-Ray Gun ( sold separately ), etc...Both sales are spread out over a 2 day period & will surely have to be visited by many Batman Fans. For more details just search "Profiles in History" & visit their main page.

1989 Batman Movie Batmobile Toy Cars & Joker Vehicles

Since today ( June 23rd, 2009 ) is the Official 20th Anniversary of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie I thought I would do a quick post featuring a few toys vehicles made around the time the film came out. Now, it's totally imposable for this to be a definitive list. Mainly because the marketing people during that time went totally crazy trying to create every single kind of toy variation & merchandise that you can think of, ha ha! But here's a few nice examples to help take you down memory lane.The 1st one is a diecast toy car made by Ertl. This is the Joker Van, which was weird because it wasn't in the movie! They also made the Bat-Wing & the Batmobile which were pretty accurate to the film props. The 2nd & 3rd photos are 2 Model Kits of vehicles we saw in the movie. Joker's Goon Car &, of course, the Batmobile Car! The last photo is another Batmobile but this one was made by Toy Biz. At the time Toy Biz was the company that made the Action Figures, a Batcave Play Set, Vehicles ( for the figures ), & a few other misc items.

Videos: Batman 1989 Movie - THE MAKING OF A HERO Documentary Film

Since today ( June 23rd, 2009 ) is the Official 20th Anniversary of the 1989 Batman Film by Tim Burton, starring Michael Keaton & Jack Nicholson, I thought I would post this excellent documentary about the making of the movie. There's a ton of really interesting "behind the scene" clips...please enjoy!

BATMAN MOVIE ACTOR AUTOGRAPHS: Christian Bale & Michael Keaton Now Signing at Celebrity Authentics

The big news right now is that "Celebrity Authentics", a company that hires big-name actors & movie stars to sign photos & movie posters, finally got 2 new Batman Actors in their stable of celebrity autograph signers. They now have Christian Bale & Michael Keaton! Both of these actors are hard to get signatures from but now you can buy autographed items from them through the company. In the past they have also worked with other Batman Stars: Adam West, Burt Ward, Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith, Mark Hamill, Val Kilmer, & others. They also work with John Travolta, Tobey McGuire, Robert Downey Jr, Eric Bana, William Shatner, Leonard Nemoy, etc... You can check out their website by clicking HERE!

Video: Batman 1989 Batmobile Replica Car Spotted in Stockholm

It's built by Leif Garvin from Stockholm. It took him over 20 000 hours of work and $1 million to finish it. The engine is an 460 Ford big block V8, 700 hp and it's built on a 1973 Lincoln Continental.

You Don't Have To Be Batman To Save Lives

Back in 1989, to capitalize on the popularity of the Tim Burton BATMAN Movie, the New York Blood Center ran a promotion called "You Don't Have To Be Batman To Save Lives". Basically it was a major blood drive where they used the Caped Crusader as a theme. It was pretty successful. Shown here are 2 pieces of memorabilia from that event. The first photo is a T-Shirt & the 2nd one is a small advertising poster. It's cool they didn't use the same exact graphic. Plus, it's the comic book-style artwork & not the movie ( but "movie images" would have been great too! ). Now, it's kinda hard for me to tell but I'm guessing that the art was drawn by either Jose Luis Garcia Lopez or Dick Giordano! If anyone knows exactly please let me know. Either way, it's a very cool part of Bat-History!

THE JOKER - Bat-Blog's Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday!

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I always ask that of all my prey, I just like the sound of it. This week's "Batman Wallpaper Backgrounds" feature 2 different versions of The JOKER: Cesar Romero ( From the 1966 Batman TV Show & Movie ) and Jack Nicholson from the 1989 Tim Burton Film. In their own special ways both of these Actors did a very fine job... "Delicious!"

CUSTOM 1989 Batman Movie BATMOBILE - $8500 in Cleveland, TN

OK, a friend recently sent us a link to a Craigslist Ad where a Guy in Cleveland, Tennessee is selling his CUSTOM BATMOBILE CAR that he started but never finished. It's the "1989 BATMAN Movie" version. Yeah, you can get it for just $8500.00. Here's a LINK to check it out!

1989 BATMAN Movie Batmobile Spotted in Canada!!

Check out these awesome photos sent in to us by a loyal Bat-Blog Fan who lives in Ontario, Canada. If I got the info correct, he spotted this beautiful 1989 Batman Movie Batmobile Replica Car in Orangeville. Either way it's pretty amazing and I know he completely freaked-out when he saw it! ( Please be sure to click on the pics up above for larger photos )

The MICHAEL KEATON INTERVIEW at WTF Podcast With Marc Maron

About a year or so ago one of my best friends turned me on to a really fun podcast called "WTF With Marc Maron". I've been hooked ever since, it's great! The site's main focus is a long-time Comedian named Marc Maron and he sits in his garage interviewing tons of people in the "Comedy & Entertainment Industry". The segments go anywhere from 40 minutes to a full hour. To be honest, sometimes they're "OK", and other times they're insanely good. It's a great podcast & well worth following.

Anyways, Here's a really great one! Yesterday, Marc posted the latest interview featuring Actor Michael Keaton. It's very in-depth and even has a lot of fun information on Keaton's Batman movies and what it was like to work with Tim Burton. It's honestly very interesting. But, I gotta warn people... there is some cussing (ha ha!) so it might not be safe for work or for little kids to listen too. Here's a LINK, once there scroll down a little bit & click the start button... good stuff!

Foreign BATMAN MOVIE Packaging From Chile!!

Here's some really fun photos to look at and they're also some very hard to find items ( at least here in the USA ). Our friend Ruben, who lives in Chile, was nice enough to share a few items from his batman Movie Collection. The neat thing is that they are all "foreign". The names of the movies are another language ( other than English ) and that's very interesting.

The 1st pic is of an older item, a VHS Video Tape of the 1989 BATMAN Movie... in Spanish! Next up are some of the more modern-day DC UNIVERSE Batman-related DVD films. The packaging design is pretty much the same except for the different language, I totally love that! ( Thanks Ruben )