This September 2008, Pantheon Books will release a brand new book titled "BAT-MANGA: The Secret History of Batman in Japan". Compiled by book designer and comics connoisseur Chip Kidd, along with fellow collector Saul Ferris and photographer Geoff Spear, Bat Manga! presents a collection of original Japanese Batman stories written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata, the artist of 8-Man. Now, the amazing thing is that both DC & the Japanese company have never had file copies of this material & it had to be gathered by collectors hunting down the original magazines. So, in other words, this material has not been seen or read in over 30 years, a RARE treat! Chip Kidd is pretty well known among us Bat-Nerds ( I mean that in a good way, ha ha ) for putting together a super-great Batman vintage toy collector book a few years ago titled "Batman Collected". Which, is an incredible book! He's also known as an extremely famous book designer ( he created the Jurassic Park Dinosaur logo & many other very famous book covers ) so all his stuff is very high-quality. The photos up above show the hardback cover ( left ) & paperback version ( right ). Oh my God, I can't wait!!
Up above is a BATMAN MEGO DOLL Background you can use to brighten your desktop. OK, I know it's not "Wallpaper Day" but I wanted to showcase this one because it's special. This one sort of promotes a book called MEGO 8" SUPERHEROES: WORLD'S GREATEST TOYS written by Benjamin Holcomb. It's been out for a little while now & has been very successful. Basically, it's a super-detailed guide book for all the amazing toys, dolls, & action figures made by the Mego Toy Company. If you're a vintage toy collector you would love it! Here at the Bat-Blog we have another page called "Bat-Blog Interviews" where we publish articles where we talk with "Batman-related" people. I had planned on talking with Benjamin about this book way before it came out. We even talked on the phone once. But, the interview didn't happen because of me. I even planned on doing one to be released around the time the book came out but that didn't happen either. The reason is that, during that time, I was going through a lot of personal problems & just never had time. I don't update the "Interviews Page" as much as I should because it takes a large amount of time to do the research, writing, & posting. But, I have always regretting not doing this interview as it's an extremely well-written & beautifully photographed book. It's available at Amazon & I have included a link down below if you want more information about it.
There's a new Batman book that's been published very recently by Del Ray called "The Essential Batman Encyclopedia" & I thought I would do a short book review about it. I remember getting news about this book a long time ago & have been kinda excited about it, thought it would be a very cool book to have. Well, after seeing/reading this book, I gotta say I am very happily surprised! First, the thing is HUGE! It's like a giant phone book. Next, it's not only jam-packed with a ton of detailed information but it's beautifully illustrated all through out. The author, Robert Greenberger, has done a really nice job compiling & organizing tons of Batman history. The book has almost 400 pages & the wonderful thing, for me, are all the awesome graphics that are sprinkled about on almost every page. They didn't skimp on that area. There are beautiful pictures from the Golden Age 1940's all the way to the very very recent comic books. That was something that kinda surprised me, how "updated" it was. Now, to be honest, I have not yet read every single line in this book, that would take me months to do. But I have read a lot & the way the information is laid out is really nice. Just like any encyclopedia you look up a name or place & there's a section on that person or thing. I like that they list the "first appearance" of many characters. ( Bat-Mite, Detective Comics # 257, May 1959 ). I think that this is a book that every Batman Fan would love. For example, as a test, I tried to think of a very obscure character to look up. When I was a little kid I always liked a villain named The Eraser. I flipped through the book & not only did they have some nice information about him but they also had a wonderful graphic as well. They reprinted the original comic book cover he 1st appeared on, ha ha! I ran many tests like that & was happily surprised each time, a fun book. One thing I gotta say though. This book's main focus is the "Comic Book Batman" or what most fans call the "real Batman". It doesn't have any facts about the 1966 TV Show, The Animated Series, The Movies...it mainly covers the "comic book" character. But, that's the character we all love & covering those other areas could be another 400 pages! So, I guess, to sum it up...this book is really wonderful & it's a must have for any true Batman Fan or Collector. I like it & hope, that if you check it out, you will too. One last thing: If you have already planned on buying this book from Amazon then please help support the Bat-Blog by using this link, thanks.
Here at the Bat-Blog we recently gave away a free BATMAN: THE MOVIE ( 1966 ) Blu-Ray DVD and that was so much fun we decided to have another contest!! So, starting right now, enter here to win a FREE copy of THE ESSENTIAL BATMAN ENCYCLOPEDIA by Robert Greenberger! This HUGE phone book-sized volume covers the entire history of the Batman character & his world ( except for the TV show & movies. It's mainly the "Comic Book Batman" ). Be sure to check out our previous review on this book in another post. This book is really incredible & I'm very proud to be giving one away, I know you'll really love it! Here's the simple rule, just e-mail us your full name & address. Please put "BATMAN ENCYCLOPEDIA" in the title. We don't sell, distribute, or give away your information in any way. The contest runs until August 26th, 2008 till 11:59pm Central Time. The winners will be picked out of a hat at midnight & then announced the next day on August 27th, 2008. The last contest had quite a few entries so be sure to mail yours early! As a side note I would also like to say that August 26th is the 2 year anniversary of this blog ...so, that's cool!!
CONTEST RULES:
- The contest is open to the general public as well as anyone currently reading the BAT-BLOG on a daily basis. Employees of the Bat-Blog and employees' immediate family members and persons with whom such employees are domiciled are excluded from this contest.
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- The person whose name is drawn as being the winner of the specific prize will be required to send us their correct mailing information before the prize is awarded to them. Postage to be paid, free of charge, by the Bat-blog.
- Detailed contest rules applicable to this contest, including contest entry dates, how to enter, and prize value, number and any restrictions applicable to these prizes are available upon request by reading these Contest Rules, ha ha!
- The Bat-Blog retains the rights, in its absolute and sole discretion, to make substitutions of equivalent kind or approximate value in the event of the unavailability of any prize or component of the prize for any reason whatsoever.
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- Approximate value of prize varies.
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- One entry per person.
As regular readers of the Bat-Blog know we are always having contests for cool Batman memorabilia, both old & new! Our latest was for a brand-new copy of THE ESSENTIAL BATMAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. This is a really great book that all Bat-Fans would love to have. I have a copy in my personal collection & enjoy reading it all the time. It's jam-packed with tons of very detailed information & wonderful pictures. This book was our recent Bat-Blog Contest prize that ended on August 26th, 2008. The winner's name was drawn at midnight & we're announcing the winner right now. The winner, of this awesome ESSENTIAL BATMAN ENCYCLOPEDIA book, is... AARON B. of FONTANA, CALIFORNIA!! Aaron, congratulations! I am sending you an e-mail later to confirm your correct address so be sure to look out for that. After confirmation this book will be carefully mailed to you for free. I know that you're gonna love it, it's really great! To everybody else who entered I'm sorry you didn't win but remember that here at the Bat-Blog we're always having great contests so maybe next time!
Everybody knows how I am totally goo-goo over the soon-to-be-released BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN Book. Well, a Manga-Reporter named Deb Aoki did a really great interview with the authors Chip Kidd & Saul Ferris. Chip Kidd is mainly known as a book designer but is also a major Bat-Fan. Saul Ferris is a totally obsessed Vintage Japanese Batman Toy Collector! I actually kinda-sorta know Saul & he's a really nice guy. He's one of those super-rich toy collectors who buy a lot of expensive collectibles but he's also very down-to-earth so it's hard to hate him, ha ha. I hope what I just said doesn't make him sound bad, ha ha, I guess I'm just jealous ( I'm poor ). He has an incredible Batman Toy collection, seriously. Be sure to click the link button down below for a very well done interview.
OK, anyone who's been reading the Bat-Blog for the last year or so knows how excited I have been about the gossip of a brand-new Batman book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. It was being done by Chip Kidd who, a few years ago, came out with another great Batman book titled BATMAN COLLECTED. That book was amazing, so I knew this one was gonna be great too! Well, it has finally come out & it's even better than I dreamed about! It was released on October 28th, 2008. All I can say about BAT-MANGA is that it is extremely well-designed & a total delight to read! But, I can't just say that because that would be a totally lazy book review, ha ha! So, here's why the book is so awesome. First, for people totally unfamiliar with this title, in the 1960's there was a magazine in Japan for kids called Shonen King . During the crazy hype of the 1966 Batman TV Show ( Adam West & Burt Ward ) this company reserved the rights to do Batman stories. They did them for about a year & then they were gone. For years these wonderfully written & beautifully drawn stories were lost...until now! To do this book Chip Kidd teamed up with the photographer Geoff Spear & Super-Collector Saul Ferris ( Japanese translation by Anne Ishii ). Both Chip & Saul had a few issues of this super-rare magazine & while doing research found out that the artwork was done by Jiro Kuwata, the artist responsible for creating "8 MAN", a very popular Japanese character. Anyway, Kidd hired a Japanese translator & actually found the guy! To his regret he found out that all the original artwork had been lost to time. But, a neat thing about getting in touch with him was that they got to do an exclusive interview about his "Batman experience". So, working with Geoff & Saul, they photographed every issue they had their hands on. This actually turned out to be a "wonderful accident" because looking at the original magazines is pretty cool. Geoff did an amazing job photographing all the pages. The neat thing is that the photography is so extremely sharp that you can actually see the texture of the newsprint & it sort of gives you the experience of reading the actual magazine that children got to view in the 1960's. One other thing that's kinda neat too is that, back then, Jiro Kuwata was given total license to write anything he wanted. So, the stories are very unique & have a nice Japanese sensibility to them. Now, please keep in mind that this is manga so ya gotta "read it backwards". But, don't worry about that because after about 5 minutes you totally get used to it & the stories are really enjoyable. Jiro Kuwata was given permission to do anything he wanted so many of the villains ( except Clayface ) were created by him. They are really well thought out & have great names like Lord Death Man, Go-Go The Magician, Dr. Faceless, Professor Gorilla, & The Man Who Quit Being Human! Now, another great thing about the book is that it features some very sharp color photography of many Vintage 1960's Batman Toys...a total bonus! This is kinda where Saul Ferris came in. He has an amazing collection of super-rare Japanese Batman Toys. The photos are sort of sprinkled every few pages so while you're reading the stories you get a small break. Plus, You get to enjoy these lost pieces of Bat-History. It gives the book a nice rhythm & each time they popped up it was a very pleasant surprise! The book is created in 2 formats, hardback & paperback. The hardback has about 32 extra pages. It mainly has a few more toy photos & a section in the back that covers some stories written in Chinese! But, don't worry because everything has been translated into English so you can enjoy the whole experience. The retail price for the hardback is $60.00 while the paperback is $29.95. Right now Amazon is offering them as new releases at a cheaper price & I seriously recommend the hardback, just for the extras. Well, I hope this has been a decent review & it's a book I can highly recommend for ANY Batman Fan!
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, I decided last night to finally pick a name out of the hat so here we go! The very 1st Signed Bat-Manga Book Winner is... Chad C of Gallatin, TN! Thanks Chad, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. Now, for everybody else who entered there are still a few to give away so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, this morning I picked another name out of the hat so here we go! The WINNER of the Second Signed copy of the Bat-Manga Book is... Rogelio G. of Bloomington, CA.! Thanks Rogelio, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. Now, for everybody else who entered there are still a few to give away so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, this morning I picked another name out of the hat so here we go! The WINNER of the THIRD Signed copy of the Bat-Manga Book is... Adam G of Dallas, TX.! Thanks Adam, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. Now, for everybody else who entered there are still a few to give away so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
We announced awhile back about our latest contest where we are giving away a FREE Autographed Signed-Copy of Chip Kidd's brand-new book titled BAT-MANGA, THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The responses have been pretty amazing & since we have more than one copy we are still accepting entries as we speak ( For information on how to enter just click on the BAT-MANGA CONTEST GRAPHIC at the top of this blog, just under the header ). Well, this morning I picked another name out of the hat so here we go! The WINNER of the FOURTH Signed Copy of the BAT-MANGA Book is... Jennie E. of Fairbanks, AK.! Thanks Jennie, please be sure to send us an e-mail to confirm your complete mailing address & then soon after we will be mailing you this book. I hope that postage for Alaska is not gonna be outrageous because I am kinda poor right now, ha ha! Now, for everybody else who entered there is one more book to give away so you at least have one more chance so stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because you just might be our next lucky winner!
A very good friend to the Bat-Blog has just recently been interviewed on NPR Radio so I thought I would proudly share it here. His name is Saul Ferris & besides being a pretty nice guy he's also a Super-Collector of all things Batman ( Just so you know, his picture really didn't have a Batman Mask on it, that's just me being wacky! ). His main focus is on the Super-Rare Vintage 1960's Batman Toys & Memorabilia. He was a major contributor to the publication of Chip Kidd's latest book "Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan". In fact, the Bat-Manga book is a large part of the radio show but also includes a lot of tips about collecting toys & comics. Also included in the interview is Anne Ishii, who served as the Japanese translator for the book project. To hear this show on either your iPod or PC just click on the link button down below. When you arrive at the website just look for a show titled "The Sweet Smell of Yesteryear" recorded on January 4th, 2009. Click on the "audio button" & it magically appears in your media player. Also, if you want to contact Saul about any old 60's Batman Toys you have for sale he can be reached at ICOLLECTBATMAN@aol.com. ( Someday I'm gonna have to tease him about still being on AOL, ha ha ). Oh yeah, one last thing. I had a photo of Saul Ferris that I could post here but apologize for not having one of Anne. I tried to find one on Google, but couldn't find one that wasn't copyrighted. Just so you readers know, she is very very cute!
Oh yeah, this is just a quick post to announce the future publication of a brand-new Alex Ross art book, Rough Justice, which will be published by Pantheon next March, in 2010. OK, I know it won't be released for awhile but I'm already stoked! If you're a big fan of Alex Ross' artwork then you're gonna love it. It's main focus will be the DC Comics characters & it's gonna be co-written / designed by Chip Kidd. So, you know it will be cool!
All serious BATMAN Fans know who Bill Finger is, I mean, he's the Co-Creator of Batman. But because of an exclusive contract Bob Kane had with DC Comics Bill Finger has been robbed of his credit for years. There's a lot we don't know about this artist. Well, the good news is that our friend Marc Nobleman is writing the definitive biography on Bill Finger. It's due to come out next year in 2012. You might know him from his previous book, "Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman,". Up above is a rare photo of Bill Finger as seen on a trading card in a series called "Famous Comic Book Creators". Personally, I can't wait until this book comes out!
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!
"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!
The Publisher, Chronicle Books, has just released this cool new BOOK PROMO VIDEO to start early hype for "THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN". This book was written by Michael Uslan who has been the Executive Producer for all the recent Batman Movies. We're talking "1989 BATMAN" all the way up to the next Bat-Film, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. But, besides working in Hollywood, Michael Uslan is an extremely serious Batman Fan, and has been since early childhood, this is his story.
Yesterday, DC Comics released the news of one of their future BATMAN Books that will be titled "Batman, Death By Design". They even showcased the beautiful cover art ( see pic up above ). This is the book written by Chip Kidd & illustrated by Dave Taylor. It will be a Deluxe Format Graphic Novel & is scheduled for release in Spring of 2012. I'm sure, as new information becomes available, we will have more news later. So, stay tuned to the BAT-BLOG.COM & we will let you know. In the mean time, be sure to check out the wonderful BATMAN artwork from Artist Dave Taylor ( Click on it for a larger version ).
I have been meaning to post this new BATMAN Product Review for awhile but finally got around to it today, sorry! About 2 weeks ago I was at my local Wal-Mart. If you shop there you know that they now have a mini-bookstore area where they display bestsellers & popular books. They also have a "Children's Book" section. There, I found this very cool BATMAN Book that I knew I could not pass-up. It's called "My Busy Books" & is published by Phidal Publishing, which is located in both Canada & the UK. So, for that reason, it was kind of weird to find it at my local store. 
Anyways, this book is extremely cool! It's more than just a book, it's also sort of like a mini-playset. This book is pretty BIG & I'm talking it's almost 1 1/2" thick! But it's not big because it has a lot of pages to read ( there are only like 6 or 7 to read ) but it has an area in the back which is kind of like a "storage area". This "box" contains a Playmat with 4 different Gotham City Street Scenes and 12 PVC Plastic Figurines.
For me it's these figures which totally sold the thing to me. They're really cool & very detailed. The list of characters include: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, The Joker, Catwoman, The Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Riddler, Manbat, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, and Two-Face. They measure approx. 1 1/2" tall & are very detailed. Another cool bonus about the book is that the artwork is really great! 
