2008 BATMAN and CATWOMAN BARBIE DOLLS ( Tommy & Kelly ) Release Date: September

The Bat-Blog reported awhile back about 2 brand-new "Barbie Family" Dolls being put out this year by Mattel that will feature Tommy & Kelly dressed-up as Batman & Catwoman. They are so gosh-darn cute that every Batman / Barbie Collector is gonna have to have them! We had a photo from the 2008 Toy Fair & it was really cool to see them. But, the picture was kinda small. Well, here's a new high-resolution photo I got from a friend who's a very serious Barbie Collector. She's been searching for it for awhile & sent it to me as soon as it came in. ( Thanks Debbie, I appreciate that a lot & know the readers will love it ). Here's a way better picture showing the tiny details of the Catwoman Uniform and the Batman Bat-Suit. The detailing is pretty good & I like that they have the colors right. I really like that they used the retro "yellow oval" Bat-Symbol on the chest, old school! Mattel plans to deliver these in stores around September 2008. I'm guessing that since the release date will sort of be close to Halloween that the doll characters might be marketed as "wearing Halloween costumes" or "going to a costume party". Our friend Debbie said they will retail at around $29.95 for the set, not too bad!

Preview: NEW The DARK KNIGHT Batman Movie Toys & Memorabilia!

I've been collecting some RARE photos of some of the new DARK KNIGHT Batman Movie merchandise, just for you, that I have been seeing & thought I would post some today. There's a lot to look at so let's get right to it! The 1st photo is gonna be the new calender to get for 2009, THE DARK KNIGHT Movie 16 Month Wall Calender. I wish I knew what the inside photos were but the cover has amazing graphics so it should be pretty sweet. The next item was photographed at the recent New York Comic Con ( NYCC 2008 ) , it's the official SCARECROW Dark Knight Action Figure from Mattel. I love the facial expression of this character, sort of scary &"cartoony". The next 2 photos are from the Rubie's Costume Catalog. It looks like they're gonna go totally crazy making all kinds of Halloween Costumes, Masks, Party Accessories, & even Joker Make-Up! The next picture is one we have put here before but this time we get a nice close-up of the actual cars. This is gonna be the DARK KNIGHT BATMAN SLOT CAR Race Set by TYCO...looks cool! I really like the Tumbler Batmobile! After this is a photo of a Dark Knight Birthday Present Bag ( or it might be a Shopping Bag from the WB Stores, not sure. This photo was sent to me by a Bat-Blog reader with no explanation ). The last photo is sort of a prototype shot of what the THE DARK KNIGHT Playstation 3 Video Game Case is gonna look like. I have not confirmed that this is the actual item but you know they're gonna HAVE to make this movie a video game! Well, that's it for now. If you have any tips or photos about new Batman items, even if they're not the movie, then please let us know!

FUNNY BATMAN HUMOR : A Silly Halloween Costume and Bruce Wayne Comic Strip!

HA HA HA HA! OK, Here's the deal, the other day I open my e-mail & received a few really great photos from a loyal Bat-Blog reader who wanted to share these funny pics. The 1st one is a real-life Batman product that was made during the "Batman Returns movie era". It's a Halloween Costume for a little kid in the shape of "Batman riding in the Batmobile"! I mean, the Batmobile Car is attached & when the child wears the suit it gives the illusion he's driving the car, ha ha ha! I don't have this in my personal collection & will have to find one, it's surreal! The next graphic is a newspaper comic strip that features Bruce Wayne's First Batmobile ( get it? Ha Ha! ). Thank you Billy for sending these hilarious photos, I appreciate that. I wanna invite all our readers to send us stuff like this. Sharing the "Joy of Batman" is what the Bat-Blog is all about! ( As a side note I would like to say that Billy sent us some more wonderful pics that I'll share in the future so keep an eye out for those too ).

BATMAN HALLOWEEN COSTUMES: The Mad Hatter and Scarecrow

Here's some nice photos from a friend on MySpace. The 1st one is a very cool costume not only because it's really well done, but because it's such an obscure Batman villian, The Mad Hatter! The next group of photos shows a more recently made Halloween costume. This one is the Scarecrow. I think the mask is extremely nice. The mouth-stitches looks really good & the hangman's noose around the neck is kinda creepy. OK, very creepy! So, this is making me wonder. For Halloween this year what kind of costume are you, the reader, gonna wear? Or maybe, another way to ask, is what Batman character have you been in the past? Please send us your favorite family photos or just comment down below on what character you might dress-up as this year. The Joker? Batgirl? The Dark Knight?

HARLEY QUINN : Batman Halloween Costume Photos

OK, It's after Halloween now & the Batman Costume Photos are flooding in, that's awesome! Here's a great example. Our friend Matthew sent us these wonderful pictures of his 2 daughters. One was a "Goth Rocker", which has nothing to do with Batman, but is a pretty cool costume, ha ha! ( Great make-up ). The 2nd costume though is HARLEY QUINN, the Joker's partner in crime from Batman: The Animated Series. Both the actual costume & face make-up are really well done. I love to see kid's all dressed-up like this. It always reminds me of my childhood & how much fun we used to have on Halloween. One year my cousin & went went trick-or-treating. Then, we rushed home & changed costumes to hit all the same houses again, ha ha! Man, we "cleaned up", ha ha! Good times, good times. Anyways, Thank You Matthew for sending us these great pics. Your daughters look really sweet & I bet they had a super-fun time. If any other readers have photos like this to share then please send them in. Our "e-mail Button" is always at the top right-hand side of this blog.

Costume Photos: BATMAN AND ROBIN CATCH THE PENGUIN!

Here's some really great photos that a Bat-Blog Reader named Blake wanted to share & I am glad he did! Last summer Blake & his friends decided to become their favorite superheroes ( and villain ). They dressed up like Batman, Robin, & the Penguin. Blake, thanks for sending us these wonderful pics. The costumes are great & the POW you added to a few of the photos really cracked me up...good job! I also like how they have a sequential order to them like reading a graphic novel, pretty funny! I wanna invite all other readers to send us your wacky Batman-related pics. There is always an e-mail button on the top right-hand side of this page.

Video: Vintage CAPTAIN ACTION DOLL 1960's Toy Figure & Costumes TV Commercial

OK, we have extensively featured the Classic CAPTAIN ACTION Doll here at the Bat-Blog a few times. Mainly covering the Batman & Robin Costumes that were made in the 1960's. Well, here's a really great Vintage TV Commercial showing both the doll & it's many costumes you could have bought back then. It also features the Batman figure so I thought I'd pop it up here, enjoy!

Vintage Family Photos: The BEN COOPER BATMAN Halloween Costume!

Recently I have been getting a lot of Bat-Blog Reader submitted photos of everything you can imagine that has to do with the Batman character ( I seriously love that! ). Here's a great example: a friend named Brian sent these old vintage family photos he had just very recently unsurfaced. His own explanation is more clear than I could do so this is what he said in the e-mail, "I've been archiving my parents' slides this past week and came across some pictures that I've never seen before. These are pictures of my buddies and myself playing around in costumes. The year was 1974 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. I was Batman and my friend, Pat, was dressed up as Superman. I was thrilled to find actual photographic evidence that I owned the Ben Cooper costume. I remembered having the mask but wasn't sure about the whole suit." Wow! Brian, I really really love old vintage family photos like this & the story is even better! To find these old lost forgotten memories must have been a really great experience & I truly appreciate you sharing them with us here. It must have been a total shock seeing these, I can only imagine, ha ha! Yeah, the good ole' Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes. They are really awesome pieces of pop culture history. Somewhere, at my Mother's house, is an old photo of me wearing a Casper ,The Friendly Ghost costume, ha ha...good times, good times. Thanks again for sending the cool pics...YOU ARE BATMAN!

Cosplay Photo: THE JOKER and HARLEY QUINN!

A friend to the Bat-Blog, named Neville, sent us this really wonderful photo from the Polaris Comic Book Convention in Toronto, Canada. The picture was taken last July & shows us how some Batman Fans get totally creative! Here we see the Joker with his girlfriend, Harley Quinn, & their dog, Lou. I think it's cool that they brought their dog, how funny! Anyway, the whole family looks really great & I seriously love the costumes. Thank you Neville for sending this to us, I appreciate that. If any other Bat-Blog Readers have any Batman-related pics to share then please e-mail them to us today!

Photos: Cosplay Batman Fans Wear Their Costumes at the 2008 Polaris Convention

A good friend to the Bat-Blog, named Neville, sent us some extremely cool photos yesterday. He wrote, "I have one more picture from last year's Polaris Convention to send to you: it's a picture of Nightwing, the Riddler, and Robin, all looking quite intense. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, here's another one of Catwoman too!" Ha Ha, AWESOME!! Thank you Neville. I really love these Comic Book Fans who dress up when they go to comicons. Seriously, it's very cool how creative they are. All of these costumes look really really great...good job! I think a lot of people who were at that show really appreciated these characters. Plus, I think a lot of readers are gonna really love that Catwoman pic...MEOW!! If any other readers have ANY kind of Batman-related photos to share then please send them in, we always love that!

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.

Vintage Family Photo - Kids Wearing 1960's Batman Costumes!

Here's an extremely amazing vintage family photo from a new friend of mine named Jim. This is him, & another kid, wearing some 1960's Batman Halloween Costumes. Also, the super-great thing about this picture ( besides being very cool ) is that he is wearing the 1966 Ideal Batman Utility Belt...Yes! Oh My God!! I wanna thank Jim for sharing these pictures, they're seriously GREAT! I also want to invite any other readers out there who have cool pics like this to please share them. Ya know, the Bat-Blog is totally about the joy of the Batman Character & photos like this just totally shine...thanks ( Be sure to click on the above photo for a larger, more sharp, version...you'll be glad you did! ).

BATMAN COSTUME: ROBIN OUTFIT, The Tim Drake Comic Book Version!!

I totally like this kid because he's so cool! This photo was sent in to us by a Bat-Blog Reader named Derek. Now, this is not him, but it's his Brother! This photo was taken in the 1990's when his Brother dressed up as Robin ( the 90's Tim Drake version ) for a Hometown Christmas Parade. The outfit is totally & completely AWESOME! When I was a little kid I would have killed to have a Halloween Costume this great, ha ha! Thank you Derek for sending this, I appreciate it a lot & please tell your Brother that he USED to be cool, but you're wondering what happened, ha ha.

Vintage Photo: A YOUNG BATMAN IN COSTUME ( With Alfred, The Butler? )

Here's a Vintage Family Photo sent in by our good friend Chip Kidd. Now, this is not "Chip when he was a small child", ha ha! No, it's just a photo that a friend sent to him because it is Batman & then he sent to us. WOW! This photo is extremely beautiful, both in subject matter AND quality! Because of the style of the Batman Superhero Halloween Costume, & the fashion of the clothing worn by Alfred, The Butler ( OK, probably his father or Grandfather, ha ha! ), I would guess it's from the early 1960's. So, the fact that it looks even older is pretty cool. I mean it looks Vintage 40's at least! Maybe it's the fact that it's Black & White or maybe because the architectural details are sort of European-looking. But the costume having the "Yellow Oval Bat-Symbol" on the chest is a dead give-away that's it's at least 1960's. Anyways, thank you to Chip Kidd for sending this wonderful photo, I really appreciate that & know everybody will love this cool pic! Now, If any other Bat-Blog Readers have similar "Batman Halloween Costume" photos then I am inviting them to send them in too!

Halloween Costume Memories: DAVE IS BATMAN!

OK, as promised here are the wonderful photos of our buddy Dave dressed a s Batman! In earlier posts we shared some pics of him in various Halloween Costumes he has worn over the years. There have been costumes of The JOKER, both "Vintage Comic Book" & "Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight movie" versions. Plus he has been Robin, The Boy Wonder! Well, here's a nice collection of Batman costume photos! In the 1st photo it looks like he wore his costume to the office one day. So, I guess, his cubile on that day was called the "Batcave", ha ha! In another pic, from around 1989, he is with a very pretty girl who was dressed-up as Catwoman ( ya gotta love that ) & in another he is shown with his "Batmobile Car". Actually it's a black Hyundai with cardboard tail-fins, ha ha! ( I totally love the creativity of that ). Before I forget, I wanna thank Dave for all the great photos he has sent us. They have all been really great & I really appreciate that. I also want to invite all other Bat-Blog Fans to send in their Halloween memories, thank you.

Johnny's CUSTOM BATMAN & ROBIN GI Joe Doll Clothes

This is a really nice story. Here's some pics sent in by a Bat-Blog Reader named Johnny. When he was a little kid, back in the 1970's, a lady who was a good neighbor made him some Batman & Robin clothes for his large 12" GI Joe Dolls. They were made to sort of be like the Mego Superhero Figures we all know & love. Well, out of sentimental reasons he has kept these outfits for all these years. Later, he got some large dolls to display the mini-costumes as a way to remember her ( she recently passed away ). Now I think these clothes are just totally wonderful & she did a great job on them. OK, I know that they're not totally perfect or completely accurate but a lot of goodness & love went into making them. So for that reason they're really special. Plus, they actually are pretty cool! Thanks to Johnny for sharing his nice story & pics.

BATMAN and MR FREEZE COSPLAY at the 2011 Boston Super Megafest!

A Friend of the BAT-BLOG, named Nick, sent us these wonderful pics of his adventures at the recent Super Megafest in Framingham, Boston. Of course Nick wore his cool "Gaslight By Gotham" Batman Costume and while he was there he ran into other versions of the Dark Knight! Also, see that photo of Nick and Mr. Freeze ( Another amazing costume! ) with the 1966 Batmobile Car, I made that photo a BATMAN WALLPAPER! Click on it to brighten your PC Desktop! ( Thanks for sharing these great pics Nick )

Video - BATMAN CITY OF SCARS - FIRST LOOK Fan-Film Movie Preview

Here's a first look at a soon to be released Batman fan-film titled CITY OF SCARS. It's being made by Bat In The Sun Productions & the production quality looks pretty excellent. We don't get to see much acting in this video ( they're mostly production stills or photos ) but the costumes, make-up, & set design look really great. It will premier on the popular video website DailyMotion.com around June 2010 so look for it then. I'm sure it will be hyped pretty big once it's released. Plus, stay tuned to the Bat-Blog because we'll probably announce it right here.

Sexy Cosplay of the Week: Nana Kuronoma

Kick off the weekend with a healthy helping of this week's Sexy Cosplay of the Week with Austria's own Nana Kuronoma.

Underneath her exceptional talent as a cosplayer and model lies the heart of a true nerd with a passion for manga and gaming. Nana's been heavily into cosplay for the past few years and has rose to the forefront of fandom. Her outstanding catalogue of costumes includes the hard-rocking Nana Osaki from Nana to the hard-hitting style of Street Fighter Chun-Li to the sweet and innocent Kairi from Kingdom Hearts . Check out more in the gallery below.

For more on Nana be sure to head over to her Deviant Art, Facebook fan page, and World Cosplay page for more.