Favourite Bat-Films - #4 - Batman

Its hard to be subjective about this one, what with not being to watch it without recalling the huge media frenzy that surrounded its making and release.
And, with Tim Burtons gothic take on things being suppressed quite a bit, the dire eighties trappings leap right out - bad hair, bad shoulder pads, bad music, bad acting, ruining the timeless setting they were going for.
Looking at it now on Blu Ray:
Micheal Keaton is still terrific,
as is Micheal Gough as Alfred,
that's a nice, basic looking Batcave,
Elfman's score is ace,
and the car's great.
But:
As good as he is, Nicholsen is just too darn podgy and too old for the Joker,
Kimmie can't act. At all,
that Knox guy is so smug and so unfunny, i want to do him harm,
but, most surprisingly of all, the Batsuit looks SO darn crude. It really does look like its carved from a bunch of old tyres.
But its still very enjoyable.
Just wished they got someone thinner and more Keatons age for the Joker - my top choice would've been Crispin Glover, failing that, Matthew Modine.

Huntress as Robin

From the upcoming Earth 2 series, that's a real nice riff on the design.
Hope the script matches it.

Batman: Death By Design - done!

VERY happy to see that Dave Taylor has posted over on his Blog:

http://d-taylor-comics-music-ford-mustangs.blogspot.com/

that his much-anticpated Bat-tale is now done.
Been quite a wait, but know it'll be worth it.

Batman Chess Set - Batman

Bit surprised to wander into a newsagents yesterday to find that Eaglemoss have started up a Batman Universe chess set.
I know Eaglemoss of old, having pretty much all of their Marvel Figurine run.
I never got their DC line though as its started when the Marvel one was still ongoing and i just couldn't afford it.
And i've always kinda regretted it.
But here we have a line of characters from my favourite DC series, combined with large chess pieces, which i've always liked the idea of.
So i've decided to collect the set.
Just like the Marvel line, the sculpts are excellent and, just like the Marvel line, fall down in some of the paintjobs.
I know it really can't be helped, and i feel for the poor sods on the production line painting them, but the lovely shots in all the ads are pretty much misleading - guessing they're especially painted for the ads.
So, i get Bats, get him out of his packaging and here's what you get:

Its a nice sculpt but the colour choices are odd. When does he have a silver suit and blue combos?
So, just like the Marvel one's i did, i'm not going back to the primer, rather i'll repaint certain areas.
With Bruce its:
Give the face a wash of a darker brown.
Have the Utility Belt yellow. In my mind, its always yellow - NEVER gold. Yellow is notorious for being far too thin and translucent, but here it worked to my advantage, keeping the really bright new yellow muted.
And the suit gets colours more suiting to Jim Lee era Bats, making sure i keep away from the white eyes as they're just about perfect and better than i could do.
I've left the emblem in gold and black just to make it stand out a bit more:

Still to do here is highlight the belt a bit, mark the edges between different bits - and remove that blummin' seam line.
While painting, i thought it was part of a high-tech Batsuit but, looking at these pics, its a seamline isn't it?
*Fume*
Anyway, its been a nice coupla hours and i'm looking forward to the next one, who's the Joker - with what looks like the same silver for his face that Bats has for his suit...

This month in... 1988

Its 1988, and Jason Todd has just taken on the mantle of Robin.
The covers a bit misleading in that there's not much action in it at all, consisting of mainly bickering between Batman and Nightwing.
Which is nice - character development and all that.
It, and the bust on a cocaine plant, are underscored though by Nightwings hideous outfit - its hard to be serious and gritty when one of the main characters as an appalling light blue glam-rock collar.
Still, the art by Jim Aparo is nice, with some neat panel repeating.
Bat-Rating: 4/10