Favourite Bat-Films - #3 - Batman

First ever film i saw at the pictures, the film that started this Bat-obssession, a true classic of pop culture and very, very funny. Its hugely impressive - just LOOK at that Batboat and Batcopter - and emminately quotable. The "sometimes you just can't get rid of a bomb" and the anti-shark repellent moments are, of course, fondly remembered, but i think the "every one of 'em has a mother" ad-lib by Burgess Meredith and the Batcopter crash landing at the foam rubber convention are right up there with them. A brilliant, brilliant film, let down slightly by Julie Newmar not being Catwoman - although Lee Merriwhether does a great job.

Batman The Animated Series vs The Batman

Just finished the second box set of "Batman The Animated Series" that i got for my birthday, and its been real interesting.

I hadn't seen it since the 90's and i was surprised at how word perfect i was on a lot of the tales. Even more surprised at how bad it looked. Okay, i'm not watching a remastered Blu Ray edition and i am watching it on a 50" Plasma, but: a lot of the animation looks REALLY crude now. And i don't mean them emulating the Fleischer shorts of the 40's - which is still commendable - rather that a lot of sequences look very clumsily done, a lot are very badly focused, and i gave up on how many times i saw a hair in the gate. But, still a fantastic show, with characters incredibly close to their comic conterparts, an excellent Bruce Wayne and a just as good Batman. Okay, a few of the tales are a bit duff but, apart from the animation flaws, still holds up.

Today i've introduced the Sprogs to the later "The Batman" series which, again, i've not seen in a while. Maybe its unfair to watch it straight after the above, but its striking at just how good the animation is compared to that. Plus, i love the look of Batman, with his blunt, no-nose cowl and can take the bull-necked Bruce. Hard to take though are the villain redesigns, which seem unnecessary except from a merchandising point of view and the hideous, very annoying "Batwave" alarm. Thinking about the two of them together, they both have their good and bad points so, if i had to choose which is my favourit, i'd say, right now, its a draw. Here's the two opening credits to compare and contrast. What do you think?

Mr Freeze by Jack Lawrence

Jack Lawrence was sketching at my local comic shop today so thought i'd ask him if he'd contibute to my Rogues Gallery project. But who do i ask for? I've decided to ask for someone that i think each artists style would suit and, as Jack has a clean crsip almost Manga-style to him, i thought Mr Freeze is suitably unscary enough to fit the bill. So this is what Jack came up with:

Love what he's done - echos of the animated version, but much beefier. Cheers Jack!

Batman Chess Set - four more

Getting really good now:

Nightwing and Katana go straight on the shelf, as they look just fine and dandy as is, with the metallics used being in keeping with thier outfits:

The Scarecrow is a fantastic sculpt, but needs a total repaint:

Best of this bunch though, and by far my favourite so far, is Mr Freeze. BRILLIANT figure, off-set by a very well done clear dome, the metallics used here are totally in keeping. Yeah, the eyes are a tad big but i can live with that - and how would i get the dome off to correct them?

Scarecrow by Conor Boyle

Inspired by Leigh Gallagher's STUNNING commission he did for a guy called Alan of all the Bat-villian together:

I've now got the notion of asking folk at cons etc if they could do me thier version of a particular baddie from the Bat-universe, choosing one to match the artists particular style. First up is Conor Boyle and i went with Scarecrow for him as i've seen his brilliantly creepy Dark Judges from Judge Dredd that's he's done for folk, and so knew he'd come up with the goods. And, boy, did he:

Batman chess set - board and new figures

Two big boxes were waiting when we got back from our hols. The biggest held the colossal chess board for the figures, along with four new pieces:

The Ra's Al Ghul and Poisen Ivy are pretty good, what with having hardly any of the crappy metallics paint job on them, so i'm leaving then as is. Ridller and Gordon are going to need work though: