Moved. And a new site.

Hey folks. If any of you still come in here and wonder why no new news just lately, its because i've moved onto FB: https://www.facebook.com/outofthebatcave?ref=hl Still on the Blogs though as i've just started a new one for my Batman 186 project, in readiness for some new additions: http://batman186.blogspot.co.uk/ Please come and join me there!

Batman Chess Set - Azrael & Killer Croc

Azreal - very nice, although a tad small. Leaving colours as is, seeing as he looked to be mainly metallics anyway. Killer Croc - oh dear. Not a bad sculpt, though i prefer the proper crocodile incarnation meself, but those colours???? Gold prison clothes? Metallic green and gold skin? What were they thinking? Total repaint needed here.

This Month in... 1978

Oh dear, oh dear, of dear. One of those truly dire tales that make me wonder why i've still got the blummin' issue - the Mad Hatter decides he's going to go straight and be a crimefighter, but then he decides not to. And that's it. And its as entertaining as what i've just typed. VERY duff, with rather poor art, only point of interest being these chapter headings. Bat-Rating: 2/10

Batman Chess Set - Black Mask & Manbat

Two new one's to show you today. Black Mask is really good, let down by the silver tie and eye holes in the mask too big. But both will be easy to sort out. A bigger job though for Manbat. All the colours are hideous, so he'll be needing a complete repaint. But even then, he'll still be duff. That head is far, far too big for the rest of his body. And the face isn't exactly my favourite version (that'd be the snout-face almost ape-like take from The Animated Series). So even after painting i'm guessing he'll be put at the rear of all the pieces

Batman Chess Set - Red Robin, Huntress & the Bat-Signal

Big, big box arrived and in it these three beauties. I'm not doing anything to any of them - Red Robin's red is metallic but not very noticible, Huntress' is a tad garish but it works at this scale, and the bonus Batman on Bat-Signal hasn't any metallic to it at all. And a very nice sculpt it is too.

This week in 1980 - Batman 330

Let's have a look what was going on 32 years ago shall we?

EXCELLENT cover by Lopez, looking like a nod back to the late 60's issues, what with the poses, positioning and speech (chum indeed). Although Talia from the back looks like an awful lit Black Widow from the Avengers here. The cover promises a "special 25-page shocker!" and they're not wrong - shockingly awful. A load of tripe involving a villain putting out a bounty on Batmans head to anyone who can kill him before he's sent to Death Row, its a long drawn out mess, with rubbish bad guys:

and some pretty poor art. Irv Novick could do a decent Bat-tale, but not here - telephoning it in, with a downright odd looking Batmobile amongst the mess:

Talia pops up for all of two panels and then exits again:

Which makes the cover a nonsense as that scene, nor anything like it actually appears here, leaving the suspicion things are being set up for a larger, more important development to come. Not read any of these around this time for 32 years and i sure don't remember it. Poor. Bat-rating - 2/10

Modern Master Vol 5 J.L. Garcia-Lopez

If you're a fan of the artsist - and why wouldn't you be? - i urge you to track dwon a copy of this brilliant book on the brilliant artist:

Soft cover A4-sized, its a very indepth interview covering the artists long career, lavishily illustrated and, for Bat-fans, some excelltn and real intertesting examples, be them pencil layouts:

Prelims:

Character style sheets:

and, something i didn't know he did, concept art for Batman Returns:

Highly recommended. Bat-Rating - 8/10.

Batman Chess Set - Bane & Hush

Two new arrivals yesterday. Bane's a real nice sculpt and all i'll be doing with him is to wash and highlight the metallic bits. Hush too is a lovely bit of sculpting but... oh dear, the paintjob - bright metallic pink for the straps etc that should be red, and gold instead of the leather coat. Luckily, the face and rest are ok, so will be a quick remedy.

Batman Chess Set - Scarecrow all done

That's him finished then and, apart from Mr Freeze, he's my favourite figure from this range so far.

Two-Face by Marc Lamming

Was at Demoncon4 yesterday and, is my wont right now, i was after a specific villain from a specific artist. I knew Marc would be there and his gritty, moody B&W work just screams Two-Face to me, so that's what i asked him for. Boy, was i glad i did - not only did he come up with this STUNNING piece (love the bald evil side, which makes total sense - if your face is sprayed with acid, you wouldn't have a full head of hair after would you?)but Marc said he really enjoyed doing it as he'd never done the fella before. Happy to help Marc!

Batman Chess Set - Harley Quinn & Black Canary

These lovely ladies turned up today and, yet again, it looks like they're reigning in the metallic paints as there's hardly any on either. So, no need for a repaint here, which is just as well as i don't fancy trying those tights (if you see what i mean):

And the faces are pretty good too. Yeah, Harley's eyes are a bit wonky, but i couldn't get anywhere near as good as this paintjob here:

World's Finest 224 - Aug 1974

Bought this for only a quid from my local comic shop just lately. Now, with one very important exception (which i'll get to in due course), i never read this title as a nipper. So i thought i'd have a gander at what was what 38 years ago. We've got five tales here - a Johnny Quick, a Metamorpho, two pretty old Supes & Bats tales and the most up to date - "The Shocking Switch Of The Super-Sons!" A VERY naff tale of Clark JR and Bruce JR failing to get along with their Dad's, so decide to stay at an "Encounter Camp" with them to heal the riff. Along the way we get psuedo-hippy teachings, a mystery involving a missing robot - who turns out to be camping there too, bizarro set-pieces such as Superman and Batman jigging with their boys:

very dated, early 70's dialogue:

And a Scooby Doo resolution and wrapping up to the tale:

As i say, naff. Bat-Rating - 2/10

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:

Batman 186 - Staz Johnson

VERY pleased to be posting this up! Back when i initially approached Staz with a view to having a go at this lil' project, he cam back to me with "do you mind if i do it in the style of the 60's ABC bubblegum cards?" Mind? Of course i don't mind - (A) One of the appeals of this undertaking is to see folk go their own way with the basic three elements of the image and what they do is up to them, (B)i was semi-obssesed by those cards back then. So i was very happy to receive this prelim a while back for approval:

Love it just at this stage, but was even more blown away when the finished piece arrived today:

Love. It. Love how Staz has maintained the basic positioning of the figures, while changing the angles, love the teethwork on all three, love the creepiness of the lil' fella, love the grey giving everything weight, especially love the very authentic Bat-caption. Staz - you the (Bat) man!

Coming soon...