July 3, 2014

BATMAN NEWS

The Bat Phone was ringing off the hook this week with the announcement of three long-awaited Bat-projects. First the big news: After a year of whispering about the original TV series coming to Blu-ray, the bat is officially out of the bag and heading toward a box set in November! Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar will be appearing at Comic-Con this month to detail the release. I'm sure there will be many cool special features and commentary, but I'm most excited just to see the Caped Crusaders in their Pop-Art glory in Hi-def resolution. If you haven't been following this saga, the original TV series has been tied up in negotiations for decades and has never been released on home video. Could the Green Hornet be far behind? Adam West's Batman has been featured this year in a string of retro-styled toys and in DC Comic's Batman '66. A new comic mini-series Starring Batman and the Green Hornet is currently in print. Spy Vibe interviewed the Batman '66/Green Hornet team here. Official Batman Blu-ray trailer below.


Designer/writer Chip Kidd announced last January that Jiro Kuwata's complete Batman '66 Manga was finally being released in Japan. English readers have been hungry for more translations since the release of Kidd's Batmanga book back in 2008. Well, the wait is finally over. DC has confirmed they will be releasing Kuwata's Batman in English through digital-edition chapters starting July 5th, followed by a 1000+ page, three-volume paperback collection later this year. Each of the stories range between 15-32 pages, and will read right to left to maintain the original composition and flow. This marks the first fully-translated and unabridged publication of Kuwata's work. I'm hoping the collection also gets the deluxe hardcover treatment! Kuwata did such a beautiful job capturing the Pop Art look of the TV series with his own graceful panels and line-work. Look at this page below. I think he captures the romanticism of the mystery/adventure!


In other Bat-news, season one/volume two of the animated series, Beware the Batman, will finally be released on Blu-ray on September 30th. The series went off the air before the end of its run. Viewers got to see season one/volume one in a February Blu-ray release, but have been waiting to see the remaining thirteen episodes. Although the CGI animation might look odd at first, I found myself quickly warming up to the series and really enjoyed it! From Amazon: "The groundbreaking all-new CGI animated series returns. Batman, Alfred and swordstress Katana are back to take on the underworld likes of Anarky, Professor Pyg, Mister Toad and Magpie. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, this action-packed detective thriller deftly redefines what we have come to know as a “Batman show.” Spy Vibe interviewed series designer Shane Glines hereSpy Vibe's ultimate Batman image archive on Pinterest here. Batman and Andy Warhol post hereTeen Titans and Secret Agent here. My visit to the original Batcave location here


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