The Many Faces of Superman

The Many Faces of Superman

Meet Bryan Singer: Superman Returns

It must have been fate that Bryan Singer would direct the new film Superman Returns, the fifth in the series of Superman films. Singer loved the George Reeves Superman TV series when he was young, and was a huge fan of the Dick Donner-directed films from the 70s and 80s that starred Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel. "I identify with Superman. I am adopted, I am an only child, and I love the idea that he comes from another world, that he's the ultimate immigrant. He has all these extraordinary powers, and he has a righteousness about him," said Bryan.

After attending the School Of Visual Arts in New York City (but not graduating), he graduated from the USC cinema school (where, incidentally, he met John Ottman who wrote the score for Superman Returns), Singer's first commercial success was as the producer/director of The Usual Suspects in 1995.That film saw him work with Kevin Spacey for the first time, and Singer and Spacey are re-united, again in Superman Returns, as Spacey plays arch villain Lex Luther, just out of prison and again set to rule the world.

However, it is as an adapter of comic books, bringing superheroes to life, that Singer has carved a niche for himself in the movie world.

In 2000, as writer and director, he introduced Wolverine, Magneto and the rest of the X-Men to the movie world in a hugely successful adaptation, before reprising the characters in the follow-up, X2. Singer left the X-Men franchise to develop Superman Returns and did not work on the 3rd film The Last Stand.

Now an established player in Hollywood with a number of big projects lined up for the future, who would bet against his favourite being the recently-announced sequel for Superman Returns in 2009?By Niall Cinneide

Superhero Halloween Costumes

What kind of super hero do you want to be? Thanks to Hollywood you have a large selection of superhero Halloween costumes to choose from. Superhero's work to keep the earth safe and are said to have magnificent powers. Some can run very fast. Some are very strong. Some can move things with their ring or lasso a person and have them to tell the truth to them. Some have the entire package, running fast, strong, heat vision and have a body like steal.

Superman Costume

Superman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero and an American icon. The character was created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1938. The character started out being a black and white TV series in the early 1930's... Over the year's superman have gained a lot of steam as being a true money maker of the movie studios.

Green Lantern Costume - Justice League Costumes

The Green Lantern story has not been played as much on the big screen. The Green Lantern is not one person. It is a group of people that work for the common good and are the protectors of the universe. Their power comes from a power ring that gives the user great control over the physical world as long as the wielder has sufficient willpower and strength to wield it. The Green Lantern is the creation of writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940).

Green Lantern is part of a group called the Justice League. The Group included flash, Batman, Superman and Wonder Women, all superheroes in DC comics.

Batman Costume

Batman is a mysterious comic book character. He is a fictional character created by and co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger of DC Comics.

Batman's story is that he is the son of a very wealthy Wayne family whose mother and father are taken away from Bruce Wayne when he was a child in a very violent crime. After, Bruce Wayne vows to keep his city safe. As a child he is trained by the best in hand to hand combat as well as going to the best education school that money can offer. As a adult he travels under the umbrella of night ridding the city of scum that pray on the innocent.

Wonder Woman Costume - Justice League Costumes

Wonder Woman has her origins as Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons. The Amazons are a group of immortal warrior women. They live on the hidden island named Paradise Island. Wonder Woman entered a personal combat contest and won. The prize she was awarded was to be an Ambassador to the outside world and become a Super Hero. Now you can be a Super Hero too in your Wonder Woman costume!By Kenneth Elliott

Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 3

BAT-BLOG ~ How did you learn to draw so well? Did you go to art school?

CHRIS ~ I've had very little formal training. I took art classes in high school, but they really didn't have anything other than general art classes that were a little basic for the level I was on at the time. I did a lot of "independent study" work with my art teacher, which meant I'd just do art projects on my own with minimal supervision from him, and then get grades based on the time and effort I'd put in. I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for about a semester, but couldn't afford to stay beyond that. It's a very expensive school and I'd gotten a really crappy financial aid deal. Most of what I know about drawing I picked up on my own, through books, talking to other artists, reading interviews and articles, and just working at it on my own.

Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 2

BAT-BLOG ~ When did you 1st think, "I wanna be a comic book artist"?

CHRIS ~ I've got drawings from when I was four or five years old featuring Batman and other heroes, and I would make up crude comic books with full-page crayon drawings telling stories that are pretty incomprehensible now. I think I've always wanted to grow up and draw comics. I drew a weekly comics feature for our local newspaper when I was 10 years old, and did some other amateur work through my teens. My first professional gig was providing art for Street Heroes 2005 for Eternity Comics in 1989 when I was twenty.

BAT-BLOG ~ Did you have any favorite artists from that time period who really inspired you?

CHRIS ~ I grew up loving Neal Adams, John Byrne, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Michael Golden and others. When David Mazzuccelli came on the scene - first on Daredevil and then Batman: Year One - he really blew me away. He was someone I actively tried to emulate for a while. Later I got into artists including Alex Toth, Steve Rude, Mike Mignola, Wally Wood, Dick Sprang, Jerry Robbinson, Alan Davis, Bruce Timm and Darwyn Cooke.

Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 4

BAT-BLOG ~What was your 1st official job working w/ comic books? Also, How did you start with DC?

CHRIS ~ I got that first job drawing Street Heroes 2005 through the writer, Steve Jones. Another artist had originally been assigned to the book, and Steve suggested me as a replacement, since we'd done some amateur work together and we'd known each other for years. I did a couple of sample pages, and got the job! That book only lasted three issues, but it got my foot in the door and one job led to another. I did a number of jobs for both Eternity comics and Caliber Press over the next two or three years.

After several years in the "minor leagues" writing and drawing comics for many smaller publishers, I managed to get work at DC doing fill-ins on a title called Young Heroes in Love. I'd tried to get work with Warner Brothers Animation the year before and had some samples in my portfolio done in the style of Batman: The Animated Series. That didn't work out, but the editor and writer of Young Heroes in Love saw those samples and thought I would be a good fit on YHIL because the regular artist on that book drew it in a somewhat cartoony style.

I drew four issues of Young Heroes before that book ended, and that led to a number of Justice League related stories for that same editor. These were mainly short stories for various Justice League anthologies for the DCU and were drawn in a more traditional superhero style, and then I ended up doing several issues of Justice League Adventures, which meant a return to the animation look for me. At the time that title had no set creative team, just a rotating pool or writers and artists, so when I heard that there was going to be a new Batman animated series, I started asking around as to whether there would be a tie-in comic, who would be editing that, and if I could get on that book. Well, I got the job, and have been the regular artist on it ever since. As of this writing, I've drawn almost 30 issues.

OWN SUPERMAN RETURNS

Master Your Superpowers to Save Metropolis in the ultimate open-world super-hero experience available for Xbox 360™, current generation platforms and handheld systems this holiday season.

The game, which features storylines from both the Warner Bros. Pictures’ film Superman Returns and more than 60 years of DC Comics’ content, is being developed by EA’s Tiburon Studio, the award-winning developer of Madden NFL football, the most popular sports franchise in videogame history.

Be Superman in the first multi-dimensional open-world game. Go anywhere in the 80 square miles of Metropolis, from the street up into the clouds.

As Superman, you must protect Metropolis from the most well-known villains in the DC Comics universe and conquer more than 100 missions, including saving citizens from destruction and battling enemies.

The game will feature all the classic superpowers, but learning to master all of them during flight and combat will take work – even for Superman.

Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 5

BAT-BLOG ~ What do you like best about pencilling Batman Strikes? Also, what's the process like? Do you get a script from DC Comics & then YOU get to decide how everything is laid out??

CHRIS ~ The best thing is getting to draw Batman every month for a living. I love Batman and all the supporting cast, both as characters and as subjects to draw.
The process is pretty much like drawing any other comic, except that I have model sheets of how the main characters look on the TV show, and I have to keep to that basic look. Otherwise I have a lot of the same freedom to bring my own creativity to bear on telling the story as I would on any other book.
I start with being given a full script - and we've got some great people contributing scripts now: J Torres, Scott Beatty, Jai Nitz, and Russel Lissau among others. Then I do little thumbnail sketches of each page so I can get an idea of how I want to lay out each page and how the pages will flow from one to the next, and to identify what things I might have to design or find visual reference for.
Then I start doing more elaborate drawing. I tend to do most of my rough construction work of figure drawing on scratch paper so when I go to the actual art boards I can keep the linework very clean and clear for the inker. I scan my rough drawings and composite them into a page in Photoshop. At this stage I can re- scale or alter the images to get the page composition I want, then I print these assembled roughs at the size of the art board. I take those printouts to my light table and tighten and refine the drawings as I do the final pencil art for each page.

That artwork then gets passed on to the inker, who on this book is Terry Beatty, who had also inked the last several years of the previous Batman animation tie-in comic. After that the artwork is scanned, and the color and letters are added digitally. Which isn't to suggest that someone pushes a button and the coloring and lettering just happen. It's still a part of the creative process performed by a specialized artist, they're just using the computer as their tool, rather than working on the physical artwork.

Batman-Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 1

This is the 1st part to our latest BAT-BLOG INTERVIEW.

We talked with Christopher Jones about his involvement with the current DC Comics BATMAN STRIKES Comic Book. This is the comic book adaptation of the current THE BATMAN Cartoon. He is the penciller for that book & a great artist! Here at the BAT-BLOG we love his sharp drawing style. Mixed inside this 9 part interview are original comic book art pages of his pencils & a few color graphics of his covers. We have also thrown in a few Batman Wallpapers from THE BATMAN TV Series you can use for your desktop or MySpace layout! Because of Blogger space limitations we had to break this interview into 9 parts but just keep reading, you'll get it!!

BAT-BLOG ~ What was your favorite comic book as a kid? CHRIS ~ Batman has been my favorite superhero for as long as I can remember. I grew up reading the Haney/Aparo Brave and the Bolds and a lot of the other 1970s stuff. I was also into Superman and Spiderman.

BAT-BLOG ~ Did you collect comic books then ( what titles )?

CHRIS ~ I've been accumulating comics to read all my life, but I've never really had a collector mentality, and usually haven't been consistent enough in my buying to have a lot of complete runs. I was into DC and Marvel pretty equally growing up, and have always enjoyed older comics going back to the Golden and early Silver Age.

Batman-AL BIGLEY INTERVIEW, Batman Illustrator, Part 6

All of us here at the Bat-Blog want to thank Al Bigley for bring such a great guest! We know our readers are gonna love this inside information & all the wonderful illustrations. We hope many of you check out his website & if you're a company looking to hire somebody this guy has a lot of talent! A trademark thing we do here at the Bat-Blog Interviews page is make some Desktop Wallpapers that are sort of related to the interview we just did so here are 2 to enjoy! The 1st one uses some of Al's incredible clip-art that I'm sure many of you have seen on Batman-related products. It's my favorite. I love the clean sharp lines & the bright-red looks cool too. The 2nd one is a montage of some of the many Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Action Figures that showcase his artwork. With many readers of this page also being toy collectors this will probably be the most downloaded of all.

Batman-AL BIGLEY INTERVIEW, Batman Illustrator, Part 3

Bat-Blog: OK Now, on to the packaging design for the Batman Animated Series action figures by Kenner Toys. How did this come about & what was your favorite part of the process?

Bigley: Since I was already doing Special Projects work, they thought to have me try out on doing work for that series. I ended up doing tons of art for the BAS style guides, toys, shirts, etc. The toy action figure art was especially fun!

Bat-Blog: We noticed the drawings are pretty accurate to the figures. Did they have them made already & if so, did they send you "prototypes" or the actual toys?

Bigley: I got to use the toy prototypes to draw from, as well as a general rough sketch from Kenner. I had to put the character "on model," and also give him or her an exciting action pose, and show off any weapons or accessories they came with. Of course, I had to send the prototypes back. My toy collector pals were excited to hear which characters were finally getting made, since I had to prepare art months in advance of the figure hitting the store shelves!

Bat-Blog: That's cool. I really love these & have all of them in my personal collection.

Bigley: I have a few, also! Keep in mind, these were all produced in the days before DC DIRECT and such, so this would have been the only action figure appearance then of characters such as Harley Quinn, Creeper, Mad Hatter, etc...

Bat-Blog: Yes, we loved that they did those really obscure characters too. The Batman Animated series is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest cartoons ever made...period. If you watch them today they still hold up really well & I'm sure they will be Super Classics in the far future.

Batman-AL BIGLEY INTERVIEW, Batman Illustrator, Part 5

Bat-Blog: What kind of work are you currently doing? Also, can you tell us if you're doing any new Batman-related art for the future?

Bigley: I did some art for what will be an online romance comic book, for one of the big romance novel publishers, as well as some t-shirt work for an ad firm in Statesville, NC.

I'm also doing work on designing characters and doing some comic strips for the Food Lion supermarket folks, involving safety and conservation efforts in their warehouses and such. Sometimes an artist does lots of work like this, or design work, that the wider public never sees.
But I've done so many other projects in the past, including work for Marvel Comics, Children's Television Workshop, LucasFilm, Golden Books, Hershey's, and others.

I also recently did some artwork for the WaterKeeper Foundation, run by Robert Kennedy Jr. It's a comic strip with superheroes that teaches abut water conservation issues. Not just the ecology, but legal issues, big business, etc...Interesting!

As far as my return to Batman, I pencilled and designed several Hallmark DC Christmas ornaments back in June! Talk abut lead-time! The ornaments also spotlight Superman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and the usual famous foes! I don't know if these will be fully produced or not, but they sure were fun to create!

I've really had a good time doing this. I've gotten to work with not only some of my childhood favorites as far as characters like Batman or Spider-Man are concerned, but also some of my artistic favorites growing up. It can also be fun not quite knowing what you'll be doing 4 weeks or 4 years from now. This week I'm drawing comics, next month I'll be working on product designs for Shrek 2 toys, the next will be a logo design, etc... Keeps it interesting! Thanks! I hope your readers find this interesting!

Bat-Blog: Ha, Yes! Al I know our readers are gonna love this. You're a very talented artist & this has been a great interview. We wanna thank you for being a wonderful guest. Please keep us updated in ANY future Batman projects you do, that's exciting. Now, get back to work!!

Batman-AL BIGLEY INTERVIEW, Batman Illustrator, Part 4

Bat-Blog: OK, now...What's the deal with these wonderful illustrations you did that have a Christmas theme?

Bigley: Those are all done for super fan, Tim Chandler! Tim collects original comic art, most featuring his favorite character, Poison Ivy, and we team up every year to come up with a theme that involves the Bat-characters! Kinda tough, but somehow we pull it off every year! The idea is to work with what the viewer sees first, then, once the card is unfolded, they get the whole picture! I also convert some of these into cards I send to those in the biz every Christmas season...

Bat-Blog: Oh yeah, we think these are all really great! The one with Batman in Santa's sled with Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, & The Joker is my personal favorite! It's an awesome graphic for a Christmas card but I think it would make a great Christmas ornament too!

Superhero Batman-Batmobile Replica Car Maker : Part 4

Now, Part 4 of the now famous Mark Racop BAT-BLOG Interview!

Bat-Blog : Do you rent them out & how much does it cost?
Racop : I rent my first car for promotions for $100-200, and myself as Batman for another $100. I have done countless birthday parties, convention appearances, promotions at stores, and parades.

Bat-Blog : Can the BAT-BLOG Guy get a free ride ( ha ha! )?
Racop : Of course! Come on by the studio in Logansport, Indiana. I would be delighted to give you a free ride around town. It would be a blast!

Ha Ha, Thanks Mark for making this a quite painless & very fun interview. I know our loyal BAT-BLOG Readers are gonna flip over your cars! They are beautiful masterpieces of ART. You should be very proud of them. As soon as I win the Oklahoma Lottery you'll be the VERY 1st guy I call!

Down below is some more information about getting in touch with Mark, especially if you're thinking about buying one of these babies :
Mark Racop
Fiberglass Freaks (at the MagicHouse Productions Studios)
602 Erie Avenue
Logansport, IN. 46947
574-722-3237
magichouse@rocketmail.com

We also have a LINK to Justin's BATCAVE Website where you can read about more detailed specs of the car :

We want to end this BAT-BLOG interview with a Music Video by ICE CREAM HEADACHE ( What an awesome name for a band! ). It features one of Mark's Batmobiles & the song is pretty good too! We hope y'all have enjoyed this as much as we have. Thanx again Mark!

Superhero Batman-Batmobile Replica Car Maker Part 3

Now back to our regular program : Part 3 of the Mark Racop BAT-BLOG Interview!

Bat-Blog : Do you collect any vintage toys, if so, what kind?
Racop : I collect 1966 Batman toys and photos. I have a decent Star Trek and Star Wars toy collection. My wife Jill, on the other hand, has over 1,000 dolls and action figures of almost every kind - from the Green Hornet to Thundercats; from Mermaids to custom-made dolls that she makes.
Bat-Blog : Have you met George Barris & what does he think about you making these cars of yours?
Racop : I met George Barris once, but for only a few minutes before he was whisked away to the airport. We did not have a chance to discuss replica building.
Bat-Blog : Have any of these cars ever been featured in a Commercial or TV Show?
Racop : My first car, the one I built when I was 17 years old, has been featured in two commercials, a music video, and in the fan film "StarTrek vs. Batman." Our current cars have been featured in several newspapers, a couple of magazines, and on the news in both Indiana and Ohio.
Speaking of TV news broadcasts, here's PART TWO of that ground breaking news story!

Superhero Batman-Batmobile Replica Car Maker : Part 2

Here's part 2 of our interview with Mark Racop, 1966 Batmobile Replica Car Maker!

Bat-Blog : Do you ever make other bat-vehicles like a Bat-Bike or Bat-Boat, etc?
Racop : We haven't built any other bat-vehicles yet, but a Batcycle and a Batboat will probably be in our near future.
Bat-Blog : What type of Engine? Top Speed?
Racop : We use the stock Lincoln 460 engine, but we replace the distributor, the alternator, the oil pump, the radiator, add two electric cooling fans, and we replace the carburetor with an Edelbrock. ( More detailed specs can be found at Justin's Batcave Website, we'll post that later on down in the interview. )
I don't know what the top speed is. The fastest I've driven a Batmobile is 85 miles per hour. My partner Jeff Sandberg has had one over 100 miles per hour.
Bat-Blog : What kind of car body do you start with?
Racop : We start with a 1972-1979 Lincoln town car. We cut the entire body off the car except for the floor pan and part of the firewall. We do a LOT of work to the chassis and the floor pan, and then we make the body completely out of fiberglass in our custom made molds. The car is built in sixteen sections, then the mold is bolted together, and we fiberglass the seams. The sixteen mold sections are unbolted, and we have a beautiful Batmobile, ready to flip over and attach to the chassis. The original Batmobile was a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car that never went into production. It was a one-of-a-kind vehicle that will never be duplicated because it cost $250,000 in 1955!
Bat-Blog : Speaking of prices, how much are these Batmobiles you make?
( This was the #1 Question asked, ha ha ).
Racop : Our Deluxe Build is $85,000, and our Standard Build is $75,000. The Deluxe has working gadgets, like the rocket exhaust flame thrower.
Bat-Blog : How many have you made total?
Racop : We are building our fifth car, we've repaired a Futura sculpture, we're repairing Chris Woodside's wrecked Batmobile, and we're making the body for #6. We have two more Lincolns torn down and ready for bodies, and we have another Lincoln ready to tear down.
We're pausing this interview for a minute to present to you an actual TV News Broadcast of another interview with Mark Racop! We will return shortly.

Superhero Batman-Batmobile Replica Car Maker : Part 1

Wow! This is the BAT-BLOG's very 1st Interview! This page will be a new feature of the BAT-BLOG. For our 1st Bat-Interview we asked 1966 Batmobile Replica Car Maker Mark Racop to participate & he was very gracious to accept, Thanks Mark! Mark Racop owns a company in Logansport, Indiana called FIBERGLASS FREAKS! The small group of artists ( Yes, I said Artists! ) make incredible replica cars of the original 1966 Batmobile like Adam West & Burt Ward had in the classic 1960's TV Series. The attention to detail is insane!

This is the 1st part of the long interview with Mark. Because of space limitations we have had to break it down into 4 smaller parts but keep readin', you'll get the idea!

OK Mark, First off, Thank You very much for being our 1st victim! We really really love your '66 Batmobile Replica Cars & are very excited to start askin' you some questions! We posted a thread at our Bat-Blog Message Board about this interview & asked the readers to come up with a few questions of their own about what they would like to ask you. Here are a few things they wondered about.

Bat-Blog : How many hours does it take to complete one?
Racop: Over 1,00 hours of labor go into each car, spread over 6 months.

Bat-Blog : Have you ever been tempted to make it a different color?
Racop : We joked about an all-chrome Batmobile once, or alternating the striping and black colors, but we've never followed through on our threats!

Bat-Blog : Have windshield wipers been designed for this car yet?
Racop : There are no wipers available due to the compound curve of the front windshield.

Bat-Blog : What do owners do when it rains? Because there's no roof!
Racop : If it is a light rain, usually the water will pass right over the cockpit, but if it is a heavy rain, it's best to park the car in a carwash, or better yet--don't get it out if rain is in the forecast! Poor Chris Woodside goes down in history as the first Batmobile replica owner to have an accident. Why? He was in a hurry to get home because of rain!

Bat-Blog : Do any famous celebs own one? Does Adam West own one? Who buys them?
Racop : Russ Martin, a famous DJ in Texas, owns two Batmobiles. I've heard rumors that Burt Reynolds and David Copperfield both want the original car, but turned down replicas. Millionaires, museum owners, casino owners, and promotions companies are the usual buyers. Some buy them for promotions, but others just want a cool car with which to pick up their kids from school! ( Bat-Blog is thinking, "Must be rough! ha ha!!" ).

Superhero Batman-Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 6

CHRIS ~ I live in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, which is a suburb of Minneapolis. I share a house with my partner Melissa, who is a comics professional herself. Back in 1998 I helped found a science fiction convention called CONvergence which I still help run to this day, which is held each year on the first full weekend of July. The convention gets a little bigger every year, and we had more than 2,500 people attend last year. Between CONvergence and my comics work, that pretty much eats all my free time.

BAT-BLOG ~ Do you collect anything, like vintage toys or comics? Barbie Dolls maybe? ( Just kiddin' about the Barbies, ha ha ).

CHRIS ~ I'm a huge movie fan, and tend to accumulate DVDs faster than I seem to find the time to watch them these days. I don't collect a whole lot of vintage toys, although I do enjoy picking up toys related to any comics projects I'm working on.

Superhero Batman-Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 7

CHRIS ~ The one ongoing project I'm connected with right now is Dr. Blink, Superhero Shrink, which I co-created with John Kovalic of Dork Tower. He scripts, I pencil and ink, and Melissa Kaercher provides coloring and lettering. The first trade paperback for Blink just hit stores at the beginning of February.

Superhero Batman-Penciller for BATMAN STRIKES, Part 8

CHRIS ~ It's a crazy business and it gets harder and harder to break into. If you're getting into it to find fame and fortune, you can probably find it more easily in another field. If you want to do comics so badly that you'd stick with it for years whether you make any money at it or not... well then you might just get somewhere. Study the human figure and work on your drawing in general by looking at the real world, not at other comic book art. Just learn to be the best artist you can. You can figure out how to apply it to comics later. When you're ready for that part of it, there are some great books by Will Eisner and Scott McCloud on the subject.