The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log » Batman

The Dark Knight Rises…

Joe — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:15:29 +0000

Okay, we’ve just had the Avengers open and I have to say it was indeed as good as the hype and as good as I had hoped for. Much as I have huge faith normally in Joss a multi-character superhero team flick is not an easy thing to pull off, but he did so and boy, was it a rollicking good ride. I think Marvel’s clever strategy of introducing all of the main characters over several years of earlier films worked extremely well – we comic readers know who they all are but most of the cinema audience needs to learn their backstory, being unfamiliar with the comics. With that need already satisfied and the desire for the team film stoked by each of the earlier films playing onwards to the next the Avengers didn’t need to waste half its running time introducing back stories for each character and instead could get right on down to the adventure.

And the summer of comics film isn’t over yet – we were all hoping that the Avengers would prove to be as good as we all wanted it to be and it delivered (actually I am eager to go back and re-watch it). But we have another, equally eagerly anticipated film to come – the final part of award-winning director Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. Bane. The man who broke the Batman. Catwoman. A stuggle for the soul of Gotham and the life of the Dark Knight and just what sort of hero Bruce Wayne really is. The new trailer looks simply superb:

I’ve admired Nolan’s work ever since his incredible breakthrough Memento and outside of the Batman series he has shown he can maintain complex narratives and characters that demand thought from the audience (how nice to have a director of large scale movies treat the audience as if they have a brain, thank you) and still deliver enormously enjoyable action scenes – witness the brilliant Inception, for example. And he’s done that with the previous Batman films, I think, so the weight of expectation for this third and final of Nolan’s Gotham outings is pretty heavy, but I’m confident he’s going to deliver again. Readying my utility belt for June.

“This is your brain on drugs…”

Joe — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:02:30 +0000

Harvey Dent teaches youngsters a valuable lesson about the dangers of experimenting with drugs – hey, kids, don’t take acid! And come to think of it, don’t mess around with the other type of acid either… Is this how the anti-drug message is taught to Gotham’s school children?? (from Dorkly via Neatorama)

Dorkly has several more spoof Gotham City public service announcement style drug warning posters up, including a reminder of why you shouldn’t be sniffing that fun but dangerous Joker Gas!

The Dark Knight in 60 Seconds

Joe — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:01:22 +0000

Rob C Nisperos uploaded his animated short that he entered into the Virgin Radio Fake Film Festival, a brief but cracking potted Dark Knight in just 60 seconds!

The Dark Knight in 60 Seconds – Animated from Rob C. on Vimeo.

Captain Batman?

Joe — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:03:47 +0000

Fashionably Geek showcases the body art of Daris Akers, a tattoo and comics fan who decided to bring together DC and Marvel with a Captain America tat across his back and Batman across the front. Pretty darned cool…

Drunken Batman gets animated

Joe — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:01:09 +0000

Several months back I blogged about Spencer Scott Holmes and Ryan Dunigan’s Drunken Batman video (see here). I notice on their Vimeo channel that they now have animated versions of the Drunk Knight to check out:

Drunk Batman and Robin Animated Short 1- Smart Phone from Spencer Scott Holmes on Vimeo.

Drunk Batman and Robin Animated Short 2- Why Robin Can’t Wear Pants from Spencer Scott Holmes on Vimeo.

Dr Seuss doing Batman?

Richard — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:01:28 +0000

After having done 50+ pages of his Call Of Cthulhu (For Beginning Readers) mashing up Dr Seuss’ style and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos? Dr FaustusAU has taken on various Gotham City residents a la Seuss as well, with Riddler, Catwoman and Two-Face in addition to Bats and The Joker above. (Via Buzzfeed)

And on the Cthulhu front – he’s currently reformatting and redrawing several of the pages to fit into a more Seuss-like double page format, and there’s talk of a publishing deal.

Batman opening in Lego!

Joe — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:01:41 +0000

Now this really made me smile – take the cult, camp fun of the opening title sequence for the 60s Adam West starring Batman TV series and redo it in animation using Lego! Brilliant and geektastic! (via ReiWorks):

Jerry Robinson and the Joker

Joe — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:01:25 +0000

A few days ago we lost another of legendary figures of old school comics, Jerry Robinson; the other evening I spotted this short video recorded a couple of years ago at the New York Comic Con with Jerry being asked about the creation of one of the comic world’s most iconic figures, The Joker, as well as what he thought of Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the character in cinema:

I am Batman

Joe — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:03:26 +0000

I just love Dan Berry’s recent Batman sketch – and I like the way his angular Dark Knight now sports a more jagged, straight-edged logo that looks like the Bat-logo crossed with a TIE Fighter. Fab.

Batman – cleaning up, er, Coventry??

Joe — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:01:23 +0000

Having sorted out Gotham’s criminal woes, naturally the Dark Knight would next turn his attention to an urban sprawl that is an even bigger hive of scum and villainy than even Mos Eisley – Coventry!