Superhero Museum Collection Auction

That's me touching the Robin costume at the Superhero Museum Collection Auction.
The green you see in the top right hand corner of the picture is Robin's gloves.

You can click on the picture for a closer view.

This is the cover of the auction catalog.
The catalog had 112 items listed.
Everything from Superman costumes to the Batmobile.


There were more than just the catalog items there. There were also thousands of other Superman and Batman related items that were to be auctioned off that day.



Here is the Robin suit. Item No. 78.

On the auction block.

I had hoped that it would start out low enough that I would feel comfortable to bid on it.
It didn't.
The first offer made was for $800.00.

That was out of my range.

It ended up selling for $2,200.00.

I moved on.

I did bid on a 35mm Batman begins movie reel, an old plastic Batman figure, a metal toy Batmobile and a Batboat, and a prop diploma used in the movie, Batman Begins.

I didn't win any of those bids either.

So I set my sights on a metal, 1966, Batman lunch box with a thermos.


I bid it up to $70.00.

It sold for $110.00.

Most of the items were Superman related but I did buy something from the collection before I had to leave.

I will post about it and other items sold at the auction later this week.

Brian B

Watching Batman in 1966

Me watching Batman in 1966.

Brian B

Batman: Murder at Wayne Manor

While remodeling my Batroom I decided to display some of my Bat-books on my bookshelf.
I thought I would tell you little about the third book from the left.

As with many things in my Bat-collection this book was a gift from a fellow Bat-fan named Lee.

Back then I used to see Lee about once a year at camp.

He brought me this book one year and told me excitedly that "You get to BE Batman not just read about him!"

Needless to say I couldn't wait until I could get some time to read this book.



The book is called Batman: Murder at Wayne Manor and is written by Duane Swierczynski.

Lee was right. This is no mere book where you read a story and hear about clues that the Worlds Greatest Detective finds. You are the detective and the clues are in your hands.


Here is the first clue.

Construction workers at Wayne Manor find a body buried on Wayne property and along with the body, Bruce Wayne finds an invitation to a masquerade party held at the manor years ago.
On the back of the invitation is a hand written message and blood stains.

Needless to say Batman is on the case and he begins to investigate whose body is buried on Wayne property and who murdered them.


Along the way Commissioner Gordon slips you a copy of an autopsy report.

Alfred passes you a photograph from that night as you rebuild the nights events.
The photo contains a picture of Bruce's parents and another couple.



You also better brush up on how to read DNA results because you will need this information if you want to solve the case.

Once you have all the clues for the case it is time for you to solve the mystery.

The last chapter of the book is sealed shut so you won't accidentally get a peak of the answer while you work through the book.

This is a fun book and I look forward to going through it again after I have forgotten who did it.
I would love to say I completely solved it but I didn't. I did get the majority of it right but I missed some the little details.

This book came out in 2008 so I am sure you can still find a copy of it somewhere.
I highly recommend that you do and don't peek!

Brian B

DC Direct Batman The Animated Series Batman Maquette

Here's the Man of the Hour, himself, as a 9" maquette produced by DC Direct. Bruce Timm's design for the character in Batman The Animated Series was such a great combination of Batman's classic look and the new-at-the-time all black and gray look that Batman had taken on in comics. This was certainly a response to the all-black costumes in the first two Tim Burton movies that had been released, at that point. Timm designed a sleek and stylish Batman that would translate well to animation. Whether he knew it at the time or not, I think he created an iconic look for the character that will most likely still look great 50 years from now.

DC Direct produced this maquette in 2004 in an edition size of 2300 pieces.

DC Direct Batman The Animated Series Harley Quinn Maquette

In honor of "Harley Qwursday" here on UTGP (just kidding, Bubbashelby), I present DC Direct's Harley Quinn maquette from 2004. This is another statue from the same series as the Joker from my previous post.

She stands about 9" tall and was produced in a limited edition size of 2000. I don't have much more to say about these statues than I did in my previous Joker maquette post.... so, I'll just let the pictures "do the talking."

DC Direct Batman The Animated Series Joker Maquette

This is DC Direct's 9" Joker Maquette as he appeared in the late, great Batman The Animated Series that debuted in 1992. DC Direct produced a handful of characters from the series as maquette statues. These were produced in a breakable, porcelain type of material and need to be handled carefully.

A maquette is a sculpture for animators to use when drawing a character over and over. The animator refers to the sculpture often to make sure they are drawing a character correctly from the many different angles animation requires. Some still-frame artists (like comic book artists) may use something like this from time to time, too. Most often, the maquette is sculpted in a static, non-dramatic pose so the artist can more easily see body proportions and what-not on the character.



While not true animation maquettes (as in actually used by animators), these DC Direct statues do a good job of replicating the type of statues that animators of BTAS might have used day to day.

At any rate, here's Joker from Batman The Animated Series in all his glory. The statue was produced as a limited edition of 1400 pieces and was released in 2004. While only 4 or 5 characters were produced, rumor had it that many more of these BTAS maquettes were planned. Apparently, the demand wasn't there and the line disappeared prematurely. However, as often happens, since these weren't all that popular and low edition sizes were produced, they command a "collector's price," these days.

Joker Starlog Make up

While I was looking in my box of stuff for my Batman tortilla chips I found an old Starlog magazine which had a Batman related story in it.

I figured since it is October I would scan it and post it for those who like to do special effects make up.

This is from January 1993





Brian B