Batman first burst onto the scene in 1939's Detective Comics #27. 20 years later, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff introduced the world to Bat-Mite, the extra-dimensional imp who would come to be known as the Dark Knight's biggest fan. Funko released a slew of Batman 80th Anniversary POP!s last year, and the company recently sent me two of them. Let's have a look.
Batman (1939)
There's not a whole lot that needs to be said about this one. It's got the funky ears, the purple gloves, that sweet, sweet belt, and the original chest emblem. It's based on this big reveal shot from Detective Comics #27, and it's a great take:
Bat-Mite
Bat-Mite first showed up in Detective Comics #267, and he has been an on-again, off-again source of mischief in Batman's world. The POP! has that squiggly chest emblem, a loop-and-pin belt (with his gut hanging over it), the floppy ear—the sorts of things that make Bat-Mite stick out in memory. He also comes with a stand so you put him up in the air where he belongs. Good stuff.
Overall
When we celebrate Batman, it is a complex and multi-faceted celebration. We commemorate who he is as a character, and how that character has been molded over nearly a century. But we also commemorate the incredibly diverse and complex world—nay, universe—of characters and stories that he have bloomed out of Gotham, and beyond, in that same time. Funko does a great job paying tribute to each of these two aspects with the 1939 Batman and 1959 Bat-Mite POP!s, and I'm delighted to have them under my roof. You can find yours in stores now.
DISCLAIMER: Batman News received these collectibles from Funko for the purpose of review.
