A BIRTHDAY SALUTE to a beloved Bat-illustrator…
The late, great Norm Saunders — a prolific artist of pulps, paperbacks, comics and trading cards — was born 117 years ago, on Jan. 1, 1907. To fans of the Caped Crusader, he’s best known for his 1966 Batman cards produced by Topps that, while released in tandem with the Adam West TV show, very much had a style of their own.
I’m a huge fan and I’m not alone. But for this year’s birthday salute, I found something a little different. Instead of showing off 13 groovy cards, we’ve got 13 ORIGINAL PAINTINGS that were used for said cards. So dig these, all from Heritage Auctions’ website.
Bob Powell is generally believed to be the pencil artist of the cards, though I’m not sure if he did all of them. If you have the knowledge, drop it in the comments!
Right on.
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Black Bat Series Card #8
Blue Bat Series Card #4B
Black Bat Series Card #10
Red Bat Series Card #20A
Blue Bat Series Card #6
Red Bat Series Card #1A
Red Bat Series Card #3
Black Bat Series Card #31
Blue Bat Series Card #1B
Red Bat Series #37A
Black Bat Series Card #40
Red Bat Series Card #13A
Red Bat Series Card #12A
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MORE
— 13 BATMAN TRADING CARDS: A Norm Saunders Birthday Celebration — 2023 Edition. Click here.
— BATMAN’S 1966 TOPPS CARDS: Why It’s a Great Time to Be a Fan of Artist NORM SAUNDERS. Click here.
January 1, 2024
Such a beautiful card set.