My Batman Collection

History

I have always been a fan of Batman, though more because of the 60s TV show than the comics. Many years ago, a friend of mine by the name of Amanda Chalkley was a collector of Batman merchandise from the early to mid 1980s, unfortunately her collection was destroyed in a fire while it was stored in her friend's backyard shed. She lost a lot of great merchandise in that tragic incident.

Then in 1989 the first of the new Batman films was released and I was determined not to become a collector of Batman memorabilia after seeing what had happened to Amanda’s collection. But the character of Batman in that film was too appealing for me to resist: black, mysterious and with a flowing cape. With an image as strong as this, I couldn’t help but at least buy the 1989 Batman calendar ……. and I used it. I then suddenly bought the Batman board game in the same year ……. and I used that too. After that, I started buying a little bit more Batman merchandise, but this time it was to keep in mint condition – as a collection.

This is a photo of my collection as it first looked in 1989 after I had been collecting for a few weeks.

This is how it turned out 4 years later

My main focus was always on Batman himself, and never the villains nor other characters (Robin, Batgirl, etc). So for example when it came to buying figurines, I only ever purchased the Batman ones.

Why did I stop collecting?

My collecting finished soon after the release of Batman and Robin in 1996 because quite honestly I deplored the film intensely. I was already disappointed with Batman Forever but I kept on collecting merchandise from it as I was also focusing on Batman: The Animated Series at the time. However Batman and Robin was bad enough to make me stop spending my hard earned money on merchandise for a film I cared not about (it was a tumultuous moment when I picked up that B&R collectable from the store shelf, looked at it, then put it back and walked away – something I had not done in all my collecting years).

These days I now only pick up the odd item here and there that grabs my attention. I've long past the days where I needed to grab each action figure as it was released along with yet ANOTHER Batcycle or action figure Batmobile. Batman collecting is too expensive a hobby to keep up full time and although a part of me misses the thrill of grabbing everything I could get my hands on, I am rather content with the extra dollars I been able to save as a result of stopping.

Philosophies

As a Batman collector, I always found it difficult to find items pre the ‘89 film, mainly due to the increasingly rare availability of items as well as their high cost (a mint in box Corgi die-cast Batmobile from the 1960s still eludes me). So in the end, I could only concentrate on the newer films. My philosophy was that I was prepared to spend $xxx amount on many cheaper and nasty items rather than the same amount on one expensive item

One thing I did not look at in my collecting was the Batman comics nor graphic novels. Due the huge amount available, I found that they were a collecting entity unto themselves and I had to choose between just collecting them or concentrating on other merchandise. Because I enjoy the look and feel of three dimensional objects, I chose to bypass collecting the comics - unless I could get them really cheap - even though I do thoroughly enjoy reading them whenever possible.

In the grand scheme of things, I think I’d be lucky to have 0.5% of the entire Batman range of collectables ever produced from 1939 to the present day (and getting smaller by the year).

How much has my collection cost me?

Well I remember buying my first Batman Forever merchandise - four jigsaw puzzles that had just been released in K-Mart. They cost me around $35 to get and I didn’t even like them! There were LOTS of such impulse spending sprees like this. As for the total cost…….. who knows, but it did force me to keep driving my old 1973 Datsun because I couldn't afford a new car.

(Oh, and I was able to re-buy the '89 calender in mint condition a couple of years ago, but I have never seen another mint condition ’89 Batman board game - much to my loss).

So where is the collection now???

After moving house on a couple of occasions and having the whole collection stored in a friend's garage - which unfortunately resulted in some items experiencing water damage - the collection lived a nomadic existance as it was moved around from place for place. However, as of late 2003 the collection now has a home in a dedicated room in my new house and is finally in the process of being setup on display (it's like Christmas opening up these boxes discovering things that have been in storage for a decade!). The pictures here and below were taken in 1993 as a visual momento of how the collection used to look. Once the new Batman Room is finally setup (sometime in 2004), I'll be able to update them.

In my collection are some of my most prized items, including:

- A can and a small bottle of Batman Cola - both unopened

- Batman Forever ice creams on a stick (still kept in a freezer, unopened)

- Hong Kong commemorative Batman figure from the British to Chinese government transition

- Scalextric Batmobile

- Chocolate Batmobile from Batman Returns still mint in box (though looking a little white)

- Special ’89 Batman cornflakes from the US

- Batmobile telephone

- Batman car mats

- Embroided Batman vest

- Batman dressing gown

These photos here were taken in 1993. What you see here represents about 40% of the whole collection.

(If you don't think the collection looks very exciting after all the hype I've given it, just remember Han Solo's line from Star Wars "she may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.")

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