In 1989 when Tim Burton’s Batman film arrived in theaters, Warner Bros. heavily promoted the movie, creating a new Batmania akin to what transpired in the 1960s. Batman and his logo were everywhere in the summer of ’89 on promotional material, movie tie-in merchandise, and toys. Batman’s stern face, Joker’s huge grin, and the Batsymbol were plastered on posters, t-shirts, hats, magazines, cereal boxes, trading cards, TV dinner trays, and lots more.

Kenner, who had produced Batman toys in the early ‘80s, regained the rights to DC figures and released a new wave in 1990. The Dark Knight Collection had several versions of Batman, differentiated by paint jobs and accessories, plus two versions of the Joker, a quick change Bruce Wayne, deluxe figures, and several vehicles, including the Batmobile, Batcycle, Joker cycle, and multiple flight vehicle variations. The Kenner art was also notable for the striking imagery on the packaging and some of that art is now up for auction in Hake’s Auction #238.

The Kenner Batman: The Dark Night Collection cardback photoart of Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker features photographs that have been artistically modified for use as the masters for mass produced printed images. The two pieces are sold individually in 20” x 23” mat containing the photoart from the cardbacks for the first and second series of Kenner’s The Dark Knight Collection that was released in 1990-1991.

The Batman photoart is on a 17” x 20” sheet and the Joker is on a 16” x 19-7/8” sheet of Kodak photo paper with a dark background and pink, peach, and purple highlights. The art was used on the front of various action figure packaging for Batman and Joker action figures, alongside the Batman movie logo.

These pieces of Batman toy art are a part of Hake’s 1,930-lot auction of pop culture and Americana memorabilia. The auction is open for bidding at hakes.com now through Tuesday and Wednesday, July 25-26, 2023.