A new book is bringing classic projector and transparency technology to 21st century kids.  It’s Batman Flashlight Projections: Heroes and Villains, a new interactive activity book from publisher Insight Kids.  For generations boys and girls used flashlights for night-time fun.  Who hasn’t made animal silhouettes with their hands with lights and shadow, with sun through a window, or via the light from a campfire at night?

Years ago, Kenner’s Give-a-Show Projector was among the most sought after toys for kids, allowing you to place slides in a viewer, backed by a powerful (and sometimes not-so-powerful) light source.  Star Wars, Doctor Who, Yogi Bear, Tom & Jerry, Speed Racer, Fat Albert, Jonny Quest, Popeye, Disney movies, and yes, Batman, all were available in projectable slide form for kids.  Beginning in the 1970s virtually every TV and movie franchise was available for similar viewing via View-Master’s battery-powered projector.  The same effect can be found using the transparent images in Batman Flashlight Projections: Heroes and Villains.

Simply use a flashlight to read along and project Batman scenes from the book onto any wall or ceiling.  It works shone against nearly any surface.  If you don’t have a flashlight–and even if you do–you may be better off with your mobile phone flashlight, which probably packs more light power than a standard home flashlight.  With a strong light the images appear with even greater clarity than pictured above, even at 6-10 feet away.  And one page has a transparency that is blank, so kids can make their own scenes by using their own non-permanent, dry-erase marker.

Here is a preview of some of the images you’ll find in the book, courtesy of the publisher:

Written by Jake Black with illustrations emulating classic Batman comics designs by Scott Buoncristiano, Batman Flashlight Projections: Heroes and Villains is available in hardcover with 16 pages and seven projectable images here at Amazon, or order it from your local comic book shop.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com