AUSTIN, Texas – The Austin sky with be filled with a tribute to Batman Friday night.
- Batman 80th anniversary
- 1.5 million bats will fly in Austin
- Unveiling a new mural in the city
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the classic DC super hero. To celebrate, comic book fans will gather at the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Birdge to see 1.5 million bats fly in Austin for South by Southwest.
The event happens Friday night at 7:30 p.m. over the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. Fans can help celebrate the event online by using the #longlivethebat.
One of the people taking part in the event is Rooster Teeth co-founder Burnie Burns. Rooster Teeth has two productions that are becoming DC Comics titles.
"Austin is a town that has always embraced crazy, weird stuff. Batman is part of our culture now, but comics going back 80 years, there was a little bit of a fringe culture there, which I think plays into Austin. Austin was a place that was seen historically odd and on the fringe, and it's becoming more of a mainstream thing. We're following in Batman's footsteps."
A new mural will also be unveiled in the city at 807 E 4th St at 5 p.m. Limited edition merchandise will also be available.
Austin-based artist Mez Data said it took him two and half days to pain the 16-foot mural.
"I really wanted to make something awesome and just really pronounced. So when you see it was just super in your face and imposing. One of the ideas we had was to do some bat wings that people could stand in front of. A cool way to achieve that goal is to have his chest emblem be the wings that you could stand in front of and he could be towering over you and the City of Austin," Data said.
Batman was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane in 1939 with Detective Comics “The Bat-Man.”
