COMIC BOOK #1 – Green Lantern #55: The Green Lantern books still remain some of my favorite currently-running superhero serial adventures, though the addition of a third GL title (Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors) smacks of Too Much of a Good Thing. I like Guy Gardner and all, but I think maybe running this new storyline in the already-running Green Lantern Corps rather than starting up yet another series in a marketplace already overstuffed with too many titles devoted to the same character/franchise.
Well, okay, that doesn’t say anything about the actual comic that’s coming out this week. …Hey, it’s Lobo versus Atrocitus! And Hector Hammond is in it! Awesome!
COMIC BOOK #2 – Action Comics #890: The initial installment of Paul Cornell’s run, focusing on Lex Luthor, with Pete Woods on art chores. I’m quite looking forward to this. Of course, this is Modern DC Universe Lex Luthor, not the completely objectively-fantastic Silver Age Prison Grays Luthor, but regardless of how the current version of Luthor requires a…smoothing over of some of the continuity-reshuffles of the character over the last few years, his pure Luthorness tends to still shine through. He’s one of those characters, like the Thing or Dr. Doom, who seems to come through unscathed regardless of the storytelling abuses he endures. Er, not that I’m saying that he’s going to be taking said abuse in this current storyline, which from all appearances should be very good.
Also, Action Comics is almost to issue #900. Far out.
COMIC BOOK #3 – Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1: Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Peter Snejbjerg present the latest mini-series set in the Hellboy universe…not much to say about this, aside from the Hellboy ‘n’ friends comics are always entertaining.
A comic I think I’m not going to buy is Flash #3, in that I’ve been reading the Flash comics for over a quarter of a century, and while I enjoyed the Flash: Rebirth mini well enough (despite the occasional artistic oddity), the actual Flash comic itself hasn’t really grabbed me. I know, I know, we’re only two issues in, but I read this comic with a sense of “okay, y’all made a big deal about Barry Allen coming back…now what?” It may just be too many years of Barry being offstage, his new status quo of “departed legend” too solidly established, but this new series just doesn’t feel right to me yet. Now, I did feel the same way about the post-Rebirth Green Lantern series, which took me an issue or four to really get into, and now it’s one of my favorite regular reads. I honestly don’t know if I’m going to stick around long enough on Flash to find out if it’ll do the same.
Now, that’s just me. It’s a perfectly fine comic, aside from the historical baggage it may carry for some fans, and plenty of people are buying it and asking me about it at the shop. I may have just reached my Flash Limit, is all. Your mileage may vary, as people fond of saying that sort of thing like to say.
Oh, and the Herbie Vinyl Figure is coming out this week, too. Thaaaaat…may make up for my lack of comic spending this Wednesday.
…is flipping through some old comic or magazine and looking at the ads, seeing some ridiculously cool thing for what seems to modern eyes an incredibly cheap price, and wishing, even for just a moment, that access was had to a time machine that we may whisk away to the past and, say, not rescue President Kennedy or kill Hitler, but instead obtain said item for such a paltry and affordable sum:
This ad in a
Famous Monsters of Filmland from 1966 triggered that response in me, even though 1) I’d never shown much skill or enthusiasm for model making; 2) while I did enjoy
The Munsters, I can’t say I’m enough of a fan to collect Munsters ephemera; and 3) seriously, I don’t need any more crap cluttering up the house, obtained via time travel or not. (Except more Swamp Thing stuff…
that’s not crap.) But..darned if that’s not a pretty neat-looking model kit,
Of course, if one were to travel through time to buy collectible merchandise, you’d better have era-appropriate money. Don’t know that I could find a whole lot of 1966 paper money floating around, but I could probably scrape together two bucks’ worth of 1966 quarters right quick. Or I could write a check, I guess, but that’d be one hell of a post-date on it if I’d want it to clear. I wouldn’t want to write a bad check, because what kind of time traveler bounces a bad check written on a non-yet-existing account on some unsuspecting merchant in the past? The dick kind, that’s who.
But perhaps I digress.
This particular model kit has been reissued
but alas, now priced in the $20 range. Though I suppose nerds of the future may look back through ancient Internet archives via the chip directly implanted into their highly-evolved supersized brains and espy the Amazon listing, causing them to also wistfully wish for access to a time machine and a way to convert their Mercurian Space Credits to PayPal. (Actually, the family time machine is out in the garage, but I suspect our theoretical Future Nerd has been grounded for wasting too much time on his Internet brain chip looking at old Amazon listings and naughty pictures of Future-Mankind’s tiny-headed ancestors.)
But perhaps I digress again.
Here are some shots of the original model kit, which notes that one collectible guide lists the item at $1,200. Well, that $20 sounds a little better to me already.
I like the detail in one of the photos there (and obscured in the ad above) that Herman is actually on the TV, implying they’re watching a show about themselves. Well, it’s a little early for the “reality TV” craze, but I suspect, perhaps Herman turned up in the local news often enough that odds were you turned on the TV, there he was.
Anyway, the Munsters Hobby Kit. Pretty neat. Probably coveted by time travelers. Think about it, won’t you?
So pal Tom F. dropped off another load of books at the shop, and in this particular stash was an item I’d mentioned just a few days ago that I’d been looking for:
Yes, the Al Williamson adaptation of the 1980
Flash Gordon movie. While we had the
recent Al Williamson Flash Gordon book
in stock at our shop, with the complete artwork of this adaptation presented in nice, clear black and white, I kind of wanted it as it originally was printed, garish (and I do mean garish) coloring and all. Kind of a nostalgic, “present the material with all the cheesiness it was intended to have,” kind of thing, I guess.
Anyway, it’s finally in my possession. I CLAIM THIS COMIC IN THE NAME OF MIKE.
Here’s another goodie from the box of books:
Lots and lots of interviews and quotes with the stars, about all the fun they had, all the work that went into costumes and special effects, and George Clooney saying “playing Batman is the high point of my career.” Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s not like he was going to say “boy, I’m pretty sure I’m going to regret ever having done this film,” but still, it’s interesting reading a book like this, designed to pump up and promote the film in the most positive way possible, from the perspective of years after the fact, when the film’s tarnished reputation has been firmly established. It’s like reading a tragedy, where you know the tragic ending is coming, but it never actually arrives in the book itself.
Welcome, everyone, to the ONE BILLIONTH entry in the End of Civilization series! …Well, okay, I rounded up slightly, but boy howdy, I have been doing these a while. Anyway, here we go again…grab your copy of Diamond Previews, July 2010 edition, or download your space-age digital copy to your iDroid/ApplePad3000 thingie, and let’s go! (Also, I cut the thalidomide joke…consider yourself lucky.)
p. 135 – Batman Arkham Asylum Series 2 Action Figures:
Oh, sure, I really want this staring back at me:
Though looking at the figures, here…they’re basically making Batman and Robin movie figures, aren’t they?
p. 152 – Star Trek Captain’s Log: Pike One-Shot:
I really hope this is just a single shot of Pike in his chair staring at you, repeated for 23 pages. Maybe the light on the front of his space-wheelchair can be lit or unlit on different pages.
p. 193 – Spawn #207:
Just a reminder that the Spawn comic is still hangin’ in there. Yeah, I’m amazed, too.
p. 210 – Marvel Minimates Series 37 Mini-Figure 2-Packs:
Okay, the six-armed Spider-Man Minimate is an abomination before God and nature:
…but Incognito Thing is ten kinds of awesome:
p. 222 – Duncan the Wonder Dog Volume 1: Show One:
I think Rex the Wonder Dog might have a word or two about this:
p. 232 – Archie Marries… Slipcased HC:
Hey, remember that one time everyone thought something was going to happen in Archie and it turned out it really didn’t? Here’s your chance to remember it forever!
p. 350 – DC Comics Year by Year A Visual Chronicle HC (with Slipcase):
1934 – 1970: Nothing much of importance happens.
1971: Swamp Thing introduced.
p. 350 – The DC Comics Superhero Collection Magazine:
“Hey! Hey, you, DC Comics! Stop getting rid of all your non-white characters!”
“Whoa whoa whoa, don’t blame me, man! Some of my best friends come from the interdimensional island of Marzal!”
p. 352 – Final Crisis The Novel:
Phew! At last, a clear, plain novelization of Grant Morrison’s epic mini-series which will explain everything, since apparently “powerful beings invade the Earth and cause mayhem” is a plot of nigh-Joycean proportions.
p. 354 – Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics Limited Edition HC:
“Face front, true believers! I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler and a straight-line drawing machine, which is why I hired artists to draw my comics! If you can’t draw, you should hire artists, too! Excelsior!”
p. 354 – Disneystrology HC:
“Disneystrology combines astrology, numerology, and the magic of movies to help readers understand their own personalities.”
How can so much hard science be contained in only 48 pages?
p. 358 – The Snuggie Sutra TP:
“POSITION 32: Just take the damned thing off. I mean, c’mon, seriously, what’re you thinking?”
p. 361 – Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide SC:
“WARNING: Readers may be really, really hungry after reading this book.”
p. 364 – Star Wars Millennium Falcon 3-D Owner’s Guide HC:
“Includes technical notes from Han Solo….”
I don’t know that Han Solo would be all that big on “technical notes.” “If it doesn’t work, hit it with your space-wrench. Or get your Wookiee pal to fix it.”
p. 374 – The Demon T-Shirt:
Will delight 1 out of 20 people you encounter who are also Jack Kirby fans. The other 19 will simply assume you worship Satan.
p. 381 – Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Deluxe Sweater:
Okay, they’re just selling the sweater in this particular solicitation, but they could have tried a little harder on the actual mask. Looks like a background alien from Babylon 5.
p. 383 – Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Prestige Costume:
Man, what the hell happened to Carrottop?
p. 400 – Living Dead Dolls Presents Freddy Kreuger Classic 10-Inch Figure:
Oh, c’mon, how many victims is he realistically going to slash to death with those wee little nubbins of arms?
p. 407 – Star Wars Flying Millennium Falcon R/C Vehicle:
At first glance, as I was skimming the catalog, I thought this was some kind of hat, or visor. I’d bet Employee Aaron’s salary that such a thing actually does exist.
p. 407 – Toy Story 3 Mr. Potato Head as Buzz Lightyear:
“OH MY GOD he’s killed and skinned Buzz and he’s (choke) wearing him!”
p. 411 – Return to Wonderland Alice Statue:
“Why, you sneaky little phallic symbol, coming up behind me like that, you rascal!”
p. 431 – Toy Story Kubricks:
Why, these are kind of cute and neat-looking…nice translations of the screen characters in Kubrick form. …Hmm, and what’s this….
p. 431 – Toy Story 3 Buzz & Woody Be@rbrick:
oh no why would anyone do this
p. 435 – Farts in a Can Sound F/X Toy:
AND NOW WHY MIKE IS NOT INVITED TO PARTIES:
“BRRAAAAPP!”
“Ha ha! Mike, you scamp, you have one of those Farts in a Can toys, don’t you?”
“A what in a can?”
“Um….”
p. 437 – Cthulhu Plush Cell Phone Holder:
“Hello? Hello? Are the stars right now?”
p. 437 – Zombie Fragrance Oil:
“For a zombie in a state of decay, they need Zombie Fragrance Oil. Liberally apply this scent, and combat that lingering odor of decay to entire the comely young undead thing that has caught your fancy.”
I don’t even know where to start on this.
p. 439 – Superman Returns Desk Clock/Paperweight:
Wow, somebody still has some old Superman Returns stock left over.
p. 441 – Zodiac Smurf Figures:
JOKE #1: Newspaper Editor Smurf keeps getting letters from an anonymous suspect who claims “I’m going to smurf again!”
JOKE #2: James Randi Smurf has totally debunked this astrosmurfology nonsense. These Smurfs should be ashamed of themselves.
p. 453 – Back to the Future The Card Game:
“Oh, man…I drew the ‘Your Mom Hits on You’ card. I’m feeling very uncomfortable.”
p. 458 – DC Heroclix Jonah Hex Battle Pack:
Made from recycled Jonah Hex movie filmstock!
Marvel Previews p. 77 – Wolverine #1:
Well, yes, I guess…but if you need more Wolverine-style action, there’s the Wolverine: The Road to Hell one-shot, the new Daken: Dark Wolverine ongoing series, the ongoing X-23 spin-off character, there’s Wolverine’s appearance in X-Force, and he’s prominently featured in the Avengers: The Children’s Crusade ad, and there he is as the feature character in New Avengers #4, and oh, look, there he is in Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #3, and Astonishing X-Men #4, oh, and Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine #1 Director’s Cut, and there’s his origin in Origins of Marvel Comics: X-Men #1, and I can see him there in X-Men #3, and there’s a little tiny pic of him on the cover of X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – X-Men Vs. Vampires #1, and he might be in Avengers #5 or some of the other X-titles, but I’m not seeing him in the ads, but you know, maybe, if we’re lucky, Wolvie might in those titles, too. So thank goodness, we’ll hopefully have sufficient Wolverine content in the months to come!
Marvel Previews p. 88 – Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall #1:
Available in August…and then sporadically thereafter!
