Odds and ends. But mostly odds.
- My mighty Canadian twin Steven sent me a couple links to videos that are on that YouTube all the kids are crazy for, including this one pairing up the soundtrack from the forthcoming Dark Knight trailer with video from our favorite live-action version of Batman:
And then there’s this clip, which does the same thing with footage from Tim Burton’s first Bat-flick. Not quite as funny, but still amusing.
- I pop into Ain’t It Cool News about once every week or two, just in case something worthwhile is accidentally posted there that I can share with you folks. It’s been a while since I’ve found anything, but this week…oh, this week, I spotted something fabulous. Glorious, even. Behold:
SAM & MAX ON DVD
I thought, as cartoon adaptations of my favorite comic books go, that the animated Sam & Max wasn’t half-bad. I only managed to catch a handful of episodes before the series went away to cartoon heaven, but I’ve been desperately trying to find them again. Well, not too desperately, but I was interested in getting my hands on a full set of ’em, and here they are.Oh, did someone say “Amazon.com link?” Glad to oblige:
Okay, it’s not due out ’til March…coincidentally, my birthday month, hint hint, nudge nudge…but order now, before you forget. Don’t let that weird little rabbity-thing down! - Reader Mike (no relation) sent along this link to an auction for “Action Comics #1 (Real).”
Okay, even giving this fellow the benefit of the doubt, that he actually has an original Action Comics #1 from 1938, and not one of the many, many reprints that have been issued since…I’m gonna need more that just 1) his word that it has a certificate of authenticity, and 2) what looks like a stock image of the Action #1 cover art rather than an actual scan of the comic before I thrown down fifty thousand bones.
‘Course, all he says is that it’s “real” — all editions of this comic are real, since they actually do exist as physical objects…they’re just not necessarily the “real” version from 1938. But, hey, like I said, for all I know this is an actual original version from 1938, but there’s not enough proof there to verify it.
If I were selling Action #1, and I decided I was going to use the eBay to unload it, here’s what I would do. First, high quality scans of the front and back, plus close-ups of the corners, photos of some of the interior pages…basically, lots of images showing that, yes, here’s an actual copy of the book, and not just some picture I took off a website.
Also, some grading information would be nice…notes of flaws, tears, stains, pencil marks, cover gloss, staple wear, creasing, etc. I suppose if we really wanted to soak somebody, we’d have it sent to one of those “professional grading services” to get one of those plastic coffins slapped on it, which seems to make some people open their pocketbooks a little wider, though we’d feel obligated to supply our own grade on the book along with whatever grade the service provides for it. Regardless, any information about the condition would be nice, aside from “none.” (Or “Excellent to mint,” which just tells me you don’t know what you’re talking about.)
- This may be a SPOILER for Hulk #1, so you just watch yourself, mister.
…
Okay, you spend months leading up to the debut of Hulk #1 with pictures of a big red Hulk. You get everyone’s curiosity up…”hey, the Hulk is…red? What gives, man?” People are wondering, people are talking, they want to know about the red Hulk. Interest in the Hulk is high, coming off two well-received Hulk-related storylines (Planet Hulk and World War Hulk) so the time is ripe, at least for now, to unleash this new twist on the Hulk franchise.
So Hulk #1 comes out…and there’s no Red Hulk in the comic, aside from the cover, and a “next issue” ad in the back. Green Hulk appears, in a flashback/”reconstruction of a crime scene” sequence, so the Hulk appears not at all in the present day storyline.
This irritated a few of my customers. And I think it was a misjudgment, not having this much ballyhooed red Hulk even put in an appearance in his first issue. I’m all for building up to the reveal, but c’mon, folks were looking forward to seeing the red Hulk in action, but now they have to wait ’til the second issue (if they decide they still want it). I guess the cover and the next issue ad will have to do for now.
That said…Hulk #1 actually wasn’t too bad, all things considered. Ed McGuinness’s art style is a perfect match for this book, and even Jeph Loeb manages a readable script that kept my interest. The comic takes all of two minutes to read, but it’s a very pretty two minutes.
