Saturday, May 31, 2008

It is time to Hulk Out!

As I reported earlier, 7-eleven has added Hulk Slurpees to their menu (replacing the all but non-existent Iron Man Slurpees). Well, This time I actually managed to score one of the four lenticular cups. (Yea!) Only, there apparently are straws that come with the cups,and I didn’t acquire a straw, so I’m going to have to go back and see if I can get one of those as well.

Now those of you coming late to the part might be a little confused why I — an avowed Spider-Man fan is so interested in acquiring Iron Man and Hulk items, well, sure they are both Marvel Superheroes and all, but that’s really not the entire story. You see, I also collect fast food toys. No, not just nay (all) fast food toys, but superhero-themed fast food toys. In fact, I’m something of an expert on the subject, as I wrote a book on the topic back in 2001.

That’s right, I penned Kiddie Meal Collectibles (Krause) and have been acquiring fast food toys whenever I am able. To be sure, I am a Marvel Comics fan, but in regards to superhero fast food toys, it really doesn’t matter so much to me, as I have not only Marvel but DC characters, plus numerous others as well.(Did you know that Frank Miller’s Big Guy and Rusty characters made the jump to Fast Food toys?) Well they did!) So whenever I see superhero fast food toys, I scramble to acquire them (I even have a set of 12" tall Justice League toys from a fast food chain in Europe. Remind me to drag them out and photograph the lot of ‘em for ya sometime, eh?)

Heh, this just in, I didn’t realize it before, but apparently there is also currently a Hulk Big Gulp cup at 7-eleven, plus there is this extreme (52 oz.) Big Gulp cup at 7-eleven back in 2003 for the release of the Ang Lee Hulk film. Plus, in 2006, 7-eleven had a tie-in to the Fantastic Four film that I also missed. I guess that I’m going to have to start paying attention to this stuff more, eh? I happen to have a complete set of the legendary original Marvel 7-eleven cups (and that is only because the first 7-eleven in my area was opened up in my home town, and I was there nearly every day over that summer acquiring cups. They knew me by first name back then.)

Friday, May 30, 2008

Amelia Totally Rules!

I first came into contact with the comic Amelia Rules!, a few years back, probably via exposure to it at a Free Comic Book Day event (a totally great way to discover what’s out there that you aren’t currently reading, by the way). Anyway, Amelia is a nine-year-old girl, who is the creation of author/illustrator Jimmy Gownley. Launched in 2001, Amelia has been something of a media darling for obvious reasons.

Gownley’s witting and illustrations are infectious, as he weaves us through not so much what is actually happening to young Amelia, but her perceptions of what is going on around her. Yes, Amelia narrates her own life, and we get to see the world from her perspective. Needless to say, this obviously makes for interesting reading, as Amelia’s life is full of ninjas, superheroes, funnybooks, friendships, and well, “girl stuff.” Well, you might wonder how a 30something male cartoonist can write about what goes on in the mind (and world) of a nine-year-old girl, but he does so in a way that is totally believable, and wildly entertaining.

This year, as in the past, I acquired a copy of Gownley’s wonderful comic about Amelia (wisely, Gownley has been part of FCBD for a number of years), and, once again it was a delight to read. What struck me the most about this years FCBD story is that, without actually saying it, the story revolved around one of Amelia’s young friends anguish about the fact that her father (who is in the military) is being deployed to Iraq (To be sure,where he is going is never actually mentioned by name, but it is fairly obvious by the context of the story). The story is handled with grace, humor, and pathos giving us what it truly must be like for a young child who is old enough to understand the consequences of what is going on without delving into the politics of the whole thing.

If you have never read Amelia Rules!, then this is the story that you must seek out and acquire, for it will convert you to being a fan. Personally, after reading this issue, I passed it along to both my wife, and my 13-year-old daughter to read. I believe that this really is the kind of comic that will attract people who don’t normally read comics into the fold. For whatever reason, the industry doesn’t seem to produce enough of these types of comics, and it really should.

Everyone seems to want to produce the kinds of comics that are already being produced, and what we wind up with is more of the same. Amelia Rules! is like no other comic I’ve ever read. it is bright, funny, endearing, and well, quite entertaining. A breath of fresh air in an industry that is used to eating its own young. If there were more comics like Amelia Rules! I believe that there would be more fans in this industry.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

OK, It’s Official. Now I’ve Seen Everything!


You may not know this to look at me, but I am a secret citizen of the Colbert Nation. Yes, it is true. I’ve been watching The Daily Show since before Jon Stewart joined the team, and well, Steven Colbert is a hoot and a half. So you can just imagine how giddy this bit of info made me...

Yes, America, it's an election year. As the candidates duke it out in our existence, they're also going toe-to-toe in the Marvel Universe! Ladies and gentlemen, that means Stephen Colbert's candidacy for President is alive and well in the Marvel Universe.
(via Marvel)

OK, so, after the death of Steve Rogers, Joe Q. gave Colbert Captain America’s Shield, and now he is allowing Colbert to run for President? Is there nothing Joe won’t do? Wait? What’s that you say? He’s just cut a deal with Mephestio to...

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Whip it! Whip it good!

OK, OK, I succumbed to hunger pangs and the desire to snag at least one of the BK Indy toys. I spotted these early (I was still hunting up Iron Man toys) and figured that I’d pass on ‘em, but then I went to see the film over the Memorial Day Weekend, and figured that, what the heck, I might as well score at least one of the little buggers.

So today, when I was home, (and after I finished my work) I went out and made sure that one of my errands took me past a BK, so that I could indulge myself. The result of which you see here. I’ll post a review shortly, and link it to this post as well. In the meantime, let me say that I enjoyed it, and while it isn’t as good as either One or Three, it is WAY better than number two.

BK Hulk Watch Begins!

That’s right kids, it is official, after Burger King winds up its Indiana Jones run of toys, it is going to be restocking its toy chest with Hulk toys. The Ed Norton-helmed Incredible Hulk debuts on June 16, so I’m thinking that the Hulk toys will appear the week before. Hopefully I won’t miss out on scooping these toys up as I did with the Iron Man stuff.

Yeah, I know that I can get the toys I’m missing on ebay, but it just galls me to have to pay five bucks plus shipping for a toy that I could have acquired for under a buck (without the artery-chocking meal that accompanies it).

Monday, May 26, 2008

Iron Man, Iron Man, does whatever an Iron can!

Yeah, yeah, it is way past the debut of Iron Man on the big screen, and I’ve already posted my review of the film on Popthought, in my film review column Suspension of belief. So now, I’m trying to hunt down the couple of fast food toy tie-ins to the film. Unfortunately, I totally missed the 7-eleven cups (because every time I stopped in to a 7-eleven to get one, they were out, and the people working there would look at me as if I was from Mars, unable to figure out what it was that I wanted).

I actually did better with the Burger King toys, but only by a little, as I only managed to acquire three of the six toys. Right now I’m trying to check with a buddy of mine who is a dealer of such things to see if he acquired any, otherwise I’m going back to ebay to see what I can scare up. Thus far I managed to get my hands on at least one of the 7-eleven items, but there are still four more slurpee cups that I’m hoping to get.

These are the items that I have acquired, I’ll post the others when I get them as well.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Drink up on Spidey

In a recent email, chief Spidey-Honcho, Jonathan Couper-Smartt (our Imperious leader of SpiderFan), sent out a link to product placement, that cited some of the products that scored screen time in the Spidey flicks. Well, my pal Tommy pointed out the both he and I managed to acquire cans of Dr. Pepper that were emblazoned with our Webbed-buddy’s likeness. He then went on to lament that he never acquired any of the Spidey-Yogurt.



Well, Tommy, as you can see from the top of this post, yep, I do have Spidey Dr. Pepper cans. I also have some that fly...



Oh, and in case you are not jealous enough, I also have the yogurt. If that doesn’t send you ‘round the twist, if you look closely at the white Spidey bi-plane (and no, I didn’t make them, I bought them on ebay), you’ll be able to see my first (of three) Marvel No-Prizes.



Thursday, May 22, 2008

Yes, it is still Free Comic Book Day in my House

As we all know, the annual Free Comic Book Day occurs (generally) the first Saturday in May, well, even though I missed out on the actual festivities this year (a first for me), because of a family event (out of which I could not get) I managed to score a full load of comics from my preferred funnybook store (A Timeless Journey in Stamford). Well, between the 30+ books I scored from Paul Salerno (Owner of the shop), and the dozen or so books I picked up at the NY Comic Con the week or so before, I’ve been literally swimming — Scrooge McDuck-style in funnybooks for the past month (and loving it!)

Most of the FCBD books I acquired were reprints and/or samplers some of it was targeted for kiddies, and thus not as interesting to me, while some were just art samples and background info. One was a “How To Draw” book, and only marginally interesting to me. Still a few were quite interesting. Of course there was a Marvel comic (staring Spidey) That I’m, going to review shortly for SpiderFan. Some of the others included Love and Capes #7 (A book I waxed enthusiastic about a week or so back). Well this version continues the love story between Abby and Mark (he is trying to propose to her, and not quite coming up with the “perfect” way to do so), while adding a new superhero (Steel Worker) to the mix. To be sure, Steel Worker (who looks suspiciously like a certain Iron Avenger who just had his own movie) plays only a minor roll, but does show up predominately on the cover of the comic.

Another fun read was Steve Rude’s The Moth. This comic has a real Jack Kirby feel to it, as well as being just a load of fun to read. Steve recently began his own publishing company which is handling both this and Nexus. I really enjoyed this comic due to its very retro feel, marking it as something of a rarity in today’s marketplace.

D. J. Coffman’s Hero by Night, (published by Platinum Studios) was also very interesting. If I’m understanding this correctly, Platinum has a Comic Book Challenge, the winner of which gets their concept into a print comic. The story is about a present-day individual who found the power ring of a 1950’s hero, and uses it to become a hero himself. Needless to say, it spins out into some results he had not quite anticipated. The book is a flip book and is backed up by Jorge Vega’s Gunplay. This one is a western that seems to be written with a Clint Eastwood “The Man with No Name” feel to it. Very well done. You can see why both of these concepts won this honor.

Another fun comic to read was an EC Sampler, that reprinted some classic horror stories from that legendary line of comics. As stated, there were some 30 FCBD comics that were issued (as well as a couple of Clix figures — which I also managed to score) all of which have given me several hours of enjoyment. I’ll probably talk some more about these comics over the next couple of days, but I felt that I should start with these.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Now THIS is Spider-Man!

Back in In 1971 — when I was just a wee lad — I had been reading Spidey off-and-on for several years, but never really collecting it. That all changed my Sr. year in High School. I met another kid who also read comics, only he collected. Needless to say, we became fast friends and it was him that helped lead me back to comics, and kicked me over into collecting. (Ed and I eventually became roommates several years later, after College, but that is an entirely different story).

Well, it was around this time that the code-less Amazing Spider-Man issues (96–98) came out. I remember my brother clipping a piece from the NY Times about the story, and thinking that it was very cool. Later on, Ed actually had a print made of issue #97, framed it, and presented it to me as a gift. It is still hanging in my office. anyway, I recently became aware that, apparently, there was an unused cover of #97 that was drawn, and (hand) colored. That cover has recently popped up on the web, and I wanted to share it with you now.

The unused cover appearers at the top of this post, while an interactive version of it and the actual cover appears here.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Neither so Mighty, Either.

A few days back I wrote about how the latest issue of The New Avengers didn’t contain any New Avenger story, but served as a backdrop for the ongoing (upcoming?) Secret Skrull War that is happening in the Marvel Universe. Well, it seems that they’ve done it again in Mighty Avengers.

That’s right, we have yet another comic that doesn’t deliver what it promised on the cover (and in this one, None of the Avengers, Mighty or New appear). Seriously it has got to be a way to keep us involved in this storyline without forcing us to buy every single title in the Marvel line-up, but it is taking us away from our preferred heroes.

Personally, I’m not such a big fan of this. Anyone else want to chime in?

Friday, May 16, 2008

Third time’s the charm!

So, a while back I mentioned that I had earned myself a pair of Marvel No-Prizes. Well, it seems that I have been awarded yet another one, but not for the one for which I was attempting to acquire. As you can read in that previous post, I was attempting to get one for events that took place in Amazing Spider-Man #555. Well, I didn’t get that one (yet), but it seems that I did score one from Amazing Spider-Girl #20.

Yep, that’s right I was awarded my third No-Prize, this time by none other than Tom DeFalco himself. You can read the letter in ASG or you can read it here.

Hey there Spider-Fans, I wanted to drop you a line to let you know how very much I’ve been enjoying not only Spider-Girl, but the various other heroes of the M2 –verse as well. I’ve been reading comics in general (and Spider-Titles in particular) for a very long time (since 1962 when I first got my hands on Amazing Fantasy #15). In fact, I’ve spent so much time pouring over Spidey’s extended family of related titles, that I’m a regular contributor to SpiderFan.org.

A couple of years ago I had the chance to buttonhole Tom DeFalco and bend his ear for about five minutes about how much I truly loved reading the adventures of Spider-Girl. I told him then, and I’ll tell you all now the it fills me with the same type of wonder and excitement that I remember having when I was a teenager and reading Spider-Man.

One of the things I really enjoy about this title in particular is that, because it takes place outside the purview of the “standard” Marvel Universe, that there seem to be no rules governing it. Anything can happen. Back in the ‘60s comics were still largely unproven ground, with the ability to explore any topic, build any storyline, morph any characters whichever way the writers and editors chose.

As comics have seem to become more and more about the licensing and ancillary rights then the comics themselves (no recriminations, that is simply the way things have evolved) a character like Spider-Girl that exists in an alternate version of the mainstream Marvel Universe is less restricted in what can happen. It is wild, wild west all over again, and what can be more fun than that?

Plus, while it was fun seeing an adult Arana popping up in M2U (I did so enjoy her adventures as well), I wanted to mention, (and I’m sure you have spotted it by now) that issue 19 (Spider-Girl vs. Arana) was, for some reason, covered-numbered 17 rather than 19 (the indicia had it correct). I can only suspect that this is part of some fiendish other-worldly plot by those dastardly Skrulls, who somehow have managed to secretly slip over to invade the M2 Universe as well.

Hopefully our Spider-heroes can adequately deal with this new threat.

Sincerely,

Robert J. “Bob” Sodaro


Unfortunately, it seems that Marvel no longer sends out “actual” No-Prizes any more. Ah well, I guess I’ll just have to suffer, eh?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Spidey is everywhere

Well, I might not have mentioned this, but my Son Dylan went on a two-week trip to Poland and Israel, returning on Mother’s Day. The trip, entitled March of the Living, brought 10,000 Jewish Teens from around the world together to visit the death camps in Poland, and then celebrate Independence Day in Israel. It was a very cool trip for him to attend. While there, he picked me up a little souvenir, that I wanted to share with you all.

A Spider-Man Dredel. now how cool is that? He also brought me back a Polish Happy Meal toy, as well as a some Israeli Cock bottles, and yeah, some gifts for his mom, and sister (he’s good like that).

Saturday, May 10, 2008

By the way; Fredric Wertham is still Wrong

Author David Hajdu has just written a book about Fredric Wertham’s comicbook boogieman tome, The Seduction of the Innocent. Hajdu’s book The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America examines this era of censorship in America’s comicbook history. I haven’t read the book, but — as a reader since 1961 or thereabouts of comics, I have something of an opinion on both Wertham, and his attack on my beloved industry.

Recently the CAG-Yahoo group (login required) has been having a running thread about Hajdu’s book, and the relative merits of Wertham’s (so called) research and social actions outside of comics. Well, I really don’t know much of Wertham outside of his impact on comics, and — quite frankly — I don’t care. His research was faulty, his theory was flawed, and his conclusions were both pre-determined and shoddy. I recently made this point in an editorial in Psychosis! #2. While I would urge you all to log onto Midtown Comics and purchase a copy, I will reprint that editorial here:

Fredric Wertham Was Wrong!

Wertham, as anyone in this industry can tell you — was the great boogieman who very nearly buried the industry before many of you who are reading this were born. It was his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, which linked comicbooks as a casual effect of juvenile delinquency. (As an unavoidable aside, the term “juvenile delinquent” itself, is not only contrived, but something of a misnomer, for if a juvenile is a youngster who is — by virtue of their age — devoid of adult duties and responsibilities, how can they then be delinquent in fulfilling those non-extant responsibilities?)

However, I — as they say — digress.

We were talking about Wertham. Let me state here and now that his theory was flawed, his logic was suspect, his so-called research was haphazard at best, and his conclusions were, well, flat out wrong. Wertham saw what he felt was (legitimately) a problem — the aforementioned issue of delinquent youths. He found what he thought was a commonality in their behavior patterns (that they all apparently read comicbooks). He then determined that this coincidence of commonality was the cause (rather than merely incidental to the problem itself). For whatever reason, he felt that comics could hold a greater sway over these children than say, their socioeconomic status, parenting, peer pressure, or any one of a hundred other outside, real-world influences. Finally, he set out to prove his point by using completely circumstantial, entirely peripheral, and totally anecdotal information.

To the point, antisocial youths of the day had a tendency to read comics, hence it was obvious (to Wertham) that it was the comics themselves that were causing the antisocial behavior. Sort of like saying that since people who have illicit sexual relations tend to utilize hotels and motels as their preferred meeting place; and since all hotels and motels have a copy of Gideon’s Bible in the nightstand, it is thus a direct line of thinking that all illicit affairs are caused by the presence of a Bible.

Seriously, Wertham could have just as easily fixated on baseball, the fact that many kids of the day combed their hair into DAs or wore chinos, as his anti-social catalyst, but no, he chose comicbooks. Over the intervening years this same bad behavior has been blamed on TV, Rock and Roll, videogames, pornography, and, of course, the Internet — among other things. This could just be me, but I’m inclined to believe that since the behavior has essentially remained the same, but the “cause” keeps changing, perhaps there is a wholly different cause. One that has been there all along and all the rest of these items are merely Pop Culture incidentals rather than the evil catalysts they are made out to be by those looking to cast blame.

Let’s set the record straight. Comicbooks simply don’t cause violent behavior; how do I know? Well, I’ve been reading them since 1961 and have always considered myself a pacifist, preferring to talk, rather than fight, my way out of confrontational situations — probably why I became a writer and have never really liked full contact sports. Also, when was the last time you heard of a gang of funnybook geeks leaving their favorite comicbook shop on a Wednesday when comics are delivered, all hyped up on the new X-Men or Teen Titans then go out, slip a cheerleader a roofie, and gang rape her? Alternatively, consider a group of fans leaving a comicbook convention and then wilding in the streets, torching storefronts and overturning cars.

Hell, when was the first time you heard either of those incidents occurring? No, those types of episodes are more the purview of sport, not comicbook fans, but still we’re the ones who get the bad rap.

In April of 2007, a student on the campus of Virginia Tech shot 32 people to death, and wounded many others. When news of this horrendous incident broke, my story, Ghost Writer, was already written and in the process of being drawn for Psychosis! #2. As news of the tragedy riptide its way through the news media I contacted the GWP Creative Director, to discuss how, if at all, we were going to react to the shooting. After some discussion we decided to allow the story to see print because not only were we so not trying to play off that incident, but we felt there was something else going on in the story that made it viable as a stand-alone work of art. (We also recalled that a few years back, after a parallel tragedy DC Comics pulled a similarly-themed story from print).

As stated at the top of this piece, we don’t believe that reading comics causes violence. We also don’t believe that by publishing this (or other) violent-themed stories we are being either controversial, or provocative. We felt that we were simply telling stories. More to the point, Ghost Writer is essentially a stripped-down and retooled version of a short story that I originally wrote in High School (circa 1970-ish). Further, this version was conceived and penned in 2006 — well before the VT shootings.

On a personal note; while I tried (and believe, succeeded) in keeping my own views out of the story, I couldn’t help but to notice something interesting. In the wake of the tragedy the conservative right was quick to condemn the Left for attempting to leverage the shootings into a discussion about gun control (a discussion that is way past overdue in this country) all the while attempting to use it themselves to advance their own agenda. Then, of course there were the TV pundits who were attempting to “blame” everything on videogames. (Which the shooter’s roommate quickly pointed out that he never played) or hang it all on the violent stories that the shooter had written. (Incidentally, if this second theory held any water it would absolutely make Stephen King the most violent mass serial killer the world has ever seen).

So — once again — it is not necessarily the mere playing of violent-themed videogames, or the reading or writing of violent stories that makes one violent, as much as it is that people with the propensity for violent type behavior tend to gravitate towards those forms of entertainment. (Sort of like people with outdoorsy personalities tend to gravitate to lifestyles that bring them into contact with the outdoors, and similar forms of entertainment.)

We are not rabble-rousers attempting to incite an angry crowd to riot. Nor are we gun manufacturers who develop hi-tech weapons of increasingly deadly destruction who then disassociate ourselves from the consequences of the products we manufacture. We are storytellers, plain and simple. We are here — first and foremost — to feed our own muse. If, along the way, we manage to entertain you, all the better. Still, in a world where we are told to put the needs of others first; this one thing (and perhaps, only, this one thing) is truly all about us.

Oh yeah, in case I forgot to mention it, Fredric Wertham was (and still is) wrong. Completely and totally wrong. Violent people will be violent no matter what they read, and if we were truly honest with ourselves, we would acknowledge that the Bible, is probably one of the most violent books ever written.

_____
The above article is © 2008 Freelance Ink, it was originally printed in Psychosis! #2, Guild Works Productions, October, 2007, and appears here with only slight editing from it's original form.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Spidey Beat up Who?

So, I'm thinking that I’ve probably mentioned that I’m something of a Spider-Man fan, and that I’m a tad upset about the way my hero is currently being treated in the pages of his own book, and that I felt that — for the most part — Stories told outside Amazing were generally better than the ones told inside Amazing.

That was until I read the Machine Man story in Marvel Comics Presents #8. In that particular story, Spidey shows up in a flashback that Machine Man is telling, and in the flashback Spidey fought and defeated Ultron. Yep, that’s right webbed him up and knocked him out. just like that.

Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, in another story in that same issue, Cyclops goes wandering in the woods in back of Xavier mansion in order to hunt and kill a deer. Hey, I know that it has been a while since Ive regularly read an X-Men comic, but I can remember back in the ‘80s when Earth was being invaded by some alien killers that Cyclops and (Wolverine or Corsair, I don’t recall which) yelled at him for not killing the aliens in self defense.

I’ve got to tell you that I think that something is seriously wrong over at Marvel these days. Deals with the Devil, “straitlaced” heroes killing, Spidey easily beating a villain that has repeatedly given the “A”-listed Avengers a run for their money. Can anyone out there help me with all of this?

Monday, May 05, 2008

What’s so new about this...?

A couple of years ago when Spider-Man was invited to join a new line-up of Avengers (and the invitation was extended by none other than the most august personage of Captain America himself), I was totally wowed. I thought it was perhaps the coolest thing that could have happened to Spidey. I figured that finally, he was going to get the respect he so richly deserved, and for about a year or so he did.

Then came Marvel’s Civil War Event. At the time, I had stated that I wasn’t sure that I was going to enjoy the world on the other side of the Event, but I was really enjoying the ride to get there. Well, after Civil War, there was Back in Black (not so horrendous), but then came One More Day, and Brand New Day, and well, you already know how distraught I am over that.

Now, I’m reading New Avengers, and the Secret Invasion storyline, and well, here again, I'm sort of interested in what they are going to screw up do here. So I come to New Avengers #40, and what do I see, not a New Avengers story, but a Skrull history story — not so bad, but seriously, as I just said, I bought this comic to read a New Avengers story. This so clearly wasn’t what I wanted to read, that I was irritated (yes, even more irritated than I usually am these days). Sure Spider-Woman appeared at the end of the story, but these days, she’s with the Mighty not New Avengers, so that really didn’t do anything for me.

At this point I can’t help but to wish that all of these endless “event” stories all tumbling into one another turn fandom off so badly that most of ’em stop buying the comics, that way Marvel (and DC, by the way) can go back to just telling stories. without having to resort to trickery to get us to buy the comics.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

I am Iron Man

OK, I’m not really Iron Man, but I did go see the movie tonight, and then I went to Burger King to pick up a fast food IM toy (there are six different toys). On Monday, I’m going to swing by a 7-Eleven to pick up an IM Slurpee cup (there are four different cups).

The film itself was way-cool (a formal review will follow), but yeah, it was pretty awesome (on par with the first two Spidey and X-films).

Oh yeah, when you see it, you need to sit through ALL of the credits for a very important bit of business. Trust me, it is very worth it.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Stan “The Man” Lee’s Election Daze

You all know Stan, he’s the guy who co-created Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, and essentially re-booted the entire Comics industry by organizing the group of talented creators that kick-started the Silver Age of Comics. Well, in addition to all of that5 (and being the head Honcho of Marvel for years on end, he also is a huge fan of Fumetti, that is the art of adding word balloons to photos. Stan not only did this years ago at Marvel (and with a book called Golfers Anonymous.

Well, he’s done it again, only this time he has taken aim at the Presidential political candidates. If you haven’t laughed yet this election season at the silliness that has been going on in our political arena, then you need to purchase this book so you can start.

It is silly, irreverent, and socially un-redeeming. Yet it precisely what we need at this point in the election process. As an aside for anyone who thought that Stan was no longer relevant to pop culture, think again, for you are sadly mistaken.



All I can say is you need to buy this book!

Non “Funny” Funnybooks on the Rise

We’ve been reading comics since around 1961. It is — as we’ve often said — our preferred form of entertainment. In fact, the guy we’ve been ...