A present from my neice

So, yesterday, We got called up (at the last minute), and invited to a cookout at my brother-in-law’s and while we were there, my lovely niece, Gwen, presented me with a early learning Spider-Man book from DK Publishers.

The book, Spider-Man: Worst Enemies, was a bit worse for wear, and I believe that she purchased it at a used book fair at her school, but she told me that when she saw it, she knew that I liked Spider-Man, and that she bought it fully intending to give it to me.

Cute kid, eh?

I told her that she was my favoritest niece.

Subway goes Green (Lantern)

This just in, folks, the fast food tie-in for the up-coming DC Comics film featuring Green Lantern will be with Subway.

I just checked today, and the promotion hasn’t yet started in my area, but I imagine that it soon will.

Cool, eh?

One afternoon at the Superhero bar

Yeah, you can just see this happening, eh?

(NSFW language)

Captain America

With the Captain America movie slated as the next film for Marvel, the comicbook company has just released the Captain America Index (to which I was a contributor). I just got my copy yesterday, and yep, it is very cool.

Batman is watching...

Tommy, this one is for you!

Enjoy!

More Spidey stuff

So, my older brother, Ron, is moving, and his son, Tony-o (who is almost as big a Spidey fan as am I), is parsing through his collection of crap, ah, collectibles, and is giving me first dibs on stuff he doesn’t want. Well, here is a load of very cool stuff that he laid on my last weekend.

This is a very cool Spidey finger-puppet

Half a Spider (Easter?) Egg

I think these Spidey throwers were a Fast Food Toy

Oh, that can in the background is a Thor Dr. Pepper can

Pretty cool, eh?

Jane’s Journal

Here is the eighth and final toy that Burger King is packing with it’s Kid’s Meals as a tie-in to the Marvel Comics Thor film.

It is a journal similar to the one that Jane carried in the film. 

There is also a set of stickers that can be used to decorate the outside of the the journal. 

Not quite sure what to say about this...

And, then, back at the Western Wall...

For what it is worth, it is Purim in this picture.

BFFs!

Some things simply defy explanations...

Another Thor-related BK toy

OK, kids, here is the Destroyer, the “villain” of the new Marvel film about Thor, the god of Thunder.

Now all I'm missing is one item.

The Hawthorne Comicbook Con

So, yesterday I spent the day @ the the Hawthorne High School Fundraising Comic Con. I was invited there by my good friend, John Wilcox (who — in turn — was invited by his friend, Joe Sinnott (yes THAT Joe Sinnott). who was also a guest). So John set it up, and we headed down there for the day. Well it turned out to be a very fun day as we each connected with old friends and had a great day. I didn’t get as many photos as I wanted, but still, it was fun.

Here is Buddy Scalera (author of Creating Comics from Start to Finish)

And here is Janine Naimoli Frederick, holding up a page from her new (proposed) series (art by Ian Dorian)

Green Lantern & Free Comic Book Day

So, on Free Comic Book Day, I attended the Bronx Hero Con, but I arranged with my regular comic book shop to save for me the whole run of comics that were available on FCBD, and, well in addition to the 30 (free) comics I acquired there was this very cool Green Lantern Heroclix figure.

Then I did also acquire an even dozen of Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man and Peter Parker Spider-Man comics as I move forward with filling in the (ever narrowing) gaps of my Spider-Man comic collection.

Green Lantern joins my collection of FCBD Heroclix figures (although I seem to think that I have a Spider-Man figure somewhere. I’ll have to look for him).

Another BK Thor toy

Here is Sif's headress:

Now there are only two more toys to acquire from BK...

Brave and the Bold @ McDonald’s

OK Kids, here we go with the final two sets of Batman/Brave & Bold toys that are appearing in McDonald’s Happy Meals.

Set #5

Set #6

Thor & Batman take over fast food Joints!

Yep, Like we’ve been telling you folk, Both the Mighty Thor (Marvel) & Batman (DC) have been hanging around fast food joints the past several weeks. First Thor landed @ 7-Eleven, before moving over to Burger King (and Dr. Pepper bottles & Cans).

This is group #7

This is group #8

This is seriously fast becoming the very best fast food toy set of all times!

Bronx Hero Con 2011

OK, so this past weekend I went to the third annual Bronx Hero Con 2011 (although I do wish that it wasn’t on Free Comic Book Day, but that’s and entirely different post) . Needless to say, I had a great time, and well, not only did I get the opportunity to spend the day with some of my very good friends, I did also get to co-interview (along with Mark Mazz) Don McGregor, which was very cool.

I think that the best part of the day was when we took Don out to dinner, and we got to listen to many behind-the-scenes stories about what Marvel and comics were like back in the day. Very entertaining.

Also it was engaging to learn that there were so many fights over what kinds of stories Don was “allowed” to tell, because — from my own recollections — of those days and stories, that they seemed organic, and, well, natural. I honestly don't recall any controversies (at least in my — admittedly small — circles of comics) at that time.

Beyond that, just spending the day with Ray Felix, and all of the very talented Bronx comicbook creators, was well worth the time.

Oh yeah, in case I haven’t mentioned as of yet. Ray is publishing an anthology comic about Bronx Heroes, and well, he’s accepted a concept of mine as one of the on-going series within the comic. The original series was entitled Strēt Lēgəl (Street Legal). Well, I extracted the core essence of that series (the two central characters), and am using them to preview the concept (now called “Don’t Call Us Heroes”. Well, (and much to my surprise), Ray recruited the very talented Carl Kent who produced some very outstanding character designs of my characters, and, well completely blew me away with how totally cool they looked.

I’m very excited about (finally) getting this concept up off the ground, and I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to convince CK to hop on board and lend his incredible talents to this project of mine that is dear to my heart.

Anyways, I just wanted to tell you all about the Bronx Hero Con, (and Strēt Lēgəl / Don’t Call Us Heroes) and all of the fun that I had there, and all of the wicked-cool comics that I scored (which I’ll be reviewing and posting about in short order). So, stay tuned, and (as was I) be prepared to be amazed by the trully amazing talent that you’ll discover in the Bronx.

Here are some pics from the Con:

Ray Felix

Don McGregor & Mark Mazz

Don & Mark

Don & Mark (again)

Michele St. Martin

Jim Web (taken @ MoCCA Fest)

Actually, I was hoping for a cup o’ Mead

We managed to acquire a couple of bottles of Dr. Pepper with Thor imagery.

This just in!

This is a can or Dr. Pepper w/Thor that my brother just texted me.

More Thor BK toys

Here is the next Thor toy from Burger King, it is a light-up bracelet (very clever of BK to start making “girl” versions of a toy that might be considered to be predominately a “boy” film.

Well, anyway, here it is both with, and without the light illuminated.

More on the Thor Dr. Pepper tie-ins

We just learned that Thor & Dr. Pepper have a connection (due obviously to the movie). Well, if you follow that link back there you’ll see about the Dr. Pepper/Thor contest. While there you’ll get to see the Thor/Dr. Pepper commercial, as well as other cool stuff. If you want to get a gander of the cans themselves, go here.

Oh yeah, apparently there is a code on the cans that get you access to free Marvel digital comics.

Seriously, how cool is that?

Additional thoughts on Thor (the movie)

Yep, I saw the film (last night — suffer, Droogs!) and I posted my review of it already, and yes, I seriously dug the film. It really is quite good, and that is more than just a relief, it is wicked cool.

And, yeah, I really did have quite a bit of fun with my review, but there are still some observations that I want to make about it. First up (and to be totally honest), I was a tad leery about this film, I mean, it is about a guy prancing around in armor and a winged helmet swing a big hammer. Truthfully, it could have gone very bad, very quickly.  What kept the film from becoming a one-off, bad parody of what comicbook films could (should) be, was director Kenneth Branagh, who Ironically, enough acted in (and directed) Shakespearian films is now the driving force behind the only comicbook character who speaks in Shakespearean-style Pentameter.

More than that, though, it is clear that there is an obvious respect for the source material. Which is to say it is not treated with the same kind of disdain that Joel Schumacher had for Batman during his tenure over that film franchise. Then, of course there is the care that Marvel Studios has taken to interweave the storyline from the current slate of films as they each pay homage to the previous ones as well as help set up the story (and interest) for the next ones.

In this film there are references to Tony Stark, SHIELD, Bruce Banner, and a future Avenger (no, not Cap). There is also the dynamic between Thor and Loki (which is different, than the comic), and it plays out better here. There is homage to the material created by Stan, Jack, and Larry Leiber (as well as the requisite cameo by Stan). We get to see more of SHIELD Agent Coulson, and (interestingly enough), the “human” form of Loki is portrayed akin to the Ultimate Universe version of Loki, which just add to the overall coolness of the film.

Yeah, Marvel has it way out in front of DC on creating a cohesive mythos for the film adaptations of its characters (but Marvel always did have a better grasp on fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together, much like a finely woven tapestry. So, you really owe it to yourself to check out Thor this weekend (oh, and by-the-by, I may be a (mostly reformed) former Marvel Zombie, I never really was a big Thor fan (even though I did contribute to the indexing of Thor’s comics for The Official Index to the Marvel Universe (vol. 2).

Anyway, in case I haven’t said it yet (or said it enough), Thor really rocks, and you should totally check it out.

Thor drinks Dr. Pepper

Have you seen the Dr. Pepper/Thor commercial?




So, did ya see Stan Lee in that spot?

He is reprising his role from the Dr. Pepper/Iron Man 2 Spot from a couple of years ago.




Cool, eh?

Oh, and here is a look at those Dr. Pepper cans.

McDonald's is for the Brave & the Bold

OK Kids, when it rains, it pours. It really pours, as you all know we are experiencing a high volume of  Thor-related fast food movie tie-ins at the moment (with Thor toys appearing at both 7-11 & Burger King), well McDonald’s has taken this time to launch a truly impressive set of Batman Brave & Bold toys.

This outstanding set is eight packages, each containing three (yes, three separate) toys for a total of 24 toys. Seriously, this is a very cool set. Just look at what the first four packages contain!

(Penguin, Batmobile, Batman)

(Firestorm, Solomon Grundy, Two-Face)

(Black Manta, Batman Robot, Aquaman)

(Riddler, Plastic Man, Batman)

First half of set (w/Happy Meal box)

First half of set

Now THIS is what I call a toy set!