My coolest collectible

Back in 1973 I attended my very first comicbook convention (in New York City, no less). It was there that I scored a huge stack of comics (most-specifically Spidey comics), but what I managed to acquire that has remained for me my coolest collectible was a pair autographs from John Romita (Sr.) & Gerry Conway.

John was sitting at a table doing quick sketches and signing autographs. I (wearing my bestest Spidey T-Shirt), was just one of  dozens of eager fanboys looking for an autograph. The Jazzy one looked up, spotted my T-shirt, smiled, and reached past two or three other fan’s to take my convention book.

“And what can I draw for you?” he asked.

“Gwen Stacy.” I said.

“I can only draw her head,” Johnny responded.

“That’s OK,” I replied.

So, Johnny set to work rendering a con sketch of Gwen’s lovely face. Once he was done, he signed his name. I reached to take the con book back, but John wasn’t quite finished. He hovered over the illustration for a moment, then drew a word balloon and had Gwen say “You did it Gerry C!!”

I began to laugh as Gerry Conway had very spectacularly killed Gwen earlier that years in Amazing Spider-Man #121. Well, it was probably an hour or so later that I ran into Gerry Conway. Unable to resist, I asked for his autograph as well, and pushed the same page that John had signed earlier towards him. Gerry obligingly took the convention book and then looked at what else was on the page. When he read what John had written, Gerry laughed, signed next to Gwen’s head and then added, “And I’m glad I did.”

That the page with that image and those words appears at the bottom of this post.

Spider-Man reboot

I’m still not entirely sure if I’m going to be happy with this Spidey reboot, but, well the trailer looks promising.

Marvel Superheroes

This video speaks for itself.



(From 19666)

Wicked, cool, eh?

Possible Avenger's movie spoiler

OK kids, I don't know if this is at all just an actress who doesn't know the difference between Captain America and Batman, or a real inside scoop (Skip the entire post if you don't want to know) but it was recently reported at Radio Times, that this year's Avenger flick is going to have a very interesting (and surprising) cameo appearance

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

According to Jenny Agutter (Logan's Run, An American Werewolf in London) who has recently joined the cast of the Avengers film, there will be a special cameo of another, non-Avenger Marvel Superhero in the film. That hero will be none other than Spider-Man.

Yep according to her interview she said...

“I’m sworn to secrecy! I wasn’t allowed a script until I got there, and when I did, I felt like a complete child being on big sets and a huge parking lot full of Winnebagos.”

She did, however go on to say that two of these Winnebagos apparently housed Iron Man and Spider-Man. Presumably she can tell the deference between the heroes, and it really was Spideyas, and not, say Hawkeye's.

END SPOILER ALERT! END SPOILER ALERT! END SPOILER ALERT! END SPOILER ALERT! END SPOILER ALERT!

Is that cool, or what?

The Doctor is so IN!

The dark side of Twilight

Sunday Funnies

In today (Jan 22, '12) Chip, the male twin in Hi & Lois is not only reading a Spider-Man graphic novel, but playing a Spidey videogame. Oh, and the rest of the strip is pretty funny as well.

Check out the first two panels.

Batman dances

Yeah, and we thought that Peter Parker dancing in Spider-Man 3 was embarrassing, we hardly knew...

A friend just sent me this, and I had to re-post. It speaks for itself.

Artist Timothy Lim swapped out Bill Watterson's mischievous boy and stuffed tiger with Peter Parker and his unruly symbiote. Aww, Venom is so cute when he's trying to munch Peter's skull! Lim's images are also available on t-shirts.

As both a Spidey and Calvin & Hobbes Fan, I totally love this.

My First Comic

Hey kids, near as I can recall, the first comicbook that I ever read was Little Dot #71 (Aug. ‘61)

I used to sit on the newsstand of my Uncle’s grocery store and read comics. I never bought any of them, I just read ‘em, figuring all of the money I saved by not buying them. I figure that if I probably read (but not bought) a couple of million dollars of comics during those days (including the first Silver Age Flash and all of the early Marvel Comics).

In my 20s I found this comic at a show, but it was $10.00 and I felt that was too much for the book (I wanted it for purely sentimental reasons). Then changed my mind, but never went back to get it. I’ve been looking for it ever since.

The Church of Stan

Sh*t Comic Book Nerds Say!

This so deserves to be re-posted (mostly because it it so true!)

Are you ready for some football!?!?!

Good night iPad

As parents we all read Goodnight Moon to our kids (over and over again), many of you kids grew up having it read to you (over and over again), so it only makes sense that someone with both style and wit would update this timeless classic for the modern generation of plugged-in kids.

Using the name of “Ann Droid” a cartoonist did just that, and have given us Goodnight iPad, a parody for the next generation. The book, perfectly mimes the imagery and meter of the original tome, and gently chides us without diminishing the original in any way. it is a fun read, check it out, but before you do, watch this cute video.

And now, Spider-Man

How cool it must have been to have been on the Subway this day.

Everyday Iron Man Suits

Saw this today and had to re-post



Loved that it is “bullet proof.”

Meanwhile, over @ Diggg

Not quite sure what is going on, but I just learned that I have four new followers over at my Digg page.

Apparently I'm (nearly) famous (again).

How cool is that?

Stan Lee’s Oscar Campaign

You read that right, kids, Stan Lee the guy who built the Marvel Universe and saved comics from extinction, is campaigning for an Oscar, which he totally deserves.  Check it out over at Funny or Die.

Stan’s Cameos in the various Marvel films:

I say we besiege the Academy with a write-in campaign.

Who’s with me?

Another Index from Marvel

Hey kids, it looks like I’m nearly famous again! Yep, another of the soft-cover Official Indexes of the Marvel Universe has come out (this one about Ghost Rider), and, yep, I’m a contributor, again. How cool is that?

Superheroes

Not quite sure what this is all about, but it was kind of interesting, so I thought I’d share..

OK kids, here is a fun way to start out the new year, apparently Marvel Comics lawyers, are having a very real-world battle attempting to prove that the company's mutant characters aren’t human. 


Really. Want to know why? well, if they aren’t human, then it costs the company less to export them to other countries. Seriously

In the non-fictional world, our world, Marvel is taking the position that mutants are not humans at all. But this isn’t an ideological or a moral stance. Instead, it is a financial one. Toys manufactured in other countries and imported into the US are subject to taxes, but those taxes are lower if the toys represent non-human characters. That has led to Marvel lawyers arguing that an action figure representing, say, Wolverine, is actually “representing animals or other non-human creatures (for example, robots and monsters).” This argument leads to a good conversation on the questions of humanity and acceptance that have long been part of the X-Men storyline.

We really can’t make this stuff up.

DC & the Big Bang

We just discovered The Big Bang Theory. Yeah, yeah we know that it has been on TV for a bit, but for whatever reason  we just never sat down to watch it. However, now that it is on TBS, we have become a big fan. We love all the geeky Sci-Fi, fantasy, Comicbook, collectible references. Plus we also enjoy that the main characters are all braniac scientists, most of whom can't figure out how to exist in normal society. Still we were curious as to why all of the comic book references were DC rather than Marvel. Then we saw this:

Bummer, eh?