I got myself an early Christmas Present

That’s right, the other day while I was rooting around in my garage looking for something else, when I located a short box of comics that I had misplaced some two years ago. I thought that I had lent the box to an associate of mine so he could scan in the covers for use in the database he maintains for producing the Comics Values Annual, only he said he couldn't find them.

I had even been to his house and we both looked through his boxes (and boxes) of comics, toys, SF novels, and magazines. Nutthin. (Although we did manage to locate not only a box of my toys of mine that he still had, but a box of comics of his that he gave to me, which was cool and all, but not really what I was looking for at the time (even though it contained a comic that I wanted that I had spotted online selling for $100).

Anyways, I found the box sitting in my garage after all this time. How cool is that? The box, you see, was chock-a-block full of freebies, sponsored, specialty, ashcan and giveaway comics. Specifically a bunch staring my pal and yours, Spidey! Yea, I was looking for this ever since I hooked up with SpiderFan, because while they knew about these comics, many of them didn’t have reviews. Now that I have found the comics, You can bet that I’m going to be uploading the reviews as fast as I can re-read the comics and type em up.

Yep, I love these type of comics. they are fun, and often carry a pro-social message. (anti-smoking, health issues, child abuse prevention, reading, etc.) Sometimes they are just hawking a particular product or service (Aim Toothpaste, Dingo Boots, All detergent). Sometimes they tie into a movie (Lionsgate re-issued Amazing Spider-Man #129 — the first appearance of the Punisher — with the 2004 Punisher film staring John Travolta and Tomas Jane). Like that. These are very cool comics

I’m as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Seriously.

Wave the Flag part duce

Hey,anyone out there remember when I got up on my high horse about how the U.S. flag was hung wrong back in The Ultimates 2 #13? Well, it looks like they’ve done it again. That is to say, hung the flag backwards!

To recap, in the first instance, the two wrongly-hung flags were strung up on the White House during a Russian invasion of the U.S. — so an argument can be made that it was done by the invading forces as a sign of disrespect. However in this new instance (Avengers, the Initiative #6) there is no excuse.

This time, the “flag” is actually an apron worn by the wife of Sgt. Joseph (“Gauntlet”) Green. (Needless to say, why the wife of a military man would wear a flag apron, that ostensibly is going to get food and stains on it while cooking is the subject for another discussion.) Gauntlet, as we all know is the drill Sergeant over at Camp Hammond, in Stamford, CT where the new Initiative recruits are being trained. As you can see by the image, the flag is being hung backwards (vertically with the blue field in the upper right — rather than in the upper left position).

Now again, you could (possibly) argue that the Sarge’s wife knows the proper way to hang a flag, and that’s why she is wearing this flag replica as an apron. I’m telling you that while I’m not in the military, I am a Boy Scout leader (and I’ve watched a couple seasons of The Unit) so I’m telling you that the Sarge simply wouldn’t allow that wrongly-hung flag replica in his house.

What I’m saying is that the artists (Steve Uy in this case and Bryan Hitch and inked by Paul Neary — a couple of Brits in the case of The Ultimates), as well as their editors (Tom Bervoort and Ralph Macchio) are simply unaware that there are rules for hanging flags, and never bothered to check out to see if the flags were hung correctly.

By contrast, a buddy of mine, John Wilcox, spent quite a bit of his time working as a colorist for numerous comicbook publishers over the years. Once, when a specific restaurant in NYC was cited in a comic he was coloring, he called up the restaurant to find out what color the awning outside the resturant was, simply because he wanted to get it right. But then again, not everyone is as professional as John.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before!

Paul S. A SpiderFan buddy of mine turned me on to this on-line cartoon that takes a slam against the current One More Day storyline going on in the Spider-Man titles. Us fans all know where Joe Quesada is going with his badly-conceived storyline to retcon the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson-Parker.

Those of us who care (i.e.; everyone who reads or has read any Spider-Man title, ever!) think that he has his head stuck up his...well,you get the idea. Anyway, the cartoon in question is called Casstoons, and, well, here is what Paul told us in an email.

Not sure if anyone's familiar with “Casstoons” but they're a series of crude mouse-drawn comic strips a guy going by the handle of "Drink" started doing on several comic message boards about a year ago in response to DC’s mishandling of Batgirl. Since then though he's been doing parodies of other comic story lines though.

It is very funny, and deserves to be read.

Chappy Chanukah!

I have been meaning to post this for a couple of days, but I’ve been working like a dog, and simply haven’t found the time. I know that it is a bit off topic, but I think that with the image it fits.

Who is the New Captain America, (and why should we care?)

My good buddy Walt sent me this link about Captain America’s New Costume.

I think that it speaks for itself.

Legion of Superheroes is in the Fast Food House

A few weeks back I talked about the fact that the Legion of Superheroes had a set of toys that were given away with Happy Meals at McDonald’s. Well, I was a touch upset then as I found out after the promotion was over. Thankfully we have ebay, so I went online to acquire a set.

As luck would have it, I found a set that was reasonably priced (I’m sure my wife would disagree, but since she thinks all the toys look the same, and never reads my blog, what she doesn’t. know won’t hurt me). Anyway. The set came and I was happy, that is until I opened it up and found out how lame they were.

I mean, seriously, the toys don’t come with bases, and can’t stand up on their own, which makes playing with them and/or displaying them all but impossible. Ah well, you can’t always get quality toys I suppose. Well, if you missed them too,here is what they look like.





Oh, yeah, writing about all of this stuff reminds me that I need to update the fast food information on SpiderFan. So I’m going to sign off now and get to that. see you later (Perhaps I’ll go look for the 12" Justice League of America toys that came with the kid meal from a European fast food food chain.)

It’s Beginning to look a lot Like a Spidey Christmas!

That’s right Spiderophiles! I was in my local Hallmark store the other day and look at the two new Hallmark Spidey Christmas ornaments I found!




Both of those are new this year I believe (especially the Black suit Spidey one — ‘natch. Some other Marvel ornaments that I have acquired over the years are below (most of these I got from Toys ‘R Us).







All of these (as well as other comic-related ornaments) go on my Christmas tree.

I’ll post those when I pull them out of the attic.

Lets hear it for Fabio!

Yep, I want to talk about my good buddy from Brazil. Fabio not only did he draw my new story for Psychosis! #2, but he published it (twice) in Brazil. Further, he sent me a copy of a Spider-Man comic that was published in Brazil.



How cool is that?

Spidey’s Identity Problem Solved!

That’s right, Peter Parker no longer has a secret Identity problem. It’s true! After outing himself at the start of Marvel’s Civil War event well over a year ago, Peter Parker has (quite accidentally) been relieved of the burden of having everyone in the world know that he wears his underwear on the outside and beats the crap out of crooks with silly names and powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men (and women).

You read all of that right. Spidey is back to his normal routine (that is until Joe Q. Screws it all up again with the contents of the Brand New Day storyline).


Yep, and the best part of this scenario, is that it didn’t happen in any of the on-going Spidey-titles. nor did it happen in a “special” one-shot spider-related title. Nor was it previously announced and/or leaked to the fan press to create a media-generated run on title in question. Nope, it happened as part of the regular incidents in an under-rated, on-going title. It happened in Avengers, The Initiative (issue #7, to be precise).

If you are interested, I’ll tell you here what happened, but before I do, I want to talk about it for just a bit, and give you the opportunity to stop reading the rest of this post if you so choose — you can keep reading for a bit, I’ll warn you before I actually plan on revealing the plot point). There have been those of us who have been wondering how the powers that be over at Marvel would fix this tremendously horrible idea. (yeah, it was good for a few stories, but as a long-term plot point, it is a bad idea and it surely needed to be fixed).

So now it is fixed, and not in a Deus Ex Machina sort of way, but in an organic, fashion. in such a way so that it is actually believable (both in the world of Marvel, and to us readers as well). There are those of us that felt that this “fixing” was going to require a spell by Dr. Strange, or some sort of Wanda Maximoff Hex-power incantation. But no, Marvel fooled us all and did it in a totally believable way that should satisfy all of us.

Well, I’ve been reading Spidey from the beginning, and I bought it. I was also very surprised and entertained as to how writer Dan Slott brought it about. Oh, and after having thought about it, I’ve decided not to reveal how it was done, at least not in this post. Now go and buy the book

Brush your teeth with Spidey

Today may be the day of turkeys, but when you are done eating your T-Day meal, you are going to want to brush your teeth, We suggest that you use your Spidey Tooth Brush, of which we have a few. Here’s one that we have.

I know that I have at least one (and maybe two) others. I’ll add those into this post later on today. Right now dinner is being served, and everyone is wondering where I am.

OK, Back now, and I’ve brought more pics. Well, at least one more (I still think that I have another tooth brush, but I can’t seem to find it now. I’ll have to look more later.

I just flew in from the National
(and boy, are my arms tired!)

Yeah, I know that it is an old gag, but it is one that I do so enjoy. I also enjoyed myself at The National Comicbook Convention. For those of you who don’t know, the National is a three-day show held in NYC and put on by Big Apple Conventions.

I was in on Saturday and Sunday, and split my time between the Comicbook Artists Guild table(s) and the Guild Works Production table. I also spent quite a bit of time visiting several of my other friends and acquaintances at their tables. Chief among these were Melvin Ylagln, Andria Grant, Mark Teixeira (whom I had previously interviewed for Comics Values Annual 2007), Mark Torres and the always lovely Belkis from Comicbook Novice, Mikes Raub and Gold (of ComicMix), and Jeff (One Live Beast).

I met the folks from Dafixer's Hideout who do a great podcast over at their site; Andy Schmidt (The Comics Experience), Mark Bode, Frankie Washington (who is a very pleasant chap from Massachusetts). I also ran into Jeff Rovin (a man I consider to be my mentor as he helped kick-start my career) and Mike Catron (who purchased my very first article and published it in Amazing Heroes #5). I got to spend some quality time w/Mike (he came to dinner with us). The whole thing turned out quite enjoyable for all of us (especially me, because I got to spend time with good friends of mine).

I got to spend time with Matt Ryan (my partner on the Wülf Girlz which will appear in the third issue of Psychosis! #3 — due out in early 2008); and Chris Torris (who is helping me revive Agent Unknown (again to appear in early 2008). There’s more, but I’ll save that for another time. Suffice it to say that I had a real good time.

Oh, the pics in this post are just some of the characters that were wandering around the con.

The Nationals come to NYC!

The Big Apple Convention presents Hayden Panettiere, Kristen Bell, Walter Koenig, Katey Sagal, Neal Adams, more at National Convention NYC, November 16-18!

On November 16-18, the Big Apple National Convention, NYC's longest-running comic book/sci-fi/fantasy/horror/pop culture convention will occur at the Penn Plaza Pavilion, 7th Ave at 33rd St./ This will be it's biggest show ever! Special celebrity guests include Hayden Panettiere, Kristen Bell, Katey Sagal, Walter Koenig, Gigi Edgley, Mira Furlan, Butch Patrick,William Mapother, Soupy Sales, Celeste Holm, Debbie D, King Kong Bundy, Joanna Krupa, Brian Clevinger, Dan “the Beast” Severn, and many, many more from movies, TV, pro wrestling, centerfold models, scream queens, athletes, and more. Over 100 comic book creators will be present including legendary comic book artists Neal Adams, Steranko, Carmine Infantino, Sergio Aragones, Joe Sinnott, along with fan favorites like Adam Hughes, Billy Tucci, Tim Sale, Mark Texeira, and underground creators S. Clay Wilson, Spain, and Mark Bode.

There will be free giveaways, prizes, panel discussions, art seminars, special film showings, performances, the NY Jedi, live action role playing, gaming, and much much more, and of course Captain Zorikh's Costume Contest! Be sure to visit the website for all the details.

Tickets are $18 per day in advance, $20 at the door, $40 for all three days, available through the website.

Lovely Demon: Demonic-Reaper Chronicles

Occasionally, I read non-Spidey comics (yeah, hard to believe, eh?) Well when I do read a non Spider-Man comic, it very often tends to be an Indie comic belonging to a friend of mine. Well, Just yesterday, while I was attending the NY-CAG, meeting, I purchased a comic from my friend and fellow CAGer, Rebecca.

I really enjoy Rebecca's art and story, and have even invited her to participate in creating an on-line web comic that I’ve written. A short time ago I sent her the first eight weeks of the comic (entitled FunnyBook City), and I hope that she gets the chance to read it soon.

Now that I’ve promoted her book here I’m hoping that she’ll find the time to work on my project. Seriously though, her comic (Lovely Demon) is a very nice first effort and deserving of your attention. I know that she will be at The National here in NYC next weekend (Nov. 16–18) and at the NYC Animie Fest next month. Her Web site is here, so swing on over and check her out, and don’t forget to tell her I sent you over.

I’m not dead yet! (no really!)

Well folks you’ll never guess who (else) over at Marvel is back from the grave. Yep, none other than that Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America, well sort of... You see, as we all recall, back in the March 7 issue of the comic book Captain America, our American hero was killed by a sniper’s bullet, bringing to an end his storied career.

Well We knew it wasn’t over, because soon he'll seen in a comic published especially for U.S. troops:

DALLAS (Nov. 10) - Captain America may not be back from the dead, but he's back - sort of. After Marvel Comics unexpectedly killed off the champion of liberty and the American way earlier this year, he appears in a comic made exclusively for U.S. soldiers. He is seen on a videotape made before his death.

(Read story)

Personally, I already have the first four copies of this new comic (produced specifically for the U.S. Military, and you know that I plan on acquiring this new issue as soon as it shows up on ebay.



More as it happens, stay tuned.

* * * * * UPDATE * * * * * UPDATE * * * * * UPDATE * * * * * UPDATE * * * * *

The U.S. Military is carrying news about the reappearance of Captain America in the new issue of the New Avenger comicbook that is being distributed to the Military:

Captain America is back in free military comic

Hippo Birdies to me!

A couple of years ago when I hit the half-century mark (yea, I am that old,now sit down and shut up, this is my blog). My lovely wife threw me an all-Spidey birthday party. I’m bringing this up now,as a buddy of mine from SpiderFan shot out an email to the lot of us telling us how his wife baked him a Spidey cake. He indicated that it had something to do with his age, which I found entertaining, as I had a similar sort of event occured for me a couple of years back.

Well, I wanted to post some images of my Spidey cake from my 50th B-Day (I may have done this already, but am too lazy to go back through my posts here and elsewhere to find out).

At any rate, the cake was purchased at a local grocery store or somesuch (I’ve seen the cake at a couple of different places, and I’ve even seen it since, with new and/or different “toy” toppings. Most currently, I’ve seen it with Black-costumed Spidey. I think I’m going to either have to convincer her to buy me a new cake soon, or simply go to the store and purchase the toppings separately. Which is the way that I think that I’m going to have to go with this one, because — quite frankly — I’m more interested in the topping stuff, than in the cake itself.

Oh, as an aside, I think that one of the kids down the street must have had a Spidey cake as well, as he gave my daughter a Spider-Cake toy that was a topping. Needless to say, she gave the toy to me. She’s the coolest.





Enjoy, effendi!

Holy Space Ghost!

Hey there kids, how was your Halloween? Have fun? Stay Safe? I certainly hope so. A buddy of mine had his birthday a couple of days before the Eve of All Hallows, and well, when I accidentally strolled into his birthday party, I found, not only several old friends of mine in attendance, but my friend, dressed up as Space Ghost.

Some guys know how to celebrate, and Matt Raub is one of them, you can read some of Matt’s reviews over at ComicMix, or even buy some of his fan gear (Hey Matt, you have fan gear? How’s that working out?)

Me, I didn’t go out, but well, I had fun anyway. My daughter went out, collected a bag full of candy, and she lets me eat the ones she doesn’t like. She’s the best!

Oh Yeah, so long as I have your attention, in case you haven’t heard, Spidey 3 is on DVD (in three flavors, no less!). Anyway, Sony is having a tie-in with Papa John’s Pizza. That’s right, if you purchase an Extra-Large three-topping pizza from Papa John’s, you get a $3.00 off coupon on the DVD (I’m told that if you purchase the DVD at either either Target or Wal-Mart (not sure which), you also get some sort of Spidey card. I need to look more into that, and get back to you).

Anyway, I purchased a Papa John’s pizza this Saturday, and got my coupon. Now I’m off to get the DVD.

Spidey Halloween Fun!

Jonathan Couper-Smartt Our Imperious leader over at SpiderFan sent me this Spidey-Themed comic, so I figure that I would take the opportunity to post it here.



Thanks Jon!

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, it has been a while since I’ve been posting to this space, first a virus, then a bad power supply, then well, just overloaded time. Anyway, I’m hoping to catch up over the next few days with a bunch of stuff that has been sitting around my in-box for a time.

First thing is this cartoon. I saw it quite a while back, and clipped it. As a Spidey fan, it hit a responsive chord in me, and I felt that I wanted to share it with you all, especially those of you folk who, like me, are contributors to SpiderFan.

I figured that all of you, like me, would blanch when reading this strip (then get a good chuckle out of it). Especially after the recent conversation that many of us had over owning a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 (the actual first appearance of our beloved webbed hero.

And look, perhaps the most important aspect of this comic, is that they actually spelled Spidey’s name right, with the hyphen.

Today I’m In Fanboy Heaven!

That’s right kids, I went on the Comicvine Dating service to see which comicbook character I’d be compatible with, and look who I got on my first try!

Tiger. It looks like I just hit the Jackpot!

(Personally I always thought of myself ad a Gwen kind of guy!)

This Drink is on Spidey

When Spidey 3 came out, there was a bunch of Spidey-related products. Toys, games, plushes, etc. Some of the stuff that I most enjoyed was the food-related stuff. Couldn’t tell you why, it was just fun for me. So I bought a bunch of them. Here is a small can (8 oz.) of (Blubbery-flavored) Spidey-soda.



Yeah, you read that right. It actually wasn’t that bad.

Captain America is Dead, Long Live Captain America

OK, who (besides me) knew that Cap was coming back. Well he is, only it apparently isn’t Steve Rogers (who apparently is still dead). Yep that’s right, in the January edition of Cap’s book (#34, to be precise), Captain America will return.

According to a post on Marvel.com the Star-Spangled Avenger returns, with a new costume that has been designed by Alex Ross. Now, you have to understand that this story is “Half-way” through the Death of Captain America storyline. Personally I believe that it will end with Steve Rogers returning and once-more donning the mask of America‘s Sentinel of Liberty.

When he does, remember, you read it here first.

Captain America is Dead, Long Live Captain America


Captain America Lives — Marvel.com News OK, who (besides me) knew that Cap was coming back. Well he is, only it apparently isn’t Steve Rogers (who apparently is still dead). Yep that’s right, in the January edition of Cap’s book (#34, to be precise), Captain America will return.

According to a post on Marvel.com the Star-Spangled Avenger returns, with a new costume that has been designed by Alex Ross. Now, you have to understand that this story is “Half-way” through the Death of Captain America storyline. Personally I believe that it will end with Steve Rogers returning and once-more donning the mask of America‘s Sentinel of Liberty.

When he does, remember, you read it here first.

Holy Collectibles, Batman!


Hey, I know I generally write about Spidey stuff here, but did anyone hear about this? A near-mint copy of Detective Comics 27, a pre-World War II comic featuring Batman’s debut, was recently found in an attic and sold to a local collector. (via AP).

Yeah, some guys have all the luck, and this guy Todd McDevitt seems to be lucky indeed. Seriously, I’ve had dreams like this where I walk into a store, or someplace and I find all of these vintage comics in pristine condition. Then I wake up. Well, it is nice to know that stories like this really do take place. I want to be jealous, but, hell, few things could be cooler than this.

Well,me completing off my Spider-Man collection would be nice. I’m only missing a couple years worth of comics that fluctuate between ‘95 and ‘01. I was missing all of those years,but have managed to fill them in quite nicely, and hope to someday do just that. When I do that, I’ll have a complete run.

Then life will be so sweet!

Legion of Superheroes goes Fast Food!

OK,now I’m really irritated. Sure, sure, you all know that I’m a huge Spidey fan, and love to collect Spidey stuff, but, I’m also a superhero kind of geek, and tend towards that side of the street. Well, as if that weren’t enough, I’m also a fast food guy, and well, when those three items converge, I’m so there!

Unfortunately, I just wasn’t there in August when McDonald’s offered up a set of Legion of superhero toys. I actually found out by accident when I discovered one of the trading cards that came with the set lying on the ground outside a pizza place that I frequent. Well, as soon as I discovered that the toys were old, I went on the web to locate a set.

I found one on ebay (a couple of other folk are currently bidding on it, but I’m thinking that I want to try and snag it for myself. More as this progresses.

Coming Clean with Spidey

As you may have learned by now, I have something of a Spider-Man fetish. Yeah, surprising, isn’t it? Whoda thunk it, eh? Anyway, I saw a couple of Spidey-themed bath items in the store the other day, and couldn’t help myself.



So now, I can clean my self with Spidey (don’t look too deep in that).

Catch the Craze!

Hey kids, I’ve become immortalized over at CatchdaCraze. That’s right, Craze interviewer the always lovely Michele St. Martin
took time at a a Big Apple Con over the Summer to chat me up. Well that interview has (finally) been posted, and well, you can listen to it yourselves.

Be prepared, though, the first 10 minutes of the ‘cast are comments by CatchdaCraze host Sam “The Man” Vera, which is followed by Michelle’s interview with me.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy!