Diamonds on the souls of my shoes

OK, so I've been reading (and not much enjoying) the Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine (written by Jason Aaron). My reason for not enjoying it much revolve around the fact that it seemed as if it were just another “take two characters out of continuity and screw with them for five or six issues then put them back the way they were, ‘cause nothing that happens here actually matters” kinds of books.

As a rule, I hate these types of books as they don’t seem to do anything but take money out of my pocket.

Then I got to issue #5 (of six), and saw this...

Yeah, it seriously caused me to laugh out loud.

Don’t get the reference? hold on...




Got it now? I mean, really. Just how much fun can you have reading a comic?

What are they thinking?

A couple of years ago, when Marvel Comics’ fictional character, Captain America (Steve Rogers) was killed during a year-long storyline entitled Civil War, virtually every news media outlet on the planet carried the story (completely ignoring the fact that a) he was a fiction character, b) he was a corporate icon and without “Captain America” there could be no Cap tie-ins, and c) HE IS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER!)

Well, as those of us who are smarter than the rest of you knew better, sure enough, he got better, and Steve Rogers returned to the land of the living just a couple of years later. Even though he didn't immediately take back the uniform of Cap (now inhabited by Bucky Barnes, his WW sidekick (who had also returned from the dead), he became Super Soldier, and took over the helm of the international spy organization, SHIELD from Nick Fury (who was also dead and now alive again (starting to sense a theme here?).





Yet, even that moratorium on him inhabiting the role of Cap America was was short-lived as word has just come down that Steve will once again pick up his shield and become Captain America (in fact, just prior to the release of the Captain America movie — anyone want to take bets on when the “now dead” Johnny Storm (the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch) will return from the dead? When did you say that the FF film reboot is going to happen?).

Yes, yes, I realize that all of this is old news, but it is relevant only in the following light. In the recently-released Action Comics #900, Superman renounced his American Citizenship. Yep, you read that right, declaring himself to be a citizen of the universe (sort of like he did in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace back in 1987!), he rejected his American citizenship. Guess what the right-wing, conservative Republican-leaning Fox and other media did with this...Yes again, they went right ‘round the twist.

Once again because I'm smarter than you I know better, I feel it necessary to point out a few things. 1) Henry Cavill, the actor picked to portray Superman in the next film is, well, British, 2) Joe Shuster (co-creator of Superman) was Canadian , 3) Kal-El (Superman) isn't from Earth, he's an alien, born on the planet Krypton, and 4) HE’S A FICTIONAL CHARACTER!!! You effin morons!

Oh yeah, back to Cap for a minute. The week he died, and everyone was yapping about his death, and what it all meant, eight (real life) U.S. servicemen died In Iraq & Afghanistan, and yet, no one mentioned them.

OK, having said all of that, I’m going back to drinking heavy and reading my comics.

Thor: The Official Index to the Marvel Universe

Just in time for the Thor film (to be released next month), is the Thor: Official Index to the Marvel Universe.

I contributed to this. How cool is that?

Betty & Veronica Storybook!

Betty & Veronica Storybook!

Thor, the first two BK toys.

OK, Kids, here we go with the first pair of toys from Burger King that are preceding the release of Marvel Comic's anticipated Spring Blockbuster, Thor!

Last Cake Standng

I just learned of the episode of Last Cake Standing where they celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the Fantastic Four by building four cakes. It was actually quite cool, and here are some pics of the cakes from that episode.

Cool, eh?

Thor is here!

Yep, Kids, it looks like Thor has finally made it into Burger King! Now rush out and git yer toys!

As Thore as Thor can be!

Guess who's coming to Burger King?

Yeah!

Batman is coming to McDonald's

Coming soon (April 29th, 2011) To McDonald’) Batman: The Brave and The Bold. We are told that there will be three toys with each meal, and then eight waves of three toys each, making that 24 toys total! How cool is that?

Pretty cool, eh?

Funnybook Swag

Earlier this week I helped my brother move some of his stuff (including a dryer of his into my place to replace mine that died a week or so earlier). Well, during the move, he passed over to me a couple of cool comicbook items (that I believe used to belong to my funnybook-loving nephew. Here are those items.

Yes, that is a Batman glass as well as a Burger King bobble-head figure.

NOW I’ve seen everything...

Nothing left to say...

The Little General

As I pointed out elsewhere, while I’ve been aware of the presence of Mini comics, I really haven’t followed them much, and well, I’m beginning to think that’s a shame, especially when I’ve recently learned (from the Fairfield County Weekly) that there apparently is an extensive history for them here in CT. well, a week or so back I was at the MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Festival in Manhattan, and I ran into an old friend o mine, Mark Lerer (who used to work on the editorial staff of Marvel Age Magazine, back in the day).

Well, these days, Mark (in addition to working for Craig Yoe), is producing Mini-Comics, and well, I scored myself one @ MoCCA. The comic is the very entertaining Little General.

I always knew that Mark was a writer (due to his work on Marvel Age), but I never realized what an accomplished cartoonist he is. You really should contact Mark, and score your own copy of this very cute comic.

A day @ Kid’s Comic Con

Yesterday I spent the day at the Kid’s Comic Con in the Bronx. It was a wonderful day spent among friends, colleges, and where I met some new wonderful colleges and friends. I want to thank both Ray Felix & Alex Simmons for the invitation. It really was one of my favorite cons thus far this year.

While there, I managed to acquire some wicked-cool swag, including the following:

Cool stuff, eh? I'll be posting reviews of all these comics over the coming days, so keep watch.

A bug Gulp o Thor

And here we have the last of the 7-eleven Thor movie tie-ins.

As with the Slurpee cups, there are four Big Gulp cups and they spotlight Thor, Sif, Loki, and the Destroyer.

Thlurpees go Thor

 Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I’m still making that joke, but well that’s because it really is pretty funny. Here you go, Slurpee Thor Cups from 7-eleven:

George Takei Should Be Spider-Man!

Yeah, we’re totally buying this.




Now this would get us to actually be interested in seeing the musical!

Cool new Marvel (and other Funnybook) Swag

The other day my lovely wife was out and about and discovered a very cool coloring book featuring the Superhero Squad version of the Avengers.

What makes this coloring book extra cool is that in addition to the English text in the comic, there is also Spanish.

Yep, each page contains all of the captions in both English and Spanish. Pretty cool, eh?

Then My older brother, Ron, passed along to me a nifty-cool Spidey Bucket (that I suspect used to belong to my nephew, Tony-o).

Don’t fret for Tony-o though, he’s now 16 or 17 and while still a Spidey fan, is now distracted by other stuff, and so is OK with bequeathing me this (and presumably some of his other Spidey) toy(s).

Next up, is an old photo that was taken of me during last years NY Comic Con. As you can see, I'm standing “inside” a Spider-Man standee. Well even though this pic was taken several months ago, I never really looked at it, and it wasn’t until I was preparing it for this post did I realize that my good buddy, Mark Mazz was standing behind me.

Nice guy, eh?

I’m also including a shot of the fabulous Jim Web who I spent time with this past weekend over at MoCCA.

Finally (also while I was at MoCCA), I met a young cartoonist (14-years old!) named Emma t. Carps who publishes a comic called The Chapel Chronicles. She also produces greeting cards, post cards, buttons, and other cool stuff.

Her comic is delightful, and you should check out her stuff, as she has mad talent (as my own daughter would say).

Superman to the...uh...rescue, sort of...

I was going to say something about the obvious hilarity of the following clip, but I wasn't sure what I could say to make it any funnier than it already was.




See what I mean?

Yes, I am a Boy Scout

Back in January, I spotted the published image for the cover of Captain America #616 and well, it looked like this.:

If, like me, you are a Boy Scout, or have served in the military (I didn’t), you will notice something wrong with this image. Yep, the flag is hung wrong. Anyone familiar with Flag protocols will know that the U.S. flag is always hung with he blue star field in the upper left corner. well, I contacted my editor over at Marvel (I work on the Marvel Index project), and informed him of the error. 

Well, when Cap #161 came out last week the cover looked like this:

From what I subsequently learned, because I called in when I did, the Cap Editor was able to fix the image before it got shipped off to the printer.

Seriously, how cool is that?

I’m thill thor!

The other day I told you about how Thor cups were showing up at 7-eleven, well I just learned that they also have straws figures as well, (just like they did for the Iron Man 2 & Wolverine movies). Unfortunately, unlike either of those flicks, these 7-eleven figures won't stand up independent from the straws. Still, they are wicked cool, and well, Here they are.

I'm tho Thor!

OK Kids, it looks like we’re getting an early jump on Summer movies. At least as far as their fast food toys are concerned. I just stopped by my local 7-eleven and discovered that they already have Thor cups in stock. (Unfortunately no figure straws, just cups.)

7-eleven also has a 12" Destroyer figure that doubles as a cup.

In addition to the Thor 7-eleven cups, Marvel is also reported to be doing a tie-in with Burger King that is rumored to include the following six kid meal toys the will show up closer to the June release of the film.

1. Mighty Thor Figure: The God of Thunder articulated in full costume with helm; Pose-able 
2. Mjolnir "Lightning" Shooter: Thor's mystical hammer with the ability to shoot multiple "lightning" discs 
3. Lady Sif Headdress: A miniature replica of the ceremonial helm worn by Sif in the film 
4.  "Rainbow" Ring: Unlock the secrets of the Bifrost Bridge, the gateway of the Gods of Asgard 
5.  Loki Figure: The God of Mischief casts a spell to "multiply" himself before your eyes 
6. The Destroyer: Asgard's most powerful weapon, which only Thor may be able to stop; Pose-able 

However, since these toys are apparently still in the prototype phase of production, we really don’t have more detailed information, or images of what they actually look like. We did learn that fans who find themselves lacking enough patience to wait will be happy to learn that the general public will get a good look at much of the Thor movie tie-in merchandise once the Iron Man 2 DVD/Blu-Ray is ready to hit store shelves.