It’s the end of the world as we know it

I’m not entirely sure of this, but I do believe that the appearance of the recently-released Marvel Apes is one of the signs predicted by Nostradamus of the on-coming Apocalypse. No seriously, I’ve seen the Marvel Universe put through some pretty impressive hoops this past few years, but when I heard about this newest limited series, all I could think was WTF?

Then I read the first issue.

Now, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Yeah, seriously, I really kind of enjoyed it because it was fun, irreverent, and evoked the feeling of silly fun that is so missing from Marvel Comics these days. The story follows Martin Blank, the Gibbon, as he and a (nearly competent) research scientist are transported to an alternate Marvel-Verse where Apes Rule (and no, Neither Charlton Heston nor Mark Wahlberg appear). Written by Karl Kesel and written by Ramon Bachs, the story is a light-hearted romp that is fun, and should not be dismissed out of hand by readers.

The story starts out in the “real” Marvel U, and then moves the two characters over into a world ruled by apes, where Martin — who is a self-confessed loser — comes to feel at home. Only this new world just might not be the place that he initially believes it to be. A back-up story has the The Watcher telling us all about the origin of the Marvel Ape-verse.

If you haven’t picked up this comic as of yet— and are in the mood for some fun with a twist — you just might want to check it out. (there was also a preview of Marvel Apes in Amazing Spider-Man Family #1, that you might want to check out as well.)

Top Ten Ways Spider-Man J Is Better Than Spider-Man A

OK, OK, truth to tell, this is not my post, a buddy of mine from SpiderFan sent this over to me, and, well, quite frankly, it was just way too funny to not post here and re-link.

You see — for those of you who are not familiar with it — Spider-Man J is an authorized Japanese version of Spider-Man, only, well, (as my good buddy Chris B points out), blows chunks. That’s right. Spider-Man J is nigh-unreadable. Seriously, I can’t make heads or tails of it, and Stan knows I’ve tried.

Still — as this poster points out — it is still way better than Post BND Spidey, and well, after reading his post, I just have to agree.

Sorry Stephen.

Anniversary Daze

A couple of weeks back I mentioned that it was my anniversary. Well as you probably all knew, I received some Spider-Gifts. I just recently got pics of the couple of items I received, and wanted to share them with you all (mostly because I know that posting this goofy crap makes you all jealous — that and, well, it’s been a slow week).

So here are the two Spidey Items I received.

A new pair of Spidey-Lounge Pants (from Webundies.com)




Spider-Bubbles



My birthday is coming up in a week or so, (hint, hint).

Reboot is all the rage

OK, so we all know by now about the recent reboot of Spider-Man this year, well, apparently this sort of reboot is swiftly becoming all the rage, and Lynn Johnson who produces For Better or Worse recently decided to reboot her long-running syndicated strip. On September first, after 29 years of on-going continuity (at the age of 61), she decided to reset her own strip, and go back to the beginning.


She posted the reason for this reset on her site:

The move comes a year after the Reuben Award-winning cartoonist attempted semi-retirement by mixing classic reprints of “For Better or for Worse” with new panels that advanced the present-day story. That allowed Johnston to go back and forth in time in the lives of her characters.

For the full story...

I’m not sure what to make of this, nor am I sure that I like it (but hey, don’t listen to me, I didn’t like that the syndicate decided to keep running Peanuts after Charles Schultz passed away. because now — as much as people like this strip — there is some cartoonist out there (or several cartoonists) who can’t get their work into print because Peanuts is occupying their real estate.

Imagine, if you will, if Schultz had been denied publication because some older “revered” cartoonist strip was hanging on after that guy had passed away. I respect the right for the syndicate to make money, but I think that Shultz would have objected (or sahould have objected) to this sort of thing.

I met Spider-Man this weekend, and you didn’t

That’s right kids. I met the actual, honest-to-Stan, Spider-Guy, and I can prove it. You see, I spent this past weekend (underwater in CT, thanks to Hurricane Hanna). I was working at a local outdoor food and music festival here in my hometown — one that I’ve been working at for the past 22 years. Anyway, this year, Spider-Man and some other Marvel Heroes (and villains) were scheduled to show up; which they did.

That’s right, I got to meet, Spider-Man, Storm, Hulk, and the Green Goblin. The Marvel characters came out and performed a kid-oriented show, and then met with their fans afterward. Below, are some of the photos that I managed to snap of these folk, before, during, and after the show. The show was fun and all, and was most definitely done for the kids. (And yeah, everyone working with me at the Festival knew that I was not only there at the show, but made fun of me because I told everyone that I really wanted to go.

Oh yeah, the really fun part for me, was that because earlier in the weekend since I had received a back-stage pass, I got to watch the show from the wings, and then got to meet the heroes personally.

Yeah, I am a geek. Now, some of those show pics

Spidey back stage:



Spidey and Storm onstage:



Hulk joins them onstage:



Bring on the Bad Guy!



Look, we even have Spider clones!



And the crowd goes wild!



And finally, Spidey & Me!



Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here!



Eat yer hearts out kids!

Look! Up in the sky! It is the real origin of Superman

Author Brad Meltzer has a new book out that details the secret real-life origin of the Man of Steel (The Book of Lies). As it turns out (according to Metlzer), there has been a long-held secret behind the creation of the world’s greatest Superhero:

it appears that the origin might have been more profound — that it was the death of Jerry Siegel's father that pushed the devastated teen to come up with the idea of a "Superman" to right all wrongs.

"In 50 years of interviews, Jerry Siegel never once mentioned that his father died in a robbery," says Brad Meltzer, a best-selling author whose novel, The Book of Lies, due Sept. 2, links the Siegel murder to a biblical conspiracy plot.

"But think about it," Meltzer says. "Your father dies in a robbery, and you invent a bulletproof man who becomes the world's greatest hero. I'm sorry, but there's a story there."

Check here for the rest of that story, as it appeared in USA Today.

Or you can listen to Metlzer himself.



Between Metlzer’s book and the one from Marc Tyler Nobleman (Boys of Steel), it seems that this is Superman Month. Cool, eh?

***UPDATE***UPDATE***

I just got word from Marc Nobleman, and it seems that I got some of it wrong, apparently Meltzer’s book is a fictionalized account about the “Secret” origin of Superman. Apparently I either misread the USA story, for misunderstood it.

Sorry for the confusion.

May the Force be with us All

The week of August 11-24 TV Guide had a cover feature of the New Star Wars animated Flick, (The Clone Wars). This was in anticipation of an up-coming animated TV show of the same name.

Well, TV Guide also included a special CD-ROM with that issue. I did not notice the CD at first because I have my TV Guide delivered. Interestingly enough, I didn’t get the Disc, but it was included on the store copy. As you can expect, this irritated me, so I wrote to them and asked for my copy with the disc. After all (I said), why should casual readers get something that I — a dedicaded reader — didn’t get.

Well, This week I received my CD. I hope to watch the CD this week, and then go out to see the flick. I’ll let you know when I have.