It actually IS easy being Green

To say that he is a Green, Mean Fighting Machine would probably be to indulge in a bit of over-the-top hyperbole, but still, I can’t quite help myself. You see, The Incredible Hulk is due out this Friday.

Well, if you want to get a jump on the film (and missed out on the 7-eleven cups), then you are going to want to hustle on down to Burger King, and snag yourself some of the new Hulk toys. From what I can see of the film’s trailer, it looks like it is going to be way better than the previous version (and there is a roomer that Robert Downy, Jr. as Iron Man will pop up in this film (in an uncredited appearance) as well.

Well, as you can see, I already did that and have scored my first pair (of six). They are kinda OK, but I’m going to want to see the others before I judge the entire line. The two that I have are the Mirror Morph Hulk, and the Hulk Smash toys. I’m thinking that the Abomination and Hulk figurines are cooler, but, I still need to see them.

Now, I have to still hunt down the missing three Iron Man toys that I missed. I should be acquiring the Ion Man 7-eleven cups this weekend when I head into the city to my upcoming CAG meeting. The Hulk (or is it the Iron Man) straws I purchased online, and should be arriving tomorrow (hopefully).

Ah well, the difficulties of attempting to be a fast food toy collector in the modern-day world. Still, as this is something that I do, it is something that I will continue to do, and well, it is a whole load of fun. Actually, I very often find that the fast food toys are often cooler than the ones that go on sale in the toy stores.

And I thought BND was bad!

So I was reading Spider-Man Family and while that title is usually reviewed by my good buddy Chris on SpiderFan, I felt that I had to add my two cents into the mix. Seriously, what a badly-written story lead off this issue. I mean, it wouldn’t have been so bad if it had appeared in one of the Marvel Adventures titles (which are targeted for a younger audience), but this one is supposed to be a continuity implant or at the very least occur within the “normal” Marvel timeline.

The story has (for no apparent reason) Spider-Man and Marvel Girl literally babysitting Dr. Robert Bruce Banner (who is wandering through Mid-town Manhattan) so that he won’t get excited and turn into The Hulk (obviously this particular story is timed to coincide with the imminent release of The Incredible Hulk this June). Only, there really is no logical reason for this set up, (something about the SHIELD Helicarrier, and a UFO over Central Park), plus, the guy who is supposed to be Banner looks nothing like Banner, and makes a pass at Marvel Girl (I realize that they like to play fast and lose with the age of their characters, but Marvel Girl is in her early 20s while Banner is closer to late 30s early 40s).

So, the story itself has Marvel Girl and Spidey (both in costume) escorting Banner (in a suit) around Manhattan, and a pair of robberies being pulled off in full sight of the two heroes (the costumed crooks both explained that they saw Spidey, but didn’t think it was him). Seriously, nothing in the story hangs together as reasonable. It was as if some random fanboy thought it would be a cool idea to have these characters appear in the same story, and then simply wrote it up and (somehow) got it published. (Hey, you ever read fan fiction? Most of it blows chunks.)

By way of salvation, the second story reads much better (and should have been the Lead). This was followed up by an old Venom story, a Spidey Limited series tale, and Spider-Man J (the Japanese travesty that editorial insists on foisting on us). Ever since the start of BND I have been saying that virtually all of the other Spidey books read much better than what is going on in BND. Here is a most notable exception.

Funnybooks I am reading

OK, kids, it is time, once again, for me to help expand your reading horizons. Sure, sure we all love Spidey (if not the current BND “storyline”), but funnybook fans don’t live by Spidey-Mans alone (or as one crank once told me “bona fide” comic fans’ collections don't start with Amazing Spider-Man and end with X-Men.” (For what it’s worth, he was a serious, A-hole, and I eventually put him in his place.) Still, there is something to be said about sampling what else is out there, and while I’m a hard-core Spidey-phile I make it a point to acquire as many Indie funnybooks onto which I can glom.

Well, recently, between the NY Comic Con, my fellow creators in the Comicbook Artist’s Guild, and FCBD, I have a stack-and-a-half of funnybooks that I’ve been able to sample over the past month. I’ve already mentioned quite a few of the books that I've been reading, and I wanted to take a break in the action to talk about a few more. (then when I’m done here, I’m probably going to go over to my film blog and review some of the recent films I’ve seen.)

In the meantime, I’m gonna talk funnybooks.

First up, I want to wax eloquent about is one of the most unique comics that I’ve ever seen. Andrea Grant’s Minx is truly a delight to read. Andrea is up to her third issue of a comic that combines Super heroics, her American Indian heritage, Greek Mythology, along with philosophy, and a most unique approach to storytelling, and mode of delivery. Andrea simply refuses to limit herself to a single thing, or approach. Her comic is full of traditional artwork, combined with (and layered with) photography, and what can only be described as a college-like approach to her production.

Not satisfied with with ordinary, Andrea has gone out of her way to deliver something that is nothing less than refreshingly spectacular in both its approach and delivery. It would be well worth your time to seek out and purchase this book.

A second comic that I find myself enjoying is Heroes in Birmingham. I wrote about this unique comic some weeks back when I read the first issue. Now that I've read the second issue I find that I like it even more than I originally did (which was actually quite a bit then). The premise is that the local cadre of heroes are all corporate sponsored,and owe their allegiance to their corporate masters. Writer Rachel Kadushin has crafted a very interesting world full of superheroes that don't seem to follow normal conventions, which is precisely what makes it interesting.

And now (as the blokes from Monty Python’s Flying Circus used to say), for something completely different. Towards the end of the Indy After Party (hosted by CAG) at the NY Comic Con, fellow CAGer Luis Torres placed a couple of comics in my hands One of them was a little gem entitled Café is some of the silliest stuff I've seen in quite some time (and you’ve got to know that I’m a big fan of random silliness). The story (co-written by David Gregory, with art by Alexis Torres and Andres, and follows a couple of Hispanic (not Mexican) guys working at the coffee café that is set inside a book store. It involves an exploding chicken, a conversation with God, a plot against humanity, and, well, more random goofiness than you tend to find in a comic these days.

Finally, the comic I am currently reading, is 5 Shots, by Jemir Johnson. This book is a five short crime stories, told in a square-bound B&W comic that is slightly smaller than a regular-sized comic. The stories are a series of visceral street-level crime dramas, that grab you right from the get-go, and keeps you there all the way through to the final page. Jemir is another CAG guy who is putting himself out there and has seemed to have hit a hot spot with these five tales. Hell, the guy has even managed to get his book listed on Amazon! if that isn’t I don’t know what is! These stories really got me going and I think that you’ll like them too.

Well, That’s it for now, see you in the funnypapers!

Have a Hulking good time!

Hey there kiddies, I just wanted you all to catch up on the fact that I managed to acquire the remaining two 7-eleven Hulk lenticular Slurpee cups yesterday (yeah, yeah, I know — you totally care). This time I even managed to score the Hulk Slurpee covers for the cups (something I missed the first time around). I still haven’t seen the Hulk (or Iron Man) straws, but I’m still looking on ebay for them (I think that I found both sets, but we’ll see).



Not sure what fast food toys (if any) are going to be available for the upcoming Batman The Dark Knight flick (especially considering the dark nature of the film itself and the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger), but again, we’ll see about that as well. So stay tuned

It is time to Hulk Out!

As I reported earlier, 7-eleven has added Hulk Slurpees to their menu (replacing the all but non-existent Iron Man Slurpees). Well, This time I actually managed to score one of the four lenticular cups. (Yea!) Only, there apparently are straws that come with the cups,and I didn’t acquire a straw, so I’m going to have to go back and see if I can get one of those as well.

Now those of you coming late to the part might be a little confused why I — an avowed Spider-Man fan is so interested in acquiring Iron Man and Hulk items, well, sure they are both Marvel Superheroes and all, but that’s really not the entire story. You see, I also collect fast food toys. No, not just nay (all) fast food toys, but superhero-themed fast food toys. In fact, I’m something of an expert on the subject, as I wrote a book on the topic back in 2001.

That’s right, I penned Kiddie Meal Collectibles (Krause) and have been acquiring fast food toys whenever I am able. To be sure, I am a Marvel Comics fan, but in regards to superhero fast food toys, it really doesn’t matter so much to me, as I have not only Marvel but DC characters, plus numerous others as well.(Did you know that Frank Miller’s Big Guy and Rusty characters made the jump to Fast Food toys?) Well they did!) So whenever I see superhero fast food toys, I scramble to acquire them (I even have a set of 12" tall Justice League toys from a fast food chain in Europe. Remind me to drag them out and photograph the lot of ‘em for ya sometime, eh?)

Heh, this just in, I didn’t realize it before, but apparently there is also currently a Hulk Big Gulp cup at 7-eleven, plus there is this extreme (52 oz.) Big Gulp cup at 7-eleven back in 2003 for the release of the Ang Lee Hulk film. Plus, in 2006, 7-eleven had a tie-in to the Fantastic Four film that I also missed. I guess that I’m going to have to start paying attention to this stuff more, eh? I happen to have a complete set of the legendary original Marvel 7-eleven cups (and that is only because the first 7-eleven in my area was opened up in my home town, and I was there nearly every day over that summer acquiring cups. They knew me by first name back then.)

Amelia Totally Rules!

I first came into contact with the comic Amelia Rules!, a few years back, probably via exposure to it at a Free Comic Book Day event (a totally great way to discover what’s out there that you aren’t currently reading, by the way). Anyway, Amelia is a nine-year-old girl, who is the creation of author/illustrator Jimmy Gownley. Launched in 2001, Amelia has been something of a media darling for obvious reasons.

Gownley’s witting and illustrations are infectious, as he weaves us through not so much what is actually happening to young Amelia, but her perceptions of what is going on around her. Yes, Amelia narrates her own life, and we get to see the world from her perspective. Needless to say, this obviously makes for interesting reading, as Amelia’s life is full of ninjas, superheroes, funnybooks, friendships, and well, “girl stuff.” Well, you might wonder how a 30something male cartoonist can write about what goes on in the mind (and world) of a nine-year-old girl, but he does so in a way that is totally believable, and wildly entertaining.

This year, as in the past, I acquired a copy of Gownley’s wonderful comic about Amelia (wisely, Gownley has been part of FCBD for a number of years), and, once again it was a delight to read. What struck me the most about this years FCBD story is that, without actually saying it, the story revolved around one of Amelia’s young friends anguish about the fact that her father (who is in the military) is being deployed to Iraq (To be sure,where he is going is never actually mentioned by name, but it is fairly obvious by the context of the story). The story is handled with grace, humor, and pathos giving us what it truly must be like for a young child who is old enough to understand the consequences of what is going on without delving into the politics of the whole thing.

If you have never read Amelia Rules!, then this is the story that you must seek out and acquire, for it will convert you to being a fan. Personally, after reading this issue, I passed it along to both my wife, and my 13-year-old daughter to read. I believe that this really is the kind of comic that will attract people who don’t normally read comics into the fold. For whatever reason, the industry doesn’t seem to produce enough of these types of comics, and it really should.

Everyone seems to want to produce the kinds of comics that are already being produced, and what we wind up with is more of the same. Amelia Rules! is like no other comic I’ve ever read. it is bright, funny, endearing, and well, quite entertaining. A breath of fresh air in an industry that is used to eating its own young. If there were more comics like Amelia Rules! I believe that there would be more fans in this industry.

OK, It’s Official. Now I’ve Seen Everything!

You may not know this to look at me, but I am a secret citizen of the Colbert Nation. Yes, it is true. I’ve been watching The Daily Show since before Jon Stewart joined the team, and well, Steven Colbert is a hoot and a half. So you can just imagine how giddy this bit of info made me...

Yes, America, it's an election year. As the candidates duke it out in our existence, they're also going toe-to-toe in the Marvel Universe! Ladies and gentlemen, that means Stephen Colbert's candidacy for President is alive and well in the Marvel Universe.

(via Marvel)

OK, so, after the death of Steve Rogers, Joe Q. gave Colbert Captain America’s Shield, and now he is allowing Colbert to run for President? Is there nothing Joe won’t do? Wait? What’s that you say? He’s just cut a deal with Mephestio to...