Stan and Jack-o meet!

Yep, that’s right, according to Jim Salicrup, Stan Lee and Michael Jackson met and there was someone there to film the whole thing. here is a piece of it.



Read the rest about the encounter on Jim’s blog.

Transformers @ BK

OK, so I went to a BK over the weekend in the hopes to score some very cool Transformers, only the one I went to was apparently out of the figures (or simply refused to sell me them without the meal). Slightly disappointed, I looked at the figures, and was somewhat less than impressed.

To be sure, they might be cooler when you actually get one in your hands, but I just wasn't impressed by the look of them in the display case.

Perhaps I’ll just skip them, and wait for the GI Joe toys that I know are coming.



Have to think about this. Still, the movie is wicked-cool!

Rusty Haller

So I have this professional friend...or rather this friend who is a fellow professional. He is a cartoonist, and well, has been having a bit of personal and professional bad luck. In this tough economy he is having some difficulty getting a stead stream of assignments and, is getting evicted. He has to move out of his place at the end of the month (which as you all know is two days from now).

I’ve been doing what I can to get Rusty hooked up with more work, or representation of some sort (even commissioned and purchased art from him recently). I’ve also been trying to get other friends of ours to help in in whatever way they could. Sever folks have risen to the challenge (including the folks at Bryanna Bunny, who have set up a donation fund for Rusty, and the guys over at Free Lunch Comics who are holding a charity auction to help raise money for Rusty).

Rust was doing a bunch of great work in the ‘80s and ‘90s for Marvel, Dc, Archie, and other companies. He is also the creator of Ace & Queenie, a very cool action/adventure anthropomorphic espionage series, that began live over at Radio Comix and lives now on the Web.

In the mean time, take a look at a very cool comic that Rusty recently drew (I'm trying to see if I can find a magazine that will purchase it — so if you know of any editor that want's to get his or her hands on a very talented cartoonist, let me know).

More Spidey, More Spidey, More Spidey!

Went to the movies last night to see Transformers, and while I was there I made my usual trip to the toy dispensers that are in the lobby. One of them contains Marvel characters packed in a little plastic egg. Well there eight toy figurines and I now have seven of them (only Missing the Human Torch).

Needless to say, I also managed to score five duplicates (two of which I’ve given away, one is slated to be given away, and the other two are sitting on my desk, looking for a good home.

The figures in the set are two Spideys (different poses)Wolverine, Ghost Rider, The Thing, Captain America, and Hulk. (The ones awaiting “homes” are an extra Hulk and Ghost Rider.) They each come in three pieces and need assembling.




They are very cool, and only a buck a figure. Whenever I go to this particular theater, I drop a buck (or two) into the slot and (hopefully) grab a figure I didn’t have. Well, like I said, I have only one more to go. Normally, I stop after I score the Spidey figure, but it wasn’t ‘til this last time that I managed to get the 2nd Spidey.

This Week’s Funnybooks

I’ve been reading the Avengers/Invaders mash-up this past decade or so (actually, it has only seemed that long with the ponderous and meandering storyline that Writer Jim Kruger has been trowling about. Seriously, after all this time, nothing of note has occurred (OK there were two minor linchpins that get pulled out at the end, but seriously, This whole thing could have been told in a Giant-Sized special, and told much better.

By comparison, let me tell you that I sat through two hours and 42 minutes of Transformers which had way less storyline than did Avengers/Invaders, but seemed to take up way less of my time. No I realize that it my not be fair to compare the two, but seriously, A/I (which contained characters that I love), just seemed interminable while Transformers (about which I care not in the least), was really enjoyable. The only thing that i can think of was that Kruger had a point to make and then decided what size sledge hammer he needed to pound it in, while Michael Bay simply wanted to entertain me.

Needless to say, I hate Norman Osborn with the whit-hot passion of an exploding sun (hate hate hate), yet I've been reading Dark Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis (who I consider to be a very talented hack — no offense Brian) but is certainly writing the Hell out of this series, and actually is making me care about Osborn as a person (and I totally hate Bendis for doing this. I want to hate Osborn, but for the first time in like 40 years, I actually feel sorry fo the guy — Osborn not Bendis)

Now that is seriously good writing!

Ms. Marvel is a hit-and-miss character for me, but the last couple of Spidey appearances in her book (#40 being the most recent) have been pretty decent, and I’m enjoying her storyine as we wind through the Dark Reign scenario. (Oh, can anyone tell me if the Moonstone/Ms. Marvel we’ve been seeing in the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers is the same Moonstone from back in the day who was the bald chippie in the Avengers during the Celestial Madonna storyline? Just wondering.)

I want to see what’s up in Captain America (Yeah the Steve Rogers is back hype got to me, and while I still think that Marvel missed a way-cool opportunity to put Sam Wilson in the suit, I still want to be there when Cap comes back.

Also, while I’m still on the fence about the whole Timestorm thing, I can’t help but to point out that the 2099 Universe into which Spidey and Wolverine have been pulled isn’t the same one from way back when. Not sure if I’m liking this, but it isn’t entirely bad, and I want to see where they go with it (Plus it is way better than A/I)

Haven’t read the Sinister Spider-Man (staring Scorpion/Venom) or Mr. Negative minis yet, and well, I’m still POed about BND, but with #600 of ASM coming up, I’m hoping that they will put the whole thing to rest (Still, I’m not afraid that they are going to wait until #666 to put a fork in it, which will seriously wind my clock.

OK, time to get back to (paying) work.

Real Heroes

Each year Marvel does a bunch of giveaway or sponsored comics. for the past six, they have done one in conjunction with the U.S. Military, well this year is no exception, and we just have received news that it is now time for issue #7. If you don’t live on or near a U.S. Military base, you had better head to ebay to score your copy.

******

WRITER: MARC SUMERAK
ARTIST: PERE PEREZ
COLORIST: SOTOCOLOR's C. GARCIA
LETTERER: VC'S RUS WOOTON
COVER ARTIST: IG GUARA
PROJECT MANAGER: JON-MICHAEL ENNIS
CONSULTING EDITOR: RALPH MACCHIO
EDITOR: NATHAN COSBY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: JOE QUESADA
PUBLISHER: DAN BUCKLEY

RELEASE DATE: APRIL, 2009
COVER DATE: 2009
PUBLISHED BY: MARVEL COMICS

TITLE: "An Army of One"

Marvel Comics once again salutes the real heroes -- the men and women of the US Military -- with this special comic book! The Hulk is leaving a trail of destruction across the American Southwest, and it will take the combined might of Marvel’s super heroes and the United States Military to end the green goliath’s rampage!

NOTE: This special free comic will be available exclusively at Army and Air Force Exchange Service locations on US Military installations worldwide during the Summer of 2009.

A Father's Day gift for myself

So, a week or two prior to Father’s Day (Which I spent on the Cape at my niece’s wedding) I was shopping with (the ball and chain) my lovely wife; and we were at CostCo picking up a couple of things. Well, as we passed the DVD aisle, I spotted an eight-pack of Marvel films (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, Elektra, Daredevil, Fantastic 4, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which were packaged together with Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes — volume one (containing four episodes from the Fox FF animated TV show).

Also packed in this slipcase, were some “exclusive” Marvel collectibles: Two X-Men mini comics (a single flip book, actually), a Silver Surfer digital comic, and a custom-designed lobby card.



What made this package extra-cool, was that it was $29.99. I mentioned how cool a package this was (given that I really only had two of the films on DVD) and my wife mentioned that “Father’s Day was coming.” So I put the package back on the shelf.

Well Father’s Day came and went (with me at the Cape) and no Fox DVD Film package. Needless to say, the other day I found myself at Costco’s again, and low and behold, the boxed set was still there, so I snagged one for me.

I haven’t had time to watch them yet, but, well, I have time.