Super behind today, but I've got this going for me, anyway.

The Spokane Toy Show was last Saturday; the day before Mother's Day: I think they even tried to pitch it as "bring mom!" but that seems like traditionally a tough sell. Anyway, instead I went back to Montana, to see my mom, which was fun. Then, this is also the time of year when I start biking more: I'm at 20-30 miles a day; which does eat up a bit of the afternoon. All this means, I'm not sure I've even read anything this week!

I did get a G.I. Joe Tiger Force Outback while in Montana, and a couple more Fortnite figures; but I wanted to get this guy out again:  Dark Voyager is actually one of my favorite figures of the last few years! He's not perfect, but a black-suited astronaut? That's just neat. Still, looking it up: there were other character variations in the Space Explorers set; including a girl Voyager and a orange "Mission Specialist" version; the latter gives real Space: 1999 vibes.

Ah, I had forgotten: Leviathan was a lot of the same mold! I still would've bought others, though; like red or white, like Lego mini-figure astronauts. Why did I give Dark Voyager a smaller version of himself...I don't know. It's not kid-sized; together they look like a really bad ventriloquism act.

Anyway, today I hope to slog my way through work, then maybe bike out to Target and see if they have the Tracksuit Mafia Marvel Legends. That and I may have one or more boxes of nonsense arriving; although the Wal-Mart Star-Lord seems late. We'll maybe get some comics read this weekend. You should too!

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Ti od dluohs uoy, gnihtemos od ot uoy sllet annataZ.

...and, I don't think I had more to say about this book, sorry! Take the rest of the week off! (From 2007, cover for tcapwodahS--er, Shadowpact #16 by Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher. Read more!

Somewhat perfunctory post.

I don't say this very often, but it's super-nice out right now. In the 80's, not a cloud in the sky. And next Friday I have a day off, and it'll probably be acid-hail, or cloudy with a 60% chance of Trump or something likewise terrible. Better enjoy it now, is what I'm getting at.

Today's scan is from 2006's Green Lantern Corps #4, "Unrelenting" Story and pencils by Dave Gibbons, inks by Michael Bair. Guy Gardner's attempt at a vacation is interrupted by the return of Bolphunga the Unrelenting; who seems to figure Guy will be easier to take down than Mogo. Meanwhile, other Lanterns have their own problems; like Soranik Natu, who has to tell a grieving mother her son died for the Corps; or Isamot Kol, who has to choose between his duty to the Corps and his somewhat unpleasant, possibly racist partner, or breeding. (Which sounds like a topic for some trashy daytime TV show: "I'm his partner, not his wingman!") I'm going to guess before looking it up: Isamot chose the Corps, then died in the background two events later...ooh, half right. Isamot was killed off in the movie, though.
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I'm a little bit beat this week, but had time for Star-Lord's origin recap from Marvel Spotlight #7, "Tears for the World Called Heaven" Written by Doug Moench, art by Tom Sutton, with a Frank Miller cover. I had no idea it was a Miller cover, until I saw the reprint info. The rest of the issue didn't do much for me, but here we are.

This is more just a reminder that I have some of the black-and-white Marvel magazines with Star-Lord stories, that I need to dig into at some point. That said, I did knock these out real quick:

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What do Spider-Woman and Bossk have in common?

...um, not much, I'd imagine. Except that I managed to pick up both of them recently. I'm kind of caught up on figures right now, something I wouldn't have bet on considering how much I was sweating getting some of the latest Marvel Legends.

The ankles on the latest Marvel Legends women--Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Hellcat, all of 'em--are giving me fits, though. Still trying to work them out.
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Poor wingless guy...

Picked up several more Transformer Kreons from eBay: Prowl, Jazz, and three "Autobot Troopers" from the Cycle Chase set. Along with Bluestreak, all of them have car-door wings, except for one with jet wings, and one lonely Trooper with none. He seems sad.

Hmm. Had this post done some time ago, but never scheduled it. Apparently I was saving for a day I was asleep at the wheel um, a special occasion. Yeah...



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Woof, this week got away from me. I shouldn't complain about having a day off, but having a Wednesday off made it feel like there were two Mondays this week.

Today's also my Youngest son's birthday; who is doing awesome and has yet to complain about having Christmas and his birthday so close together. He's nine years old, that special age where Dad gives him a wad of cash to find himself a present...actually, he's wanting a WiiU or something, so the family is chipping in for him.

Since this is the start of the year, I have been thinking about what I'd like to accomplish in 2014. Well, "accomplish" in quotes, since I'm just talking about messing around here. But I'm not quite making any headway on that front, either. Still, we'll figure something out. I have a couple of homemade strips scripted out, that I need to take pictures for, so I'm hoping to get cracking on that later today. Hopefully...


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Got a big, big box from Big Bad Toy Store! Taking a day off here to just play for a bit. We'll see the new stuff soon enough...

Ah, I did finish one quick one:

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Sight unseen, I'm gonna guess...Gnarrk?

Or maybe Aqualad? Nah.

Cover to a dollar-bin copy of 1966's Teen Titans #40, "The Spawn of the Sinister Sea" Written by Bob Haney, pencils by Art Saaf, inks by Nick Cardy.

The Titans search for the Loch Ness Monster, which in this case turns out to be a fake created by salmon poachers...wait, are there salmon in Loch Ness? Apparently. Huh. But Robin and Mal are nearly drowned by a pair of mysterious swimmers, one of whom Robin recognizes at their next encounter as Aqualad. Then there's the Black Earl of Moray, a sunken island castle, Aqualad dating a hot blonde, and more; but frankly I was roasting when I read this and may have hallucinated parts of it.

Actually, this issue reminded me that Mattel didn't even attempt to give the classic Aqualad a DC Universe Classics figure; but I don't think there was a lot of uproar and outcry on that one. Have a good weekend!

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Out!

I still haven't bothered to take a picture of my new desk--frankly, it's not as nicely set up; and it's underneath the air conditioning vent, so I'm freezing and somewhat dry all day at work lately. But, I'm on vacation next week! Don't worry: I still have some time-killing posts scheduled. In the meantime, why not hit up the Armchair SDCC coverage at Poe Ghostal's? I know I will! Although, I'm a little depressed considering the possible (if not probable) end of Marvel Legends. Or "end," since I think it'll just be folded into movie lines...

Anyway, vacation, be safe, see you soon!

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Good news: my girlfriend and I are now completely moved out of our respective old apartments! Bad news: a good majority of our crap is crammed into our current one, since the door to our garage was falling off--we didn't want to put more stuff in there, then the door falls off...

Now, I don't want you to get the impression that I've seen the light, and am going to forswear my hording ways--if anything, I plan on getting more junk, thank you very much. But there was a lot of stuff I could probably maybe stand to get rid of now. Lug around enough crates full of videos or CD's, and you may come around to the opinion that physical media is outdated and stupid. Likewise, there's a fair number of comics or figures that may not be getting enough love from me, that would be more appreciated elsewhere. I'm pretty sure I just moved an old tray holding some still-carded figures, like a House of the Dead figure, and a Tomb Raider movie figure just sitting around--whoa, that's spendy. Hello, eBay! (Spendy on Amazon doesn't necessarily mean spendy on eBay, though. Choose wisely!)

So, I'll doubtless be doing a bit of housekeeping. I also had this insane notion for an action figure display case/shelf; somewhat based on the classic Clash of the Titans, of all things. Zeus had little individual nooks for his little clay avatars...it would almost be like the old-school action figure cases, really. Say about two feet wide, with dividers for individual spaces sized for the average Marvel Legends, DCUC style figure; then some larger slots closer to the top or an open shelf. Each slot would also have a couple of footpegs, to keep its occupant standing. The back and front of the unit would be plexiglass or lucite or clear plastic, to keep dust out--and the whole thing would be hinged, stacked two or three deep! The whole thing would be like five feet tall, maybe a foot deep, with a slightly larger base; with heavy duty hinges and magnetic locks to hold the plexiglass closed. I wonder how much it would cost to knock something like that out...I have no idea how much a couple of sheets of plexiglass is. Hell, I couldn't tell you how much wood is. The little footpegs may be the tough part...

I guess if price was no object, get the whole thing made of plexiglass or clear plastic; and throw in a backlight or something. But action figures are still enough of a niche item that I can't see something like this pipe dream showing up at Ikea or Pottery Barn or wherever people get furniture these days.

And then I just had the even more insane idea, of sculpting something like that out of clay--kinda like what Zeus had again, or at least how my fevered brain pictures it right now. More arty, but would weigh a metric ton...

We'll be back to regular posting shortly, with a homemade strip tomorrow!
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It's Green Lantern's birthday!

Really, according to an old DC calendar with that sort of thing, it's Green Lantern's birthday. I don't rerun this one every year, just the years I feel like taking the day off. Click to enlarge!



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Good grief. I have 80-Page Thursday posts written for January, I've started links and pictures for the sixth annual year in toys, and I've even got one done for next year's Retro Toy Week; so why isn't Friday's post done?

Because I've been sitting about watching zombie movies is not an acceptable answer...I watched George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead the other day, even though I hated about every character in it fifteen minutes in: while it has it's moments, there is a lot of handling of the idiot ball. That, and the ostensible lead, a National Guard Sargent (formerly a Colonel) who deserts, was previously seen in Diary of the Dead, robbing the students from the prior movie, at gunpoint. That scene is shown as a flashback early in Survival, and made me want to punch him in the face for the next hour and a half. I don't remember Diary of the Dead as being great either, but I did pick up the original Dawn of the Dead at a pawn shop the other week. I want to sit down and watch it, but I get tired of zombie movies ongoing message that zombies are bad, but people will kill you. (The entire Aliens series likewise beats you over the head with that one.) It's probably true, but still.

Really need to sort out that pile of DVD's I haven't watched yet...a running joke with my Oldest is the Incredible Hulk DVD: we saw it at the cheap theatre, but went late, and he managed to fall asleep during the final Hulk/Abomination fight. I bought the DVD new, and we still haven't opened it. I didn't think it was too bad, and watched it a bit back on FX. Might miss Norton in Avengers, even.

For a couple days there, I was exceedingly worried about the #Occupy Wall Street protesters. While it would be nice if they had a clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish (although, the fear is that their concerns would be broken down into easily digestible/ignorable talking points) I think they're doing a good thing. For example, if this country cared enough to punish bankers and financiers that exploit or abuse the system; to the same extent that, say, drug offenders are prosecuted...throw a few Wall Streeters into a federal lockup for their crimes, and I think you'll find their associates hold to the straight-and-narrow a little more firmly.

No, my worry was that it could take a determined 1% type about twenty minutes and maybe, I don't know, a hundred thousand dollars to crush #OWS. Step 1: Get a disguise. Step 2: Gather up three or four garbage bags full of one-dollar bills. It's a one-time expenditure, and what, you want to pay that money as taxes? Step 3: In disguise, take said money to the roof or convenient window, and start dumping it on the crowd of Occupy protesters. Playing Prince's "Trust" at this point is completely optional, but I'd strongly recommend it. Step 4: Get out of there, removing your disguise when you're out of sight. Don't sit around watching the riots you've just started; you can watch them at home, on Fox News, over and over and over. Even if 1% of the crowd goes crazy for the cash, the entire Occupy movement will be lambasted as greedy, violent savages that just want a handout; even though you would get much the same results dumping money at a NFL game or a girl scout meeting. I can't decide if this is an irrational fear...or wishful thinking, 'cause that would be kinda cool.

In other news, it feels like winter is already starting, and I'm already lamenting the lack of exercise I'm about to get for the next couple months; since left to my own devices I'll wrap up in the blankets and try to hibernate. On the upside, my cholesterol should be in the negative numbers by now, since I've eaten box after box of Chocolate Cheerios. How many Spongebob toys did we get for the Youngest? Um...


The promo appears to be over, but if I happen to see a box with Squarepants on it, I'll be compelled to buy it, since out of eight possible figures, we only got five or six. (Luckily, the Youngest doesn't really care about that.) I'm sure somewhere, someone's pulling out their hair about not getting a baseball Spongebob; and I have a spare one on my desk at work.

I did have a spare few minutes to re-read a recent purchase, The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics. For an anthology, it comes in with a pretty solid hit/miss percentage, although I was slightly disappointed since I already had Scott Hampton's adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Pigeons from Hell. It's quite good, though. Well worth picking up, especially if you can find it for $3.49! (Try Hastings.) It's not quite big enough to use to bludgeon a zombie, but it's close.
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Since I'm running behind, here's Anarky vs. R'as al Ghul:

...and it gets worse for Lonnie, in Anarky #5, "War and Peace, part two" Written by Alan Grant, pencils by Norm Breyfogle, inks by Joe Rubinstein. When Anarky intercepts launch codes that R'as al Ghul is trying to use to destroy humanity, he quickly finds himself in over his head. Beaten, tortured, and with his own symbol carved in his chest, Anarky has no choice but to give up the codes. (They were on him, so they would've been found; but that never happens to Batman...)

R'as leaves his men to dispose of Anarky, who manages to escape by jumping out of a moving van into a river. Beaten, bleeding, and freezing; at the end of the issue he still manages a pose reminiscent of Wolverine in X-Men #132. Really need to find that next issue now...

Should have my lazy hide back in gear tomorrow. Here's hoping.
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Should be working on a post, but...

Busy watching Crank: High Voltage. Why didn't anyone tell me it was awesome? I've had it in a pile of DVD's for months now. And why isn't there a Chev Chelios action figure? Read more!

The one where I post a random Thor page so I can bail for the weekend:

From Thor #240, "When the Gods Make War!" Plotted by Roy Thomas, script by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Klaus Janson. I have no idea what I did this week, but I didn't blog, that's for damn sure. Hoping to work a half-day today, then catch Thor...not sure if I'll spring for 3D or not, but we'll see.

We will have one more Thor rerun later, an old homemade strip that I still like. Have a good weekend, and a good free comic book day!
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Taking a day, folks:

So unbelievably aggravated lately. Things aren't going that badly, just...annoyingly. Not enjoying myself at work, not sleeping as well as usual, feeling a little run down, still waiting for something from eBay, and just hating everyone in the tri-county area.

Is there anything more depressing than going for a walk and seeing a pregnancy test in the street? How about, walking by there regularly, so you'll see it daily? Worse, you reach a point where you consider just biting the bullet and throwing it away yourself, but that would involve handling it, and inevitably seeing the result...Worse still? Not the first time I've seen one by the side of the road...

So. Out today, but hopefully I'll be back in form on Monday. Have a good weekend, and for the love of god, don't look at it...
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Hmm. That's a photo from last year, but I think a lot of the papers, definitely all of the toys, and probably a lot of the dust are still there. And that's...sort of good, right?

Anyway, I'm on vacation next week! But does that mean I'm leaving this poor blog unmanned? Well, yeah; but there'll still be some posts up. Monday and Tuesday, we take a look at a couple of WWII veterans and their post-war careers; and you can decide what's cover story and what's Superboy-punch. Thursday, more JLApe!

As I write this, I haven't finished Wednesday's strip, and I just realized I hadn't used the "homemade posts" tag in a while either. I'm usually a good two weeks ahead on those, at least; and I've been busy. Wait, got 'em! Have a good week!
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It just feels like the last page of every Fantastic Four, is all:

From Fantastic Four #196, "Who in the world is the Invincible Man?" Written by Marv Wolfman, art by Keith Pollard, finishes by Pablo Marcos.

Sigh. I said I was still going to have comic book posts this week, and aside from re-reading Nextwave the other day, I haven't had a lot of time to get anything going on that end. (And Nextwave? Still great.) Still, Retro Toy Week will continue later today! How many more randomy figures will I dig up, photograph, then throw back into storage? Um, your guess is as good as mine at this point. Read more!

God, I'm stupid...

Just committed to ten hours of overtime next week, in addition to whatever temp work I can get in. Nice knowing you, blog!

The Hellboy PSA strip concludes Wednesday, and the rest of the week? Let's say I'm on 'vacation.' Wish me luck!

From Iron Man vol. 3, #69, "Manhunt, part five" Written by Robin Laws, pencilled by Michael Ryan, inked by Sean Parsons and Rich Perrotta; with an assist from outgoing writer Mike Grell.
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