I know these adorable Marvel Super Hero Squad toys are meant for the little kiddies - the toy line is marketed towards the 3 and up set - but I just can’t help but love them too! In fact, I have a fabulous array of these toys sitting on my desk at work smiling up at me with their sunny cheeriness! Everyday is a fun day with these mini-heroes!
So can I be anymore stoked that these way awesome little versions of my fave heroes are going to be made into a cartoon? Aw yeah they are! Sure the ‘toon might be really, really, really juvenile, but I am holding out hope that Marvel takes a page from the Sponge Bob book and gears the new cartoon to 3 year olds and their parents. A show that both the whippersnappers and the old farts can equally enjoy is entertainment at it’s finest! This has the potential to be a gi-normous hit!
As picky as fanboys usually are about changes to traditional costumes in comic/toy/cartoon-to-film adaptations, it’s my guess that very few straight male fans will complain about how Scarlett looks.
I’m behind on buying my Toy Fares and Wizard Magazines, not because of money, but because my shop is 17 miles away. There is a local shop about 9 mintues away from my house, however I choose NOT to go there since the service is less than adequate. So, last week, I made the journey to my store and browse through a Toy Fare and my jaw drops. Famed comic book artist Alex Ross will be doing a line of action figures, similar to his Justice line. This time, though, he’s doing sculpts for the Justice Society of America. And who do you think I want?
I. Want. Now.
The two preliminary sketches were of Alan Scott, Golden Age Green Lantern, and Starman. I seriously can’t wait for this line to debut.
Look for the animated Martian Manhunter and Dr. Fate at seven seconds! Remember, those two never appeared on the television program. (For the record, neither did Steppenwolf, who clocks in a touch earlier).
The other day, Mr. F’n brought up Wizard’s auction of Heath Ledger covers on eBay.
Since then, I’ve looked into the issue a little more.
The Ledger covers weren’t the only Wizard magazines being auctioned off. Makes it appear like it is just a coincidence that the Ledger covers were out there, right?
These totally boss looking decorative vinyl plastic bears are both artistically interesting and cute as can be! Now paint these bad boys as classic Marvel characters and you have some of the awesomest collectables ever! Check ‘em out after the jump! And be prepared to say “awwww.”
“By the looks of Wizard Universe’s eBay auctions for Captain America #25, someone over there had the foresight to order lots and lots of this particular issue.
I decided I would try to ask Wizard. I contacted Wizard’s media contact Drew Seldin. In an email, I asked if in fact anyone at Wizard the magazine had prior knowledge of Captain America’s death and if anyone at Wizard the magazine passed this information over to Wizard Universe before last week.
Seldin responded to my email. Instead of simply answering my question, he told me that he believed that my “ultimate goal is to attack Wizard“. He went on to say that if he was wrong about my intentions, I could call him next week and we could discuss it.”
Of course, when I called Drew, he said he wasn’t the person that could answer my question. He took my contact information and said he’d have someone call me back. That was March 12th. No call so far.
Maybe I should try calling on Monday.
But not all Cap-related things with Wizard are controversial. Well…not in a bad way at least. Wizard asked a bunch of comic professionals what it would be like if Captain America lived in real America.
I saw some controversial statements…mostly taking the question as a chance to bash the current administration…and some really deep ideas. But John Cassaday’s answer was short, sweet, and completely blew me away:
JOHN CASSADAY (Captain America artist, 2002): “Abe Lincoln, the Kennedys, John Lennon; think about it—he wouldn’t last a year.”
A little birdy (one I trust completely) dropped this little nugget on me:
The Wizard Universe store had CGC-graded copies of Captain America #25 on sale first thing on Wednesday morning.
Why is that a lil magical? Well…Marvel says they let NO ONE KNOW about what was going to happen with the book before Wednesday, other than the NY Daily News (as their Page 3 coverage was predicated on them having an exclusive, which Marvel couldn’t risk losing).
If that’s the case, then how could Wizard have gotten wind of the full specialness of the issue and have copies CGC-graded in time to post for sale Wednesday morning?
The pricing was lower when the issues first went up for sale, with the resulting demand driving them up to their astronomical levels (that still aren’t quite as astronomical as some eBay auctions won by your less-than-savvy speculators).
But something doesn’t completely jive between Marvel’s statements about how close-to-the-vest they were with information about the issue’s contents and the seemingly-contradictory actions of Wizard.
Hmmm……………
Edit: You know…totally unrelated to potential leak items…I thought I’d point out that the lovely people at Wizard are trying to sell a 9.9 CGC-graded Captain America #25 (Epting cover) with a BUY IT NOW price of $1000. Could it be due to the fact that their sales have continued to go south since the speculators were driven out of the market?
Edit 2: Screenshot proof, just in case something happens to the auction:
Garner Loudermilk had some really quizzical comments over on ICv2:
“I’m sorry, I do not agree with John Riley. I’m glad that Marvel hasn’t over printed this book. Has everyone forgotten the Death of Superman fiasco? A reported 4 million books printed. A great many times more than normal was printed, and now the book is barely worth a little over cover. If Marvel has learned from DC’s mistake then I for one am glad of this. If they over-printed the book then there is no chance of the book rising in value.”
Wow…just wow. Having enough copies to satisfy readers is bad? Underprinting books to juice the speculator market is good? Did someone invent a working time machine and drag me back to the early 90s while I was asleep last night?
“And if comic store owners didn’t see this coming, then they have lost touch with their product and their customer base. Don’t blame Marvel or Quesada, because you misjudged the market, the buck stops with you, PERIOD! Quesada obviously did an excellent job, on his part, making a story that everyone wanted. Where it went wrong is store owners failing to capitalize on it. Don’t blame the industry, blame yourself. You knew it was selling, you read three months ago in Previews when it said someone was going to die. If you failed to order up on it and are losing out on sales, it’s your fault.”
Retailers misjudged the market? Many of the people coming in to buy the book weren’t PART of the market prior the full court press media coverage that Marvel had planned in advance.
I do think that Joe Quesada did a great job getting a story like this to the market. But someone ABOVE the retailers screwed up the potential for this event. Marvel would have seen orders boosted if they simply revealed that they were anticipating a media push like they had on Civil War #2. That’s a fact.
A whole ‘nother nugget of info from ICv2 mentioned by Edward Sherman was overshadowed by his reactionary call for Joe Quesada being fired:
“I’d like to respond to John Riley’s comments on Captain America. Diamond was sold out of Captain America on Sunday night. I always do my re-orders on Sunday night and when I went to increase my orders on Captain America #25, they were already sold out. So obviously there were dealers who had inside information about this book. It must be nice to have inside information like that. There have always been extras on all of the Civil War books except this one. Hmmmmm! Sounds like a scandal to me. But that is the beauty of a one distributor system!”
(thanks to Kevin Melrose at Blog@Newsarama who pointed out the Loudermilk article)
Greetings and welcome to the new ShotgunReviews.com. Since 1999, we’ve done our best to give you worthwhile (and often funny) reviews and columns, and it’s time to shake off the rust and do it a little differently. We’ve kicked around a few ideas regarding how we’d do this new thing, and we hope you like what you see.
The new design comes to us from Barb Hallock, a student of mine with the appropriate attitude for this place (that is, bad). The more bloggish format puts us more on par with the current landscape. After all, we’ve been doing this almost eight full years. It was time for a big change. I think that you’ll agree that the new format, with a huge list of categories and easy searching, is a good one.
As part of that big change, we’ve brought in an influx of new talent from a variety of places. The entirety of our Best Shots team, responsible for the Best Shots column that runs every Monday at Newsarama.com, is now operating here in several capacities. You’ll also meet several talented young writers, including Barb herself, who will be tackling a variety of topics.
However, if you’re one of the rare folks that has read us since 1999, don’t get too worried. Shawn Delaney will still grace us with terrific music reviews, as will Jonathan Birdsong and the Lyrical Lounge crew. The Russ is back on wrestling coverage in full force. L.I. Rapkin’s already kicking in some culture. Eric Barker’s already opened the film vaults. And they aren’t the only familiar faces lurking around.
In the next few days and weeks, you’ll see the roster expand a little more and you’ll see some new recurring columns and features that we hope will become favorites. If you want to check out the old stuff, the old site currently still exists in its full glory under the archive button. If you want to talk about any of the stuff, old or new, visit our newly established forums.
So there’s my big speech. Enjoy yourselves, express yourselves, and invite friends. ShotgunReviews.com never went away, but we are most certainly back. Thanks for your time.
The Big Question with Georg Brewer of DC Direct
Interview with: Troy Brownfield
Fans of fine action figures have become very familiar with DC Direct. An extension of DC Comics, DC Direct produces figures, posters, statues, props and other high-end collectibles. Their wide character selection and constant growth are always the subject of conversation, particularly in the DC Direct forum at DC’s Message Boards.
To get some more inside information, we went straight to the top. He’s the man that’s been giving diligent answer-seekers like Sdcomics, Julius Marx, and The Toy Detective the inside line for quite some time. He’s the VP of Design and Retail Product Development, Georg Brewer!
The Big Question with Jim Beard aka “JSA Jim”
Interview with: Troy Brownfield
I’m reminded of the words of Dean Martin, “How lucky can one guy be?” Jim Beard would tell you that he’s very lucky, and also very ecstatic. A long-time comics fan, this museum curator by day has developed a sterling online reputation as one of the best of all fans. He’s unfailingly nice, intelligent, and willing to discuss comics with insight and enthusiasm. Known as JSA Jim, he’s launched clubs, answered questions, and led the good fight for a Golden Age Ma Hunkel action figure from DC Direct. After Geoff Johns noticed Jim’s great attitude and propensity for good ideas, he was able to help Jim into a wonderful new situation. This week, the Hawkman Secret Files and Origins special carries profile pages co-written by Beard and Johns. And soon, the JLA/JSA: Virute and Vice SF&O will feature Beard’s first straight-forward comics story. For this fan, the dream is now real.
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