Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles Comic Reviews


Comic Review for the Week of June 23rd

Well I have to admit that I am having more fun with this blog than I expected I would.  The only thing I am missing so far is comments from you, the reader.  I really want to encourage you to share your thoughts, or if there is a comic title that I have not been reviewing that is really a must read in your opinion, please let me know what it is.

 

Atom #7So I read the All New Atom #7&8.  Once again we get the team of Gail Simone and Mike Norton and a cover by Landronn.  The story goes like this:  a strange fairly omnipotent time traveler shows up looking for a professor.  The Atom has no idea who he is talking about, but the traveler insists that the professor will show up, and he tells Atom to let him know when he does or he will kill him.  So next the professor shows up, except he is mysteriously missing half of… well… himself.  As it turns out, he swallowed some sort of time portal and it sent half of his body into the future, where it lives a separate life on it’s own.  In the end it turns out that the professor is suffering from Alzheimers and is a little bit delusional.  The cover work is very nice.  I give it 5/5.  The story is enjoyable.  Kind of gets confusing at times, and that is becoming a Simone trademark in my eyes, but still I give her a 4/5 for this work.  The art is really outstanding.  5/5.  And for relevance I think 2/5 is about the best I can muster.  Total score 16/20.  A good read.  Do not hesitate to pick this one up.

 

Next on the list is Action Comics #865, written by Geoff Johns, art by Jesus Merino, covery by Kevin MaGuire.  In this issue the Terrible Toyman escapes from his confinement in Arkum Asylum and kidnaps Jimmy Olson.  It is unclear whether Jimmy just happens to be in Gotham and gets kidnapped or if he is abducted in Metropolis and brought to Gotham.  Regardless, Toyman tells the story of his origins.  What turned him bad.  He tells about how he lost hope when his wife died in a hit and run accident.  Eventually Jimmy uses one of Toyman’s Superman dolls to burn through his restraints and activates his Superman signal watch.  Salvation arrives, but in the form of Batman, not Superman.  Bats battles Toyman’s constructs and he grabs Jimmy and starts to run when Superman shows up and obliterates all the little Superman dolls.  Toyman begs Superman to take him to jail so that he will not be considered to be a “Batman villain”.  The end of the story is the most interesting.  It turns out that Toymans “wife” was just another one of his toys.  So, for the cover I am giving 5/5.  It is colorful, it is interesting.  Very effective.  The story I am also going to give 5/5.  Very entertaining!  I recomend this issue.  Art gets a 4/5.  Not perfect, but very strong.  Relevance is where I struggle when it comes to DC books.  I am a self confessed Marvel junkie.  Why I am reading so much DC lately is a mystery.  Let’s just say I have been giving it a try and enjoying it.  I guess that is all that matters.  So, while I doubt this issue will really have any significant impact on anything, I will give it a 3/5.  Overall score is 17/20.  A very good book!

 Over to Marvel we have Amazing Spider-man #561.  This offering is written by Dan Slott, with art by Marcos Martin.  This is the big wrap up of the Paper Doll storyline.  There are some pretty interesting twists here.  First, it turns out that the mystery girl friend of actor Bobby Carr is none other than Mary Jane Watson.  In the first part of the issue we get a glimpse into the origin of Paperdoll, and they kind of establish the fact that she is insane.  Then we flash to where Spider-man is trying his best to get a picture of Bobby kissing with Mary Jane.  If he can get this picture he will be a millionaire!  But when Paperdoll shows up he leaves the camera on autopilot and goes into action.  It is an amuzing battle scene with MJ locking herself in a panic room and taunting both Spider-man and Paperdoll through an intercom.  Spider-man and Bobby eventually manage to defeat Paperdoll and Peter decides that Paparazi is not for him.  He destroys his pictures of MJ and Bobby and most shocking of all, Robbie resigns from the Bugle.  The big news in this issue?  MJ makes several statements which suggest that she may know everything about Peter.  Did she and Mephisto cut a deal?  Does she know the way things really are?  I guess time will tell.  I give the cover 4/5.  I am leaning somewhere between 3 and 4, but I don’t give half marks, so I have to err on the high side this time.  The story gets 4/5.  As I have said before, I really like Paperdoll.  She is a good villain, and the writing on this series is pretty good.  I hate Brand New Day, but I am enjoying the stories.  It is too bad they are wasting such good talent on Brand New Day.  Art in general gets 4/5.  And since it is Brand New Day I give it 1/5 for relevance.  Total is 13/20.  Not bad all in all.

 

Next up I have Amazing Spider-man #562 written by Bob Gale and drawn by Mike McKone.  This one really disappointed me on many levels.  We go to the “Bar with No Name” where all the MU bad guys hang out and bet on anything and everything.  Some loser called the Basher makes a Youtube broadcast challenging Spider-man to face him.  This Bookie character, who we have been led to believe is a very professional high roller type has actually hired Screwball to pose as Spider-man and take out the Basher, who is also in on the scam, so the Bookie can make some bucks.  Things go bad for the Bookie when the real Spider-man shows up and busts Screwball.  The villains in the bar realize that it is all a scam and they look to take it out of the Bookie’s hide.  We are left with a typical cliffhanger as Spidey shows up in the bar and prepares to battle about a hundred bad guys.  Marvel advertised the heck out of this issue, and the hype kind of backfires.  I was looking forward to this issue, and at the end I was left thinking, “So what?  Big deal!”  The most exciting thing about this issue was the ad for the Secret Invasion HeroClix being released in July.  So, cover gets 4/5.  It i just ok.  The story gets 2/5.  The art gets 4/5.  It is ok, but some of the characters look a little funny.  And since it is Brand New Day, it gets 1/5 for relevance.  11/20.  Maybe you should find somewhere else to spend your comic dollars this week. 

 

Well that is it for this week.  I had a lot of family comittments that kept me from doing a lot of reading this week.  Family wins out every time, right?

 I did read a few more issues of the All New Atom, but I will not bore you with that review.  I have bought the entire run to date and am reading them as fast as I can, so expect more Atom reviews next week.

The last word goes to Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles which has just made the move from EBay to Comic Collector Live.  Go to http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Seller.aspx?id=cc0608d3-03c2-4b73-81dd-40662b76b9c9 and check out the titles I am offering for sale.  Please remember to consider the cost of shipping as part of the total price.  You will find my prices are often the lowest available.  I have also come across some really nice 1970’s Mego Star Trek Action figures which I am listing on EBay.  If you go to EBay, and enter the community section, you can search for me under the user id xuthl69 and see the items I have for sale.

Also, if you collect current comics, I encourage you to consider ordering your books from me.  I charge cover price plus $3 shipping and handling for the first book and an additional $1 for each book after that anywhere within Canada.  This may sound expensive, but with the cost of gasoline continually rising you really can’t lose.  This is also ideal for readers living in cities and towns without a local comic shop. 

Lastly, if there is a book you are looking for but can’t find, drop me a line and I will see what I can find for you.  I have a good network of sellers and have had great success in the past.  Feel free to contact me at xuthl@yahoo.ca

 Again, if you have any comments, I would really love to hear them.  Please leave feedback!

Have a great week!

 

 

 

 



Comic Reviews for the Week of June 16th
June 18, 2008, 4:01 am
Filed under: Comic Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Robin / Spoiler Special 1Hi folks.  Well this is my third comic review post.  I have had a few hits so far.  If you are becoming a regular reader, I would love to hear from you.  Please take a minute to leave your feedback.

 

My first offering for this week is the All New Atom #1-6.  It is written by Gail Simone and drawn by John Byrne with covers by Ariel Olivetti.  This six issue launch tells the story of, you guessed it, the origin of the All New Atom.  In a nutshell a genius named Ryan Choi emigrates to the United States in order to take up the position as professor vacated by Ray Palmer.  Somehow he just knows that Ray has left him a Quantum belt somewhere.  It takes him no time at all to locate the belt and the adventures as the Atom begin at once.  Now I just want to say right off that I have always thought getting small is the lamest super power ever conceived!  And I’m not just picking on the Atom here.  Ant-man, Yellowjacket, and even the Wasp.  All lame!  Ok…the wasp is kind of cool!  LOL!  So anyway, the Atom soon encounters a bunch of tiny people living in his new home town, as well as a godlike creature called M’Nagalah.  It seems that a war is brewing between M’Nagalah, the little people, and normal humans.  The Atom decides that he has to intervene.  There are some interesting scenes when he gets swallowed alive by his date, who is transformed into a giant by M’Nagalah.  At one point Ryan declares that he has to go save the president of the United States.  Sounds fun, but we never actually see this happen.  Apparently this was captured in a Brave New World Preview, which I did not buy.  Overall, this story was really bloody confusing.  There were some funny moments, and I did not hate the story, but I can’t give it more than a 3 out of 5.  At some point the art switches from Byrne to Eddy Barrows, and it is really too bad.  I love the fact that Byrne does not feel the need to make all the male characters into full time bodybuilder types and all the female characters into breast implanted Hooters girls.  Still, I give the art 5/5.  I liked it.  The coverwork is adequate.  Not always relevant to the storyline inside the comic, but passable.  I give it 3/5.  And for relevance and continuity I will only give this issue 3/5.  I am no expert on the DC Universe, but I do not believe that M’Nagalah is a player in the grand scheme.  The only thing that might give this story any leverage is if Ryan Choi sticks as a character, and I honestly would be a little bit surprised is Ray Palmer is gone for good.  I cold be wrong.  So overall, the comic rates 14/20.  Not a bad read.  I can’t give it a strong recomendation, but if you like the Atom, give it a try.

 

Next I have Red Sonja #34, written by Brian Reed, and drawn by Mel Rubi.  The cover was rendered by Fabiano Neves.  This is a really interesting story where Red Sonja is basically on a boat on the River Styx with a mysterious figure she calls Charon.  He takes her on an introspective journey, trying to discover who she is and what her purpose on earth really is.  He tries to convince her to go to her final rest and leave the world to combat Kulan Gath without her aid.  In the end she realizes that Charon is actually Kulan Gath himself and slays the wizard with the help of Death himself.  Red Sonja is given the choice now of going to her final rest, or going to be reincarnated to continue the battle with Kulan Gath once more.  She chooses the second option and soon reemerges as a child.  The cover is really good, but has nothing whatsoever to do with the comic, so I give it 4/5.  The story was really enjoyable.  It left me a little confused at the end, but my lack of knowledge about these characters could be more to blame than bad writing.  I give the writer 4/5.  The art is a mixed bag.  I did not care for all of it, but it was well done and created mood very effectively.  5/5.  And lastly, regarding continuity, I think you have to give this one 5/5 since this is the only title with these characters, and when it comes to Red Sonja, you just don’t get a more relevant bad guy than Kulan Gath.  5/5.  My total score for this issue is 19/20.  Run to your comic store and buy this today!

 

I have been doing A LOT of reading this last week, so I have many titles to choose from here, but next I think I will go with Jonah Hex #32.  Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, and drawn by Jordi Bernet.  I loved Jonah Hex when I was younger.  The stories had such simplicity.  They were really enjoyable in the spaghetti western tradition.  I think that is what they are going for here, but they failed miserably in this case.  There are more holes in this story than swiss cheese.  The story starts with a fat Mexican asking Jonah to kill a matador who has been bedding his wife.  Jonah flatly refuses, then proceeds to get drunk.  Once he is good and swimming, a bunch of costumed ladies attack him and beat him into unconsciousness.  He wakes and finds himself tied up in the arena with a bull cruising about.  Soon the bull starts to gore him, but miracle of miracles, the matador he was asked to kill, actually saves his life.  Next we see him taking target practice as he often does when he is recovering from horrible wounds.  The matadors baby sister tries to get Hex to bed her and he tells her to grow up first.  Then he walks into the arena and kills the fat Mexican in broad daylight.  It is said that the Mexican has many bodyguards, but apparently they were all on break.  Lets just get through this one quick.  Cover 2/5.  Story 1/5.  Art 2/5.  Significance has to be 1/5.  Total is 6/20.  I do not recomend this story at all. 

 

Well I think I have one more review in me for tonight.  How about Detective Comics #845.  Written by Paul Dini, drawn by Dustin Nguyen.  I liked this issue.  I do not buy Batman very often, but the cover was captivating for me.  5/5.  There is really a lot to like about this story.  There is a new serial killer in Gotham.  When it becomes obvious that Batman is completely stumped, the Riddler throws his hat into the ring and declares that he will find the killer.  There is some really interesting interaction as Batman enters a chat room for sleuths to spit ball on who the killer could be.  The other chatters turn out to be some colorful characters including Barbara Gordon, and the Riddler himself.  At some point the Riddler gets a private message and rushes off.  Lucky for him the Batman figures out that the killer is somebody whose wife was killed in one of the Riddlers criminal ventures and he has been killing people in order to bait old Eddy.  Batman arrives on the scene and saves his life.  Story gets 5/5.  Art gets 4/5.  I do not particularly care for the style of art contained in this book, but I have to admit that it is very well done.  And for relevance… well I just don’t REALLY know.  I am not a DC junkie, so I can’t say much about it.  It features many of the big players in the Batman family, so I will give it 4/5.  I doubt anything that happened in this issue will have any impact on the future of the DC Universe.  Total score is a big 18/20.  A great done in one story.  Recommended reading. 

 

That is all the reviewing I am going to do for this week.  I will just give you two more quick ratings:

Supergirl #30 : 13/20

Robin/Spoiler Special #1 : 15/20

 

The last word goes to Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles which has just made the move from EBay to Comic Collector Live.  Go to http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Seller.aspx?id=cc0608d3-03c2-4b73-81dd-40662b76b9c9 and check out the titles I am offering for sale.  Please remember to consider the cost of shipping as part of the total price.  You will find my prices are often the lowest available.

Also, if you collect current comics, I encourage you to consider ordering your books from me.  I charge cover price plus $3 shipping and handling for the first book and an additional $1 for each book after that anywhere within Canada.  This may sound expensive, but with the cost of gasoline continually rising you really can’t lose.  This is also ideal for readers living in cities and towns without a local comic shop. 

Lastly, if there is a book you are looking for but can’t find, drop me a line and I will see what I can find for you.  I have a good network of sellers and have had great success in the past.  Feel free to contact me at xuthl@yahoo.ca

 

Have a great week!



This Weeks Comic Reviews

All right kiddies, I managed to get a lot of reading done this week, so hang on tight.  Here we go!

 

First on the my list is the Mighty Avengers #13.  I have followed this title from the first issue, and I have to admit that there is really not a lot that I like about the title.  The writing is really disjointed and the characters are really abrasive and hard to like.  The cover of this issue is well rendered by Marko Djurdjevic, but does not exactly do much to grab my attention.  If this one was not in my regular pick list the cover would have done nothing to induce me to open it up for another look.  Still I will give the cover a 3 out of 5.  The story wasn’t good, yet it did give me that sense of excitment that all comic book readers feel when they are reading the beginnings of something new.  Nick Fury assembles a new team of super brats.  Big deal right?  This has been done to death in comics.  But what if this new super team becomes the next Avengers?  For this reason I give the story, written by Brian Michael Bendis a strong 4 out of 5.  The comic is drawn by Alex Maleev, and I really have problems with this artist.  While his art is technically very good, the characters just do not look like themselves at all.  Too much artistic license is taken with characters I have been following for decades, so I can only give a score of 3 out of 5.  And as far as relevance, well I guess you can’t give this issue anything less than full marks.  5 out of 5 for a total on this book of 15 out of 20.  The Secret Invasion has really captured my attention and imagination and I have been enjoying this Marvel offering.

 

Next is the Mighty Avengers #14.  As I said in the previous review, I have been really enjoying the Secret Invasion so far.  Issue 14 is where things started to go bad for me.  This issue really jumps around timewise, overlaps with Secret Invason #2, and is utterly forgettable.  2 out of 5 Mr. Bendis.  Once again the Djurdjevic cover is well drawn, but the colors leave me completely underwhelmed.  Maybe we are forgetting that the function of a comic book cover is to induce the buyer to buy.  3 out of 5.  For this issue a different penciller was employed in Khoi Pham, and the change pays off.  The characters are well drawn and recognizable.  5 out of 5 for art.  And again, with Secret Invasion being the big ticket in the MU right now, I can only give this one 5 out of 5 for relevance for a grand total of 15 out of 20.  Maybe it sounds like I am being overly negative, considering the relatively high scores I am giving these issues.  I will tell you this.  Got buy these titles.  You will enjoy them.  Just be aware that Marvel is pulling the same stunt they routinely pull.  They are putting out a huge Universe spanning crossover that starts out with great promise, and then they start to tell the story in little chunks that just annoy the hell out of the reader. 

 

Next is New Avengers #41.  Another questionable cover for me.  This one is by Aleksi Briclot, but has the same problems for me as the first two.  The art is dark, blurry, artsy, and utterly forgettable.  3 out of 5.  Brian Michael Bendis writes this one too, and I think his writing is really starting to get to me.  Not that he is a bad writer.  I really enjoy his writing.  But he has really written one story and spread it over three books, telling the same parts over and over.   I feel like he is stealing my money at this point.  Just get on with the story already Bri!  So to briefly summarize, we get yet another look at the opening battle in the Savage Land, then Spider-man goes off and finds Kazar.  We have some strong hints that Shanna is a skrull, as well as details of skrull SHIELD agents.  Then Captain America makes the scene with a big “to be continued…”  I may be proven wrong as this story progresses, but for now I was really disappointed with this offering.  2 out of 5.  And again we get 5 out of 5 for significance.  I give the art from Billy Tan a strong 4 out of 5, and that brings my total for this issue up to 14 out of 20 for the issue.

 

Next we have Amazing Spider-man 558.  Before I start, I just want to say that the only reason I haven’t dumped Amazing Spider-man from my pick list is because I do not want to end up going back and trying to collect the issues I missed once Marvel realizes they have made a horrible mistake on par with the Clone saga and change everything back to the way it was before they revealed Spidey’s identity to the world.  Bob Gale is the writer here, and despite his boring villains, I do enjoy his work.  I had a good chuckle when Peter tells Aunt May that he is moving out.  She gives him the guilt trip before leaving the room and pumping her fist in victory.  Classic!  Anyway, Menace is obviously a Green Goblin rip off.  The problem here is that we have no way of knowing if the Green Goblin ever existed.  This whole Brand New Day is just crap folks!  And then there is freak.  Can you say Doomsday?  Not as powerful as Doomsday…yet.  If he can keep evolving every time he is defeated, then I would have to expect that eventually he could be as  tough as Doomsday.  Hopefully somebody has the sense to kill him before that happens.  So lets see.  Story gets 4 out of 5 despite my dislike for Brand New Day and the bad guys being used.  Gale has talent.  What else can I say?  I will give the cover 3 out of 5.  Nothing to really attract the reader here.  Now, as for the art inside, by Barry Kitson this issue, I can only give it 3 out of 5.  I am really close to giving it a 4, but the characters are just a little bit off.  And last is significance.  Well what can I tell you?  Brand New Day seems to be completely in its own continuity.  I can only give this 1 out of 5.  Grand total is 11 out of 20.  My advice is to ignore Amazing Spider-man.  The sooner sales tank, the sooner Marvel will realize how badly they have f%^&*d up and fix Brand New Day.

 

So next we have Amazing Spider-man 559.  The cover is good. Really good!  I don’t know who this chick is, that seems to be falling off a building, but I really want to know if she lives.  If Spidey catches her.  If she has the power of flight and just sails away.  5 out of 5.  Unfortunately, this Screwball character is completely irrelevant and really just wastes a few pages of valuable comic book.  Spidey should have had her wrapped up by the second panel.  So, new writer Dan Slott gets off to a very shaky start.  We have some fun moments with J. Jonah Jameson in a pilates class, and then things REALLY go wrong.  Peter Parker becomes part of the paparazi.  I have to admit that this is an interesting turn, but it is COMPLETELY out of character.  Has Dan ever read Amazing Spider-man?  The only thing that saves this one is the fact that the new villain, Paperdoll, is interesting, and the story is interesting despite being so completely inappropriate for Peter Parker.  But then all of Brand New Day seems to disregard the history of Marvel’s most popular character, right?  I will give this one 2 out of 5.  Marcos Martin does the art in this issue.  What a mixed bag.  Some of his art is REALLY good.  And some is really bad.  Parker usually does not look like himself, but most of the other characters are drawn well.  Aunt May also does not look right.  Somehow her hair style has changed completely from the last issue and she now looks like a cross between the classic Aunt May, the new and improved Aunt May, and Martha Stewart.  3 out of 5.  And my typical Brand New Day relevance rating of 1 out of 5 bring us to a total of 11 out of 20.  I really enjoyed this book despite it’s flaws.  But again I recomend avoiding this title until Marvel fixes it.

 

Next is Amazing Spider-man 560.  I love this cover.  5 out of 5!  Not much new to add here.  Dan Slott tells a good story, but it is really out of character for Peter Parker.  2 out of 5.  Once again Martin’s biggest problem is consistency.  Peter Parker does not look like Peter Parker.  In one frame DB owner mysteriously morphs into Martin Crane from Frasier.  Maybe he is a skrull?  Robbie Robertson even looks like a completely different person in one frame.  3 out of 5 is the best I can give for this one.  And the Brand New Day 1 out of 5 for continuity brings us to a final score of 11 out of 20. 

 

A LONG TIME AGO, in a galaxy far far away…  Just kidding.  A long time ago I collected Web of Spider-man.  I collected from issue #1 until about issue 20 without missing a single issue, EXCEPT for issue #3.  I have always wanted to know what happened in that issue, so when I found a copy in my comic stores bargain bin for $1 I jumped all over it.  And I was not at all disappointed.  The cover is relaly poor.  An abstract rendering of Manhattan, really roughly drawn Spider-man battling the vulture, with the wings of the Vuturions swooping in from above.   The cover may be what stopped me from buying this issue in the first place.  I can only give it 2 out of 5.  Greg Larocque’s art is really average in this book.  I’m not going to dwell on it too long.  I give it 3 out of 5.  ‘Nuff said!  Louise Simonson did a lot of writing on comics in the 80’s and by my thinking is really underrated.  She wrote some really good stuff, including this issue.  In this book we see the Vulture escaping prison and going off on a mission to take apart the Vuturions who have stolen his powers.  Spider-man gets involved because he is worried about innocents getting hurt.  MJ complains to Peter about how hard it is to love someone like him, who puts himself in danger all the time.  The only negative to this issue is the way they handled the spat between Pete and Aunt May.  All in all I give this one 4 out of 5.  For continuity and significance I can’t do much with this one.  I cannot recall the Vulturions ever appearing in comics again after this issue.  There are no turning points in Peters life, or for any of the other main characters.  I give this one a 3 out of 5.  Overall I can only rate this book 12 out of 20.  A lot of the negatives to this book are in the art.  If you want to buy a book and enjoy it from start to finish, I recomend this one.

 

I also read Detective Comics 845, Red Sonja 34, and Jonah Hex 32 today.  I will review each of these next week, as I have already spent too much time writing this blog and I want to go to bed now and sleep off this head cold I am suffering. 

 

The last word goes to Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles which has just made the move from EBay to Comic Collector Live.  Go to http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Seller.aspx?id=cc0608d3-03c2-4b73-81dd-40662b76b9c9 and check out the titles I am offering for sale.  Please remember to consider the cost of shipping as part of the total price.  You will find my prices are often the lowest available.

Also, if you collect current comics, I encourage you to consider ordering your books from me.  I charge cover price plus $3 shipping and handling for the first book and an additional $1 for each book after that anywhere within Canada.  This may sound expensive, but with the cost of gasoline continually rising you really can’t lose.  This is also ideal for readers living in cities and towns without a local comic shop. 

Lastly, if there is a book you are looking for but can’t find, drop me a line and I will see what I can find for you.  I have a good network of sellers and have had great success in the past.  Feel free to contact me at xuthl@yahoo.ca

 

Have a great week!



Fake Mego Figures
June 10, 2008, 6:51 pm
Filed under: Collectable Toys | Tags: , , , , , ,

Ok I gotta add another post for this week. I just came across something that blew my mind!

 

When I was a kid in the early 70’s, Mego action figures were all the rage. We had a pretty decent collection which included the Star Trek figures, as well as quite a few of the superhero collection. Recently I noticed some of these figures at our local comic show and it made me curious.

 

I did some checking and found out that these are readily available on E-Bay. I immediately decided that I needed to buy some! But before I put out my hard earned money to buy these memories from my childhood, I wanted to see what they are actually worth. I started doing some research and got a good ball park idea of what I would be willing to pay.

 

But that is the boring part of the story. There is a company called EMCE that is making reproductions of the old Mego figures. They are not pretending to be anything other than what they are. Reproductions. The packaging is a pretty close replica of the original. If you did not do your research you could be fooled. Some vendors on E-Bay have taken to selling the EMCE version of the figures. This is not a bad thing if they just list them as EMCE figures, but some of the sellers are calling them “Mego Like” figures. The seller is not technically doing anything wrong. They are just preying on the buyers ignorance, and doing a fine job of it. The listing, in my opinion is deliberately misleading, but buyer beware.

 

Now here is the real point I am trying to make. I have been watching several auctions this last week. One was for a genuine Mego Klingon figure. One was for a genuine Captain Kirk Mego figure, and one was for a lot of two EMCE figures featuring Captain Kirk and the Klingon. Captain Kirk is currently at $20 with 4 days left in the auction. The Klingon is currently at $11 with 4 days left. If you bought these two figures you would pay $31. The total will likely climb higher before the auction ends, but that is where they are at now.

 

The EMCE lot of the Captain and the Klingon closed this afternoon. The poor moron who bought them paid… drum roll puhlease!… $45!!! For fakes! This poor schlub, doubtless believes he is getting 1970’s action figures, mint in the original packaging, and instead he will be receiving EMCE figures from 2008!

 

So I guess my point is this. If you are thinking of buying vintage toys, or vintage anything for that matter, online, do your research first. Protect yourself from crap deals like this one!

 

Have a great day!



Tales of Suspense #42
June 10, 2008, 6:44 pm
Filed under: Comic Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , ,

Welcome to Xuthl’s weekly comic review. This is my first post, so I guess I will throw down with how this is going to work. Every week I plan to post reviews of comic books I am reading. I will do my best to post every Sunday. I will rate the books on a scale from 1 to 20, awarding 1-5 points for cover art, story, and art, and relevance. These are just my opinions, but hopefully you will find my reviews entertaining, and helpful when you are deciding what titles to add to your reading list. So let’s get down to it.

 

This week I will be offering just one read, Marvel Tales of Suspense from 1961. A strange book to start with I suppose, but it just happens to be what I read today.

 

Now I gotta tell you that Tales of Suspense is not a title I generally enjoy reading. The storylines are mediocre at best, and the art is pretty substandard. This particular issue kind of grabs your attention though. Don Heck provides a really nice cover with crisp art and great use of colors. If you were a comic buyer in 1961 I think you would have a tough time passing on this title as you were flipping through the carousel at your local drug store. The Red Barbarian is drawn as a really neanderthal looking fellow, but that seems to be the style of the 60’s. The bad guys look really evil and the good guys look really strong and heroic. I give the cover 5 out of 5.

 

The story, plotted by Stan the man Lee and written by R. Berns, is as good as any I have read in this title. Spoilers follow. The Red Barbarian is an espionage agent for the Red Army whose plans are continally thwarted by Iron Man. He is unsure how to steal the plans for Tony Stark’s latest inventions when he is approached by a superpowered villain named the Actor (yes the names of the bad guys were a little weak back in the early 60’s!) who is able to reshape his face to imitate anyone. Soon he travels to America and impersonates Tony Stark to gain access to his labs. He finds the plans for a disintegration ray, AND figures out that Tony Stark is Iron Man! Taking his newfound secrets he flees back to Russia with Iron Man in fast pursuit. Iron Man captures the Actor and confronts the Red Barbarian himself, telling him that he will share the plans with him in four hours. After that he lets the Actor loose. Of course the Red Barbarian will not believe that it was not the Actor who visited him earlier and promptly has him executed. This is my problem with all the Tales of Suspense stories I have been reading. The story wraps up a little too conveniently. Still I enjoyed this comic up until the ending and I will give it 4 out of 5.

 

The art throughout this book is really good. It certainly exceeded by expectations for this time in comics history. The frames are not filled up with background clutter, and the images are really well drawn. I give this issue 4 out of 5 for art work.

 

When it comes to significance I have to give this issue a big 1 out of 5. It is a good read, but to the best of my knowledge the Actor is killed in the last frames of the story and the Red Barbarian is never seen again in comics as far as I know. We see nothing new from Iron Man, and no new ongoing characters are introduced.

So I give this issue a score of 14 out of 20.  This is just a fun read which has absolutely no impact on the makeup of the Marvel Universe.

 

I hope you enjoyed my first blog. If you could take a moment to post a comment this would be really helpful for me.

 

See you all next week!

 

Xuthl