A month or so ago I started seeing those beautiful full page ads in all the comics for the Hero Initiative Limited edition Overstreet Priceguide hardcover. It features some nice cover art by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson where the pay homage to Barry Smith’s Conan #1 cover from 1970. I’ve always been a HUGE Conan fan and a fairly serious reader/collector of Robert E. Howard comics. So I knew I had to get my hands on one of the 500 limited edition hardcovers. Even though as a Comicbase user I no longer need to purchase Overtsreet guides for me it was a win-win situation since the money goes for a GREAT cause. If you are a comics fan at all you should consider donating to the Hero Initiative as many of the legendary artists and writers we all grew up on are now elderly and in poor health with little or no insurance. So I figured this was $35.00 WELL SPENT.

I’ve owned reprints of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #1 in various forms for years but I always wanted a copy of the real deal. Last week I finally found a good deal on a copy in Very Good+ condition. I STOLE one off of eBay for $41.01. And would you believe it’s CGC slabbed? Or I should rephrase it WAS CGC slabbed as I just LIBERATED the comic mere moments ago. I HATE The whole concept of “slabbing” a comicbook. For me the whole point of collecting is for the FUN of it and reading and enjoying the art. Also they SMELL really NICE. Seriously I want the whole deal. So I broke that silly seal and cut that inner plastic. And YES it was worth it! I use Mylar Mylite2s for my books along with acid free boards. And I don’t use TAPE. I fold and tuck the bag closed. This preserves the comic but also allows the thing to be read and enjoyed. You simply cannot enjoy a book that is SEALED in a hard plastic shell. CGC is even more of a rip off when you consider the plastic shell is NOT made of Mylar and therefore NOT ARCHIVAL.

Click the above image for a full-size widescreen wallpaper sized 1920×1200. This is scanned from a 1979 Marvel comics house ad for the series. The Marvel comic version of the Mattel toy line was short lived (20 issues) but was quite good with art by the legendary Herb Trimpe (also did the art here for the ad) and written by the great Doug Moench. It’s also one of the very first comics I remember collecting & reading as well as actually buying myself with my own money right off the rack. God I MISS those squeaky spinner-racks. (One of these days I’m gonna buy one off eBay or something if I can ever find a good deal on one.) I also love to point out that the Shogun Warriors were the “original” Giant Robots predating Gobots AND Transformers by at least 4.5 years.

Click the above image for a full-size widescreen wallpaper sized 1920×1200. I just scanned this from a 1988 Marvel comics house ad. Art is by John Buscema & Tom Palmer. This was the line-up for much of the late eighties: Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Sub-Mariner (Namor), Marrina, Dr. Druid, Black Knight (Dane Whitman) & Thor (Donald Blake).

So I’m about to hit a mile-stone with my comic collection. A little over a year ago my X-Men collecting got side-tracked by Brian Michael Bendis. His work on the Avengers re-ignited my dormant love for Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes in a BIG WAY. Like a lot of collectors my favorite era of the Avengers was the one I was first exposed to as a little kid. That would be the late 70′s & early eighties. The issues must have been 170 or so up through the big double-sized 200. Wonderful art by George Perez and Terry Austin…fantastically detailed and tight. No one does it better than George Perez and no one inks as tight and clean as Terry Austin.

So when I got the Avengers fever I decided that I would at the very least obtain all of the issues from that time. I figured I could conceivably manage to get #150 “and up”. As I got to researching it become pretty clear that I didn’t need all of the “and up” part of the collection. I didn’t collect or read comics during the ’90s and most people tell me I didn’t miss much. What few ’90s books I have read pretty much confirm the idea that the 1990′s for the most part was the worst age of the Super-Hero comic. Like Disco nearly killed Rock-n-Roll in the ’70s the awful excess of the ’90s nearly destroyed the American Super-Hero comic. So I’ve decided to “give myself a break” and simply SKIP all the crappy ’90s issues of the titles I’m collecting. Instead I’m going to focus on the Good Stuff. I decided I would stop at Avengers #300. And now with the order I just placed with Atomic Avenue. I will have Avengers #150 through 300 solid.

And if all goes as planned I will finish reading the entire run sometime in the next couple of weeks if not before that. Right now I’m on #281 smack dab in the middle of the Roger Stern run that featured the always great art team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer. Good stuff.

So I suppose this Spring I can get back to those X-Men.

Click the thumbnail below to load the full size 1920×1200 widescreen image:

The cap image was scanned from a 1986 Marvel comics house ad for their subscription service. I’m fairly certain the art is by Buscema -probably Sal but possibly John. If you know for sure which is it is please let me know. The background flag image I found on Google Image Search and then heavily Photoshop filtered it.

The above image is a small version of a wallpaper I just made. The art is scanned from Uncanny X-Men #518 by Terry & Rachel Dodson. This panel shows Emma Frost as she appears in the mind of Scott Summers as he is battling slivers of the Void (evil alter-ego of the Sentry)for control of his psyche.

Click here for the full-size 1920×1200 version.

Or here for a 1680×1050 version.

I am considering making wallpaper posts a regular/semi-regular thing. I have several hundred I’ve made from my own scans & make new ones often. If it seems like there is enough interest I’ll start posting these. Most are sized 1920×1200. It’s pretty trivial to add a smaller 1680×1050 version if it seems needed. Please post/email me your thoughts on this. Let me know!

Lately I’ve been rocking Marvel’s new Dr. Voodoo series. I’m a sucker for all the old Marvel horror/supernatural characters. I just recently managed to complete my Werewolf By Night collection including the hard to find (and hard to afford) coveted first appearance in Marvel Spotlight #2! But I digress the subject here is Dr. Voodoo AKA Brother Voodoo as he was better known from his first appearances in the early ’70′s Strange Tales issues 169 & 170:

Brian Michael Bendis modernized the character somewhat recently in the pages of New Avengers. Jericho Drumm got promoted to Doctor Voodoo (oddly enough that is what Roy Thomas originally called the character when he brought the concept to Stan Lee but Stan said no -BROTHER VOODOO!). According to Bendis’s story Dr. Strange “fell from grace” and the Eye of Agammato had to choose a new Sorcerer Supreme. After a lot of flying around looking at possible candidates (including among others Dr. Doom and Daimon Hellstrom the Son of Satan) Jericho Drumm was chosen. So he got a cool amulet, scarlet cloak of levitation, a black body suit and a creepy staff with attached dangling shrunken heads to go along with the upgraded nomenclature. Speaking of the creepy staff -get this -the heads SCREAM crazy unpronounceable stuff at his opponents when he uses it’s dark mojo! Awesome!

Art by Jefte Palo from Doctor Voodoo #1.

Shortly after the events in the pages of New Avengers he got his own book. I’ve read the first 3 issues now and I’m really loving it. It’s creepy and dark but it does have that goofy old school Marvel fun to it that always sucks me right in. Unfortunately these odd ball decidedly NON-main stream comics tend to not make it very long and get canceled after 12 or 14 issues (see Blade’s last series). I really hope Dr. Voodoo Avenger of the Supernatural is the exception to this rule . So please do pick it up if you like great Marvel horror books.

I made this widescreen wallpaper from the cover of issue 2 (art by Marko Djurdjevic). Click the thumbnail below for a full-size 1920×1200 version. Or click here for a 1680×1050 version.

A few of my hopes for Marvel in 2010:

1) I REALLY wanna see Norman Osborn get his ass kicked. He needs to go down and go down HARD. As fun as the past year of comics has been I am soooo ready for the good guys to WIN.

2) The Mouse should stay out of the House. I hope Disney stays out of the editorial & creative side of Marvel comics.

3) Dark Avengers should be canceled right after Osborn’s incarceration/death.

4) I’d like to see Dark Wolverine, Wolverine Weapon X and Wolverine: Origins be rolled into ONE Wolverine book called “Wolverine”….this would be a MONTHLY book and would start with an issue number around 400 or 500 or so (it would absorb all the issue numbers of all previous and current Wolverine comics). I KNOW they won’t really combine all those books but I would like to see Weapon X and Origins combined into one book titled “Logan” & the regular Wolverine book does need it’s issue number count to return to “normal” (300+ by now). Obviously my math needs checked here but you get the idea.

5) Skaar please GO AWAY. Talk about wearing out one’s welcome! I was with Greg Pak all through Planet Hulk. That was some GOOD STUFF right there. But Skaar needs to leave Incredible Hulk alone. PLEASE return Banner-Hulk! We need him! Skaar is a soulless unrepentant MONSTER. We have enough of those in real life. We need a HERO.

My tenth favorite series of 2009 is Darkhorse’s Conan. Darkhorse is doing a GREAT job with all the Robert E. Howard properties. It’s been great all the way through. Many were worried about what would happen with this series after writer Kurt Busiek left. Tim Truman has done a good job filling those BIG shoes. The art by Tomás Giorello is terrific and gives the book a real Frazetta-Fantasy feel. Another highlight of 2009 was the arc by the legendary artist Richard Corben. FANTASTIC.

Number nine is Marvel’s Thor series. We waited and waited and waited for Thor to return after it was canceled a few years ago. With the superb writing of J. Michael Straczynski the wait was definitely worth it. Too bad with the upcoming Siege universe wide event Straczynski is gone from the book and Marvel it seems. I’m still not convinced his costume needed a makeover (does the god of thunder really need chain-mail?) but I can live with it.

Number eight is Wolverine Weapon X. With the “main” Wolverine title taken over by Daken “the Dark Wolverine” for many fans Jason Aaron is writing the “real” flagship Wolverine book right here. This has been a near perfect take on the character and it doesn’t hurt having artist Ron Garney doing what is arguably his best work ever.

Number seven is Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season Eight). Buffy creator Joss Whedon continued the TV show as a comicbook and it is an absolute joy to read. With great art by Georges Jeanty and a rotating crew of excellent writers (mostly from the show) this just couldn’t be any better.

Matt Fraction’s Iron Man has been a consistent must read all year. This book featuring the wonderful art of Salvador Larroca would be perfect to show a non-comic reader as an example of just how GREAT a super-hero comic can be.

Super-star writer Brian Michael Bendis teams up with former Alias artist Alex Maleev for this darkly moody super-hero sci-fi spy thriller. It just doesn’t get much better than this!

I was prepared to hate this book, I really was. I HATE the idea of these twisted psychos using the names of my beloved Avengers. Bullseye is NOT Hawkeye. Venom is NOT Spider-Man! And yet I can’t stop reading this stuff. It’s been fun and fascinating watching Norman Osborn’s madness play out, but surely this series HAS to end shortly after Siege completes?

Ultimate Spider-Man continues to entertain despite the crazy “restructuring” of the Ultimate Universe. I thought I might actually drop the book after Mark Bagley left. But I kept reading and was glad for it. It’s funny, charming and action-packed. It quite simply NEVER disappoints.

Brian Michael Bendis tore the Avengers apart and remade them using a combination of his own personal favorites (Luke Cage, Spider-Woman) and Marvel Mainstream heavy hitters (Spider-Man, Wolverine)…and somehow it just worked. Now 60+ issues later it STILL works. I LOVE this book.

It’s hard to believe a Captain America comic could be this intriguing without Steve Rogers….and for quite a while there it had NO Captain America either! But this book has been a non-stop action thriller thanks to the fantastic writing and twisted plots of writer Ed Brubaker.

So there it is -my Top Ten of 2009. Agree? Disagree? Make your case by hitting the comment link.

I finally got a chance to see Marvel’s new Incredible Hulk movie. It was great. Finally we can all forget about the mediocre at best Ang Lee Hulk movie from 2003. This one stars Edward Norton as Banner and the always delightful Liv Tyler as Betty Ross. Edward Norton is quite convincing in a restrained but intense performance that does remind me a bit of the Bill Bixby TV version (and that’s NOT a bad thing).

Liv Tyler is fantastic in pretty much everything I’ve ever seen her in and this is no exception.

The Hulk himself is all CGI…and it WORKS. Early trailers had a lot of folks (myself included) a little worried that it looked too much like CGI. It appears the rumors about them going back over it all and subtly altering the skin tones and such were correct as the final footage is fabulous. They even got the Hulk’s size correct. Just look at this:

PERFECT! Now THAT’s the Hulk! The Hulk is NOT a 20 foot Mighty Joe Young as the Ang Lee version seemed to suggest in some scenes.

And YES you DO finally get to hear the Hulk say: “HULK SMASH!”

As great as the Hulk footage and battles are the love story aspect of Betty and Bruce is not neglected either. The scene where they embrace in the rain is particularly touching and memorable.

This Hulk movie has it all and I really couldn’t be happier with it. There are even a few unexpected nods to the Hulk TV series:
-the piano refrain bits in the soundtrack
-Bill Bixby in footage from Eddie’s Father
-Lou Ferrigno as a security guard (didn’t he do that in the Ang Lee one too?)

There is a bit at the end just before the credits roll (which I won’t reveal here for the few unspoiled) that further builds upon the Marvel Film Universe connecting this movie with another Marvel hit (not too vague am ?). Love it.

Lastly I should mention that bit at the very beginning of all these Marvel Movies where the animation flips through some comic book pages –for a lifelong Marvel fanatic like me that is very nearly a religious experience. This is a GREAT time to be a Marvel fan!