Sunday, November 28, 2010

DC Classics Thoughts

So, tomorrow, on Cyber Monday, Mattycollector.com is re-activating some of the DC Classics Two-Packs that they have sold online, making them available again. Of course, I got most of them the first time.
  • Adam Strange and Starfire
  • Animal Man and B'wana Beast
  • Romat-Ru and Karu-Sil
  • Ultraman and Alexander Luthor Sr.
The only one I missed was the Ultraman two-pack. At the time, I wasn't interested in it, but with the reactivation, I may pick it up. For the most part, with these online-only two-packs, they focus on characters that might not otherwise fly off the shelves. Starfire is the only real B-list or better amongst the bunch. I think this is a pretty smart idea, letting us diehard collectors have a chance at smaller runs of more obscure characters.

That said, they haven't introduced a new one in a little while, so I'd like to suggest some more potential two-packs.

Firebrand and The Shining Knight - I love the All-Star Squadron. Sir Justin has a fun potential accessory with his sword, and it would help build on the line's sparse Golden Age presence.

Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle - Did I mention that I love the All-Star Squadron? The line already has Commander Steel. We need his All-Star comrades.

Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt - This one is perfect for a two-pack. You can't sell Johnny Thunder by himself, it just isn't done. And he's a founder of the JSA. The T-Bolt would be an awesome new sculpt, and Johnny's mold could reuse or be reused for lots of other sportcoat-and-slacks types, especially one I'll get to in a moment.

Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, and Doll Man - The Sinestro Corps two-packs had one of Karu-Sil's doglike 'fathers' as a limited-articulation bonus, and a tiny Dollman honestly wouldn't need ANY articulation. The Freedom Fighters have to get started sometime!

Impulse and Max Mercury - We've got Barry, and Wally as Kid Flash. No Jay yet. So this one may be dubious in its prospects, but we already have a Robin roughly equivalent to his Young Justice costume, and a leather-jacket Superboy, and Red Tornado - so we really need an Impulse to round out the team's starting line-up. And who better to pack in with him than Max?

Doc Magnus and Platinum - They've got Iron and Gold so far, in the line. Mercury's coming, too. You could do Platinum as a single-card, but why not pair her with the otherwise plain-looking Doc Magnus? And hey, you could even reuse the same basic mold as Johnny Thunder.

Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne - Secret identity action figures are another fun thing you can do with the small-target-audience format. Plus, the DC Classics line has been pushing hard to release versions of every figure that appeared in the Super Powers line, and Clark Kent was one of those, though he was a bonus mail-away figure.

Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane - In a similar vein, supporting cast figures. Jimmy can re-use that Johnny Thunder mold, and could have some fun accessories. And Lois is probably the single most important civilian in the DC Universe.

Oracle and Commissioner Gordon - Also supporting characters, but Oracle, at least, could be the head of a Birds of Prey set - perhaps including two-packs of Hawk and Dove, or Huntress and Zinda Blake. Huntress could support a single-card release, definitely, but Hawk and Dove were made to be together, and how else will we get a Zinda? Barbara is already sort of represented in the line, with the classic Batgirl figure, but still..

Friday, November 26, 2010

New Comics Day

Turkey Week edition.

  • Incorruptible #12
  • Fantastic Four #585
  • Madame Xanadu #29 - Last issue. Dammit.
  • Batman : Odyssey #5
  • The Spirit #8
  • Batman Beyond #6
  • Gotham City Sirens #17
  • Batwoman #0
  • Justice Society of America #45 - Wow, this kind of sucks right now.
  • Detective Comics #871
  • Batman and Robin #17 - I love it.
  • Teen Titans #89
  • Action Comics #895
  • Justice League : Generation Lost #14
  • Bomb Queen VI #2
I also picked up the new, giant Green Lantern Omnibus, Volume one. I already had the first Showcase Presents volume of GL's adventures, but to have them in glorious color.. score.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

New Comics Day Supplemental

No real Week in Geek post today, things have been relatively quiet this week as everyone gears up for the holiday. I did join a 4th Edition D&D group, though. More on that as it develops - the first session did nothing to alter my opinions of 4E, though.

Mainly, I'm posting to provide a supplement to my new comic day post. A couple of books arrived late at my local store, and I picked them up today :

  • Green Lantern Corps #54
  • Justice League of America #51
Next week's new comics day post will be late, because of the holiday.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

New Comics Day

Pretty sizable week!

  • Darkwing Duck #6
  • Angel #39
  • Warlord of Mars #2
  • Hack/Slash Trailers Part Two
  • Superman #705
  • DC Universe Legacies #7
  • Batman : Streets of Gotham #17
  • Superman/Batman #78 - Funniest issue ever.
  • Zatanna #7
  • Supergirl #58
  • Power Girl #18
  • The Flash #6
  • Green Lantern #59
  • Batman : The Return #1
  • Batman #704
  • Batman Incorporated #1
  • Legion of Super-Heroes #7
  • Brightest Day #14

That's all!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Week in Geek

I finally got to see Spaced, which I absolutely and totally enjoy. For those unfamiliar, it's a British sitcom infamous for its overdose of American pop-culture references. And it stars Simon Pegg, who is hilarious.

I also spent some time in StarCraft, getting my ass kicked repeatedly.

Most importantly, though, my friend Eric kicked off his Silver/Bronze Age superhero campaign, so I got to introduce Dr. Nathan Wells, AKA Incarnate. Dr. Wells is a Superman type, but with a pool of 'extra' powers he can use one at a time, in addition to being a flying brick. I've loosely based him on Martian Manhunter, Ultra Boy, and Thundermind from DC Comics. Dr. Wells was an American traveling and studying in Tibet, where he unlocked the secrets of the "Inner Mind" - transforming him into a Bodhisattva and giving him strange powers.

And yes, I'm fully aware of the implicit cultural arrogance there - Buddhists look for enlightenment for centuries, and a blond, white guy shows up and discovers it in months. It's a conscious nod to the monoculturalism prevalent in comics of the time period. The group had a good time riffing about that.

"Oh, hello there, monks, I seem to have found this enlightenment, lying here by the road up to your monastery!"

"Really? We've been looking for that for ages!"

I'm also enjoying doing the Clark Kent secret identity schtick.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

New Comics Day

And another week.

  • Knights of the Dinner Table #168
  • Nancy in Hell #4
  • Thanos Imperative #6
  • Doc Savage #8
  • Knight and Squire #2
  • R.E.B.E.L.S. #22
  • Booster Gold #38
  • Green Lantern : Emerald Warriors #4
  • Batgirl #15
  • Red Robin #17
  • Birds of Prey #6
  • Justice League : Generation Lost #13
  • Batman : The Return of Bruce Wayne #6

Ta-da!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Week in Geek

I finally finished the single-player campaign of StarCraft II - excellent stuff. I don't look forward to trying to play it on 'Hard', though, to get the unlockable achievements.

There was a good gaming session on Saturday; got back to the Giant Robot game. Debuted the robots' alternate vehicle modes, and had a fun aerial battle. We're at about the midpoint of the first-season arc for that campaign, and I've decided I may stop it at one season. It's fun, but it's hard to get everyone to show up, and the sentai team theme is essential. So I will be pondering other campaign ideas.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

New Comics Day

Some fun stuff out this week.

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer #38
  • Irredeemable #19
  • PS 238 #47
  • Invincible #75
  • Chaos War #3
  • JSA All-Stars #12
  • Doom Patrol #16
  • Zatanna #6
  • Freedom Fighters #3
  • Superboy #1
  • Adventure Comics #520
  • Secret Six #27
  • Batman and Robin #16
  • Brightest Day #13

That's it!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Week in Geek

Hey, it's one of these again!

I had a fantastic weekend. Let me talk about three things. First! I saw two movies for the first time - Universal Soldier, and Treasure Planet. I liked Universal Soldier as a basic action movie, but Treasure Planet - wow. I loved it. It was one of those movies I really wanted to see in the theaters, but could never make time to go see. I probably should have, as it bombed pretty badly. But it's an awesome little movie.

Next! Video games - I've been working on Pokemon Ranger : Guardian Signs. I kinda don't like it. I mean, the gameplay isn't bad. In fact, everything's pretty good, except - every damn time you meet a new NPC, you are subjected to ten solid minutes of painfully tapping or button-pressing your way through insipid, useless conversation. It's annoying as hell. But I keep playing, because it will get me certain rare Pokemon I can transfer over into the real games.

Last! My Golden Age game. Every year, I do a special Halloween adventure in whatever game I'm running - I picked the Golden Age game of the two I'm currently doing. My idea for the adventure started as a loose notion about the old urban legend of Abraham Lincoln's death train, the spectral echo of which is said to roam the rails to this day. That morphed several time in my mind until I hit upon the crux - the PCs would be called upon to enter the spirit world, there to defuse a mystic missile - in the form of a train - aimed squarely at the President of the United States. The twist was that after projecting themselves there, they would not have access to their powers and memories at first, instead believing themselves to be some of the passengers on the train.

It went really well and I enjoyed it thoroughly, even if the atmosphere at the table was more Three Stooges than Twilight Zone.