JIM LEE'S SUPERMAN & BATMAN

In 2003 and 2004, JIM LEE tackled DC's two big boys; SUPERMAN and BATMAN. The above images are from his first issue of each character. Since then, Lee's imagery has been revisited a couple times.... check em out:

Superman #204, Jim Lee Superman Statue, Ad for DCU Online.

Batman #608, Jim Lee Batman Statue, "Batman: Gotham Knight" dvd

What I found interesting was DC using Jim Lee's artwork/imagery to sell other products... only because that was one of the reasons for the mass artists exodus from Marvel in the 90s that led to the formation of Image Comics. Many of the Image Founding Members were upset that Marvel was using their artwork for Tshirts, posters and other products without giving any residuals to the artists themselves. Now, I realize this is a completely different scenario and circumstances (one being Jim Lee is in partnership with DC).

No smashing here... merely thinking outloud.

MOTIVATIONAL POSTER: PICKACHU

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*thanks, Mr. Grayson!

NAME + JOB: SCOTT BORG

I was watching the news and they did a quick sound byte with a SCOTT BORG of the U.S. CYBER CONSEQUENCES UNIT.

Are you kidding me?! You can't make stuff like this up! Awesome.

*Borg

CHARM CITY CAKES MINI-MATE

Our good friend Willie Goldman of the famous, JimSmash-loved AliensCollection.com, is also the producer of Ace of Cakes. Well he's just informed me that they now have a Mini-Mate available for sale as a Charm City Cakes exclusive.

You can buy one HERE.

McQUARRIE DARTH VADER HELMET

Neat! eFX Collectibles is set to make a replica helmet based on Ralph McQuarrie's early Darth Vader design! Check it out! I'm not sure the size/scale.

I'll be passing on it myself because I already picked up the kickass McQuarrie Vader statue by Kotobukiya and its wicked sweet.

Looking at those 2 McQuarrie paintings, there's 2 variations of the early helmet. Personally, I prefer the one on the right (which is the one used for the Kotobukiya fig). Not a big fan of the left version - if they made a replica of the right, then maybe I'd get it.

Previous related posts:
Kotobukiya McQuarrie Darth Vader
Aliens Vs Young Vader

UPDATE: Just saw that Andrew already posted about this!

SIDESHOW'S COBRA COMMANDER (HOODED)

Check out Sideshow Collectibles' 12" HOODED COBRA COMMANDER!!!

Itssss yourssss for $100 HERE.

previous Sideshow Snake-Eyes

DONUTS IN DISQUISE

Ran into the local Coffee Bean the other day - it coexists with Krispy Kreme [donuts]. On the wall they had photos of "donut cakes" for parties and special occassions. I had to take a snapshot of the Transformers one.... check out that donut Optimus Prime!!!!

THE ARMADILLO

Capital One has a fun commercial airing right now playing off of the themes of Batman with.... THE ARMADILLO!!!! It's pretty fun and I must say I love the costume! Plus, he can roll up into a ball for defense! haha! I want more; tv series and toyline.

Blogger sucks and won't let me embed the spot... so click HERE to watch it.

I'm thinking crossover special with THE TICK.

DAILY PLANET

Check it out - a copy of the Daily Planet, from SUPERMAN II.... where Lois sharpie'd Superman into Clark Kent.

By the way, if you haven't checked out "SUPERMAN II: THE DONNER CUT" yet, I highly recommend giving it a viewing. While not perfect, I find its much much more enjoyable and less campy than the theatrical non-Donner version!

SUPERHERO FASHION

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*thanks, Jason!

BIRTH OF A SUPER-VILLAIN

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*thanks, Jason!

SWEET LEGO IMPERIAL BASE ! !

Whoa... check out this custom LEGO IMPERIAL BASE!!

You can see more pics over HERE.

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*this post dedicated to SpaceJase!

MOTU REBORN

About 5 years(?) ago, toy designers The Four Horsemen unleashed a kickass Masters of the Universe toyline, based on the then-new animated relaunch of He-Man. The designs were a nice blend of anime-influence and more-"realistic" approach in comparison to their original early 80's counterparts. For the most part, every single figure they designed were frickin' awesome.Well, the Horsemen are about to unleash another line of MOTU figures, called CLASSICS LINE. The designs for the Classic Line are a return to the original, stocky-steroid look but tweaked with more "accurate" proportions. Also, remember the killer artwork on the back of the old packaging and mini-comics? Well the Horsemen do too and are incoroporationg some of those visuals into the new sculpts. When I was a kid playing with the old stock versions I always wished their proportions were different and more "action hero". These new sculpts do just that.This line is for the "collector" (ie 30-something dorks like myself who grew up on the original toys) and will not be sold in stores. Instead, they will be sold online with ONE figure released each month at mattycollector.com. Each figure is $20. The first figure will be He-Man in October, followed by Beast-Man in November and SKELETOR in December!

CROC MASTER ! ! ! ! !

Ha! One of the upcoming 25th Anniversary GIJOE figures is CROC MASTER!!! Not only do I remember him, but I had him. Which is incredibly sad because I think I was like 13 and entering Junior High. Whatever, man. You can take your judgy finger and shove it. Yay Croc Master!!!

....hmmm, just noticed that Batman's villain BANE looks very similar to Croc Master. Bane debuted in 1993, 6 years after Crocky ('87). Then again, they're both capitalizing on the then-rising popularity of professional wrestling (masks). Croc Master looks way cooler.... for the simple lack of the leotard.

LIGHTSABER CHOPSTICKS ! ! !

DORKY CUSTOM STAINED GLASS

NICE!!!!

by "Autobot Wonko"

WHAT THE HELL ? ! ? ?

SHOW & SHARE: NIGHTWING FIND

After searching for numerous years, I finally found a copy of NIGHTWING: ROUGH JUSTICE Tpb! It's 1 of 4 collected editions of Scott McDaniel's run on the comic.

For some reason, THIS volume is out of print and cannot be found anywhere; online, conventions, stores across the country during my travels... I even looked for it while in Paris!On the super rare occassion it was found, its priced waaay up. For example, Google Shopping shows 2 copies available by other small stores - for $169 and $340!

But on a lark, I found a used copy online JUST as it was listed, for $20. Score!

You must understand, this is a big deal for a nerd such as I. You see, on my shelf were the other 3 collected editions. As a total fanboy, that gaping hole in the collection would stare at me daily.... mocking me... yelling at me.... torturing me. If you're a huge dork like me, you know of the "Gaping Hole In The Collection" of which I speak and the horrors it can inflict upon your comic soul. So yay for Jimmy!

Now I need to find the HARDCOVER edition of Dark Horse's CONAN, by Busiek & Cord. It's absence on my shelf is KILLING ME!!!

....which reminds me....

hey, TimeWaster! Any luck?!! hehehe

GREG LAND TOYS

These are some scans from an old issue of Toyfare. The short article spotlighted how Kevin Costner's ROBIN HOOD toyline was acutally recycled figures from Return of the Jedi (1983) and Super Powers (1984). Check em out...

Robin Hood = Green Arrow

Will Scarlett = Robin (waste-up)

Little John = Hawkman

Sheriff Nottingham = Lex Luthor
"Cancel Christmas!"

Friar Tuck = Gamorrean Guard

Sherwood Forest = Ewok Village

THE NEXT LEVEL: STAR WARS HOODIES

Hey, remember those Dorky T-Shirts I posted awhile back? Well check out these Star Wars hoodies; BOBA FETT and CLONETROOPER! Awesome.
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* Recognize the models? Yep, Jeremy Bulloch and Steve Sansweet!

HOT TOYS ALIEN FIGURES

Check out the newest batch of ALIEN related figs from Hot Toys; Dog Alien and some Nostromo crew! At first I thought they were being made by NECA, which made my day. But then I was corrected - they are Hot Toys, which are much much more expensive. Damnit.

The Nostromo dudes are tempting......
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*thanks for the correction, Mr Ma!

BEST VENOM EVER ? ?

I think so!

I loved VENOM when he first debuted under Todd McFarlane's pencils. But post-McFarlane came Erik Larsen's crazy take on the character. From there it was all down-hill and I haven't liked the character since that first storyline almost 20 years ago (gah, I'm old!).

In Secret Invasion #3, artist LEINIL FRANCIS YU drew quite possibly the best Venom ever... in my opinion, atleast. I even like that stupid, ridiculous tongue flappin' out of the mouth! So thank you, Yu... for a single panel, I once again enjoyed Venom... alot!

......oh, and btw, Sony's making a Venom movie.

MIGHTY MUGGS: GIJOE, TRANSFORMERS, GALACTUS...

Ah crap, they're making Mighty Muggs of GIJOE characters. I'm a sucker for anything with those classic characters. GAH!!

They're also making em based on TRANSFORMERS... and check out the GALACTUS!!

previous Mighty Muggs posts

POSTERS: TERMINATOR 4, PUNISHER WAR ZONE, FRIDAY THE 13TH

...the posters are cool....

BATMAN B&W: WISHLIST: CAM KENNEDY

With the release of THE DARK KNIGHT (which I won't be able to see until dvd release, gah!) I currently have Bat-Fever... which has led me to have Batman-B&W-Statue-Fever!!!

I was going through my Bat-Section of my comic collection and came across Batman #478 by CAM KENNEDY (of Judge Dredd and Star Wars Dark Empire). I'd like to see a statue based on his rendition of the Caped Crusader!

* previous Batman B&W statue posts

WHERE HAVE THE ORIGINAL (& GOOD) IDEAS GONE?

During the lows of the 90s, Rob Liefeld's "Extreme Studios" tried to cash-in on the annoying "Bad Girl" fad with his classy crossover "BABEWATCH". In Babewatch, the main male characters of Liefeld's Universe were turned into scantily clad women.

Well, someone over at Marvel must have been a huge fan because Marvel is currently having their own "Babewatch" of sorts....

Wolverine now has a girl teenage clone (X-23), Ultron became a naked doppleganger of the Wasp, Loki is now a woman, the new Kraven the Hunter is a young girl, Ed Brubaker is about to introduce Lady Bullseye and worst of the worst..... in the recent X-Men Legacy, Mr Sinister is now MS. SINISTER (Ms Jackson, if you're nasty).

Seriously, WTF?

Am I alone in hating this trend? It seems like many of Today's writers think pulling a gender-swap is equivalent to creating new, original ideas. How about creating NEW characters instead? I suppose that would require IMAGINATION and CREATIVITY.

Marvel used to be "The House of Ideas".... what happened? In addition to the past 10yrs of stories being rehashes of 80s What If...? stories, they are now unleashing the mini-series "MARVEL APES". I liked it better 10 years ago when DC Comics did it with JLAPE:

Come on Marvel......

Not that DC is bursting with original ideas, either. They have an entire section of their Universe made up of teenage counterparts of just about every single DC hero; the current TEEN TITANS being the worst.

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Over the past year or so, there's been a common theme running through BOTH Marvel and DC; OFFSPRING of popular main characters. In just the past 12 months, we now have BATMAN's son (Damian), WOLVERINE'S son (Daken), HULK's son (Skaar) and SUPERMAN's "son" (Christopher.... really Zod/Ursa's son)....

...not to mention the characters in YOUNG AVENGERS and RUNAWAYS, whose cast includes the children of heroes and villains. (Honestly, I'm shocked they weren't the sexy teenage DAUGHTERS of those characters).

Has it come to this?

Are Today's [employed] writers truly out of original ideas?

LEE MAJORS' BIONIC EAR

Whoa... just caught an infommercial for a hearing aid being sold by Lee Majors! Not only is he selling it, but its actually called "LEE MAJORS' BIONIC EAR"!!!! Hahaha, YES!!! And its rechargeable!

You can buy it for yourself HERE (and watch the ad).
It's just $14.95 plus 3 easy installments of $49.95.

"It won't cost $6 Million, but you'll think it's worth it!"
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* I know a certain someone who has a geeky weapons collection who must buy this.

THE DVD SET ABIDES

Ha, awesome. Check out this BIG LEBOWSKI 10th Anniversary dvd boxed set! It doesn't come out until September 9th, but you can preorder at Amazon HERE for $24.

WATCHMEN MOVIE POSTERS

WATCHMEN was one of those comics I always thought should never be adapted into a movie. That said, I'm holding onto some hope for this one due to director ZACK SNYDER'strack record thus far; DAWN OF THE DEAD (remake) and 300. Anyway, above are some movie posters.*
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*except for the top-left, which is the cover for the collected trade.

JIMSMASH TOP 22 BABIES

In honor of my first born's arrival, I give you

JimSmash's Top 22 Babies!

Top-to-Bottom/Left-to-Right:

* KAL-EL (Superman The Movie)

* 2001: SPACE ODYSSEY Baby

* ELORA DANAN (Willow) - "Wiiiil-il-illl-ooo-www...."

* MEARTH: Son of Mork! (Jonathan Winters on Mork & Mindy)

* CONAN (from "Conan: Born on the Battlefield" comic)

* CHESTBURSTER (Alien) - Are you surprised?

* ROSEMARY'S BABY - "What did you do to his eyes?!!"

* EWOK BABY (Return of the Jedi) - Regardless of Ewok hatred, you have to admit they are cute.

* TOBY (Labyrinth) - "You remind me of the babe What babe? The babe with the power.What power? Power of voodoo.Who do? You do.Do what? Remind me of the babe!"

* CUB (Lone Wolf & Cub) - Beware, he will pee on your head

* VISITOR LIZARD BABY (V mini-series)

* LUKE & LEIA (Revenge Of The Sith) - just for you, Andrew ;)

* ALIEN MAGGIE SIMPSONS (Treehouse of Horror)

* JEN & KIRA GELFLINGS (Dark Crystal) - Dreamfasting montage

* STRIPE MOGWAI (Gremlins) - Lord of the Loogie

* ZAMMIS (Enemy Mine) - "Zammis have four five."

* MINILLA, SON of GODZILLA - Godzookie!!!

* MILO, aka CAESAR (Escape From Planet of the Apes)

* HARRY POTTER - the boy who lived

* BABY HELLBOY - likes Baby Ruth

* LARVAE BABY, SON OF BRUNDLE-FLY (The Fly) - nightmare sequence

* "HARDCORE INTERNET BABY" - seen in numerous photoshop contests!