Spidey, You Can Drive My Car...

Yes, I threw in some Beatles for the title of this blog, with a bit of a change of the lyrics to "Drive My Car", which was off the magnificent album, "Rubber Soul". Maybe I should have added the Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Yeah to it.

Yes, even Spider-Man had a car. It was the idea of Corona Motors who had built a non polluting car engine. They hired an advertising firm to convince Spider-Man to build a Spider-Mobile. At first, Spidey turned down the idea, but needing money for rent and food, agreed to driving it around, even though he doesn't have a drivers license. So, Spider-Man and Johnny Storm built the Spider-Mobile and Spider-Man used it to capture Hammerhead's thugs with it. But soon after, he was tricked into driving it into the river by Mysterio. But Corona Motors wanted the car back, but Spider-Man couldn't find the car in the river. It resurfaced soon after, modified by the Tinkerer, going after Spider-Man. Spidey was able to subdue the car and return it to the advertising firm, in less than perfect shape.

Now, I am not a car person. I do have my drivers license, but I have never owned a vehicle. I don't know a muffler from a transmission or a Ford from a Chrysler. I never actively collected Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars. As a kid, I had a few, but they became contestants in my daily smash em' up derby. I do have a few Batmobiles, a couple of Monkeemobiles and Deloreans but that's about the extent of my car collecting.

Yesterday, my buddy George and I were hanging out in Fishkill, NY and wandered in to the Walmart. I was looking for a Spider-Man tank top that I had seen earlier in the year and cannot find in my size anymore (Note to self: When you see something you like, BUY IT!). Well, I couldn't find the tank top in my size, but I did find these.

Again, I really don't buy cars, but when I saw these, I knew I had to have them. Why? For starters, the art on the cards are fantastic and the 97 cents price point was the deal maker for me. There were six different cars on the pegs, but I chose these four for my Spider-Man collection.

Cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 is a must pick up.

One of my all time favorite Amazing Spider-Man covers, the John Romita drawn Amazing Spider-Man #39.

I may be in the minority, but I love the Iron Spider costume. I think that is a bad ass look for Spider-Man.

Who doesn't love Venom? I do.

I bought these more for the art on the cards than the for the cars themselves, so I want to try to keep the cards in as mint condition as I can. Then, when I finally have my Spider-Man display up, I will have to figure out how to display them on the shelf. Maybe I will buy those cases that car enthusiasts put their on card Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars in.

This set has 8 cars in it, so the next time I am in Walmart or Target, I will be looking to pick up the other 4 cars. I never thought I would be wanting to add cars to my Spider-Man collection, but here I am. Now, if someone could only make a comic accurate Spider-Mobile, that would be appreciated. I think.

Batmobiles! Hey, Does Superman Have His License?

During this past summer, I stepped up in my quest to add more Batmobiles to my Batman collection. As long time readers know, the Batmobile is my very favorite pop culture vehicle. From the 1966 live action car to the movie incarnations, the Batmobile usually gets my heart racing and I'm not even a gear head. I just love the Batmobile.

With this summer's awesome Dark Knight Rises, there was a pleathora of Batmobiles released this summer. Hot Wheels continued its run by releasing different Batmobiles as well as the 1966 Batcopter from the live action movie and the Penguin Mobile from Batman Returns. Matchbox released some Batmobiles as well like the Batmobile from Batman: Arkham City video game. I haven't picked up any of the Matchbox Batmobiles, but here's what I did pick up.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the Tumbler from the recent Batman films, which is why I never went gaga over buying any Tumber related merchandise. Still, any Batmobile collection worth it's salt has to have at least one Tumbler in it's collection and here's mine. I might pick up a larger scale Tumbler if I find one cheap in a thrift store or flea market. I'm hoping the next series of Bat films has a better Batmobile.

Now, here is a beauty. One of my all time favorite Batmobiles, this one is from the 1940's. I love the look of this car from the big bat face on the front of the car to the big ass bat fin on the back of the car. Ths souped up sedan is one of the nicer Batmobiles they ever made, I think. The Batmobile from the 1950's is similar, with the exception of the search light on top of the car and the bubble dome windows. I hope Hot Wheels has that Batmobile in it's next line.

This one is not one I'm too familiar with, I'm afraid. I never really watched The Batman. I meant to, but I could never fnd when it was on and the one episode that I caught wasn't the greatest. I wasn't thrilled with what they did with The Joker and The Riddler, so I never really went looking to watch it again. Still, the Batmobile is pretty cool and I'm glad I was able to add this to my collection, thanks to my friend and her son.

This is one of those head scratchers. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have it in my teeny tiny Superman collection, but Superman doesnt need a ride, does he? I mean, is this car pimped out with hydrolics, loud speakers and fuzzy dice? Does Supes drive around in this on his off days around Metropolis wearing a Kangol, a huge gold chain and enough bling to make Liberace blush? Does he dance to Black Sheep like those gerbils do in that Kia commercial? Not sure about that one. I mean, I got the car he used in the Superfriends, the one with the hands to handle Kryptonite with. This one doesn't even have a second seat for Superman to kick it to Lois.

The one good thing about collecting these are they are very inexpensive. In most cases, they are under 3 bucks a pop and can be found just about anywhere. I was never really a car collector before, but once I got my hands on these I couldn't stop looking for more. Now, if someone can make that cool Spidey Buggy from the 70's, I would have it made.

Weekend Scores and A Vintage Ebay Purchase

I love addng to my collections. Let me rephrase that. I LOVE ADDING TO MY COLLECTIONS. Sometimes, I come across something totally by accident and some times I look for a particular item to add to my collection. This weekend, I was able to do both.

I hit up a flea market in Hells Kitchen in Manhattan and really didn't find anything to add to the House of Swag. Later, I hit up Target to pick up a couple of storage cases for my figures and I came across a couple of new additions that I have been looking for:

I had seen these Hot Wheels Dark Knight Batman 5 pack car set before yet always passed up on picking them up. But, for 4.99, I wasn't going to pass up on them again. This set includes a Batcopter, Bone Shaker Special Joker Edition, A Tumbler for my Batmobile fleet, A Ford Fusion Gotham PD Patrol Car and an Amored Truck. Nice addition.

I've been keeping an eye on these new Mattel Batman figures for a while now. I thought the new Bat logo on his chest was unique, yet again, I hesitated on purchasing one for the Batman collection. I finally decided to grab it when I saw it was the last one. I have never been one to pick up the "specialty" figures like the Blizzard suit Batman or the Underwater Adventure Batman. I stick with the regular figures. I like this one, but the one I really want is the Blue and Grey Batman figure, so I will be keeping an eye out for that one.

As a kid in the late 70's I loved Halloween. I used go with my mom to Woolworth's on Fordham Rd and pick out my costume for that year. I have been Spider-Man (Natch!), Batman (Duh!), Darth Vader, Gene Simmons and a Zombie. The one thing I always had was my trusty Spider-Man Halloween pail. I loved that thing. It was huge and it was shaped like Spidey, just like the bank that came out around the same time, which I also had. Over time, I lost both and have been looking to readd them to my Spider-Man collection. Look what this sexy geek won on ebay last week:

That's right. I was able to get the Halloween pail at a great price. Look at this thing, It's fantastic.

You got no candy? Spidey gives you his back! Make with the sweets, True Believer!

Aside from the fact that the pail looked like the Web Head, look how deep this pail goes. It would take me a whole day of Trick or Treating to fill this monstrosity. Just the way I liked it. I always got more than my sister, but my mom always made me share anyway. So, I gave her the Mary Janes and Jaw Breakers while I kept the Snickers, Goobers and Hershesy. Not only was I a sexy geek, but a greedy one at that. Mwhahahahahaha! Then Mother Nature got her revenge later that night. Stomach aches, bitch! You would think I'd learn that she was on my sister's side, but no. I tried the same thing the next year with the same result. Then again, you would think my sister would have gotten a bigger bag.

I was real happy to find that pail. A classic piece of my childhood is back in the collection. They don't make pails like this anymore.  Now, I just need to get a hold of the Bank and I'll be a happy geek. And If I could pose as a kid and fill this sucker at Halloween, it would be the icing on the cake.