Time For Some Sharing

So, the next few weeks, my hauling is going to be limited as I am saving up for another trip to see my honey. Some sacrifices must be made and for now, the toys and goodies will be kept to a bare minimum. Unless I get a real good deal on something or make a trade, then I'm not adding anything new.

Yet, there is still a few reasons why I have that scraggly grin on my geeky face.

I have gotten a few deals recently and made a trade for something I really needed. Plus, I have stuff that I haven't shown off going back to Christmas, so the House Of Swag will still have some goodies to brag about. I'm going to break it down, one piece at a time. Just to drag it out a bit.

So, Let's start with a package I received today.

I had let it be known on some action figure forums I frequent that I am always looking for Batman items. I get an email from a frequent poster that he has a Batman item I might be interested in. He was looking for a Wolverine Famous Covers figure, which I had a loose one that I was looking to trade anyway. We sent pictures of the trade baits and agreed on the deal.

I just hope he likes what he got, because I am loving my end of the deal.

Finally have a DC Direct Reactivated 3 Batman Super Friends figure. I am so thrilled to have this figure in my collection. I have been wanting one of these for the longest time and now I finally have one.

The sculpt on Batman is amazing. It looks like he popped out of an episode of the Super Friends. Very identical to how he looked on the T.V. series. Don't believe me? You be the judge.

See? I told you so.

 He is also painted in the classic Batman blue and grey with black on the mask and yellow oval Bat emblem on his chest. He even has blue eyebrows. Sweet.

Batman came with a black stand with Super Friends on the front on it. I believe it was painted on. I was looking traces of a sticker, but there was none, which is real cool.

My only complaint about the figure comes with the stand. See, the stand has hold for a peg on the bottom of Batman's foot to go into so that the figure can stand without falling over. Problem. Batman doesn't have a peg. He has a hole on the bottom of his foot for a peg to slide in. Looks like the trader sent the wrong base.

The back of the figure shows a flawless paint job. The cape is made of a rubber plastic that can be lifted up, but has no pose-ability to it, which is fine. I didn't trade for this figure cause I wanted to put the cape in any position. I'm quite happy the it is.

I have to tip my cap off to DC Direct. They did an outstanding job with this figure. When I opened the package and saw the figure I was instantly taken back to my youth when I would curl up in front of the T.V. I had in my room with a bowl of cereal and watch the Caped Crusader battle villains along with Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Zan, Jayna and Gleek.

The Super Friends is still one of my all time favorite super hero shows and this figure is already in my top 5 favorite Batman items in my collection. Some people prefer the all black suit Batman or the black and grey suit Batman. Not me. Give me blue and grey suit Batman any day. It's the Batman I grew up with and this is the version I remember fondly. Artists such as Bob Kane, Dick Sprang, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams and George Perez drew him this way and, like the old curmudgeon that I am, prefer him this way, dagnabbit.

Now, if you will excuse me. I am about to have a bowl of Count Chocula and watch some Super Friends. Here's the opening or you to enjoy.

League Of Extraordinary Bloggers: Saturday Morning Cartoons

I remember the days when I used to wake up real early on Saturday mornings to watch 6 hours of non stop cartoon goodness. Yeah, 6am. I was the kid who refused to get up at 7:00 to make a 7:30 bus for school, but yet I would happily get up at 5:45 to grab some Lucky Charms or Count Chocula to nosh on as I watch some awesome 'toons. The other day, I got curious and checked out what was showing on a Saturday Morning. What I saw was informercials. Are you freaken kidding me? I wanted to see Tom and Jerry and saw some dude spouting the virtues of a t-shirt that would hide your belly fat (I ordered 3 in back, white and fucia blue).

So it is my duty to get this right. On my new channel, WMIKE, we show cartoons on Saturday. And not just any cartoons. We got the vintage stuff here. And if you like Superheroes, well sit back, relax and watch some classic Superhero cartoons. Here's the line up:


6am-Underdog

Not your typical Hulk Smash Superhero, but I thought it would be fun to start off with a show like Underdog. Might be nice for kids to see where the movie came from.

6:30am-Couragous Cat and Minute Mouse

Unfortunately, the only clip of this cool cartoon I could find has a Spanish voice over during the intro. I always had a blast watching this Batman parody created by none other than Bob Kane, creator of Batman.

7am-The Supeman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure

Originally titled The Superman/Aquaman Hour Of Power, this show not only shows Superman and Aquaman cartoons, but you will also see the likes of Green Lantern, The Flash, Teen Titans and Justice League of America. Very cool show from Filmation, circa 1967

8am- The Marvel Superheroes

Not to be outdone by DC, Marvel had a half an hour of superhero cartoons that showcased Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Sub-Mariner. The animation was pretty poor, but the art and stories were lifted straight out of the comics. And oh, those catchy theme songs:

Moving on..

8:30-The Fantastic Four

I'm not the biggest fan of the Fantastic Four, but Hanna Barbara did such a great job with this show that it has to be included in my lineup.

9am-Spider-Man

The show that made me the Spidey fan that I am today.

9:30am-Spider-Man (90's)

While not exactly vintage, it's too good not to be included in the channel's Spider-Man hour block.

10am-Batman With Robin The Boy Wonder

Like with the Spider-Man block, Batman will also get his hour block, starting with his first animated apperance on this Filmation show from 1967.

 

10:30am-Batman: The Animated Series

Almost went with the New Adventures of Batman and Robin from 1977, but I had to go with the best Batman cartoon show ever.

10am-The Hulk

Had to get The Hulk into the lineup and this was a good show to stick in there. With The Hulk's solid showing in The Avengers movie, this show should do well.

10:30-Battle Of The Planets

This classic anime cartoon should do real well with kids who love japanese animation and adults who remember it's original run in the late 70's.

11am-The Super Friends

Finishing off the morning is an hour of arguably one of the most beloved super hero shows ever.

So, there it is. The Saturday morning lineup on WMIKE. These are shows I loved watching as a kid and still do. I think these shows will be very popular today as they were yesterday. All that they need is a new generation of kids to watch and enjoy them just as much as we did. In today's world were video game consoles, the internet and smart phones rule, I think some vintage slips right in nicely to balance it all out because sometimes we all need a break and these shows provide that break. And they do an awesome job, if I do say so myself.

Couple of Movies/Shows I've Been Watching

So, a couple of my friends lent me some dvd's this past week. I had been looking for something new to watch since I just about ran through everything I own and my buddies did not disapoint.First up, we have the 1966 Filmation cartoon, The New Adventures of Superman. This show captured the essence of the character beautifuly. Everything about this show was terrific. The animation was great for it's time, the voices nailed the characters and the stories were pretty good as well. Most of the episodes revolve around Superman, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen and whomever the villian is. The villians are well represented as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Toyman and Mr. Mxyzptlk show up as well. Superman's classic trademarks from ripping the shirt off to "Up, Up and Away" are also incorporated into the cartoon. What I loved most is Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander, who did the voices of Superman and Lois Lane in the radio show as well as those awesome Max Fleischer Superman cartoons in the 40's, both return for this series as Superman and Lois Lane respectively.

There are 36 episodes of the show on 2 disks in this collection. There is also some trailers and a documentary called Superman in 1966, which discusses the character's history up to 1966 as well as how Filmation, who never had produced any cartoons up to that point, got the rights to do Superman.

I know some of Filmation's later efforts turned out less than perfect, I think this show turned out real well and I want to see the other Filmation/DC offerings like the Aquaman and Green Lantern cartoons they produced. I'm still waiting on that Adventures of Batman cartoon show
from the 60's on DVD as well. I know the New Adventures of Batman and Robin from 1977 is out on DVD, so I will have to hunt that down.

My only question; after watching this and knowing how well Grantray-Lawrence did the Spider-Man show in 1967, you mean to tell me Grantray-Lawrence couldn't do a better job with The Marvel Super-Heroes show?



Then I got to watch The Spirit. I wasn't expecting much out of this movie, but it was better than I expected. Frank Miller is quickly turning into one of my favorite directors. His use of imagry in this movie should leave no one who seen 300 or Sin City shocked. The writing was pretty good and acting was ok. I thought Sam Jackson's Octopus was a little over the top, but that's to be expected.

I never read a Spirit comic, so I don't know how well this movie holds up to Wil Einser's character, but I enjoyed it and will probably add it to my superhero movie collection. And Eva Mendes, Va Va Voom!

So, if you have some down time, I suggest you give these DVD's a shot. They may not be Sense and Sensibilty, but you will have fun watching them. Pass the popcorn and don't skimp on the butter.