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.

What I've Been Reading: Crisis On Infinite Earths

OK, here's the truth...I have never read one of the great books of the 1980's. I had never read Crisis On Infinite Earths. To be honest, I can't explain why it took me so long to read it.

It's not like I can say I had given up on comics at that or any point in my life. Honestly, if it was not Spider-Man or Batman, I wasn't reading it (And before you all go saying that Batman is in this story, it's not a BATMAN story and he's really not in it all that much).

Yes, I was more involved in other things at that point: music, sports, acting, writing for my school paper, working at the Public Library had all taken up a big part of my life and I wasn't buying a lot of books at that point, but I do remember reading the issue where Super Girl died, (I think the spoiler alert as passed us by with this book being 28 years old), but I wasn't really impressed with the story, if you can believe that, so I never read the other issues. Now, 28 years after the issues have been released, I decide to finally take a dive and read the books.

Crisis was a 12 part series where DC simplified it's universe. Before Crisis, DC had multiple earths with heroes on each one. There was an Earth One Superman, who was the current hero, an Earth 2 Superman, which would be the older Golden Age Superman, an Earth 3, where the heroes on Earth One were villains with different names and Earth Prime, which was outside current continuity. Confused? So am I.

Any book that George Perez draws, I'm there. Perez is one of my all time favorite artists. Owning a Batman drawn sketch by Perez is one of my goals. I have always loved how he drew some of DC's iconic characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. I even enjoyed Avengers Vs Justice League based solely on his art.

Marv Wolfman wrote the arch and as much as I liked his run on The New Teen Titans, I though Crisis confusing at some parts. So many things were going on at once at some parts and I really did not like while a huge fight was going on and there is a separate series of panels where Lyla is recording the series of events leading up to the present. I found it distracting. I wanted to continue reading about what was going on with The Spectre and the Anti-Monitor. Honestly, as the story went along, it got better and better and after reading it, I'm glad I did and I'm really glad DC simplified their universes for readers like me who mouth the words while they read.

One Of DC's Most Iconic Covers


I remember reading the Death Of Supergirl issue and while I was shocked that she was actually killed off, I didn't pick up the next issue and to be honest, I should have because if you thought Wolfman was done killing heroes off...

Think again. Of course, I should have been surprised that Barry Allen was killed off in the very next issue, but I already knew it was coming. Not because I saw this page...

But because I watched an episode of Comic Book Men and someone bought in the books to sell and Walt Flanagan gave away that little tidbit. I remember slapping my forehead when he told Ming that Barry Allen dies in this issue. Still, it was great read, even though I already knew the outcome.

Even though it took me 28 years to read the book and even though I found the story a bit rough to follow at times, I did think the story hit the points it had to make and gave me a couple of "Wow" moments, even if I knew what was going to happen, which is good for repeat readings. By the end of the book, I was enjoying the read and of course, George Perez's art. Also have to give it up to Dick Giordano, Jerry Ordway and Mike DeCarlo for the ink work they put in to make Perez's work look as great as it did.

Now I can cross this trade off my list and move on to the next one.