My Summer Movie Thoughts, Part 1.

With the summer movie season beginning to wind down, I thought I would look back at the movies I saw this summer and issue some grades.  Overall, it was an okay summer, nothing really came in and wowed me like the Avengers did last year, but then again how many times is something like that going to happen?  I generally like the movies I go out and see, but there are always exceptions, like last year’s the Dark Knight Rises, that flick was like a fart in church.  This year’s crop of movies were entertaining, and as the Summer draws to a close, join me as I take a look back…..

Here are the movies I saw this Summer, in no particular order other than the order in which I saw them.  I’m going to go into some spoiler territory, so if you don’t want to have some of these movies spoiled you should have seen them in the theaters when you had the chance.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation- Okay, since this came out at the end of March this isn’t technically a “Summer” movie, but it was a typical set your brain on autopilot and don’t think too hard about the logic of what you are seeing movie.  I won’t go too much into detail as I already did an extensive review here, but in summary it was a good movie that seemed to skip over a lot of detail that hopefully the Extended Cut Blu-Ray from Best Buy will help fill in (I sense another review soon!).

Grade: B- (Some work incomplete)

Iron Man 3- Shane Black is a favorite writer of mine, and he has done some of my favorite action films of the last 25 years, beginning with the original Lethal Weapon movie.  His take on Iron Man was vastly different from the first two Iron man movies, and from last year’s blockbuster the Avengers, focusing more on Tony Stark than his armored alter ego.  The film has the trademark Shane Black humor, and the Air Force One rescue scene is breathtaking, but I would have liked to have seen Tony in the Armor a little more.  A good movie, and one that looks to be the wrap up to the Iron man franchise, as Robert Downey Jr. has signed on for the next two Avengers movies, but no further Iron Man sequels are planned.

Grade: B+

Star Trek Into Darkness- I have been a Star Trek fan ever since I was five years old, and I have seen this franchise rise and fall in popularity, and then fall off the edge after Star Trek: Nemesis and the last episode of Enterprise.  It has been rebooted in an alternate timeline of the original series, and this second movie deals with Kirk and his crew crossing paths with Khan, in a story very different from their initial meeting in the original series episode “Space Seed”.  I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, and I didn’t even mind all of the lens flares that run rampant through this rebooted universe.  I’m willing to forgive a lot of the departures from the original Star Trek universe, but at times it seemed like it had to strain to fit in all of the callbacks to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, especially one moment towards the end that made my eyes roll (You’ll know what it is….).  I intend to pick this one up on Blu-Ray when it comes out, and I look forward to more voyages of this Starship Enterprise.

Grade: A-

This is the End- I had a free evening one Friday night, and since there wasn’t anything else that I wanted to see, I figured I’d give this movie a shot.  End of the world movies seem to be coming out every couple of weeks, and more than a fair share of them seem to be comedies like this one.  Starring a bunch of actors as themselves on the day of the Rapture, This is the End had me laughing throughout, and while the actors were playing exaggerated versions of themselves, I have no trouble believing that if society would break down that Danny McBride would become leader of a group of cannibalistic psychopaths.

Grade: B-

Stay tune for the rest of my Summer rundown……

Random Scanning Comic Covers

I just finished scanning 50 or so comics books from all different eras, and it's interesting to note how the styles have changed over the years.  Here are a few of the scans I made, starting with some early Marvel Universe covers.....

Strange Tales #112, a very early comic in the Marvel Universe, as noted by the very dark, muted colors.

 

Another issue of Strange Tales, this one feature the first appearance of the Beetle, who would later go on to become MACH 4 of the Thunderbolts.

 

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6, with a classic cover by Jim Steranko.

 

 One of the most patriotic covers ever, an issue of Our Army at War starring Sgt. Rock, and celebrating the bicentennial, with the late, great Jo Kubert on pencils, good stuff!

Fantastic Four #166, with a classic Thing vs. the Hulk battle, and an ending you didn't see coming, courtesy of George Perez.

 

Star Wars #25.  You can tell it's early in the Star Wars craze by the funky shape of the TIE Fighters.  Art by Carmine Infantino.

The Most Valuable Comic in My Collection

In over 40 years of buying comic books I've sold a lot and bought a lot, of all types and values, in fact way too many to count.  And in those thousands of comics there's one that is more valuable to me than any other one: the Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 from 1981.  It was the comic that changed me from a casual comic book reader to a die hard, must-get-every-issue-and-seal-in-Mylar collector.

This comic introduced me to the Uncanny X-Men and forever changed my life, and the only reason I bought it was there weren't any interesting-looking comics at the grocery store that day in August, 1981. 

I was 13 years old, and we had just moved to a farm house in Southeast Iowa,  I had no friends, we lived out in the middle of nowhere, and I was just counting the days until I started 8th grade in a brand new middle school.  So on fateful day, I accompanied my mother to the grocery store.  As was tradition, my mom would allow me to pick out a couple of comics, in exchange for me not mentioning how bored I was walking up and down the aisles.  So as she pushed her cart around and filled it with essentials, I made my to the magazine rack.  As I looked over the latest offering from Marvel and DC, nothing was really jumping out at me.  But then, my eyes fell upon the cover of X-Men Annual #5.  What initially caught my eye was not the X-Men, but their guest stars in this issue, the Fantastic Four.  As a longtime fan of the FF, I figured since there wasn't anything else interesting, I might as well pick this one up, even though it was more expensive than a regular issue (75 cents as opposed to 50).  With the issue in tow I located my mom, and we headed for the checkout.

As we started on the 30 minute drive home, I began to read the story, and by the time we got home, I was hooked.  Part of it was the story written by Chris Claremont, as the X-Men and the Fantastic Four joined forces to aid Arkon in repelling and invasion of the Badoon, but what really gt me was the incredible art by Brent Anderson and Bob McLeod.  The panels jumped off the page, and Mr. Anderson remains one the few artists who actually draws Wolverine at his proper height.  I actually had the chance in 1998 to tell Brent Anderson what his art in that issue meant to me, and how it changed my life for the better, but that's a story for another day, an Astro City story......

The next time we went out, I made sure to pick up the issue of Uncanny X-Men that was out at the time (#151) and I didn't stop buying them until issue #500.  I also started working my way backwards and bought the last of the first 150 issues I needed in 1993, by that time I was a co-owner in a comic book shop.  Pretty much everything I have done since then was affect by that day in 1981, and I owe it all to a story titled "Ou, La La...Badoon!"

Thank you Chris, Brent, and Bob.

GI Joe Photography n Stuff

So the whole waiting for hasbrotoyshop.com to put the SDCC exclusive GI Joe/Transformers set out turned out to be a total bust yesterday, which means I had to turn to the Joes I already have for my source of amusement.  Which is fine with me because I have a lot of GI Joe figures, in all sizes.  The 12" Joes are a favorite of mine, and one of the things I like to do with them is take action photos of them and enter them in the photography contest at the annual GI Joe Collectors' Convention.  Here are a few of my photos, enjoy!

This one was from the 2007 Convention in Atlanta, which to this day is my favorite one.  So many great experiences with that convention, not to mention meeting my favorite wrestler of all-time, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and winning the photography contest with the picture above.  

This is my favorite of all of the GI Joe pictures I have taken.  It was a perfect combination of pose, angle, light, and framing, something that made it stand out from all of the other shots I took that day,  The figure was a kitbashed Captain America from the Hydra base raid in Captain America: The First Avenger using parts from about four different 12" figure makers.  

This one didn't come out exactly the way I had hoped, but the general idea comes through, plus I'll take any excuse to use the Eagle Eye Action Man figure, he's always good for conveying surprise!

 I'll put more up later, stay tuned!

The Hunt is On (SDCC Exclusives)

So, Hasbro Toy Shop has finally put out (F5) their extra Sand Diego Comic Con (F5) exclusives, and that means we obsessive (F5) geeks are stampeding to be one of (F5) lucky few to snag them.  Everything but the (F5) GI Joe/Transformers Crossover set has been put (F5) up for sale, so that means we have to keep (F5) hitting the F5 button so we don't miss (F5) out.  Good luck to everyone, I (F5) hope you score the set after me! (F5).

Update: Yeah, after a few hours it's apparent the sets will not be out today, and all I have to show for my efforts is a cramp in my index finger, oh well, there's always tomorrow........

The Age of Ultron Indeed

So the next Avengers movie will be titled THE AVENGERS:THE AGE OF ULTRON.  Sounds good to me!  Ultron is a classic Avengers foe, and is perfectly suited for the big screen.  My only concern is that Hank Pym will not be involved in his creation, it he was in the comics.  But, in Joss we trust, so I have the utmost confidence that Mr. Whedon will deliver a blockbuster in what is shaping up to be a year of blockbusters.  Seriously, 2015 is going to be loaded, I can't wait!

So if Dr. Pym isn't Ultron's creator in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who is?  Well, my money is on Jarvis.  Picture this: Javis' AI goes haywire and somehow inhabits an experimental admantium suit Tony Stark was working on....

As excited as I am for the next Avengers movie, we still have a Thor, Captain America, and Guardians of the Galaxy to look forward to, so I can wait.

Return to Customizing

I have been customizing action figures for over twenty years.  My first real attempt to customize an entire figure was making Forge out of a Toy Biz Punisher figure using Testors enamel paint.  The finished product was shiny, the paint was tacky for weeks, and Forge was saddled with a beady pair of eyes, but it at least looked like who is was supposed to, and that was good enough for me.  And since then I have been customizing figures as a hobby.

While I started out customizing super hero figures, GI Joe is the line where I have done the most work.  8 years ago I stumbled on joecustoms.com and haven't left since.  If you have never been there, I highly recommend checking it out, in addition to featuring some of the most incredible customized action figures you have ever seen, its also the friendliest GI Joe fan site out there.  The customizers there are more than willing to share their tips and trick to improve your customizing skills, and give you feedback on any projects you are currently working on.  When you finish your figure, you can even upload pictures of it for free and share them with the world.  And don't be intimidated, everyone has to start somewhere, see my Forge story above. 

While I said GI Joe is where I've done the most work, the scale of the figures I work on changes often.  I started out on 3 3/4" figures, and have recently began to focus on the original 12" figures from my childhood.  Here are a few sample of things I have done lately, enjoy!

Cobra CommBAT

From the 2013 GI Joe Convention in Indianapolis

Man of Evil

I got tired of waiting for the GI Joe Collectors Club to send me my MOE through the mail, so I made a cast of the Foreign GI Joe head and mad one myself.

Arctic Bulletman

From the 2012 GI Joe Convention in New Orleans

   

 Anton Janus, MARS Chief Geneticist

Same head mold as the Man of Evil, just painted differently and the hair and goatee are flocked.

With GI Joe's presence in the toy aisle shrinking away to almost nothing, customizing is a great way to keep the spirit of the line going, because to me, life with GI Joe in it is a whole lot better than the alternative!

What a long, strange summer it's been!

Wow, where does the time go?!  One minute I'm getting back from Joecon in Indy, and the next thing I know it's three months later!  As long as that's been, there still hasn't been any new GI Joe Retaliation product out, and what has been out is being clearanced out at Target, so looking at it one way, I have beat Hasbro to the punch with new product!

Anyway, this is my notice that I am back, and this is the first of what I hope will be a regular series of posts.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get my F5 finger warmed up for when hasbrotoyshop.com puts out their SDCC Exclusives!