Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts

SDCC Prep - Custom Arrow Shoes

 I decided to make some custom Arrow shoes to wear to San Diego Comic-Con this year. I'm hoping Warner Brothers, The CW, D.C. Comics, and Stephen Amell will excuse the infringements of a fan, and that maybe this will inspire some more merchandise from the franchise for Arrow. Enjoy!







Buffy and Angel enter the Afterlife

Due to the smashing success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comics, IDW has announced that the Angel series will also continue in comic form. BtVS:S8 has been an enormous seller for Dark Horse, with the first issue already in its 4th printing and a TPB release scheduled for November of this year. The Angel continuation is title Angel: After the Fall in case you want to check it out. It just went up for pre-order at TFAW.com this week. The only possible setback for A:AtF is that it has a significantly higher pricing point ($3.99 per issue) than BtVS:S8 ($2.99 per issue). It will be interesting to see what happens in this series since many of the main characters on the show did not make it to the series finale.

DCN!!!!!!!!

As always, I am the Dtrain with your latest fix of Dorky Comic News. (Disclaimer: by saying “latest fix,” Dtrain may or may not promote drug use.) This edition was going to be about one of the comics I read, and why you should too. However, a lot of stuff happened as it pertains to TV and movies, that my propaganda to get you to rush to the nearest comic shop will have to wait. Let’s get to it.

Last Thursday was the season finale of Smallville. I wish I could go into more detail about it, but I am not sure whoever is reading this is a fan of the show, and has not seen it yet. (Although, if you are a true fan, you’d have seen it. You jerks.) All that I can say is that is was a very BIZZARE ending. For those of you that get what that meant, leave me a message telling me what it is and your free DCN T-shirt will be in the mail.

On Saturday, those of you that frequent superherohype.com got to see the first picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker from next summers The Dark Knight. That’s Batman Begins 2 for those of you that need to catch up. From the looks of it, this version is going to shy away from the cartoony and campiness that the Joker has brought to the comics, as well as the first movie. Nolan (director) is going for a more realistic, sadistic version. He did not do the fans wrong with the first movie, and I can’t see him doing wrong here.

Last but not least, the finale of the best show on television that is not Smallville also ended this past Monday. (For those of you that thought The Bachelor, you are no longer allowed to DCN. Please leave. NOW. I’m serious. Get out of here. Not kidding here, guys. Ummm, other random comment to make the joke last too long and get tired. OUT!!) For the rest of you, I am talking about Heroes. This show was 23 episodes this season, and every one of them ruled. Each ending was a cliffhanger, and the finale gave resolution to the story. It left you with questions, but not enough to feel unsatisfied with the ending. And the epilogue, with Hiro, doesn’t act as a cliffhanger for the current story, but as a great starting point for next year. If only the writers of Lost could have done a show that well, they might have kept me as a fan, instead of boring me to death last season that I had no other choice but file the show in my “wait for the show to end, then watch it on DVD” file.

That brings me to both the end of the column, as well as a question: What shows on DVD do you watch? I want to know, because I want to write about them. Please realize that some of you might get made fun of, but c’mon. DCN isn’t known for its seriousness. (Actually, it’s not known for anything. I put it on myspace. Whoopee.) Anyway, write me a message with what TV shows on DVD you are currently watching, and that’s what DCN will be about next time. Well, that, or it’ll be a rant about none of you responded and that you all suck. We’ll have to see.

P.S. Can’t deny you what I promised: The Ultimates. Get the Graphic Novels. You’ll be glad you did.

Dorky Comic News with Dtrain

Well, folks, after a small sabbatical (two postings and already a sabbatical? Man, am I an elitist), I am back with more of your friendly neighborhood Dorky comic news.

Hmmmm, I guess with the Spidey reference in the previous sentence, you all should have a good guess as to my topic of discussion, and that being the lack of political structure in Iraq. HAHAHAHAHA whoa, *phew,* sigh to indicate that it wasn’t that funny, okay, continue.

Spider-Man 3. I liked it. A lot of people didn’t. You know what? Don’t care. Here’s why: Venom. I’ve wanted to see Venom as the villain since May 3rd, 2002. That’s the day after the first movie came out. (and for all of you who were wondering, yes, I did in fact take the day off work and saw it twice). I got Venom in this one. The rest of it to me is pretty inconsequential. Sure, they may have tried to put too much into this movie. But here’s the thing that most non-comic fans don’t understand. If you pick up a comic and read it, that’s what it is. The writers and artists try there damndest to get as much action and decent dialogue in as possible to get the reader hooked. That’s what they did with this movie. Could it have been done a little better, possibly. Could I have done a better job? Heck no. I leave that to the professionals. My last note on Spidey 3 for all the naysayers: Imagine if the black Spidey suit had nipples on it. Hmmm? The movie doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?

Still wishing Joel Schumacher dies a slow painful death for almost ruining the Batman movie franchise, this has been the D-train with your Dorky Comic News. Next Time, I will give you a profile on what I buy, and why you all should start. Laters!

Spider-man 3 Review (Spoiler-free)



Friday night I went to see Spider-man 3. It was opening night at an off show time, but the theater was still packed with fans. Spidey's got his work cut out for him in this one as he faces three enemies: Venom, Sandman, and New Goblin. The movie is very fast paced, almost too fast at times to fully absorb what's happening.

Dorky Comic News with Dtrain

Fantastic Four Update

Once again it's time for Dorky Comic News with your party host, the Dtrain.



The new Fantastic Four movie comes out June 15. The first one was okay except for the last 20 minutes, which made no sense whatsoever (if you'd like to find out why, send me a message and I will tell you). I've seen the trailer for the second one, called the Rise of the Silver Surfer. It looks pretty cool. (But so did Ocean's 12. Man, was I fooled) Anyway, I am hoping this movies lives up to the trailer.

The big news of the day is that the voice of the Silver Surfer, who if you've seen the trailer, is the silvery guy on the surf board. (Betcha the name makes a lot more sense now. What would you guys do without me?) Sorry, back on track. Laurence Fishburne (Cowboy Curtis from Pee-Wee's Playhouse. NO JOKE) will be providing the voice talent. I am not sure why they always have another actor do voices for characters that are cgi'd. The guy that is "acting" as the Silver Surfer is named Doug Jones. I guess he must sound like a 7 year old girl.





Well, that's about it. I'm looking forward to Spider-Man 3, as you all should. If you see it, let me know your thoughts.

P.S. Dorky Comic News is the name of my new segment. Screw [MySpace] blogs.

"Dorky Comic News. News you don't care about, news you don't need."

Dorky Comic News with Dtrain

Spider-Man 2.1



Don't forget to gather your pennies and get to your nearest Best Buy to get Spider-Man 2.1 with 8 (YES, 8!!) minutes of extended footage. Wet your whistle before May 4th!!!

Dorky Comic News with Dtrain

Our good friend Dtrain has agreed to allow me to syndicate his Dorky Comic News on No Disintegrations. I thank Dtrain for allowing me to provide a wider audience for his updates.


Incredible Hulk

Apparently Marvel was so impressed with Edward Norton's ability to transform into Brad Pitt in Fight Club, that they decided to see how well he can change into the Hulk. For you geeks out there, what I am trying to say is that Edward Norton will play Bruce Banner in the new Incredible Hulk movie, which comes out next year. They are redoing the origin story, because let's face it, that first movies sucked.

P.S. Spider-Man 3 is in 19 days.

Sink your Vampire Teeth into Buffy Season 8

Well, it seems some Buffy fans are becoming comic fans with the release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 in comic form. Include me in this category. I'm been familiar with comics for a while and understand the different formats well enough. I used to peruse Spider-man comics as a kid, but Buffy marks my first foray into actually buying comics. Until this venture, I have only purchased Neil Gaiman's Absolute Sandman volume one. Now I get to explore the wonders of bagging and boarding, subscription services, variant covers, and debates on the best method of storage and preservation.

As a long time collector of Star Wars paraphernalia, I joined the Ohio Star Wars Collector's Club about 2 years ago to help create contacts and improve my knowledge of the collecting hobby. This amazing group of people are great at discussing the various available items and commenting on what actually makes a collection valuable to actual collectors. Through this club, I've learned a lot about the hobby and about building value into a collection. Now I am hoping to take this knowledge, plus knowledge gained from conversations with D-train, and apply it to the Buffy Season 8 series.

Currently, I have acquired all the essential pieces to make this a very valuable collection, including promotional posters and the limited 1 of 1,000 sketch variant cover of the 1st printing of issue 1. I decided to pay an additional $0.25 to have the comics bagged and boarded before they even reached me so that the ones I don't read will be as near to mint as possible. For some fans, this paragraph probably doesn't make much sense and may sound like a bunch of comic book jargon. It still kind of does to me too. I've decided to chronicle my foray into this new direction of collecting and share my information and assumptions with fellow fans. For folks knowledgeable in comics reading these posts, please feel free to comment with suggestions, etc to help me with my collection or correct something I am misunderstanding.

Here is the gist of this collection:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 continues the TV series in comic form. The series is reportedly up to being scheduled for 52 issues (unconfirmed). Joss Whedon is overseeing the entire story arc and actually writing several issues himself. The other issues will be written by other alums of the Buffy TV series writing staff.

The collection will contain a variant cover for each issue. These variants are being offered in a 1/4 ratio to merchants. This mean that for every 4 copies the merchant orders, one variant will be included.

Issue 1 also has a limited edition sketch variant cover. This LE variant is 1/1000 and was only provided to Dark Horse retailers that entered the Buffy contest. Each retailer who won in this contest received ten copies of this LE variant. Also of note, Issue 1 has already run its first printing and is now on its second printing to accommodate the large number of orders Dark Horse is receiving. That makes any Issue 1 first print a LE of 1/100,000. So currently, that brings Issue 1 up to 4 covers in the first week of release. To promote this series, Dark Horse released two promotional posters. The first was given away at recent conventions and is a 11" x 7" poster featuring the regular cover of Issue 1. The second was released in Buffy and Angel magazine #29 and was also given away at recent conventions. This poster is 36" x 24" and features the regular cover for Issue 2. Both posters were factory folded. The following is the current offerings:




Issue 1:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Sketch Variant Cover, 1/1000, 1st print


Expanded Cover, 2nd print


Promotional Poster, Convention



Issue 2:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Promotional Poster, Convention/Magazine



Issue 3:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print



Issue 4:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print

Pictures Courtesy of Dark Horse comics.

Hasbro to Continue Using "Spud" Licensing

Hasbro is continuing their quest to tuber-ize movie greats through its "spud" licensing. You may already be familiar with these Mr. Potato Heads:


L to R: Spud Trooper, Artoo-Potato, and Darth Tater

Now meet the newest super spud:


Spider Spud

Pre-orders for this great Spider-man 3 collectible start Saturday, March 24 at www.hasbrotoyshop.com.


To see previews of other Hasbro Spider-man 3 collectibles, visit: http://www.e-directlogic.com/Hasbro/H017218.asp?q=hbc2g2pH017219107374&src=GENEMHT89987