Can't Blog Now . . .

. . . waiting in line for Iron Man 2. Complete with Slurpee cup. Wait . . . Stark . . . behind you . . .!

A Marvelous Easter

Two steadfast Easter traditions: making baskets and seeing movies (a new tradition for any big holiday weekend). Here are Marvel's contributions to the festivities: a Spider-man basket, and a massive Iron Man 2 stand-up at my local theater. Didn't have to look too hard to find these Easter eggs.

Iron Man Slurpee Cups

I went to 7-11 this morning for a cup of coffee and found these Iron Man/War Machine Slurpee cups. After I took their picture, the clerk said, "They're cool, right? I'm getting one for my daughter!" Nothing like some awesome merchandising first thing in the morning.

Ol' Jade Jaws Jigsaw Puzzle

I found yet another Hulk puzzle at a local antique shop last week, so I'm continuing the St. Patty's Day props with this, ol' Jade Jaws saving a school bus full of kids. Total awesomeness.

Giant Foam Growing Figures

More Dollar Tree goodness! I'd show you the results after adding water, but I didn't shell out the buck. Sorry.

The Marvel Tree

A detour to the Dollar Tree today was pretty productive, as far as finding cheap superhero merch goes. So, where's the DC swag? The House of Ideas - 1, the Distinguished Competition - 0.

Hulk Puzzle Smashes 600th Post

I posted this pic of the Hulk puzzle my girlfriend and I assembled last night as a bonus for the day, but when I realized this morning that it was my 600th post, I decided to give the ol' Jade Jigsaw his own entry. After all, that better way to commemorate 600 posts intended to deconstruct comics than by putting something together?

Hulk Puzzle

Every other Saturday is half-off day at my local Goodwill, and I scored this Hulk puzzle from '76 for a dollar. Good thing -- I don't know if I would've shelled out two.

Ghostbusters Slimer Sours

On the heels of yesterday's review of IDW's Ghostbusters: Tainted Love -- I'm always wary when I see prominent merchandising for a franchise long gone. Sure, this year is the 25th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters film, but its distinct logo has been everywhere lately, including here, in mint tin form at Atomic Comics in Chandler, Arizona. Some Smurfs merch was at Target over the holidays, too . . . which confirms thoughts that Hollywood would love to put these properties on the silver screen sometime soon, and they're simply priming the public with good old fashioned brand recognition. Indeed, before Spider-man 3 was confirmed, dollar store Spider-man stickers suddenly included the Sandman, introducing the villain to kids in all of his adhesive glory. So, expect to see your favorite paranormal investigators and those little blue mushroom-dwellers in a theater near you sometime soon . . . and when you see some random Snorkels nightlights at the Target One Spot, now you know why.

Happy Chinese New Year!

My girlfriend and I went to a Chinese festival to celebrate tomorrow's New Year's Day, and I spotted this Spider-man balloon. Too bad it isn't the year of the arachnid!

Fantastic Four Klik Candy Dispensers

Here we go again.

Today A Comic A Day begins its third incarnation, as a study of comics' influence on every day life. Fortunately for me, the blundering blogger responsible for this mess, that direction is open interpretation, from the way comics shape pop culture, to the comics I'm reading on any given day, to the comics-inspired merchandise one might find just shopping at the 99 Cents Store -- like these Fantastic Four Klik candy dispensers. If you look hard enough, surely you can find a comic a day.

BONUS MINI-REVIEW!

"Tall Tale" by Paul Pope, colored by Lee Loughridge, lettered by Clem Robins
originally published in Weird Western Tales #1, Vertigo/DC Comics

Keen comic book enthusiasts might appreciate my using the Fantastic Four (albeit in candy dispenser form) in a new year's inaugural post, since they're often dubbed the first family of funnybooks and in fact launched the brand we know today as Marvel Comics. Similarly, this weird western short by Paul Pope explores the origins of heroes as a whole, but in a genre we often underestimate as the beginning of such things. The first few panels in this eight-page yarn explain that tall tales about Paul Bunyon and John Henry were the first superhero stories, and their compilation in spaghetti western pulp magazines, the ancestor of the comic book.

Now, when a drunken sop decides to call out a homely bartender he believes to be Wild Bill Hickok . . .



He discovers that some tall tales have pretty short fuses.



Paul Pope's style befits a short, weird western tale like this, and his premise that folks in the Old West were just as mystified as these tales then as we are now is a great way to breach the proverbial fourth wall . . . and make a simple Bronze Age title relaunch amazingly relevant.

One can only hope it's as effective with a certain blog. Giddy up!