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I Ain’t Never Hadda Friend Like Him

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Walt

Virtually every time I see some celebrity’s name “trending”–whether on Facebook or Twitter or where-ever…my first thought usually would be that they’d died. Until recently. Having (finally?) realized that all sorts of things set someone to being a “trending” topic, so I’ve backed off on that.

And then…tonight.

Robin Williams.

Last I’d heard anything, he’d checked into rehab or some such, so I figured he’d checked himself back out, or someone caught some contextless soundbite or quote, or some paparazzi got some extremely unflattering photo that someone had captioned and it’d gone “viral.”

genie_robin_williams_1951_august_11_2014

But to learn that no, he’d died…and apparently self-inflicted…there just ARE no words.

The Genie from Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney characters. That’s certainly got Robin Williams written all over it, so to speak. I’d always thought it fascinating how they imbued the Genie with so much of his personality, and animated stuff that would work for them to get him in to voice the character.

It was only recently that I “discovered” that it was most likely the reverse–that they’d’ve had him in for the role, and animated the character based on him. Which meant this character that’s been such a part of my growing up is far more Robin Williams than not.

aintneverhaddafriendlikehimI thought almost immediately of stuff other than Aladdin with Robin Williams, and recalled commercials I’d seen for Good Morning Vietnam (which I did eventually see years ago). There was Mrs. Doubtfire, and Patch Adams, and I quite appreciated Williams’ appearance on the Highlander tv show.

And somehow, I misplaced Hook until a friend reminded me, and I realized that was in there amidst Mrs. Doubtfire and Patch Adams, though it wasn’t until maybe 7 or 8 years ago that I kind of “realized” it was an “old favorite” and something I really did enjoy quite a lot. I’ve certainly come to appreciate it SO MUCH MORE as an adult than I ever did as a kid.

Most recently I enjoyed seeing him in a new show last Fall, though I didn’t keep up with it (hindsight can be 20/20…)

I’ve been seeing tons of posts on Facebook, but I’ve not clicked any of the links. I’m sharing all I have in this post, because this has hit me personally, stirring up memories, and I’m simply sad at learning he’s gone, if only for the selfish side of what it means to ME.

I never met him, never saw him in person or anything “live,” never knew anything about his family or personal life outside the occasional headline and such about some substance issues or such.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re reading my blog anyway. I’m not sharing this to “get clicks” or such. Robin Williams’ passing is far more significant than anything else I might’ve posted.

And truly, none of us ever had a friend like him.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Scoring All-American Prime for $2

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Walt

After half-heartedly “keeping an eye out” for UltraForce toys, this year’s been pretty good actually finding them in-person. Typically I’m not a huge fan of variant figures (duh) but for $2 and it’s Prime? Yeah. Now, I still definitely want several of the other figures from the line–Hardcase, NM-E, and Prototype for sure.

I found this in a toy bin at JC’s in Cuyahoga Falls…a very pleasant surprise, which offsets a LITTLE bit of my frustration at the hassle of tracking down a NON-variant copy of Action Comics #34 this week.

all_american_prime_front

Though the packaging is worn, doesn’t particularly bother me–I’m not looking for “mint in package” or “mint on card” or whatever…I just want to have the figures themselves.

all_american_prime_back

I wouldn’t mind getting the whole line–Ghoul, Topaz, and Attalon–though I have no interest in the “vehicles”…it’s the characters that have meaning, not some random (pointless) vehicle(s).

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Not My Ninja Turtles…

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Walt

No fancy post. No photos, not even very much to say. Just…that was NOT “my” Ninja Turtles. Teenage Mutant or otherwise.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to re-watch the 1990 and 2007 films as a palette cleanser.

Yeah, some good stuff, small things. But I am really NOT impressed, and didn’t particularly enjoy the thing, and even the stuff that apparently was supposed to be funny…wasn’t. To me, anyway.

I won’t go so far as to suggest I “understand” Transformers fans.

This just certainly was not an incarnation that I care anything about, offhand. Maybe sleeping on it and further pondering will change my mind some or open to other insights and feelings on the thing.

Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tagged: , , , , | 7 Comments »

The Weekly Haul – Week of August 6th, 2014

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Walt

Not a horrible week, but not a tiny one, either…

weekly_haul_080614a

Funny…for as much as I consider myself officially “Valiant-and-TMNT-only” I only had one issue fitting that this week.

weekly_haul_080614b

A couple weeks with no new chapter of Doomed and now THREE chapters out today…

weekly_haul_080614c

I skipped Infinite Crisis when it came out a couple weeks back, but my curiosity got the better of me…figure I can at least check it out, though I’ve little intention of following it.

Honestly rather frustrated with stuff this week–I had to go to two shops in order to get the NON-variant editions of all 3 of the Doomed chapters. And there were 3 chapters–two of them $5 annuals and a $3.99–all in the SAME week.

And yet, here I am buying a bunch of DC and wondering why I’m spending so much after getting back down pretty close to pull-list-stuff-only…

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Concluding the Angry Birds Star Wars 2 Collection

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Walt

Well, I never did find the Boba Fett pig in the 2-packs as advertised on the back of the packaging. But I think I got everything else I was interested in.

angry_birds_star_wars2_august14_goodguys

Picked up this bunch on clearance. After many, many months of just the same packs, there was finally a 2nd series…but hardly impressive, and certainly not nearly as interesting or seeming to be “worth” getting.

angry_birds_star_wars2_august14_badguys

But with a $10 pack marked down to $3, and the $20 collector’s case marked down to $6…and this being clearance pricing obviously intended to clear the things out, I went ahead and got ’em, figuring I might regret it later, especially for the price.

angry_birds_star_wars2_august14_case

And with these being cleared out (at least at Target, I’m not sure about Walmart), it’s a good time for me to call it quits. Plus, my entire collection of the birds themselves and the stands fits in the case and then some (I picked up a bunch of the non-playable birds for the characters).

Even if this goes on a shelf somewhere for awhile…rather cool little collection, and quite cool to have the “official” case for ’em as well…

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The Five Valiant Chromiums

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Walt

I was going to pass on the later ones after not being particularly thrilled with the initial Armor Hunters #1 Chromium cover, comparing it thoroughly to my favorite “old-school” Valiant chromium cover: 1993’s X-O Manowar #0.

valiant_chromiums_2014_armor_hunters

But I’d requested them, and though the store owner gave me an out–I went ahead and snagged ’em all.

Yeah, I loathe variants on principle, but even I have to make exceptions here or there, and these go with the “old school” “regular and collectors’ editions” format, rather than different images.

Whether one goes with the regular cover or the chromium cover…it’s still the same image and such…one’s “just” paper and the other’s this much thicker, sturdier material. But the fairly “iconic” images–Armor Hunters #1 and X-O Manowar #26–are still consistent. There’s not some random cover by a random artist, or some “theme of the month” or such.

Of course, now that I do have these…it’s back to standard most regular “A” cover available for the foreseeable future!

Filed under: 2012, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The ’90s Revisited: Ninjak Yearbook #1

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Walt

ninjakyearbook001Writer: Mike Baron
Penciller: Bryan Hitch
Colorist: Steve Whitaker
Letterer: Adam Niedzwiecki
Editor: Maurice Fontenot
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Layton
Cover: Stu Suchit
Published by: Valiant
Cover Price: $3.95

After having recently read the Trapped by Webnet arc in the current Unity series,when I was flipping through a quarter-bin the other day, I bought this issue and actually read it same-day, even though I already had it. It was the immediacy, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, except a Ninjak story and the cover had a headshot of someone that I couldn’t imagine being anyone other than Dr. Silk.

For as many of the original Valiant books as I’ve amassed the last couple years, I’ve read surprisingly few so far (telling myself I’m waiting til I can read the entire Valiant universe start to finish with no gaps). So I didn’t quite know what to expect here. The issue is labeled as a Yearbook…I’ve come to realize that would be original Valiant‘s way of saying “Annual.” So this is the 1994 Annual for the Ninjak ongoing, and while I half expected a big To Be Continued, I was pleasantly “surprised” to find that this issue is self-contained.

I didn’t think about the art all that much as I read the issue, but I really didn’t have any problem with it. Nothing jumped out in any negative way, and I didn’t feel “distracted” by it, either. It just got the visuals across and told that side of the whole of the story. In typing this post I see Bryan Hitch was the penciler, so in retrospect I kind of “see” it, though it definitely (obviously) predates his work on The Ultimates by a number of years. Combined with the coloring, I’d have to say I prefer Ultimates to this, but there’s also the fact of reading this 20-year-old single issue, and that Hitch and comics/printing in general had a good 8-some years of development between when this issue was published and when The Ultimates came along.

The story is relatively simple: Ninjak’s out and about in his civilian guise, and gets recruited for a mission. Dr. Silk’s making trouble, and of course needs to be stopped. Ninjak encounters a rather personal foe en route to stopping Dr. Silk, and by issue’s end we’ve reached the adventure’s end.

Perhaps over-simplifying, I’d say this issue is basically a single-issue Ninja-Spy story: part ninja-guy in Ninjak, but he’s also a spy. And it sure as heck beats being just some kick-off to a longer story, or a concluding chapter of a longer story, or being a middle chapter of a story…etc.

I quite enjoyed reading the issue, and it was CERTAINLY worth the 25 cents, if solely for the amount of time it took to read. I’ve maybe read one or two other Ninjak issues through the years, though I’m honestly not even sure if I’ve read the first issue…I think I know more of the contemporary version of the character from the last couple years in current Valiant‘s X-O Manowar, Unity, and Armor Hunters titles. 

That being said…I never felt lost or taken out of the story by my lack of knowledge; though I’m consciously aware of “continuity” and such, this worked just fine for me as a single-issue “episode” of stuff. Perhaps it’s a bit formulaic…but for me, that worked in the issue’s favor.

While this is a sort of Annual as opposed to an arbitrarily-chosen issue of the ongoing series, it’s very satisfying to be able to just pick up one issue and have an enjoyable story, good art, and no burning desire to go grab another issue immediately to continue or finish the story.

Now recognizing the Yearbook issues as basically being annuals, I may actually target them for reading prior to getting down to any solid “reading projects” for classic Valiant.

If you come across this in a bargain bin, it’s certainly worth 25 cents to $1. While it’s good, it’s not any issue of particular or singular significance, and as a “generic ’90s book” I wouldn’t suggest paying more than $1 for a copy, and personally consider it truly 25-cent-bin fare.

Filed under: 1990s, Ninjak, The '90s Revisited, Valiant | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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