Books N' More from Brian Lapsley

Hey everybody! time for yet another incredibly overdue thank you to someone who sent me something fantastic in the mail! This time around it's from Brian Lapsley of Awake Oh Sleeper fame. He is a blogger, podcaster, and artist extraordinaire. AND he is an incredibly generous soul who has gifted me with far more than he should have up to this point. 

I have some serious catching up to do. 

But for now, let's see what Brian sent me in the last parcel of goodies (and one more at the item that he sent me separately because he knew how thrilled I would be to own it...) shall we? 

This package was heavy with BOOKS! And not just any books... these are all adaptations of movies! OR... books that have been adapted into movies. Either way. Movies or... TV shows as you can see from the book above. This is a Star Trek novel "Yesterday's Son". Spock discovers his own son-- living 5000 years in the past! And I thought my family had problems! HAH!

Ahem. Moving on.

Next we have perennial favorite, "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton. This is a case of book first movie second. But I've never read this, and I'm quite looking forward to it.

Now, "Four Past Midnight" I have read before. It's an interesting case. "Secret Window, Secret Garden" is the story adapted into a film here, "Secret Window" (and another story from this book was also adapted into a TV mini-series "The Langoliers" but the less said about THAT the better...). I have always thought that Secret Window was a weird one to choose to adapt as it was arguably one of the weaker stories in the collection in my opinion. Now "The Library Policeman"? That one was FANTASTIC and it doesn't seem like it would have been that hard to make into a movie at all. Where is my Library Policeman film you guys???

The novelization of Tim Burton's Batman film is always a favorite. I already own a copy of this one, but it is beat. So this much nicer copy is a welcome replacement. I read this as a kid because I bought and ingested anything and everything to do with Batman around this film. And I thought my family had problems! HAH!

Wait... Uhhh... moving on.

I... there are no words. This movie hurt me DEEPLY. And now I own a novelization of it. So... I'm going to read it at some point and see if the book improves on any of the stuff I didn't like about the movie (Actually, I feel like I need to go back and watch the movie again at some point... just to see if I've softened on it at all.)

And finally, THIS GUY was sent to me at a different point in time. This was ridiculously generous of Brian to give me as this is the Loot-Crate exclusive Groot Funko Pop! with a glow-in-the-dark hand and that beautiful mossy detail paint. This thing is genuinely a prized possession of mine now, and I can't thank Brian enough for him. I am OBSESSED with the Guardians of the Galaxy film, and there was just no other way I would have gotten my hands on this piece of PURE MAGIC since I am not a Loot-Crate subscriber. Oh man... I am still reeling from this one you guys.

I want to shoot one last big THANK YOU out to Brian Lapsley, and remind folks to check out his blog over at Awake Oh Sleeper. He is also one of the hosts of the Nerds of the Roundtable so be sure to check that out too!

All right kids, that's all I've got for tonight. I'll be back soon with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies... so until then, Happy Hunting!

Creepmas Day 11: Marvel Comics Christmas Specials (!?)

So this year I'm celebrating Creepmas! 

From the 13 Days of Creepmas website: 

"A reaction to the continuing incursion of Christmas into Autumn and Halloween, CREEPMAS is a good-natured chance for Halloween lovers to exact revenge by bringing some spooky good cheer into the holidays or, more appropriately, the Hallowdays..." Read more about the inspirations behind this 13 day celebration HERE. 

Today's entry may have a few of you scratching your heads and going, "Huh?" 

But I can assure you that sometimes there is nothing creepier in the Marvel Universe than the Holidays.

This first one is one of my favorite Christmas themed comic books ever. I got it back in 1991 and it is an 80 page GIANT collection of 8 stories and assorted pin-ups.

I'm going to just cherry pick the Creepmas-y stuff here, so if you're interested in the whole book I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. The first story, "A Miracle A Few Blocks Down from 32nd Street," features Santa Claus as the most powerful mutant in the world with a truly disturbing power to apparently transform people into action figures... and wipe people's memories. And generally mess with reality. He's Proteus or the Beyonder in a red suit.

Next up is one of my all-time favorite Christmas stories involving super-heroes period. in "A Christmas Coda," we have a bizarre evening in the life of Franklin Richards where he meets the ghost of Jacob Marley and trades away his most prized possession (in this case an X-Mutant Killer Krocodile Christmas ornament that his mother bought him) in exchange for a magic key that will unlock his ghostly chains.

By the end of the story literally every choice Franklin makes is nullified because fate just WANTS him to own this ornament I guess, but along the way he get's to FEEL like he's making a sacrifice, and help out a ghost in need of redemption.

There's a Thor story, "'Twas a Midwinter's Night," with an evil troll-thing, and a Santa with a goat-drawn sleigh. Moving on...

My second favorite story in this collection, "Ghosts of Christmas Past," (a title chosen for resonance, not for relevance) stars Ghost Rider and a little blind boy named Willy. Willy's parents are rich and Willy has been kidnapped for ransom, but Ghost Rider saves him.

What really makes the story special however is that because Willy is blind, he mistakes the Spirit of Vengeance for the Spirit of Christmas.

He thinks the Ghost Rider is Santa Claus! And of course, because he's sort of like a demonic robot of justice, Ghost Buster sort of takes this all in with an emotionless stoicism.

As goofy as this whole premise seems, the touching part is in the faith the child has that this is indeed Santa, and how thankful he is to be saved.

Just the absurdity of the concept and the pure affection this kid shows towards Ghost Rider because he can't see the outer surface... makes this a classic story for me. 

The next collection is one that was actually given to me recently by my friend, Brian of Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture fame. It is the Marvel Holiday Special from 1994. There's not a whole lot that's Creepmas-y about it to be honest, except we get a fun little story, "Hopes and Fears," where Spider-Man tries to stop Mephisto from destroying the spirit of Christmas...

The whole thing is very "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"-esque. But there is a wager between Spider-Man and Mephisto to see if he can save the spirit (he can't) and then we see the repercussions (there are pretty much none).

We find out this is a sort of ritual these two beings go through every Christmas, and it turns out the same way every time.

There is another Ghost Rider story, "Harvey Teabiscuit's Yule Log," in this issue as well, although its not nearly as endearing to me as the last one. But we see a put-upon average Joe get a little vengeance in his everyday dealings, courtesy of a little Christmas cheer.

The third special I'll feature here is an interesting one starring the Great Lakes Avengers X-Men. I used to really be into the GLAX but I kind of got over it. To be honest, I forgot I even owned this Christmas issue. But it has a few nice details included.

There's a villain named Dr. Tannenbaum who uses all Christmas-themed devices to fight and kill, including killer Christmas trees and wreaths that tighten around your throat and strangle you.

Doorman, a member of the team has recently become an angel of Death. He is home for the holidays and dealing with his persnickety father. He also meets Santa Claus.

Of course, being an angel of Death has its downfalls.

This Howard the Duck Holiday Special is from 1997. It is ridiculous. It's not particularly creepy in and of itself... but there was one thing I wanted to feature:

We find out that tinsel is made out of dead elves. 

The final issue I want to showcase tonight is this issue of Daredevil, #266 from May of 1989. May. This is a Christmas story the put out in May. Written by Anne Nocenti and illustrated by John Romita Jr., "A Beer With the Devil" is the name of this stand-alone tale.

It is Christmas is New York. The Inferno arc wrapped up in the last issue and Daredevil is fallen on some hard times. He is injured both physically and spiritually. I can't remember what time of year the Inferno event was supposed to have taken place in, but the world has moved on here.

Daredevil is spending Christmas in a bar elbow-to-elbow with some of the most pathetic low-lives the city has to offer.

Into this scene comes a haunting stranger that appears differently to everyone who looks upon him or her. In fact, even the sex and race of the stranger changes depending on the observer. This stranger is intent on seducing Daredevil with talk of betrayals and petty crimes. And kissing.

While these two are kissing, a murder takes place in the bar. The feeling here is that the stranger's presence and actions are somehow influencing the actions of two brothers sitting in a different part of the bar. One brother kills another while Daredevil makes out with:

Mephisto! This revelation completely exploded my 11 year old brain back in the day. The whole story is pretty simple though, Mephisto is testing to see how much Daredevil has given up. How ripe he is for taking over to the dark side. Nocenti's run on Daredevil was pretty heavy on the Mephisto/Blackheart stuff around this time (it's a pretty great run to be honest, with an Acts of Vengeance cameo by a multiple-personality suffering Ultron that actually made a lot of poetic sense in a bizarre way, and a demonic dentist taking center stage during one of the Inferno issues) and this was sort of an underlining of all that... but honestly this story works really well all on its own. We don't really need to know what the crisis of conscience is that Matt Murdock has been struggling with. It's a familiar feeling. We don't need to know Mephisto's ultimate goal in corrupting Matt. He's evil. We assume he's just one of those parasitic opportunists who try to kick you when you're down. And why Christmas? Because Christmas is classically one of those times when we struggle with morality and spirituality and its a perfect canvas to paint this story on.

John Romita Jr.'s Mephisto is my absolute favorite interpretation of the character EVER by the way. But this little Christmas morality play ends with a slight twist of hope. Mephisto can't quite take Daredevil under his wing just yet... and Daredevil crashes back to earth, tearing down a bunch of neighborhood decorations with him.

He lands in an alley where a couple of the pathetics from the bar find him and instead take him under their wings. They give Matt Murdock the sliver of hope an goodwill towards men that he was needing to keep his spirits up. And this is where the story ends. There's not really a heavy-handed moral to the tale to be honest, just a sort of ambiguity about how to feel about life in general and a sense of warning about losing your way. It's the idea that as long as we're all just sort of getting by then at least we're still human. We may not have perfect lives, but we can still manage decency. And for Daredevil at this point in his life... that was enough.

Happy 13 days of Creepmas! I'll be back tomorrow with another entry in the countdown, which may or may not involve a Goodwill Goody! Until then, Happy Hunting!

The FIND Part 2: Digging Deeper in the Bin.

So last week, the League of Extraordinary Bloggers talked about epic yardsale and/or flea market finds. I recounted the tale of the bin of action figures I brought home, and showed off a few of the specimens I found inside. You can read about all that HERE. 

Just as a reminder, here is a shot of that bin in all its glory. It doesn't look like this anymore, because I've taken all the stuff I plan on keeping in my collection and put it out on display. Everything else I plan on selling or giving away here on m'blog. I'd love to at some point make my 40 bucks back on this bin (or it's equivalent) but we'll see. 

And speaking of seeing, I'm dipping into the bin and hauling out another handful of stuff to show you guys! 

So, this post will be themed. And what's the theme? X-MEN!!! (And for some reason Daredevil). Here are a trio of crucified mutants... er... I mean Bend-Ems X-Men figures from 1989. I never actually owned any of these as a kid, because I was never a big fan of bendy characters that aren't really that bendy. 

Colossus

These are sort of the action figure equivalent of those ballistics dummies they use to test shrapnel spray on Myth-Busters. They feel like tiny rubber corpses. They are not very bendy at all, and I suspect they never really were. I mean, you can bend them if you want, but they're not going to stay in that pose for long. 

Magneto

Due to the rubber nature of these toys, they also look pretty grungy. Old rubber tends to get filthy. Heh. Colossus's legs and Magneto's moobs are streaked with grime. When I was a kid I always pronounced it Mag-NET-Oh, not Mag-NEET-Oh. It drove everyone who actually knew anything about comics (like the guy at the comic store...) INSANE. I just though Mag-NEET-Oh sounded dorky and not scary at all. Like, "Oh look! Here comes that neat-o villain!"

Nightcrawler

And even more unfortunate is the fact that Nightcrawler's tail broke off, leaving him looking like he's got a blue turtle-head poking out and no bathroom in sight. That's why those BAMFS!!! alwas smell like sulfur.

Daredevil, covered in Karen Page's heroin s**ts.

The box also contained this FILTHY Daredevil figure, which I can't tell is someone used a marker on or what. But I don't really care because he's gross. I'm going to try to clean him up, but I'm not holding my breath. 

So to continue the weird, X-Men + Daredevil theme, here we have a trio of old Toy Biz action figures. I owned all three of these as a kid/preteen/too-old-to-be-playing-with-them-whatever... 

Daredevil

And for some weird reason I either always wanted Daredevil to find out he was a mutant all along, OR I wanted to team him up with my Kenner Batman figure so the two were a pair of crime-fighting vigilante MANIACS!!! I had a lot of random crossover stories in my imaginative play as a child.

Colossus

Doesn't Colossus have a weird Fabio vibe to his face here? Colossus was and still is one of my absolute favorite X-men. I cried when Joss Whedon brought him back from the dead in Astonishing. Hah! Kidding!* AAAaaanyway... This figure has a "lifting one very specific heavy item" action feature, which still works. As none of the figures in the box came with any accessories, he is missing his giant bar-bell which he would lift menacingly to intimidate villains. 

And here is one of my personal Holy Grails. Not because he's hard to find (you can find dozens of these on eBay) but because I wanted him to fine me. I wanted to find one of these classic Wolverine action figures in the wild, and cheap. This action figure was sacred to me when I got it as a kid. Wolverine was just hitting that period in the late 80's to very early nineties where he wasn't over-exposed yet, but he was very clearly the COOLEST X-Man of the times. The only other X-Man to rival Wolvie in cool points for me at the time was Storm. This was coming past the end of Inferno, and into all of the weird stuff leading up to the Muir Island saga. This was still Wolverine's costume. The orange and burgundy/brown. This Wolverine was like the Snake-Eyes of the X-Men back then. 

And who are these bad boys? Why some of the X-Men's most strikingly recognizable villains! Also from Toy-Biz, I was very excited to find these!

Sauron

Here is one of the X-Men's most... er... confusing villains. Sauron. At first glance, he's a pterodactyl man, right? That sort of seems like enough. But no. He's also able to hypnotize his foes AND he's a vampire! Well, an energy vampire. There has also been so much ret-conning done to the character that it's sort of up for debate as to whether he's actually a mutant or not. But what's REALLY weird about this action figure is that he is completely frozen in this pose. None of his joints move except his jaw. So... I guess I found my display pose!

The Juggernaut

I was INTENSELY excited to see this Juggernaut figure in the mix, because I had the exact same one when I was a kid, and he was an INTEGRAL part of Hordak's army when I tossed all my toy-lines together. When I got the bin home and looked closer, I was disappointed to discover this was not, in fact, the exact same one. Mine had wheels in the feet so you could roll him into enemies, and a lever on his back to make his fist punch up and down. This one has neither, and instead has little circular spots on his feet where the wheels should be, and a weird grey depression in his back where the lever should poke out. I was a little bummed, but other-wise fine. He looks almost identical in every other respect. The really weird thing is that I can't find reference of this version of the figure anywhere. 

Sabretooth

And finally we have the classic version of Sabretooth, which is to say my favorite version of Sabretooth. If you compare this shot to the group shot above, you'll notice his chest has a "battle-damage" feature (with strangely enough THREE claw wounds) that "heals" when you change it back. I loved the early Wolverine vs. Sabretooth encounters, that came after all the wussy "Hey, everybody kills Sabretooth!" Marauders fights, but before Wolvie and Sabey became such a cliched bickering old married couple that they had to dump one of them completely. 

Overall these action figures are probably some of my very favorites to come out of the bin altogether. There was some more great stuff in there, but almost nothing that hit me in the nostalgia gut like these guys did. Almost.

But that's it for tonight! But we've still only barely scratched the surface of this bin! Next time I think I'm going to show off some of the not-so-great stuff I found in the bin (the stuff that made me think if I'd been more picky about what I was buying, I could have gotten a MUCH better deal...) so you can see how the other half lives... so I'll be back with that at some point.

But before THAT, I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!

* I'm totally not even kidding. And I was a grown-ass MAN when I read that comic.