Goodwill Finds: The Joker, Giant Spider-Man, Electronic Dungeons and Dragons, Zombie Bert!

Spider-Man has something he wants to show you... 

There are some cassette tapes in this picture that I forgot to photograph. So you can't see those in this post.
You can KIND of see the titles in this shot. I'm too lazy to track them all down but the two coolest ones were probably the soundtracks for Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Coneheads Movie. Try to imagine them.

It's a pile of stuff I brought home from the Brewer, ME Goodwill store!!! YAY!!! As per usual, let's take a closer look at everything piled up here, shall we?

I'm probably jumping the gun here and showing off one of the best finds from this trip... but WHO CARES??? This thing was a SUPER exciting find. This is a Mattel Electronics Dungeons & Dragons Computer Labyrinth game.

Here is the gameboard. Testing it with a battery I discovered it no longer works. This does not phase me in the least. I love the look of this thing either way. This came out in 1980, and at the time I'm sure it was a technological marvel.

Forgive the fuzzy picture here, but I wanted to show off the interior compartment, complete with labyrinth walls, instruction booklet, dragon piece, treasure piece (next to the dragon) and two warrior pieces. From what I can gather, you explore the board, receiving signals from the game on which directions you can move, and then you plug in wall pieces as you go, to map the whole thing out.

I also found a copy of the Back to the Future novelization (this is a must-pick-up, no matter how many copies I may or may not own at this point) and Superman: Miracle Monday (which is a bizarre story of time travellers and demonic possession that has absolutely nothing to do with Superman II even though it is obviously merchandised for that purpose.

Terry Pratchett's "Thud!" is honestly a no-brainer. All Discworld novels are, honestly. Anthony's Xanth series, Aspirin's M.Y.T.H. books, and DeChancie's Castle Perilous series all desperately want to have the same sense of whimsy, magic, and heart as the Discworld books and while I genuinely enjoy all of those series, they will just never stack up. The Forgotten Realms book I picked up because it is an anthology of mystery tales set in Faerun. Couldn't pass it up.

I lumped these together... because... Holidays I guess? I'm adding Brian Jacques's "Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales" to my Halloween Read Pile. Not sure if I'll be reading "Secret Santa: Agent of X.M.A.S." to my kids this year or what. Time will tell. But they both look like fun.

I look forward to reading "Thank You for Smoking" because I like the movie so much. I hope they have a similar tone/feel to them. And "Which Way Books" are almost more exciting for m to find these days than genuine Choose Your Own Adventure Books. So "The Castle of No Return" was a nice score.

MUPPETS! These two books are some of the best Muppets books I've found in a long while! The color and the action in "Gonzo the Great" is awesome, and the illustrations in "Short Green and Handsome" (a sort of illustrated comic novella... thing) are some of my favorite renditions of the Muppets on paper.

A recent issue of MAD Magazine featuring Adventure Time on the cover came home with me, and yet another new book for the Halloween book shelf: "Tilly Witch". I don't have much more to say about them than MAD + Adventure Time = must have. Don Freeman was the author of the original Corduroy books, which were fun, so hopefully Tilly won't disappoint.

You may remember this 12 inch Spider-Man from his provocative pose above... here he is with my Toy Biz Wolverine for scale. I like this big guy! At first I almost didn't buy him. But he was a buck, and he's HUGE, and he's nicely articulated, so I decided I was stupid to leave him behind.

This bag of cake toppers contained these guys:

Aren't they magnificent? I love that Oscar is giving away a dirty sock as a gift and Cookie Monster is just eating his cookies like WGAF?

But my favorite one by far is this horrifying Bert figurine that makes me think that the zombie apocalypse has hit the Street quite hard.

I picked up this set of swappable build-your-own-dino parts for my kids. They were not as fun to play with as I would have liked them to be, honestly. If you look carefully, you can see a broken brown peg sticking out of the large blue piece (some sort of aquatic dinosaur's body) and the entire time I used these with my boys it felt like other pegs were going to let go. Too bad really.

This was a weird grab-bag. The Goodwill I frequent usually seems to at least clump some sort of like items together in a very general way in their grab bags... but this one wasn't even trying. BUT it was a buck and there was really just one item in there I was after, and I was willing to pay that buck for it.

The main item I bought the bag for was this guy right here. The Joker, not the bunny he won at the carnival.

This is of course the "Dark Knight" version of the Joker... sort of the Heath-Ledger-Lite version they produced for the kiddies. Honestly, I really like this figure's design. I like how it pays homage to the movie character in a simplified, cartoony kind of way. Here he is next to the Joker they released for the 1989 Batman film before they tired making him look more Nicholson-esque in later models. I still favor the one on the right because this was "my" Joker as a kid... but the new one makes a nice addition.

Another nice surprise in the bag was this fella here. This is the Ram Slammer from the 2007 Hot Wheels "Stunt Strikers" McDonald's Happy Meal line. Looking at it at first I assumed it would be some sort of vehicle belonging to the Spider-Man villain, the Rhino. But nope! I still like it quite a bit either way. It's some sort of pseudo-diecast vehicle, so it's got some heft to it for a Mickey-D's Hot Wheel toy.

That's it for tonight kids! I'll be back with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Goodwill Finds: Strangers in Paradise and Well Zombie

UPDATED TO ADD: I just noticed that this post is officially my 400th! I noticed this very shortly after posting my 403rd post which I put on the site 2 days after my 3 year blogoversary! Lots of milestones I've completely missed! 

-Now back to the blog!- 

So... I think I'm actually starting to get caught up with the stuff I purchased in the year 2015! Finally! The year is half over and I think I'm finally here! Yay! Here's a little pile of junk I brought home. Nothing RIDICULOUSLY exciting, but a couple nice grabs. Let's check it out, shall we?

So here's a pic of the whole pile. Time to dig in.

I tore open the grab-bag first. Disappointingly, this was one of those rare occasions where I really should have looked closer, because once I got it home, I found there wasn't really a ton of stuff in this one to interest me.

A handful of interesting items, my favorite probably being the Imaginext crab in the bottom right corner here. We also have what looks to be some sort of Iron Man themed motorcycle, a Sportsmaster Happy Meal toy from the Batman: The Brave and the Bold line, and another Imaginext figure, this one some sort of medieval or caveman shaman or something.

There's this Robin from the Batman LEGO Happy Meal line, and a Toy Story alien (honestly Robin, this alien and that purple crab are probably the only real 'keeps' for me out of this bag... not really a win).

Some fun cassette finds... U2's "Rattle and Hum"is full of some great live performances, and KISS's "Creatures of the Night" I picked up for the cover art alone. I'm always on the lookout for Christmas cassettes with some personal meaning to them, and Chris Van Allsburg's "The Polar Express" read by William Hurt fits the bill NICELY.

A couple of nice Graphic Novel scores in a Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man digest "Spider-Man vs. Sandman and Venom" (maybe released around the time the 3rd Raimi film was out?) AAAND the first collected 'pocket book' of "Strangers in Paradise" by Terry Moore. I've never read SiP before, but I've heard people RAVE about how great it is, so I'm excited to give it a try.

You're going to start seeing a few more young-readers chapter books cropping up on the blog. I won't subject you to absolutely every purchase, but my reasons are twofold: I'm buying chapter books to read to my 6 and 4 year old sons. They REALLY like the Magic Treehouse books, and since I now know they'll sit and listen to a couple of chapters at a time (as long as there are a few illustrations peppered in from time to time) I've gone whole hog. The other reason is I like to track down books I loved as a kid myself. I was an avid reader and as soon as I learned I could read to myself for pleasure I never wanted to stop. Encyclopedia Brown books were a popular series with the kids I went to school with and I want to share these stories with my kids.

There was one final item this time around that I was pretty excited to bring home... and it's this guy right here. This is a Funko POP plush "Well Zombie" from The Walking Dead. Before their "Fabrikations" line Funko was putting out stuffed characters based on their POP designs. This fat fella is cleverly velcroed in the middle so he can be puled apart the same way he was on the TV show (probably one of 3 memorable moments for me from the "Herschel's farm period"). This guy was in a grab-bag with I-don't-even-know-what-else because this is from a while back and he was the only thing I was after.

That's it for tonight kids! I'll be back with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Father's Day Flea Market Finds: GEEKING OUT!!!

Welcome to Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks! This is the blog where I talk about geeky stuff I've picked up secondhand and then wax poetic about nostalgia or the pure love I have for purely ridiculous things. This post will be no different than most, as I have some pretty exciting stuff to talk about. 

And timely as ever, I would like to talk about Fathers' Day... FROM LAST YEAR. Yes that's right folks... I am just finally getting around to blogging some stuff I picked up very nearly a whole year ago. 

For Fathers' Day last year, my wife took me out on a shopping spree. We hit some Goodwills, and a few other places on our way out to a town called Rockland here in Maine. We even stopped off at a Flea Market, which are kind of few and far between here in Maine, and I am sooo glad we did! 

Let's take a look at what I brought home! 

I was really excited to find these Return of the Jedi Burger King glasses in such great shape! The only one I'm missing now is the battle scene between Luke and Darth while the Emperor watches. Love these things! I spent many a summer drinking out of glasses just like these as a kid. I think my most vivid memories are of the Ewok glass. Man I LOVED Ewoks as a kid.

There was also this complete set of The Empire Strikes Back glasses too! I like these ones even more. They. Are. GORGEOUS. I am a Boba Fett fan in theory. I know he doesn't really do much blah-blah-blah whatever. I love the design of his suit and his helmet. I love the design of this glass. And seeing him side by side with Darth Vader makes this one of my absolute prized possessions.

This was a really interesting find. I had never heard of the "Spirits of the Earth" storyline by Charles Vess. I still haven't actually sat down and read this book.. but it is so naggingly familiar to me that I can't help but assume I've read it before, so long ago that I'd all but forgotten about it. Apparently Spider-Man is in Scotland for this tale, and he is battling the Scottish branch of the Hellfire club. I am a fan of Vess's work on books like Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and the bits of the Sandman he did were just stunning... and I know he did "The Cry of the Wendigo," a back-up story in Amazing Spider-Man #277 which I loved, so I expect no less from this book.

This was another exciting find for me as it was a book that I DEFINITELY owned as a kid. This was published as a part of the media blitz surrounding the release of Tim Burton's Batman in 1989. Love this book! It is a semi-detailed history of Batman's first fifty years. Lots of history, lots of pictures, lots of cool details inside. Again, I haven't sat down to re-read this bad boy yet, but I can't wait to!

Of all the things I found at the flea-market, it was this guy that made me the most excited! I know he's filthy, and I know he's not complete... but I LOVE HIM. The AT-AT walker, to me is one of the most iconic Star Wars vehicles of all time. I picked up the AT-AT, the seven Burger King glasses, and the two bucks for 15 bucks total.

It was later that same day that I found these "Star Wars Kids" magazines at Goodwill.

I lucked out because they had the half-price color (the green price tags) so I got them all for .50 cents! I would have usually posted these in a Goodwill post, but felt it appropriate to share them along with all the other Star Wars stuff I found on the same day. (There's my boy Greedo!)

I think I'm going to have to do a more in-depth look at these magazines sometime in the future. They're from a happier time before the the words "Prequel Trilogy" were even a thing.

I also visited a used bookstore while I was out for Father's Dayand thought I'd quickly toss those finds in here as well. It was an eventful day. I mostly found books dealing with some of my favorite newspaper comic characters, collected in book form. There was this, "The Indispensible Calvin and Hobbes" which pretty much finishes off my Calvin and Hobbes collection.

I found the third and final Outland collection, "One Last Little Peak," which also finishes off my Outland collection. (I'm a huge Berkeley Breathed fan)

And I found my first copy of "A Garfield Christmas" which is adapted from the Christmas special of the same name. I later found another copy at Goodwill, but I was SUPER psyched to find this one on this particular day. Next to the Garfield Halloween special, this is one of my very favorite holiday specials of all time.

And finally I found a copy of Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man". I've been looking for this one for quite some time now and I was pretty pleased to find it in paperback for such a cheap price. I've recently become something of a Ray Bradbury nut and this was one of the few books of his that I don't already own. So yay me!

Well that's it kiddos! I'll be back with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough... 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!