Trading Cards: Swimsuits

I'm a bit embarrassed by this post for a couple of reasons.  One, I'm posting cards of girls in swimsuits.  Two, there's just a couple of pictures and I'm throwing this up to finish the trading card scans I had.  (I should have planned this out better.) 

To somewhat explain, in the 90's collectible trading cards were a big thing and there were cards of everything (like these).  These cards are mostly model cards (Portfolio 1993).  There's a cheerleader card and there's that Benchwarmers card in the corner.  I think those were models in a sports setting.  (Bobbie Phillips was on an episode of Stargate SG-1 and starred in a show about NASA astronauts The Cape.  I was a fan of hers.)      

Just to make this more embarrassing, I'll disclose that there were actual porn cards and I did buy a couple of packs.  I don't have those any more.  And just to make myself look dumb, I also had a bunch of art cards by Olivia de Berardinis.  Yes, her.  The Bettie Page artist.  Oh boy, do I wish I'd kept those.  I'd be using those now to draw from.  I can still remember some of those cards.  I don't know what was I thinking when I got rid of them.  

Trading Cards: Basketball

I'm not posting all of my sports cards or any baseball cards (to this point), but I'll post these because they're interesting.  

Somewhere in the 70's when I was a kid, someone bought a random pack of basketball cards for me.  I'd never seen the sport at the time.  Looking back, it's hard to believe who I got in one pack.  There's Rick Barry, Robert Parish, Pete Maravich, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  That's a bunch of Hall of Famers there.  When I showed my card collection to a store owner in the 90's, these were the only cards he thought were valuable.   

I have Dream Team cards.  The 1992 Olympics were the first time they allowed pro players to play (at least for the US).  I think the first two cards were giveaways (McDonalds?).  I bought the others in packs of Olympic cards.  I was trying to get a couple of specific female athletes (and I don't even remember who now).  I bought packs and packs and never got them.  Gosh darn, it!  Another Michael Jordan!   

At the bottom is the only other Olympic card I kept, Oscar de la Hoya.  I thought he was cool.  The other two basketball cards are prospect cards.  I had recently lived in El Paso at the time, so I was happy to keep a card with a UTEP player.  Then there's Latrell Sprewell.  This is the guy I usually blame for why I no longer watch the NBA.  (No, this was long before Lebron James and BLM.)  I do not have the time or inclination to go over that story right now.   

Trading Cards: Comic Ball and Others

I showed my trading card collection to a co-worker a few weeks ago.  It was in three binders.  One of them is a double-sized one.  He was shocked that I kept saying that I just had a few cards.  It's true compared how many I used to have.  

I have a bunch of baseball cards that I collected in the 70's.  I kept most of those.  In the 90's, I started collecting again when the hobby became fashionable.  Unfortunately, I mostly collected non-sports cards.  These weren't really valuable in the end and I ended up getting rid of most of them.  

These first two pages are Comic Ball cards.  Legendary animator Chuck Jones created these and I loved them.  I collected them in packs.  At some point, I had enough that, after a friend gave me a gift certificate to a card shop, I managed to get the rest of them (including a hologram Elmer Fudd as an umpire, which was I think was the most valuable).  At that point, I suddenly didn't care about them and now owed a few hundred of these cards.  I just kept these because they were my favorites.

This page is random.  I got one pack of the Looney Tunes NFL cards.  They weren't by Chuck Jones, but weren't bad.  There's Spider-Man and Rogue.  I had a whole bunch of superhero cards.  Piles. Especially the X-Men.  These were the only two I kept.  Then I got some Star Trek cards.  Good God!  Why?  Lastly, I have some cards that came with my NASCAR diecasts.  (There's a collection I still have and love.)

Comics Review: Crossgen Forge #6

This one I bought at Coas Used Bookstore about a month ago.  After I’d read it, I wasn’t quite sure what my opinion of it was and then I forgot about it.  Conception-wise, I’ve never seen a format like this to compare it to.  Essentially, it’s a collection of Crossgen’s monthly comics.  It’s sort of a sampler of their ongoing titles, but in an ongoing series of trades. 

 

For eight issues at $12, I’d guess it would be a pretty good deal if you were interested in collecting all of the titles. (I don’t know what Crossgen was charging for individual titles at the time.)  Otherwise, I’m sure this would be a big waste of money.  This seems like way too much of a niche product.  It’s basically for collectors really into Crossgen titles.  I’ll go over the individual titles.

 

Chronicles #3  

This title is about the pre-Sigil history of the Crossgen universe.  (What does that mean?  I don’t really know.)  This issues features the How I Met Your Mother story of Meridian, which is the sort of steam-punk-ish fantasy title.  It’s very fanciful in conception.  The main draw here is George Perez’s artwork.  (Just kill me for that pun.  I didn’t even realize I’d done it until I reread the line.)  The story is just the backstory for Meridian.  I don’t know the main story enough to really rate this.

 

Meridian #25 and #26

As I said, this is a fantasy story.  #25 has the climax of the fight between the girl that’s the main character and the main villain.  #26 was the aftermath of the conflict and a new direction for the story.  It’s hard to pick up a story at the end and the next part seemed too long and unnecessary.  Steve McNiven’s artwork is tremendous though.

The Negation #7

This is sort of the science fiction one with sort of superheroes.  It seems to be the linchpin in the Crossgen universe and setting up the big villain.  Unfortunately, this issue was just a pointless fight between two groups of people who should be allies.  The artwork was pretty good.

 

The Path #5

Okay, here’s something I don’t have an easy analogue for.  It involves a Viking in feudal Japan that’s friends with a samurai.  Walt Simonson does the artwork.  While he does a great job, unfortunately most of this issue’s art was a highly stylized Medieval depiction of the Viking’s backstory.

 

Sojourn #11

I’ve read some of this one before.  I have one of the trades.  It’s the traditional fantasy entry.  I’ve drawn a bunch of Greg Land’s artwork.  Here though, some of it is a little rough.  He gets better in later issues.  This is another concluding chapter, but leads easily into the next storyline.  This one is probably my favorite, but again, that was because I was more familiar with it. 

 

Crux #14 and #15

With the new MCU sure-failure The Eternals about to come out, I can see an easy comparison here.  It’s the Eternals/Inhumans, but in a far future setting.  They are already in conflict with The Negation.  The artwork is again good, but the large ensemble cast in these two issues is scattered and on separate story tracks.  It was too confusing for me for my first exposure.

 

In the back was a large promotion for a horror-themed comic, Route 666.  I’d remembered there being more Crossgen titles and there were.  There was an ad for Edge, which collected the other six titles from the company.

 

I’m still not sure what to make of all this.  It’s a bit pricey for a sampler.  It might intrigue a new reader into trying certain titles to their taste.  If all of the titles were more interconnected (given the breath of genres and settings, that would be difficult), this sort of trade would make more sense.  At least, I’ve gotten some good future drawing material from this. 

 

As I’ve said before, I think these comics would have worked pretty well as a Wal-Mart exclusives, rather than the Allegiance comics they’re carrying now.  The great artwork and action-oriented titles would have had a broader appeal.  Timing is everything.  I think there’s a lot of disdain for Crossgen (I don’t know the whole company story and don’t want to), but I think it could have worked in the right venue. 

Comic Review: Marvel-Verse Iron Man

Marvel-Verse Iron Man

After picking up a couple of comics for friends, I got this for myself.  I thought about getting the other Nexus Omnibus Zia had available, but picked this up instead.  Though Zia Comics has a large selection of trade paperbacks, most of them aren’t to my taste.  There’s a lot of adult material like The Boys and Walking Dead there (not “adult” like porn) and not much traditional superhero stuff.   This small Iron Man trade was out of place there and caught my eye.  Though slim and not full comic book-sized, it was at least fairly cheap at $10.

 

The four stories inside featured two stories from before the MCU and two from after.  Surprisingly, Iron Man and Tony Stark are still thought of as separate people in these comics.  Everyone just knows Iron Man as Tony Stark’s bodyguard.  I heard that Robert Downey Jr. saying, “I am Iron Man,” from the end of the first movie was an ad lib, and the producers went with it.  What a monumental decision for the future of the MCU.

Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1 (2007)

Marvel Adventures was Marvel’s sort of kids line.  We’ll say it’s an all-ages appropriate classic comic.  I remember reading their X-Men comic (featuring the original group) in a collection.  I think they were originally featured in a newsstand magazine format (not in a standard comic book format).  I still think that’s a great idea for publishing superhero comics, even if nobody else does.

 

This issue retells Iron Man’s origin.  In the original from the 60’s, what I know of it, Stark was an inventor/industrialist that was captured by the Viet Cong in Vietnam and had to invent the armored suit to fight his way out.  In the movie, he was in Afghanistan.  (Tony’s origin can unfortunately probably always be updated to a current war.)  Here, Iron Man has a more Marvel Comics appropriate origin and is captured by A.I.M., an evil organization of high-tech scientists. 

 

The story here is really kind of rushed, but makes a bit more sense in a comic book sort of way than the other two origins.  It could still be refined a bit more.  A.I.M. would probably initially assume Stark would be a natural ally.  Only when he resisted would they damage his heart and force him to work for him.  Whatever. 

What I really wonder though.  Scientist Supreme is nice, but where’s MODOK!  It’s just not A.I.M. without the big head.       

Iron Man #234 (1988)

Yeah, you can tell this one is straight from the 80’s.  In spite of the violet robe and mop of  Jerry curl hair, Tony is still quite the ladies man. 

His pilot, James Rhodes, is also quite the playa.

You can also experience painful dated references.

The story is a typical one-shot team up between Iron Man and Spider-Man.  It’s okay.  It would be better enjoyed with some more issues from the era, since there’s obviously continuing storylines going on.   

 

Iron Man #1 (1998)

Kurt Busiek is the author of note for this one.  I’m not really familiar with his work, but I’ve heard of him.  (The other writers in this trade aren’t as well-known.  I should also mention that the artwork is generally good, but not outstanding.  The Marvel Adventures artwork is a bit more kid-ish.)  Boy is Kurt wordy.  I was getting a real frustrated novelist vibe from the piles of captions. 

 

That said, the story was really good.  I think this one came about after the Heroes Return storyline.  Iron Man’s origin is quickly retold, though it doesn’t quite match any of the others.  This story reset the character and set up future conflicts.  This was exactly what you’d want for a relaunch.  I kind of want to read more of Busiek’s run now.  It’s just fun comics.  I wonder if the look of Tony Stark in this influenced his look in the movies? 

   

Marvel Adventures Iron Man #7 (2007)

Iron Man versus Doctor Doom.  I’m all over it.  The Fantastic Four may be Doom’s traditional enemy, but shellhead is his natural enemy.  Mom gave me the above classic comic a long time ago when I was home sick as a kid once.  I’ve always kind of cherished it.  It’s a great comic, except it ends on a cliffhanger and I have no idea how the story concludes. 

 

In any case, Iron Man is off on a rescue mission to Latveria.  He realizes he’s overmatched on Doom’s home turf and has to sneak his way in with his best tech.  It’s another fun story.   

Overall, even with the small size and odd collection of stories, this was great for the price.  Like the Nexus Omnibus, the shrunken size didn’t hurt the artwork and allowed for an affordable color volume.  I wouldn’t mind seeing longer, continuous runs of titles in a similar format.  In any case, this works as an introductory volume to the character.  It’s probably meant as a gift for a kid that likes the Iron Man movies. 

 

However, I must say this statue that greeted me at the door Zia Comics was easily the most desired item in the store for me.  It’s Applejack from My Little Pony.  I have no familiarly with this material, but I know cute when I see it.  If only I had somewhere to display this where I live.  Also, it’s $109.     

And I have one more trade to ***review next.***

Comics Review: Joan Jett and Wolverine

That’s not the oddest comic book pairing.  I could see that team up. 

 

 

Joan Jett and the Runaways

It’s another Tidal Wave comic.  I’ve reviewed Alex Rodriguez, Elvis, and Juliet from them before.  This is about the same level of quality of art and writing.  I’d gone to work early after getting a haircut (which didn’t go well) and decided to visit Zia Comics down the street before clocking in.  I’m not sure why a generous impulse got into me (especially after my nice tip after the lousy haircut), but I thought I’d get a couple of comics for my co-workers.

 

I knew that Mike was a Joan Jett fan though I don’t know why.  In any case, I saw this on the Tidal Wave spinner rack at the store and thought he might like it.  In truth, I’ve bought comics for him before, including a Marvel Godzilla trade which is worth money now, and I don’t think he’s thought much of any of them.  (Sheesh, I even got him a DVD with all of the Star Trek comics produced by various companies up to that point and he still wasn’t impressed.  If you can find a copy of that it’s pretty awesome by the way.) 

 

Mike often relates a story about his mother throwing out all of his valuable comic books.  I’ve never figured out if it’s a real story or not.  It might have embittered him towards comics in general.     

Anyway, this comics a biography of Jett and the all-female Runaways and then with her fronting the Pretenders with male members.  (Male Members?  Could I have phrased that better?)  I can’t be more specific here since I only skim-read it once after giving it to Mike.

I did not know that Lita Ford was in the band with Joan.  I’d forgotten all about her.  It’s been a while.

I love this page here.

 

 

True Believers Wolverine

My co-worker Taylor has been sick lately.  (I have my suspicions as to why.  I can’t say anything for certain, but he fits a profile of others who have had a couple of injections lately.)  I thought I’d get him something too.  I know he’s a comic book fan and a Wolverine fan.    

I actually had this comic when it originally came out as Marvel Comics Presents #1.  It was an anthology comic and I don’t remember what other characters were in it (Cloak and Dagger?).  It may have been a weekly comic, so there was no way I was going to be able to afford to collect it past the first issue.  I wasn’t a Wolverine fan in any case; I was just collecting first issues like every other idiot. 

 

By the way, notice the difference between the two covers?  I noticed immediately, but had to look up an actual image to be sure.  Logan is missing his cigar in the new cover.       

 

It’s not a worthwhile edit on the cover, since everyone is smoking in the issue.  This reprint has Wolverine’s first three appearances in MCP.  It doesn’t have the complete story in it.  It’s just a tease.  Contents-wise, it’s Logan acting tough and getting into trouble in a really seedy environment.  If you like Wolverine, this is for you. 

Taylor didn’t come into work the day I brought it in.  I forgot to give it to Taylor the next time I saw him at work, because I was asking him about all of his medical problems.  He wasn’t doing well.  Then he worked from home the rest of the week.  Damnit!  Don’t die before I give you this!  Finally, I was able to give it to him last week.  He seemed touched.    

I got some more comics on this run that I'll review ***next.***

Midsummer Sports Report 2021 Part 6

Part 5

7-5-21

I hadn’t seen dad this weekend and asked if he wanted lunch on Monday.  He’d also mentioned he’d bought an apple pie and some ice cream for the weekend and wanted to share it.  When I was watching NASCAR with Ron on Sunday there was a McDonald’s commercial showcasing their Big Mac.  “I haven’t had a Big Mac in a while.  That looks pretty good,” said Ron.  “Yeah, that burger in the commercial is about twice the size of the real thing.  You know that, right?”  Apparently, I was immune to this commercial.  My dad saw the commercial, too.  He was interested in getting one.  I attempted to talk him out of it, when he remembered that he’d seen another commercial for a What-a-burger Patty Melt.  He thankfully picked that instead. 

 

We went with dad’s friend, Joe, and ate there.  I’d told dad there were onions on the Patty Melt, but he apparently wasn’t listening.  He ate 2/3 and tossed the rest.  He didn’t like the onions.  Joe thought we were at McDonalds and ordered an extra patty for his.  This created a monster burger, which he could only finish half of.  I had a regular burger.  It was fine, but more food than I really needed after the last two day’s meals.  It didn’t entirely sit well later.  I think I spent over $75 on fast food over the weekend.  All I got was two bellyaches and dad telling me that I looked thin. 

 

I did go back to dad’s apartment for the apple pie and ice cream.  As dad had immediately turned on the news on TV, I choked it down as quickly possible and left.  It was hard to enjoy pie with propaganda being shoved down your throat with it.  In spite of my stuffed stomach, I went to the mall to find the excellent popcorn vendor that had appeared there last time I was there.  She was gone.  Serves me right, I guess.  Also gone was one of the high end sports shoe stores and most of the other stores were having clearance sales.  A new restaurant is set to open in the old, beloved Chick-fil-a slot.  Doesn’t matter what it is; it won’t be as good.     

 

Back at home, I was sort of watching Comet’s X-Files marathon featuring A.D. Skinner.  I kind of questioned the theme, but watching some of the episodes, yeah, he’s had some good moments.  Unfortunately, they were repeating some episodes that they’d played the last time they did an X-Files marathon.  The weather came heavily into play for tonight’s sports.  For starters, the Chihuahuas game in Albuquerque was delayed a half hour for rain in the area.  I did start listening to it when the game came, though I wasn’t hugely paying attention to it.    

     

For sports on TV, we had the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  I haven’t been following hockey this season.  This series is pretty much over with the Tampa Bay Lightning up 3-0 on the Montreal Canadiens.  I was rooting for the Lightning basically because I wanted to see somebody win a championship tonight.  I questioned if I’d be able to watch any further games of the series. 

 

My reception was okay for the most of the game.  In the first period, in spite of like an 11-1 shots on goal advantage by Tampa Bay, the Canadiens took a 1-0 lead.  Tampa Bay got the equalizer late in period two.  Six men were sent to the penalty box for fighting before they were half way through period three. 

 

Okay at this point, everything happened at the same time.  While it didn’t storm here or even rain, the weather elsewhere started effecting my reception.  KROD with the Chihuahuas powered down after dark and lightning in the area was heavily interfering with listening.  The TV reception on the hockey station started dropping to the point where I couldn’t continuously watch, so I flipped over to watch more of the X-Files marathon.  I just checked back with the game during commercials.

First on the X-Files, the episode started with Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) having sex with a blonde woman.  She looked familiar.  I double checked during the credits, but I was pretty sure who it was, and it was Amanda Tapping.  This puts a whole new context to Stargate SG-1 scenes between Colonel Steven Caldwell and Colonel Sam Carter.  At the hockey game, Montreal scored to make it 2-1, but Tampa Bay tied it a couple of minutes later.  There were fans in the arena at Tampa Bay watching the game, and there were Montreal fans outside their arena watching.  (They were at maybe half capacity inside.)   

 

However, what was going on in Albuquerque with the baseball game was amazing.  Because of the poor reception, I could barely make out what was going on, but the announcer started getting really agitated.  (Tim Hagerty has been off for this series.  I haven’t been able to get the fill-in’s name.)  It was the top of the fifth and the Isotopes were up 3-0. 

 

During the inning, there was lightning over field.  Normally, the umpires would stop the game immediately.  They didn’t.  The Chihuahuas coaches interceded and wanted an explanation.  The next batter stayed in the dugout.  The umpire called him out for not getting to the batter’s box and told them to play on.  The Chihuahuas loaded the bases and the pitcher, of all people, hit a bases-clearing double to tie the score.  Rain was falling by this point.  Finally, there was another lightning strike.  The announcer called it, “The biggest lightning strike I’ve seen in my life.”  The field was immediately cleared. 

 

After a delay, the game was suspended 3-3.  The Isotopes would win the next day, 14-3.  (The Chihuahuas should have just lost it yesterday.  And the regularly scheduled game for today had to be stopped before it became official, so there’s another suspended game.)  There had already been one rain-shortened game this series.  I think the umps were trying to get through the half inning to make the game official and call it.  Instead, they ended up with a tie game and having to play it out tomorrow.  Ironically, that half hour they waited to start might have allowed them enough time to make it official.  

 

Meanwhile in hockey, with a minute left in regulation, a Lightning player took a stick to the face and bled all over the ice.  Tampa Bay had a five minute power play that extended into the overtime.  They couldn’t convert and Montreal won 3-2.  Because of the reception, I didn’t see the game winner live or even on replay.

 

During all of the excitement, I totally forgot all about tonight’s Rangers game that I could have listened to on the radio.  I probably would have only gotten to hear a couple of innings and with heavy static from the lightning, but I was unhappy about forgetting.  Oh, well.  That’s how this Fourth of July weekend ends.