2 in 1 Showcase Episode 161: Put This Comic on the Screen

More and more comic books are making it to the screen these days, both big and little, but no matter how many we see there are still lots of others that haven’t quite broken through. This week, the guys discuss some of the comics they haven’t quite broken through the Hollywood barrier yet. The guys bat around several ideas and share a few suggestions from you. In the picks this week, Mike was into Green Arrow #30, Kenny picks Flash: Rebirth #6 and Blake gives it up for Tiny Titans #25. Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

Episode 161: Put This Comic on the Screen
Inside This Episode:

Everything But Imaginary #334: Ghosts of Christmas Comics 2009

As has become my tradition, with the last Everything But Imaginary before Christmas, I’m running down all the Christmas comics I could get my hands on this year… and this year friends, there are a lot of them! Take a look!

Inside This Column:

What I’m Reading: R.E.B.E.L.S. #11

It’s that time again, four more Blackest Night books and a busy week. All of these are the second parts two-parters that began last month with the Lantern ring promotion, but as I’m pretty much picking all the Blackest Night books up anyway, it’s time for more reviewin’.

In R.E.B.E.L.S. #10, Stealth was killed and turned into a Black Lantern to assault her former lover, Vril Dox, who managed to get his hands on a Sinestro Corps ring from a fallen member who died fighting the Black Lantern version of Harbinger. Adam Strange and Captain Comet join the fray this month, along with Dox’s team and a few stray Sinestros, to try to drive out the Black Lanterns.

The story works fine from a strictly technical standpoint. Dox is shown as the cold, calculating person he is, willing to do unthinkable things to meet his goals. That can make for an interesting story, but Dox himself doesn’t really feel compelling as a protagonist to me. He’s the kind of character you love to hate, but there’s not really anyone to root for in this book. The rest of the regular cast is somewhat stale, bland. The ongoing Starro plotline is interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me coming back now that the Blackest Night chapters are over. This is one of those books I really want to like, mostly because I’ve been a big fan of a lot of Tony Bedard‘s work in the past, but it’s just not doing it for me.

Rating: 6/10

What I’m Reading: R.E.B.E.L.S. #10

Lest we forget that there are superpowered beings in the DC Universe that don’t live on Earth or Oa, Tony Bedard and Andy Clark bring us R.E.B.E.L.S. #10. While most of the Blackest Night tie-ins have begun with a dead friend, love, or enemy of the titular hero rising from the grave, this issue actually starts with someone who is alive, who we watch get murdered, and who rises to become a Black Lantern to plague Vril Dox.

Dox and his new robotic R.E.B.E.L.S. are taken off-guard by the assault of their assigned Black Lantern, and get into even more trouble when they encounter a back of Sinestro Corps members fleeing another Black Lantern. The collision of the two makes for a lot of trouble for the team, but gives Dox something he’s been curious about for some time.

Not being a regular reader of this series, I feel like a lot of the nuances were lost on me. Dox isn’t really a very compelling protagonist, and the subplot about his son takes an interesting turn this issue, but doesn’t do enough to hold my attention. I’m also kind of perplexed about the identity of one of the Black Lanterns. The character pursuing the Sinestros has no logical tie to them. If the idea of the Black Lanterns is to send them after someone with whom they shared an emotional link, this person doesn’t really make any sense.

The final page promises an interesting part two, at least, especially if what happens in the end of this issue should turn out to be a permanent change to the character in question, but I kind of doubt that will happen. And it was nice to see some of the other DC Space Heroes (such as Adam Strange and Captain Comet) brought into the fray. But those elements aren’t quite enough. I’ve really enjoyed a lot of Tony Bedard‘s work, but this issue sort of left me flat.

Rating: 6/10

DC Infinite Heroes II-And Blake’s Classroom

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned my fondness for the new line of DC Universe Infinite Heroes action figures. This line of 3 & 3/4-inch action figures (the same scale as the G.I. Joe and Star Wars toys folks my age grew up with) kicked off with a pretty large set of characters, with over 50 planned for release in the first year of the line. The advantage of this line is that the smaller scale makes the toys cheaper and easier to store, and the lower price point makes it both feasible and desirable to make a lot more characters than you would with the standard 6-inch line. Since I made that post, it’s become one of the most-viewed articles here at the realms — clearly there are a lot of toy fans here at the ‘Realms — so I thought I’d periodically update you on the expansion of the collection, plus some other toys I happen to collect.

From Left: Adam Strange, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Batman (The Dark Knight), Shazam! (Captain Marvel) and the Flash

First up, the hero toys I’ve assembled so far. Adam Strange and Guy Gardner were in the first article, but since then I picked up the Flash and Shazam. The Batman figure is actually from one of the two-packs in the same scale as the Infinite Heroes, but branded as part of The Dark Knight collection. Ardent readers will recall I was hoping to find the two-pack with Batman and the Joker? Was I successful?

From Left: Professor Zoom (the Reverse Flash), the Scarecrow, Mirror Master and Weather Wizard

In a word… no. The Batman came from a two-pack with the Scarecrow, pictured here along with Professor Zoom, Mirror Master and Weather Wizard (the latter two having come in the three-pack with the Flash). I’m still trying to hunt down the singles of Black Adam, Black Hand and the Atom, the three-packs of Superman, Supergirl and Wonder Woman; Starfire, Raven and Boomerang; and Commissioner Gordon and two GCPD SWAT team members (and I could KICK myself for not picking that up the first time I saw it, before I started getting these toys). As for the Green Lantern six-pack, that (I have learned) is a “Toys R Us Exclusive,” except nobody apparently informed the only Toys R Us in the immediate area, because they don’t have squat. I checked one day. So the quest continues!

Like I said, though, the Infinite Heroes are just my newest mini-toy quest. The Mini-Mates have been favorites of mine for some time now — it’s so easy to get a big assortment of ‘em and mix them up. Take these guys, for instance, what I like to think of as my “Armor Wars” collection:

From Left: Steel, "Silver Centurion" Iron Man, STRIPE, Classic Iron Man, Original Iron Man, Dr. Doom, Zombie Iron Man and (peeking in from the back) Lex Luthor

Assorted armored heroes and villains from both the Marvel and DC Universes. Um… Iron Man seems to be in sort of a disco mood there. Don’t quite know what I was thinking when I posed him. Or how about these?

The original and modern Red Tornados pose with Free Comic Book Day Man!

She-Hulk pets Dynomutt, Blue Falcon is jealous

Because sometimes, if it’s a slow afternoon, I look for amusing ways to mix-and-match different continuities, that’s why.

And then, of course, there’s my tour de force:

The Avengers versus the ZOMBIE Avengers!

Last Halloween, I posted a massive photo pseudo-comic featuring the Marvel Zombies Mini-Mates winding up fighting the “regular” versions of themselves. I thought it was pretty funny at the time. Y’know what? Still do.

Except for the Infinite Heroes pictures, I didn’t have to take any of these photos recently, they were just waiting on my computer for just such an occasion. You know. An occasion like this one, where I realize just how much free time I have on my hands when school isn’t in session.

Blake’s Classroom is open for business!

Speaking of school, the freshmen came back today, so I met my students for the first time. A few people (defined as “Erin”) have openly opined about just what my classroom is like, so before the kids entered and turned my world upside-down, I took a few snapshots of the joint.

The Head of the Class!

The Back of the Class!

The... um... SIDE of the Class!

And finally, the little mini-library I asked you guys to help suggest contributions to:

Blake's Classroom Library

Well, gang? Is if everything you hoped it would be?

DC Universe Infinite Heroes

Adam Strange, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, and Professor Zoom, aka Reverse Flash

As you well know, my geekdom does not stop at the last page of a comic book or the corners of a television screen. Collectibles are highly appealing to me as well — toys, action figures, sculptures… one of the best birthday presents of all time came to me last year when Erin gave me the Snow White & Bigby Wolf statue from DC Direct’s Fables line. Statues are a rarity for me, though, since you need a place to put ‘em, and I don’t have many. The same goes for the larger action figure lines, which tend to put figures in the 6-inch range and are really too expensive.

So over the past few years, I’ve been drawn more to mini-figures, like the Mini-Mates. These blocky, almost Lego-like figures are really cool, using the same basic scale and design for dozens of properties, including both DC and Marvel heroes, TV shows and movies. What other toy line gives you scale-appropriate renditions of Superman, Captain America, ZOMBIE Captain America, Marty McFly, Jack Bauer, Frodo a Cylon, and Mr. Pink? It’s awesome.

But recently, Mattel launched a new line of DC Universe toys that has stolen my interest. DC Universe Infinite Heroes is a line that promises to launch over 50 characters in the first year, cast in a 3.75-inch scale, similar to the G.I. Joe and Star Wars toys folks my age grew up with. I picked up three of the figures yesterday, Adam Strange, Guy Gardner, and Professor Zoom. (The quarter behind Guy is there to give you an idea of scale.) While not as wildly articulated or detailed as some of the larger figures (these three, in fact, all seem to be based on the same body mold with things like helmets, belts and Guy’s vest added on to it), but their small size makes them ideal for someone like myself who wants to assemble a lot of figures without breaking the bank. What’s more, the fact that there can be so many figures in the line allows Mattel to put out a lot of characters who may not otherwise have made the cut. Would you have expected to see an Adam Strange figure on the shelf otherwise?

The first wave of figures is out now, and in addition to the three figures I’ve got there, it also includes singles of the Atom, the original Captain Marvel (marketed, as always, as “Shazam”!) and the villains Black Adam and Black Hand. There are also several three-packs, including a collection of the Flash and his enemies Mirror Master and Weather Wizard, Commissioner Gordon and two Gotham City SWAT team members, a pack with Superman, Supergirl and Wonder Girl, and a pack with Starfire, Raven, and Captain Boomerang. Finally, there’s a Green Lantern-based six-pack that includes Guy Gardner (I don’t know if it’s the same Guy as the single figure) “Green Power Glow” Hal Jordan, John Stewart, a Manhunter robot, a battle-damaged Manhunter robot, and one of the vile Weaponers of Qward. Needless to say, I want them all.

There’s also a line of figures (also by Mattel) in the same scale based on a little movie called The Dark Knight. These include a Bruce Wayne with Batman cowl and two-packs of Batman and the Scarecrow, Batman and one of the Joker’s henchmen and, the hardest one to find, Batman and the Joker. Each of these four Batman figures is slightly different, and the only one that actually uses the design of the movie costume is the Joker two-pack, which flew off the shelves along with everything else featuring Heath Ledger’s likeness. If anyone happens to stumble across one of these, let me know. I’ve got my fingers crossed, because there’s supposed to be a second push of Dark Knight toys now that the movie is out, including lots of new stuff. I’m guessing the reason they actually held back some toys until after the release of the film is because they intend to put out a figure of Harvey Dent, and they didn’t want to spoil the movie’s ending. (Even though for most hardcore comic fans, what happens to Harvey isn’t too big a surprise.)

So anyway, I’ve found yet another obsession. See you in the toy aisle.

August 8 Update:

My Infinite Heroes army has expanded. Click here: DC Infinite Heroes II!