Bootleg, Not a Bootleg?

I got this baby at a con in 1994 from one of the tables selling figures.

In the small print on the cape, it says, "(copyright symbol) D. C. COMICS 1992 COMICS SPAIN" but I have doubts about how legit it is. Do they write DC as D. C. in Spain, with periods and a space? Well, perhaps they do. But this is certainly not the most exquisitely sculpted figure, as a close-up reveals perhaps some bad facial surgery in Superman's past.


One idiosyncracy is the symbol on the back of the cape. Though I'm fairly certain even comic colourists have made the mistake of putting red in it when it should be all yellow.

Another interesting feature is his gigantic feet, which I must admit do help him balance.

Just for comparison, here's the Crisis Bizarro figure, who actually looks handsomer than this Superman. I just somehow feel the Thing of Steel would like that. Or hate that.

And just for fun, and so you can get a sense of the size of Spanish Possible Bootleg Supes, here he is next to a well-known small wind-up robot. I like how the slats on my JVC boombox make it sorta look like they're on the Death Star. Well, they do to me.

I actually like this figure. I guess I have to say it's the pose, that's some powerful-looking stuff, and he looks all right on a shelf, even if he has a face only Lara and Ma Kent could love.

Some of My Weirder Superman Stuff Pt. 2

This doesn't come with the building back drop. It does come with an iron-on Superman symbol, and as far as I'm concerned history ended with invention of iron-on technology. There's really no way to improve on that.

A Probably Bootleg Superman Shirt

I like to show you some of the stuff in my collection, not in the interest of, "Hey everybody, look at the stuff I've got!" but because I rarely encounter people in real life who appreciate some of the things, so I figure who but comic blog readers can I share it with? Otherwise it's just me which seems like kind of a waste.

Anyway, I am proud of this beauty, which I bought when I was sixteen which means the shirt is now legal to drink in most states. I got it at a store called Records on Wheels in the unfortunately-named city of Regina. It jumped out at me when I was just beginning to admit my lingering love of Superman to myself and everyone around me. I'd gone through a bit of a phase of Superman denial for approximately ages 12-15, when suddenly X-Men was the taste du jour and all else pretty much was considered too far fetched, or something. Not that I really stopped liking Supes. My sister and I watched the Reeve movies about every weekend, it's just that I didn't start getting public about liking Superman until around this time, a phase which has lasted right until the present day.

I guess I chose to begin the era of Superman glasnost by buying an undoubtedly unlicenced shirt, but I definitely thought and still think it's pretty groovy-looking. Over the years it's gotten pretty worn and delicate, so if I wore it around I'd have to be wary of random muscle flexes and stray breezes, but hopefully I'll find some good permanent way to display it.

While the graphic, at first glance, might seem to be Kal contemplating the explosion of Krypton, perhaps in memory, a closer look reveals the continents of the planet Earth, and so this is more like some jaded punk rock thing about how there is no hope, or something. I dunno. I like it cuz it has Superman on it, what can I tell ya?

I apologize for the sporadic post schedule this past week but I've had to put in extra hours at my day job. Mind you, I've also managed to squeeze in watching a lot of Brave and the Bold episodes, having purchased the DVD of Season One, Part One - and oh I hope I do not get burned by not finding a part two and instead having to purchase the entire season if I want to watch the rest. Though I guess it would serve me right for buying bootleg shirts. I do rationalize the occasional bootleg purchase with my certainty of having put thousands of dollars in DC coffers over the years, but who am I kidding? The guilt's killing me.

By the way a school chum once told me that there was a version of this shirt where Supes is saying "Oh $#it". Except with the actual word, but this was a guy who had a tendency to be full of same. Anyway I prefer this one.

My Fantastic Four #110 "Variant"

...and speaking of FF, a while back I went and traded some of my reject comics in to help fill some gaps in collections I'm sticking with. I decided a while back that I was going to start my collection of Fantastic Four where Essentials #5 leaves off, at #110, and fill my collection of originals up to about #400 or so (I collected from the late 200's up as they were coming out). Trouble is, as I was trading I got mixed up and took #110 thinking I had to start there, and the one I took was the one pictured above. Everyone's face looks weird, but I actually thought that was because the witchy woman Agatha Harkness was working some of her magic. Remember the phrase "eldritch glow" that was always in scary comics? That's what I thought was responsible, but after looking on cover browser, I realized the colours of that issue are actually supposed to be natural. Looking into just what it was I had, it is apparently an "initial" print where the colour plates were mixed up, that somehow got released to the unwashed masses. So I'm kinda glad I got mixed up and took this issue, it's neat-looking.

Another FF by-the-by: Did anyone else ever find Franklin Richards scary when his eyes glowed? That just kind of freaked me out as a kid.

An Update on the Collection Room

Well, some progress made since the last time I posted a pic of my collection room. In the mirror you can see my other Showcases - Oh how I love those, so addictive.

Spidey's Sick Day/Snow Day - The Amazing Spider-man #277

I've been sick the past couple of days and woke up today after a night of fever remembering this story from the mid-eighties, which was during the high point of my Spider-man fandom. Right away it will be noticed this is during the black suit era, not the suit that was Venom but the handmade version that the Black Cat whipped up for him because she preferred it to the classic, more colorful Mexican wrestler version. I actually feel the same way, even though I'm usually a rabid traditionalist when it comes to costumes.

This particular story, "Cry of the Wendigo" by Charles Vess (story and art), was not the first story in the issue but a backup feature. It was certainly the better part, as the first part was just a tie in to the Daredevil "Born Again" storyline that would be Frank Miller's swansong work on the character who originally catapulted him to well-knownness. I think however it's possible that the Vess thing was meant to be the entire issue but ran too short so they had to whip up the lead-in, but that's just a guess.

So in the superior back-up story, we are first treated to the eye-grabbing splash page shown above, as Spider-man appears to be inexplicably lost in a blizzard. But after a series of panels where he seems to freeze to death, it is revealed...

...that it was all a dream.

Feeling restless, Parker's not about to let a little thing like a blizzard stop him from swinging around the city, I know I sure wouldn't - though of course I'm Canadian.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city it is revealed that the Canadian ambassador and his family have arrived in town. I actually only realized, rereading it today, that it was supposed to be the ambassador from Canada. Well, what did I know when I was 12? They don't name my home and native land, but they refer to having journeyed down to New York and brought the weather with them. Trivia: The current Canadian ambassador to the U.S. is Gary Doer, who used to be the premier, kind of like governor, of my province, Manitoba.

It turns out to be fortunate Spidey has left his cozy bed, as there are nogoodniks about who promptly kidnap the ambassador's little daughter. Spidey chases their van and grabs the girl, but then he is on the run when...


So there is the inspiration for the title, and the other clue of it being the Canadian ambassador. Spidey meanwhile is starting to realize that he's ill and should be in bed. A cold or flu is hampering his strength and other powers considerably. However, when the baddies show up again, Spidey proves he is worthy to be called hero...

After some dazzling Spidey acrobatics and various kicks to the face, he carries the girl to safety but tells the now contained bad guys he will have to send the police after them. One is about to shoot Spider-man in the back - bearing in mind the cold and blizzard are hampering the old Spider-sense - when a sudden blast of snow, led by what appear to be some icy claws, descends on the villain.

After getting the girl back to her parents Peter wisely chooses to head for bed, leaving kidnappings and so forth to New York's many other superheroes.

I'm glad I remembered this. It's a simple but great story. It's nice to see a superhero take on regular villains and I am glad nothing terrible happens, and at the same time, with the dream and Wendigo (does it really exist? - we are left to ponder) it has sort of a horror feel. I sometimes think the horror aspect of Spidey could be played up more - I mean in a lot of ways, he's much like a fifties sci-fi movie monster (an influence seen in several Marvel characters) only his spider-ness doesn't manifest visibly.

That was an era when I was really into Spider-man, and now that I've been able to sample several different eras of Spidey, I still personally prefer it. He was somewhat less angst-ridden and more heroic than in some earlier versions. Issues during this time, usually written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Ron Frenz, often had to do with Spider-man feeling discouraged by overwhelming odds but having to pull himself together, which probably helped bolster my own spirits during my early adolescence.

What is YOUR Desert Island Comic/Collection/Trade Paperback?

If I ever, for some reason, had to make the sad choice of only having one comic book, collection or trade paperback with me for the rest of my life - this would certainly be a top candidate. It's a great sampler of DC's team-ups and group adventures since just before the Silver Age to the eighties. It starts off with "The Terrible Trio", a story that teams the most famous characters, Superman, Batman and Robin against three big baddies. Other highlights for me include a two part Green Arrow (pre-goatee)/Aquaman adventure from Adventure Comics #267 with art from Ramona Fradon; a super-groovy Atom/Flash team-up from Bob Haney and Alex Toth; Adam Strange and Hawkman together in "Planets in Peril", which possibly began the Rann/Thanagar relationship still being explored today. It's nice to have the first pairing of teen heroes that would become the prototype for the Teen Titans, from Brave and the Bold #54. There's an odd but interesting story about how Tomar Re, the birdheaded Green Lantern, suffers guilt because Krypton was in his space sector, and wonders if he could have done more to prevent its destruction. There are also some indispensable team-up stories like "The Flash of Two Worlds", without which it is difficult to imagine comic history, and the first teaming of the Justice League and the Justice Society. There is also the first Dennis O'Neal/Neal Adams Green Lantern Green Arrow story, the one that kicked it all off. I'm not a huge fan of the Hard Traveling Heroes era but I acknowledge it has a place in comic history. As the volume goes on, it gets to a couple teamings that are interesting though not particularly hard hitting - Batman and the Creeper, and Superman and Swamp Thing, the latter by Alan Moore, whose work I usually don't like. I find the story here to be okay but nothing special other than the opening shot of a stubbly, addled-looking Superman driving a car.

On top of it being a great sampler in terms of characters, many of the great writers and artists are represented. Bob Haney, Gardner Fox, Bruno Premiani, Alex Toth, Ramona Fradon and Mike Sekowsky, to name several. Here's a look at the back cover of my copy, illustration by Carmine Infantino and Bob Smith - with a nice array of characters.

My Favourite Thing I've Gotten Online So Far

I have the Crisis on Infinite Earths Batman in the picture for scale, what I'm really talking about today is the Secret Origins DC Mini Comics. These were originally sold in little plastic bags with Leaf Tart and Tangy candies in the mid eighties. I believe I got every one at the time except for the Superman one, which means I had Hawkman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and the Justice League of America. Despite my love of Superman he may have been low on my list of priorities because I was already abundantly familiar with his origin but in the dark about the others, even Batman, as the Batman I grew up with was mostly the Adam West or Super Friends version who didn't like to dwell on the past much. It actually never even occurred to me that he needed a motivation to be Batman, aside from its own innate lure. What kid wouldn't want to be Batman just for its own sake?

So it was from these tiny comics, two panels a page, 16 pages each, that I got my crash course in DC history. Unfortunately, my own copies vanished at some point, so I was left to wander the earth - or my yard at least- alone, forlorn...until I found them up for auction online. Well, it was six of them - in fact the ones I'd previously owned minus Justice League. I was the top and only bidder, so for a buck I took 'em home, which actually amounts to less than I originally paid; though of course they didn't come with any candy this time. Since the older I get, the more I become susceptible to completist fever, I may have to track down the remaining two at some point. But I'm darn happy to have these, and as a collector I find it's all the bargains I get that help justify the occasional insane splurge.

The Collection Room So Far

As a collector I sometimes to like to see where and how other collectors store their stuff, so here goes with my stuff, but this is a work in progress. I intend for this to be sort of a "before" picture, but it might be a while until the "after" happens. I had to move recently and previously did not have one lone room in which to store my stuff, so this is a bit of a novelty for me. I do have about six more boxes that can't be seen, stored elsewhere for the nonce. It's not the hugest collection, but it gets me by.

You can see I'm not finished yet because obviously I don't intend my Super Friends lunch box to be hiding behind a stack of Marvel Essentials forever. Over on the right, on the floor there is stuff I'm planning to get rid of due to it being doubles, or just stuff I'm not much interested in anymore. And that is indeed a Britney Spears Slurpee cup over on the dresser that I use for putting various things in. And you can also see a couple portable drawers full of my cassettes from the eighties. Rock on! Somewhere in there is a tape player.

The most important thing relating to the room might be this object that I whipped up, MacGyver-like.

The door to the room doesn't click shut, allowing the feline delinquent who wanders my premises, searching for cheap thrills, carte blanche to go in and sharpen her claws on various items with impunity. Just as it appears, I made this thing out of three hair elastics and a hook from a picture frame. I'm pretty darn proud of it, I just loop the elastics around the door knob and hook the hook onto the, um, metal thing that the clicky thing should click into ideally. It works quite well! It's strong enough the door doesn't budge if she tries it, so there's no danger to her. Why do so many of us collectors live with kitties, the natural enemies of delicate stuff? Probably because they're not judgemental about our lifestyles, as long as the vittles keep a-pouring.

I Suppose This is Comic Related...

...since there have been Coneheads and Ghostbusters comics based on the movies of Mr. Dan Aykroyd. I was fortunate enough to meet him last Saturday at an event promoting his line of wine and other spirits. I don't drink but bought a bottle of wine as a keepsake and he was nice enough to shake my hand and sign my Blues Brothers poster as himself and as Elwood. Neat!

A Use for Old Cigar Boxes

Yes, my DC Digests, plus a couple Marvels on the right there, fit perfectly into this old Marsh Wheeling cigar box. I've only smoked a couple cigars in my life, but I do feel I'm getting to the age now where I could smoke a cigar and not look too silly, I mean any sillier than anyone smoking in this day and age. I could also wear a trenchcoat now and not look like a putz, so yes, I could be Columbo if I wanted. But I digress. I love those DC Digests from the late seventies and early eighties. There was a time where it was the easiest way to read classic stories from the Silver and even Golden Age. I've got a bunch of "theme" Superman ones (vs. aliens, Kryptonite, Lex Luthor, etc.) Plus Metal Men, Supergirl, and a few others. They made a bunch. I pick 'em up when I see 'em. Some day I may need a bigger cigar box. The one on the far left is an Archie's Mad House, I love the crazy stories they had in those. On the far right are Fantastic Four, with a reprint of the first six issues of their title, and the Hulk, with six issues of his original series, which I really like and from where Peter David derived the "Grey Hulk" for his run, the smarter, nastier version of the Hulk, though in that digest he's coloured green in all issues. I used to have a Captain America digest, but I think some nefarious villain scooped it. I'm sorry about that because I like early Jack Kirby Cap stories from the Silver Age, they had that tragic quality of his being a man out of his time. They also had some of his two fisted Golden Age tales as well, if I recall.

In my other comic news, today I finally completed my run of DC Challenge!, with issue 12 arriving in the mail. I also received a worn copy of Phantom Stranger #1 and Superboy #87 featuring the first appearance of Thought Beasts, those wonderfully impractical Kryptonian monsters. I'm not buying back issues for a while until I finish a stack I'm still working through. I'll probably be sharing some highlights, coming up.

Kellogg's Batman and Robin Postcard Cutouts

These babies were lurking in the dark recesses of my collection...Back in 1997 they were on boxes of Kellogg's cereals. I apparently didn't find anyone to mail them to. I like how in the second pic, Clooney Batman is contriving to cover the much-maligned nipples, likely for the sake of impressionable cereal-eating youngsters. I never quite had the problem with the nipples most fans are supposed to have - if a suit features an idealized male torso, they might as well go all the way. Why be delicate about fake nipples and not fake abs? Of course, they didn't do the equal and opposite for the Alicia Silverstone Batgirl, and I'd just as soon keep anatomical correctness above the belt...

My Batman Family Album Part 3

Just call me Wong Foo. Sorry about the glare from the Barry Allen, but you can see Julie's purrty face, that's the main thing.

Which concludes my 3 part series...I realize there is a glaring omission of (baby on board, something something) Burt Ward, but unfortunately I have yet to catch up with the Bird Boy. But someday...someday...I might just write him at his website.

I got Adam and Julie at last year's Central Canada Comic Con, Yvonne Craig was a gift from a dear associate that she got at another con...so unfortunately I never actually met the star of Kissin' Cousins, Mars Needs Women and Ski Party. But it's nice I can pretend I did. Adam and Julie I did meet, though because I'm a tall guy I have a tendency to scare celebrities, especially with that crazy obsessive gleam in my eye.

My Batman Family Album Part 2

I Bought This Shirt Last Week...

For $13 and I like it. I really really like it. How much do I like it? The answer is: lots.

Why do I like it? Well first of all I like that it has a DC symbol in the middle, the design symbol that says "DC Originals". It came with a label that said the same thing which I clipped from it, and taped on one of my comic boxes My plan is to do that anytime I get one of those symbols, "DC Originals", get it? It describes what's in the box!

I like the characters - first of all I like that they have a seventies look to them. The image is "distressed" as they say, and while I feel "distressed" has probably gotten to the point where it's a bit overplayed, and Zod knows I would never buy jeans that come with frays and holes - because the characters look vintage in this case it's pretty neat-o. I also like the line-up. I especially like that Robin is in it. There seems to be an insidious Robin denial movement out there, despite that fact that, if I were Batman, assuming such a concept as Batman would work, I would certainly want to have some kind of apprentice. It makes sense to me he'd want to create a legacy, not just beat up crooks for fifteen or twenty years and retire with the world in basically the same crappy shape. This is quite obviously the O.R.: Original Robin, Dick Grayson, wearing his classic outfit. You can see his legs, he's wearing the green trunks he used to have which to me seem more practical for acrobatics and martial arts than long green tights. Free and easy! Below him is the flame tressed Bat-beauty, the Barbara Gordon version who unfortunately we will likely never see again except in flashbacks because in comic book worlds, dying is like catching a cold, but becoming handicapped is more permanent. Oh, I hate the Joker!

And the rest. Catwoman's there, so this shirt's like a Batman Family minus the Batman plus guest stars. I like all the other characters to varying degrees. Green Arrow I used to love, I've cooled on him a bit, Martian Manhunter is great because he's just one of those go-to guys who always gets the job done. Plastic Man is hit and miss for me, but hey, getting him and the Big Red Cheese on one shirt is pretty cool. Wearing it, I feel like I'm some walking 100-Page Special with all these guest stars and back-up features.

I like the red, though I admit I put it through the wash a few times before I rocked it, because it was a really REALLY bright red, it's now possible to look at it without eye protection. Huzzah!

This is the first comic shirt I've bought in a long time, because at a certain point I figured I had enough. This beauty called my name, and the price was right.

My Batman Family Album Part 1