The big show in San Diego is technically half over (if you don’t count Preview Night) I suppose. There’s been LOTS to keep up with. Here are 13 Quick Thoughts to help you sort through it all:
I’ve been to San Diego Comic-Con and I should probably be there now. But life is life and they still haven’t perfected that three-places-at-once tech, so here I sit, just back from Europe, my head a-spinnin’!
But there’ve been a number of developments, announcements, etc. that have jumped out at me and here’s a guide to the coolest and raddest, as of this very second.
Even from a distance, SDCC is sensory overload. And if you’ve never been, you oughta go at least once because it’s CRAZY. But while it’s going on, things happen so fast and furiously, that only once the dust settles can you figure out what you really want to dig your teeth into, to mix some metaphors. That’s for the weeks (and, in some cases even, the months) ahead.
In the meantime, here are 13 things that have struck my fancy so far:
1. Batman ’66 Blu-ray set. I have nothing to add beyond this right now, but no list of mine would be complete without it. Besides, there are other Batman ’66 items below.
2. Congrats to Vivek Tiwary and company for The Fifth Beatle‘s Eisner Award. Vivek’s an incredibly warm gracious guy. He’s been a supporter of this site — and his labor of love is a great piece of art about a subject near and dear to me.
3. They finally really did it!! NECA, as hinted here, is getting its Mego on with the decades-overdue Taylor 8-inch action figure. For about 40 years, all us Planet of the Apes fanatics have had to make do with the generic Astronaut figure. No more! And in an ANSA suit. Here’s hoping for a loincloth variant! Wait, what?
Photo from Toyark.com. Those figs in the back are NECA’s non-Mego-style toys.
4. Grant Morrison‘s looming magnum opus The Multiversity from DC. Isn’t weird how the real-life Dr. Strange works for DC? Anyway, his map of the DC Multiverse has everyone agog. I, for one, am most looking forward to Thunderworld, with Cameron Stewart, who is one of those artists who knows how to translate Morrison. DC still hasn’t figured out what to do with Shazam!/Captain Marvel and I’d rather see stories like this than have the Big Red Cheese shoehorned into regular ol’ New 52 comics. He just doesn’t work in a world that has Superman. Let him live in his own world and bring him out for special occasions. Like this. DC beat Fawcett, but Marvel beat DC on this.
For more, check out EW.com.
From Bleeding Cool
5. Batman ’66 Batgirl from Mattel. Told you there’d be more Batman ’66 on this list! Yvonne Craig was the last major holdout in the merch deal and the race has been on to get the first Batgirl action figure or statue to market. Mattel, which has really handled the license oddly, looks to be in the lead now, with the reveal of the Batman/Robin/Batgirl 3-pack. Of course, when it actually hits … (Also: Looks like we’ll be getting a Robin sans wires in his cape. Holy flexible cape!). Either way, she looks great.
Pix from The Fwoosh
6. On the other hand, I’m not crazy about Mattel’s Batman ’66 gift pack, including an Adam West head for Batman, aquatic repellent sprays, Batcomputer, Batphone, Shakespeare bust and so forth. I mean, it looks great. But given just how close it is to Figures Toy Company’s version, it smells like they’re undercutting the smaller company. Especially by charging a lot less. Still, FTC is offering a lot more. Ain’t that America.
Pic from the 66batman.com forums
7. I’ve been a Planet of the Apes fan since I can remember. I’ve been a devotee of Star Trek (the original series, natch) for about 30 years. I have all the movies of both and I have all the episodes of Trek. I have action figures for each. Megos. I cannot fathom why in the worlds it’s never occurred to me to merge those two universes. But thank the Lawgiver and the Federation that the minds at Boom! Studios and IDW came up with the awesome idea to have Kirk and crew take on those damn, dirty apes. Shatner and Heston in the same world? My mind, it just warp-drived (drove?) into the Hasslein Curve of cheezetastic hysteria!!!
The Primate Directive!
8. Back to the Mego front, nice to see that Diamond Select Toys is bringing back Captain America with all the extra accoutrements they’re giving Spidey. Still worried about that price though (around $80). Not sure it will support the line, but what the hell do I know?
From the MegoMuseum.com Facebook page
9. Interested but not obsessing over all the movie news still to come from both DC and Marvel and Warner Brothers and Marvel and Sony and Fox and Marvel and whoever else will be making legit announcements this weekend.
10. Hey, imagine that. People like how Ben Affleck looks in the cowl.
11. Yes, this list is mostly composed of non-actual-comic book stuff. That’s because I’m a spoilerphobe and, unlike the Multiversity stuff, I tend to no longer chew over panel minutiae. I think that’s because a lot of that stuff is beaten to death. I dunno. Just not that interesting to me until a project gets closer. Also, I like to avoid spoilers.
12. Hey, guess what! There are a lot of cool folks not at San Diego this week. We have some coverage of that coming this weekend too!
13. But I still wish I were there!
