A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE to Jazzy John Romita! My love for the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon is well documented and while the show had many creative fathers, I always get a bang out of seeing Jazzy John Romita’s name in the credits. Pretty much because he’s my all-time favorite Spidey artist, not to mention the best ever. Now, for reasons that I don’t fully comprehend — maybe you do — there’s a paucity of Spider-Man ’67 merch, particularly of the action-figure variety (not to mention a Blu-ray release of the show itself). Thing is, a Hasbro Marvel Legends figure isn’t exactly a stretch. We’ve gotten figures based on the 1970s American and Japanese TV shows, after all. Approvals for doing a 1967 cartoon Spidey, though, must be a challenge. Otherwise, perhaps we could have this: That baby is the handiwork of customizer Ron Lopez — he of the Filmation DC superhero figures we showed off during December’s TOYHEM. Ron sent this over to me for a look and I immediately thought to myself that it would make for an offbeat birthday salute to the late John Romita (January 24, 1930–June 12, 2023). Here’s more: If you want to make one, here’s Ron’s recipe: a Marvel Legends retro Spider-man (with cel-shading and torso webs removed) and a First Appearance Spider-Man head. Now, we just need it to happen for real. Plus, a Mego version, a soundtrack album, the Blu-ray set, a streaming option, comics, you name it. It can’t be that hard. Can it? — MORE — DAN SLOTT Pitched SPIDER-MAN ’67 Meets FILMATION SUPERMAN for Upcoming Crossover. Click here. — OH, WOW! These Faux FILMATION ACTION FIGURES Have Fans in a Frenzy. Click...
FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS! By FRANCO The new Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series just started and before it even did I thought, they’ll probably have a new ship, and of course they do. It’s cool-looking but not that practical for what they wanna use it for, I thought. And it got me thinking about other ships. Now, far be it from me to spark debate but… I will anyway. What ship or vehicle is the coolest in all the galaxy? Has to be a ship, not a Transformer or anything like that, sentient beings are a different category to be dealt with on another day. There’s a bunch of vehicles out there but I’ve narrowed down to a few. The Millennium Falcon is the fastest ship out there; by now we’ve all heard that it made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs… when working properly. I’m not saying Chewbacca is a bad mechanic — the problem with the ship itself may be parts and age. Heck, even Leia called it a bucket of bolts. But cool people on the ship, and its captain telling you it’s a cool ship doesn’t necessarily make it cool. And why does it seem bigger on the inside than it does on the outside? I don’t know if a pie plate looking thing with an empty toilet paper tube stuck on the side of it is the epitome of “cool.” Even Luke Skywalker had a Corvette Summer (you have to be really old to get this silly joke) just so he didn’t have to fly in that thing. How about the original USS Enterprise? I would have to say that it’s got what you need. Not comparing mechanics here but, Scotty does love it so, and again, looking like a pie plate with two (or even three) empty paper towel rolls attached to it. But those Klingon Birds of Prey do look much cooler to me. They are very dark on the inside, though. And from everything we’ve seen, they also probably smell pretty funky. What say you? But back to the hero ships. If you had to chose between the coolest ships in the galaxy, would it be the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars or the USS Enterprise from Star Trek? And speaking of bigger on the inside, why would the correct answer be...
A REEL RETRO CINEMA Birthday Salute: New looks at old flicks and their comic-book connections…
Shades of Wonka! It’s the “Krypto’s Golden Biscuit” sweepstakes…
