Ok, we arrived home safely from our vacation in the Palm Springs area....

Want to report on the Spider-Man 3 Trailer Shown at the Casino Royale Showing that we saw at a Palm Desert theater.   

The trailer added additional scenes which fleshed out the earlier released trailer as to what was going on in this upcoming movie. At the end of the trailer there was a little buzz about it, although the theater crowd was there to see the latest James Bond flick, not a comic book based movie.

So considering it was more of a mainstream audience, there was positive reaction to the trailer, enough that there will be more people viewing this one who had not seen the second movie.

Venom, the second villain used in this movie, was a later addition to the Spider-Man gallery of villains, so I am not as familiar with this villain's history. However, the way the trailer shows it, it did pique the interest of several around me in the theater audience, which is a good thing.

Tina wanted to see the newest James Bond movie, which she liked after viewing it.... however I didn't like the 'rebooting' of the character or updating the time period.  The movie was based on the first book by Ian Fleming, and updating it to the 2000's didn't do anything for me.  Tina thought that the new actor did a fine job, however I prefer the Sean Conery, or Roger Moore versions better...

Michael

The following comics are now CGC graded and enroute to us...

This is advance notice to our blog readers that the following comics will be listed starting the first week of January 2007 after our vacation!

Due to the Holiday Weekend, and the Tuesday Memorial for President Gerald R Ford, the comics will be delayed in picking them up from our Post Office, along with the other two batches mentioned in our earlier blogs.

These upcoming comics are mentioned only to let the readers of our blog know what we be listing either as 'core listing' or in our eBay Featured Store soon!

Like a lot of folks, we spent the day after Christmas in a shopping mall.  When we got back to our Palm Springs timeshare that evening we heard the news with the rest of the nation - that former President Gerald R. Ford had passed away in his Rancho Mirage.

However, we learned about it from a local Palm Springs newsreporter on the street outside the Ford home - before any of the national news crews had arrived.

Checking emails this morning, accepting best offers submitted, etc, while watching the national news.  Most national channels are reporting on the memorials for the former president, and when the local stations break in, they are showing what times the viewing are, and what the rules are (no purses, no water bottles, etc.) plus you have to park at a nearby resort's parking lot and be shuttled in for viewing!

The winds have been intense.  We were up on Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park with 65 mph gusts.... almost blew us and other park visitors over the ledge which overlooks the Coachella Valley !  Sand was blowing all over yesterday on the mountains, and in the valley.  Wind warnings are posted until 2pm today, which would hamper the crowds going to pay their final respects...

We passed the Gerald R. Ford Elementary School yesterday, and will be passing the closed off streets around St. Margaret's Episcopal Church today where the viewing will be this afternoon.

Seems each year we take our Winter Vacation the area we are in is on the national news, just two years ago the only bridge in and out of Sedona, Arizona was closed due to flooding, and our vacation resort had helicopters buzzing over during the two days of flooding.

Anyway, that's it for this blog post, we are off to the DaVinci exhibit at Palm Springs Air Museum, and hopefully the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, if it isn't closed due to the wind gusts!

Michael and Tina

Yes, Even Superheroes from comic books Stop For Christmas.....

Especially when Santa Claus invites them in for some Christmas Cheer !!!

Hope YOUR Christmas was a SUPER One !!!

Michael and Tina

The Following Batch of Comics have now been graded by CGC and are now enroute to us for listing in early January!

They are listed below, and are presented to our blog readers for bookmarking to follow up on. All of these will be either listed as store listings or core listings shortly after arrival. 

We ship CGC graded comics in Flat Rate Priority Boxes only, as the plastic holder enscapsulating the comic fits securely in the box with extra padding protecting the plastic holder.

We currently ship CGC graded comic books to USA addresses only. Non-CGC graded comics are shipped to most world-wide addresses.

Thanks for viewing !

.... with Santa and Bugs Bunny dancing.... ?????!!!!

Fa La La La, La La La....???

Merry Christmas!! (A little late... but we are on vacation and we still have time to dance on New Year's Eve!!) 

Michael and Tina

To Get YOU !!

You're lucky he is a Jolly Old St Nick.....

You Better Be Good Next Year !!!

Watched the newly released DVD 'World Trade Center', didn't go to see it on the big screen when it first came out.

When paying big bucks for a movie in a Movie Theater, I prefer to see Action/Adventure movies on the BIG Screen, while Tina prefers 'Chick Flicks'.

Tina's family is originally from NYC and Long Island area, and she has stronger ties to the area than I do, since I only visited NYC once, after 9-11.

I normally don't get excited about Nicolas Cage movies, but his performance in this movie was pretty darn good.

At this time of year I wouldn't normally see such a serious movie as this one on DVD, but the subject matter was one I couldn't pass up, as it is still timely with what is going on in the real world.

After the holiday season is over, I would recommend renting this movie for viewing.

(Nicolas Cage will be the star of the first Ghost Rider comic book movie due out in early 21007. From the crowds standing outside the 5,000 seat room at the San Diego Comic Con International this past summer, this movie will be sure to be a hit with the supernatural movie going crowd.)

Michael

The following comics are the next batch of CGC graded comics that are enroute to us now from Florida so it will take a while to arrive in the Sunny San Diego area...

We will be listing these in our eBay Featured Store and / or in 'core listings' starting the first week of January 2007. 

There are several more batches of comics at CGC right now, in various stages of processing, so be sure to check back in our eBay blog for updates of what is coming in !! 

We want to thank all of you for reading our blog posts, and want to wish you all a Happy Holidays, Season Greetings, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas !

Michael and Tina !!

Invincible, (no not the upcoming Invincible Iron Man  movie!), was recently released on DVD.  It's the true story of South Philly native Vince Papale who played three season with the Philadelphia Eagles football team after winning a spot in an open camp.

Just checked it out yesterday at our local BlockBuster video store, (we own stock in the company), and viewed it last night.

Tina grew up in the greater Philadelphia area, so she's been an Eagles fan long before she was introduced to comic book collecting by me. She is a true fan, much like her Uncle John who helped raised her, so she knew all about Vince Papale.  And yes, she's heard the stories of Eagles fans booing Santa Claus (although she was too young to remember it).

So how did it fare for a movie viewer like myself, who just recently became interested in the Philadelphia area and its football team?

Well it was pretty darn GREAT!  It reminded me so much of the first Rocky Balboa film, who was from the same South Philly area, and also struggled to become a star. However, this was about a true person, not a fictional character, and it made me check out the bonus features, which included how this movie came to be, after it was first told in a 4 minute promo on an earlier Monday Night Football game.  If you rent the DVD, I suggest you watch the bonus feature before you watch the movie.

The last time I was in Philly I had some fantastic cheesesteaks so, the street scenes made me hungry! Thank goodness we have "Philly Frank's" out here in San Diego area for when we're 'jonesing' for cheesesteaks!!  Speaking of the street scenes, much of the movie was shot in Philadelphia.  In fact, the daughter of a friend of Tina's served Mark Wahlberg several times at her Philly restaurant while they were in town filming the movie.  (He was polite and a good tipper!)

The movie is definitely not to be missed... even if you are NOT an Eagles fan or even a football fan.  It has an inspirational story and can been seen by a family audience.

Michael

We were so busy at the last SDCC International, (San Diego Comic Con International), that we didn't get to see every panel or program we wanted to see.

Indeed, several were standing room only, or latecomers were turned away because the rooms were full !

One of the best programs that we saw was on the next (Amazing) Spider-Man movie, #3 in what is hopefully more than just a trilogy of Spidey movies.

Was just checking out Mama.com's new (Beta version) of Video search, and came across this great clip of Tobey Maguire and the new villains of Spidey 3 that was conducted at the same SDCC mentioned above.  It definitely captures the anticipation of the next movie!   Video

For those of you just starting to collect comics because you discovered or re-discovered Spidey, we have in our eBay several CGC (third party) graded Spiderman comic books at:

Thanks for taking the time to read this and Happy Holidays !

Michael (and Tina)

Star Trek The Next Generation will have a  New Comic Book Series published by IDW in January 2007. The issue will be part of a planned six-part series, titled 'Star Trek: The Next Generation: the Space Between'

The comics planned will have covers by Jeremy Geddes, Zach Howard, and others.

This would appear to be a good match between TV series and Comic books because IDW already has published comics on other TV shows owned by CBS, including CSI, CSI: Miami and more.

Tina and I have been pleased with IDW's '24' series of comics based on the popular TV show, of which we have already sold out of.

Until the new series comes out, you can check out what previous Star Trek comics have been published at our eBay store: Star Trek

Make It So !

Michael

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is Not Just Another Comic Book Movie... in fact there is no comic book connection to a previously printed comic book at all that I am aware of!

However Tina and I watched this DVD from our BlockBuster store last night as it was just released yesterday, and had a few laughs about it...

It stars Uma Thurman, (who was foxier as Poison Ivy in a previous Batman comics movie), and Luke Wilson.  Uma was pretty over the top as the super ex-girl friend, whereas Luke was lukewarm as the boyfriend... IMO

Anna Faris had a pretty decent role, and the movie had some pretty good scenes and special effects.

The movie was a little too hung up on a normal man having sex with a super-powered female, but overall  it was a pretty good 96 minute film. Any longer and it might have overstayed its' cute premise.

We enjoy going out to most of the new movies that are about our comic book heroes or heroines, but this one is not based on any comic book so we waited till it was on DVD.  It is rated PG-13, but I believe it is for an older crowd than 13.

Michael

The Army and Air Force  Exchanges Feature Another Marvel Comic during the Week of December 18, 2006 !

Marvel Comics' "The New Avengers" and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) have teamed up once again to bring troops stationed around the world another free, military-exclusive comic book.

It is scheduled to arrive in  the continental United States exchanges around Dec. 20 and overseas, including the 53 BX/PX facilities throughout Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, shortly thereafter.

"The New Avengers; Letters Home" is the fourth installment of the military-only comic book series. Because of the anticipated demand for the 36-page, highly-collectible comic, AAFES officials say "The New Avengers; Letters Home" will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

So those collectors that have military relatives or friends... you may want to contact them about this comic !

In May 2007, DC plans to introduce the new line of MINX, graphic novels aimed at young adult femaile readers, each retailing for less than $10.00

The stories will NOT be about super-heroes.

The series include 'Clubbing' about a London party girl who solves a mystery, 'Re-Gifters' about a Korean-American teenager in California who enjoys marital arts, and more titles.

DC Comics, (a dvision of Time Warner), will spend $125,000 to market the new line.

Considering what a small amount of comics for girls has been printed the last few years by any mainstream comics publisher, that is a sizable amount of money!

When visiting brick and mortar chain bookstores we see several female teenagers buying manga, so this is a sizable market to possibly tap into.

 Romance comic books are a genre that is not being published much today, although there have been attempts to revive it recently.

One can only wish DC Comics well on this new venture !!

Hanukkah: A Time for Superheroes takes off with the Hanukkah legend of the Maccabees, the ancient Hebrew band of brothers, literally, who fought against the religious repression of the Syrian-Greeks over 2000 years ago.

The legendary courage of the Maccabees has also been a source of inspiration for comic book writers since POW, ZAP, and BAM appeared in full color on the DC and Marvel pages. The myth of the weak overcoming the powerful is the age-old message of this holiday of lights.

A Time for Superheroes delves into the background of the artists and writers behind the scenes at Marvel and DC comics, their humble origins and the backdrop of their Jewish experience that inspired Superman, Batman, Spider-man, and of course, Wonder Woman.

The program features intervirews with the bold and colorful creators of comic book superheroes like Stan Lee, (father of all superheroes), and Alan Oirich (Menorah Man)and examines their debuts on the silverscreen.

This radio program will be airing soon. For more on this subject, click on the following link: Hannukkah

For superhero comic books characters co-created by Stan Lee, just click on the following link Super-Heroes comics.

George Takei, of Star Trek fame, will be cast as Hiro's father in the popular 'Heroes' TV show, which is doing surprisingly well in comic book format as a back issue also. 

George played Lieutenant Sulu on the first Star Trek TV series and reprised his role later in the Star Trek Movies.

In addition, Christopher Eccleston, of Doctor Who fame, will be added as a new character with  abilities.

Looks like the next mini-season of 'Heroes' will definitely keep us guessing !!

One of the new TV Shows that we watch together is Jericho, on CBS.

It just finished its' mini-season, and will be back after the holidays.

In the meantime, you can catch up with what has been happening, or catch a few sneak previews at:

Who Dropped the Bomb.com 

This web site has maps, past episodes, cast bios, etc.  My family is originally from a small town in Kansas also, not Jericho, but a small town west of Wichita.

This is recommended viewing and NOT comic book related at all for a change !!! 

LOL,  Michael (and Tina)

Whether it is in black and white or the colorized version, it gets me into the holiday spirit.

In the USA Today newspaper, there was an update on Jimmy Hawkins, who played 'Tommy Bailey' in the movie, when he was only 4 years old.

It is amazing that only 12 days of work by Jimmy and others of the movie 'family' at the set would lead to 60 years of entertainment from this movie.

Additionally, I just finished reading a book from our local library that was all about the making of the movie.... it is an older book, out of print, and I had never seen it before. It is so much nicer to view this movie whenever I want to during the holiday season, instead of depending on the TV networks to air it at their convenience. The modern world is so amazing that we have choices today... either vhs or dvd !!

Happy Holidays !

Michael (and Tina)