Monday, July 20, 2020

My Favorite Marvel Legends of 2020...So Far!



Inspired by Just J Hernandez and his amazing Top 10 list he posted on YouTube, here's my 10 favorite Legends of the year so far.


10. Stan Lee - Worth the wait, the sculpt captures everything about Stanley Martin Lieber AKA Stan The Man, from the hucksterism to the good humor to his self-chosen role as The Keeper of the Marvel Flame. I do love this figure unreservedly, even as I acknowledge Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and maybe a dozen other key Marvel creators should also be honored in the form of little plastic people. Best thing about him is the head sculpt, worst thing was the cheap chessboard, which would have been a winner with a hinge and a little paint. And maybe some chess pieces. Or was it checkers? Hmm.


9. Rage - I confess I skipped most the '90s when it comes to comics, busy as I was building a career and raising two kids with my wife Lora. So while I was aware of The New Warriors, I couldn't have named one of them other than Scarlet Spider (Team Reilly all the way over here) before Night Thrasher made his ML debut. But Rage had such an imposing presence even in the package that I had to have one. This figure looks spectacular on the shelf and is maybe the best use of the much-hated Hyperion body mold. Best thing about him is his design and how they brought it to life in Legends form. The worst thing is maybe he could have used a little more paint detail, but that's a small complaint. He's wonderful.


8. Crimson Dynamo - I am a sucker for international characters, especially Russians, being a Cold War baby all day. This is one of the best BAFs of the past couple of years and looks great in a display with Red Guardian, Black Widow or name your own favorite Soviet Super Soldier. Best thing about him is his size and sculpt and the excellently engineered neck joint. Worst thing about him was having to buy Spymaster to build him.


7. Winter Soldier - Confession time: I am a total mark for characters with cybernetic body parts, especially arms. Deathlok, Cable and your boy Bucky are among my favorite characters and my favorite Legends for that reason. I waited years for a good comic Winter Soldier (BTW Ed Brubaker's Cap run that introduced him remains fantastic, as was the movie it inspired), and here he is. He's not perfect, but he's head and shoulders above previous releases of both comic and movie incarnations. Best thing about him is his size and imposing presence, the worst thing is the lack of paint or wash on his cybernetic arm. I'm hoping we get a reissue in his Soviet look, as customizer Jeremy Wilson showed us one that I am still salivating over.


6. Stepford Cuckoos - It's not cheating if they're the Three-In-ONE, now is it? For a character (or characters) that is basically a teenage girl in her school uniform, Hasbro knocked it out of the park bringing one (three? Five?) of Grant Morrison's greatest contributions to X-Men lore to life in action figure form. Best thing about them is how much personality they get across. Worst thing about them is I had two more but stupidly traded them and now I want two more. This hobby!


5. Dr. Doom - Doom. If I have to explain this to you, why are you even here? One of Jack and Stan's greatest creations, in nearly perfect action figure form. Best thing about him is it's DOOM. Worst thing about him is I wish he was a little better articulated, but don't tell him that or he might ZZZZZAAAAAARRRRKKKK oh my god I'm dead.


4. Blue Deadpool - Blue is my favorite color. I have no other explanation. I love this costume for ol' Wade more than any other. Best thing about him is that he's on the Sunfire body mold and has butterfly joints for days. Worst thing is NOTHING because he's Blue Deadpool.


3. Shang Chi - Hi, I came up in comics reading in the 1970s. Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck and Gene Day's runs on Master of Kung Fu are some of the most entertaining and beautifully illustrated Marvel comics of all time. I was so happy when I laid hands on this figure. I still am. Best thing about him is the faithfulness to his essence as a character, Noble, stoic and supremely confident in his mastery of...Kung Fu. Worst thing about him is I should have bought two.


2. Gray Black Widow - Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's Daredevil was far and aw
ay my favorite comic book when they redesigned Natasha with short hair and a gray catsuit. I guess Jim Lee or somebody gave her the requisite '90s bomber jacket? I don't mind it but I'd like a reissue in first appearance form, too. It wouldn't take much. Best thing about her is how well the sculpt captures this precise era of the Widow. Worst thing? What worst thing?


1. Gray Hulk - I love Hasbro's recent Hulks, Green, Other Green, Red, Gray and Other Gray (Bruce's cousin from the FF Super Skrull wave). I have them all and I adore them all. But I adore Gray Hulk more than the others, maybe more than the others put together. I see Steve Ditko's rageful monster from the first few issues in the face sculpt, and I love how solid and substantial this and the other Hulks on this body mold all are. I got up four hours early on a work day to get the only one a Gamestop the next state over got in stock the day it came out, the moment they opened. I regret nothing.


Collecting and photographing Marvel Legends this year has in a very real way kept me sane and maybe even saved my life. Continuing to build my collection is my way of expressing a belief that my country will get it together and defeat the disease that threatens it and the very bad people working overtime to continue its spread.

Stay safe, and here's to better days and better action figures.

Excelsior!

-- Alan David Doane

Friday, June 26, 2020

Comic Book Galaxy Five Years Later and 20 Years On


A random series of events brought me to this blog, and reminded me that I have not posted on it in five years. The last post marked the 15th anniversary of Comic Book Galaxy, one of the earliest comic book websites, in the first dozen or so, I believe, maybe half dozen. And now it's just over two months until the 20th anniversary. Not that many remember. But I do.

Of course the world has changed for most people reading this over the course of the last five years. First the rise of fascism fueled by white supremacy in Los Estados Unidos with the 2016 election and all the horrors Individual 1 has delivered unto us since then, and most recently with the novel coronavirus, the lockdowns, the supply chain disruptions, and the untold economic catastrophe bubbling under the surface of everything. And that's not even mentioning climate change, or that we lost Tom Spurgeon, or that sexual predators like disgraced former CBLDF figurehead Charles Brownstein or former Stalin Warren Ellis or Dark Horse editor Scott Allie have all, finally, been revealed publicly to be what many of us knew they were for a very long time. Good. Fuck 'em.

When last I wrote on this blog, I was in an interregnum between the year I spent assisting a hugely successful financial planner and the job that came after that, which I still have, editing for one of the largest media companies on the planet (nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds, but it looks good on a resume?). If you read the previous few posts just under this one, you'll see I was already struggling to find more than a handful of comics to be interested in, and these days I am reading exactly zero monthly comics, and not much more in any format really. My interests pivoted to the related hobby of action figures not long after my last post five years ago, and most of my disposable income goes to that these days.

I collect Marvel Legends primarily, with some Mezco One:12 Collective and Marvel Select thrown in when a particular figure appeals to me. I like to take pictures of them, which I post on my Facebook and Instagram. I don't much expect anyone to read this, but if you do, chances are you know where to find me on social media, so no further discussion of that seems necessary.

My main point is that, having been turned on to comics at the tender age of six back in the early 1970s, having been a regular patron of comic book stores since just a few years after that, and lately having loved most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and being totally immersed in my action figure collecting, particularly since the pandemic sent me home seemingly for good, I am definitely still at least peripherally on the fringe of the comics world. I still am interested in the subject, even if I have not written much about it in half a decade. I still know people in and around comics, and I still try to support my local comic shops as best I can. I picked up some Marvel Legends not long ago at Excellent Adventures in Ballston Spa, New York; last weekend I grabbed the first Immortal Hulk hardcover collection (Marvel's best title in decades) from Freakopolis Geekery in Whitehall, New York. Both these shops recently reopened with new coronavirus precautions in place, and I felt safe shopping in both. But mostly my wife and I try to stay home, because the virus is spiking seemingly everywhere again because everyone quit wanting to live on Memorial Day, it seems to me. The fact is it's going to get worse than it ever was before before it gets any better at all, so for the most part we're staying on lockdown at my house, and masking up everywhere we go, to protect mostly other people, but also ourselves to some extent.

So mainly when it comes to my collecting these days, I thank whatever gods there be for the US Postal Service, eBay , Walgreen's and the Marvel Legends Community on Facebook, without all of which I would be unable to get any more additions to my Marvel Legends collection, the existence of which has made this past four months bearable and given me something to focus on other than work and constantly worrying about whether my family is going to be touched by the horrors of Covid-19.

I hope you're staying safe and well during this pandemic, masking up and washing your hands frequently, and staying at least six feet from any other human being you're not living with. The world has taken a turn for the worse this past half-decade, especially the past four months, but it is possible to reduce your risks and even still enjoy your life.

Given the overall trends, I urge you to do so to the best of your ability while you still have the time and resources to do so. I don't know where we'll all be in another four months or another five years, but I hope we'll remember, whatever happens, to live by the words of the great Kurt Vonnegut, asked what advice he would give to newborn babies:

Welcome to Earth, babies. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies -- God damn it, you've got to be kind.

And so it goes.

Alan David Doane, Whitehall, New York. 26 June 2020

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Comic Book Galaxy's 15th Anniversary

Over at Comic Book Galaxy spinoff site Trouble With Comics, we're celebrating the 15th anniversary of the launch of CBG. Click over to read our thoughts, and thanks for being a part of our efforts all these years.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Does The Floppy Have A Future?

What is the future of the floppy, monthly comic book? Is it still the foundation of the comics industry, an impediment to its progress, or something else? A dozen comics retailers, critics and industry observers share their thoughts in this week's edition of TWC Question Time, up now at Trouble With Comics.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Trouble With Comics Has New Writers, New Look

Comic Book Galaxy spinoff blog Trouble With Comics has relaunched with a new slate of writers and a new design. As the 15th anniversary of Comic Book Galaxy approaches (it's September 1st), TWC is the carrying on where CBG left off. Click over and check out the new Trouble With Comics.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

ADD Reviews Louise Brooks: Detective

Over at Trouble With Comics, I've posted a new review of Louise Brooks: Detective. It's the latest graphic novel by Rick Geary, published by NBM/ComicsLit.