Flame On

Just back from a weekend at Toys On The Hudson in Jersey City, New Jersey attempting to thin out my toy collection..was unwinding with Eileen watching old Fantastic Four cartoons when this happened...

The Fantastic Four Loses a Member *Spoilers Inside!

So much for the "Heroic Age"! The grim visage of death returns to the Marvel Universe and stretches a bony hand out to Marvel's first family this week. This has been a long time coming and when I was told by my comic book devouring friends that one of the Fantastic Four was set to die, it was clear who it would be. Running down the list of possible candidates, Mr Fantastic is just too important a scientist in the scheme of things to just disappear, Invisible Woman has been known to pop up on the most awesome places to superb result and The Thing is just too damn fun to read when he is given the proper characters to play against. The obvious choice was a wise crackin', arrogant hero who can throw fire. In the scheme of a modern Marvel Universe, it just seemed he's not that relevant anymore. Of course, no one ever stays dead in comics (God forbid) and this gives the powers that be the chance to revamp him and make him worth while for a triumphant return, much like they did with Hawkeye not too long ago. It also gives the comic's giant a chance to evolve the family he's left behind in the time that he's gone. Every once in a while we are allowed a fleeting glimpse at how bad ass Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) can be with her powers when working with other teams. I'd love to see more of that! How about Sue taking on a mission with X-Force??!! Here's the official skinny...

“FLAME OFF!” In a move sure to shock comic fans worldwide, Marvel unveiled that its ever popular super hero the Human Torch will meet his demise and die heroically in Fantastic Four #587, hitting stores tomorrow (Wednesday, January 26th). Concluding the “Three” storyline that captivated the mainstream media and industry press alike, this issue and the death of such a renowned character from the First Family of comics signals the beginning of major changes for the Marvel Universe as the Fantastic Four lose one of their founding members.

“Jonathan Hickman [writer of Fantastic Four] came to us two years ago with a vision for evolving the characters and concepts introduced to fans 50 years ago in Fantastic Four #1 – and quite frankly his vision blew us away,” said Tom Brevoort, Marvel Entertainment SVP of Publishing. “The death of the Human Torch is the first major move in this incredibly exciting evolution of the legendary Fantastic Four franchise and a necessary part of the larger story we will be telling featuring the beloved characters moving forward.”

But the story doesn’t end there-- February’s Fantastic Four #588 brings the long running series to a conclusion as the Fantastic Four disband and the surviving characters must discover their new roles in the Marvel Universe. Just what’s next for the surviving members of Marvel’s First Family?

Fantastic Four #1 debuted in 1961, kicking off the “Marvel Age” of comics and dramatically increasing the popularity of super heroes. As the progenitor of Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four set a new tone for super hero comics with its nuanced characterization, reflection of real world fears and progressive depiction of super heroes. Through the years, the Fantastic Four have been involved in many of comics most important & memorable storylines, from the introduction of Galactus to the chart-topping Civil War and now the upcoming event Fear Itself.

It all begins with the shocking death of the Human Torch in Fantastic Four #587, in comic stores Wednesday, January 26th, 2011!

FANTASTIC FOUR #587 : Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN, Penciled by STEVE EPTING, Cover by ALAN DAVIS Rated A…$3.99 On Sale – 1/26/11

FANTASTIC FOUR #587 SPOILER VARIANT : Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN, Penciled by STEVE EPTING, Cover by JOHN CASSADAY Rated A…$3.99 On Sale – 2/2/11

FANTASTIC FOUR #588 : Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN, Penciled by NICK DRAGOTTA,
Cover by ALAN DAVIS Rated A …$3.99 On Sale – 2/23/11

Toy Victory: The 11-9 Week Haul

It was a damn good week in toyville as I finally zero'd in on some Marvel Legends (WOOO!) instead of the usual unending pegs of Marvel Universe shorties, got the LAST piece I needed to form Atom Smashertron and added some killer pieces to my (proposed) Endor set up. Prepare for geekgasm.

Believe it or not, my Atom Smasher from the DC Universe Classics line has been missing his mighty torso, leaving me with a bag of limbs for far too long. As you can see, he's a bit underwhelming as far as Build a Figures go, especially compared to the legendary Giant Man. Hellooo little boy. You can be a super hero one day too. Now, which figure was holding me up from Voltronning this bad boy together? Drum roll please...

Yes..it's Ice Capades Aquaman. Dude... seriously. Like I don't have to defend your powers enough. Now you leave the house in this outfit. You're dead to me now. The funniest thought in all of this is that my local scalpers mounted a concentrated effort to buy up all of THIS FIGURE until today. Choke on em bitches.

Next up, the sky opens and the heavenly hosts deemed us mortals worthy of having the near mythical Marvel Legends Nemesis wave. I was averaging 1 figure every 2 months until my buddy Chris gave a shout about a shipment that must have hit a remote Walmart location. Like the super dork that I am, I jumped into my car and sped down for the scoop up. Luckily, I made off with one of everyone I needed!! Behold the low detail and odd proportions...














































YAY mediocrity. And thennnn, we went off to the city and at Times Square Toys R Us, we found 2 of the three refresh packs. Surprisingly, the Storm family two pack looked pretty damn good. Check it...



Now if they gave Tigra Sue's articulation, we'd have a perfect world, wouldn't we? As it stands, Tigra may as well be an ugly Barbie. Sue is no looker either. Another realization was Hasbro's insistence in sparking a revival for the film E.T. through a slight extension in the necks of some of the male figures. Subliminal...



Meanwhile, the Star Wars gods finally smiled on me with one impulse buy and three must haves. The impulse was Cad Bane, the newest bounty hunter bad ass in the world of Clone Wars. I've done a very good job of avoiding the purchase of 30 skinny clone troopers and a crew of Jedi in space suits, so one new baddie wasn't going to kill me. JUSTIFIED!!

and then..there were Ewoks. Don't judge me.

Of course every Ewok needs a bad ass ride, so I had to score the new ATST. ooooo man. New articulation, new paints, new size (making it a 2 seater for date night), swappable guns, all sorts of ports that open...it's just awesome. Finally a vehicle that justifies Hasbro's nasty price increases! I couldn't say the same for the 30 dollar Dewback and Sandtrooper pack. Yes, the new sculpt and size is beautiful, but not 30 dollars beautiful.


















Soooo that's it. I won't count the Personal Soundtrack T Shirt as a toy...it's really worth 50 toys. It's like we live in the future. I can walk down the street with St. Elmo's Fire blaring from within my jacket. What a wonderful time to be alive.