The most impressive science fiction collection in the world— and yes, I say it’s even more impressive than the one at Skywalker Ranch– will be going on the auction block today starting at 12 noon Pacific time, and continuing tomorrow, May 1st, at 11am Pacific time.

How impressive is it? Look at that photo to the right, which is lot #660 in the auction..

That’s a first edition of Dracula. Not impressed? It’s a first edition signed by the author, Bram Stoker.

That would be enough for most people– but not Forry. He went farther and got it autographed by Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Bill Obbagy, Ingrid Pitt, Karl Freund, Donald A. Reed, Barry Atwater, Maila Nurmi a.k.a. “Vampira”, Carla Laemmle, Carroll Borland, John Carradine, Raymond McNally, Ferdy Mayne, Paul Naschy, Barbara Leigh… and Bela Lugosi.

Take a look.

You can bid by phone or online. Or you can just download the catalogs and drool over…

• The dress Rita Hayworth wore in Gilda.
• The original art for Vampirella #1.
• Darth Maul’s lightsaber.
• The original head of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. 
• Dracula’s cape and signet ring.
• Cylons. Full size.
• Adam West’s Batman uniform and Lee Meriwether’s Catwoman outfit.
• Paintings from Rod Serling’s Night Galllery.
• Inspector Clouseau’s trenchcoat.
• The Voight-Kampff test manual from Blade Runner.
• Rambo’s bow and arrows.
• The hero crystal shard from The Dark Crystal.
• Ferris Bueller’s leather jacket.
• Swimsuits from Baywatch.
• The Shadow’s cloak, scarf, and fedora.
• Judge Dredd’s helmet.
• Lara Croft’s pistols.
• The Jumanji game.
• Terminators of all shapes and sizes.
• Batman’s cowl and cape.
• Riddler’s cane.
• Mr. Freeze’s armor.
• The Green Goblin’s trident.
• Zorro’s mask, cape, and whip.
• D’Artagnan and the Musketeer’s swords.
• Uncle Junior Soprano’s revolver.
• Alien eggs. 
• Wolverine’s dogtags– hell, Wolverine’s claws.
• Autographs and photos and title cards from everybody.
• And yes– even a Golden Ticket.

Download the Catalog here as a .zip file, or download the PDFs individually.
Lots 1-166 | 167-349 | 350-522 | 523-753 | 754-939 | 940-1114 | 1114-1174

Marvel has had varying degrees of success with the direct-to-video efforts but the program continues and there’s little surprise that the most recent offering featured Wolverine, given the release this week of [[[X-Men Origins: Wolverine]]]. What is odd is that Lionsgate chose to release the video Hulk Vs. in January, too late for the holidays and too early to capitalize on the Fox feature.

The two-disc set features separate Hulk features and shine very different lights on the character. In the first, Wolverine is assigned to hunt down a monster crossing the border from America, codenamed the Hulk. Along the way, the two battle with much carnage but then the plot is complicated by the arrival of several foes from throughout Weapon X’s career – Lady Deathstrike, Sabretooth, Omega Red, and Deadpool. In the 37 minute story, there are numerous flashbacks to the Weapon X program and how Logan was turned into a living weapon.

Visually, it’s the best animated Wolverine we’ve seen yet. The character designs for his opponents are pretty terrific, but no surprise since they were handled by Jeff Matsuda. It’s also one of the best voice casts I’ve heard on a Marvel production. The story moves along nicely and the action is pretty relentless.

On the other hand, it’s not much of a Hulk story. Also, on their own, each of the villains has proven to be a match for Wolverine, but here, collectively, they’re dispatched with far too much ease, weakening their threat.

The second disc has a stronger story but weaker vocal casting and shows Loki using the Hulk as a pawn in his game against his half-brother Thor.  The 45 minute story is spent entirely in Asgard and pits not only Thor against the Hulk but Thor and Loki against Hel, bargaining for the soul of Bruce Banner. What happens to Banner is rather poignant and gives this tale an emotional wallop missing from the other adventure. If the forthcoming [[[Tales of Asgard]]] animated feature is anything like this, we’ll all benefit.

Each disc comes with an assortment of trailers in addition to Making Of featurettes. The Wolverine disc has footage from the Lionsgate panel at last summer’s San Diego convention while the Thor disc has a loving tribute to Jack Kirby.

If you have an insatiable appetite for the ol’ canucklehead, you could do worse than investing your time with this DVD set.

Showcase Presents: Ambush Bug Vol. 1
Plot & Pencils by Keith Giffen, Script by Robert Loren Fleming, Inks by Bob Oksner (for most of the stories)
DC Comics, March 2009, $16.99

We all have to look back at the comics of our youth once in a while. It’s not always a pleasant experience, particularly when we’re reminded of what no-taste cretins we once were. But, once in a while, it’s possible to look back and discover that our taste wasn’t that bad, that something we remember as funny was actually clever and inventive as well. Even then, though, we might have to wade in pretty far before we get to the good stuff.

Ambush Bug started off as a random villain in a minor issue of a minor DC comic in late 1982 – DC Comics Presents #52, at that time the [[[Superman]]] team-up book – written by Paul Kupperberg, though the Bug was created by penciller Keith Giffen. He was there purely as an additional complication, as the A story in that issue saw a rampaging Negative Woman (from the then-new incarnation of the Doom Patrol) trashing Metropolis while Supes and her teammates tried to stop her. (And that issue is very of its time, with acres and acres of tedious explanatory dialogue like “The name’s Joshua Clay – Tempest to you, Superman. The lady calls herself Arani, or Celsius, take your pick! Put us together an’ you get the Doom Patrol” and similar decaying-Silver-Age tediousness.)

The Bug came back to DC Comics Presents slightly wackier, but still vaguely villainous, seven issues later, with Giffen taking over plotting as well and getting Paul Levitz to write an ostensible Superman-Legion of Super-Heroes team-up. It turned into a chase-the-wacky-villain around plot, something like a minor ‘50s Joker story. Kupperberg grabbed the Bug another six months later and made him wackier still for an issue of [[[Supergirl]]].

And then Giffen took the Bug back for good, putting him in three short stories for [[[Action Comics]]], where the core Bug team – Giffen on plots and pencils, Robert Loren Fleming providing script, and Bob Oksner on inks – came together. Giffen’s panels shoved into each other, eliminating gutters most of the time, and his Munoz-influenced period, all big noses, tight close-ups and odd angles, began – all of which gave the Bug’s stories a dark, cluttered, deeply nonheroic look. Oksner chipped in by dropped pots on ink on every page to fill Giffen’s blacks. And Fleming brought a light touch to the prose that made the stories funny and not just amusing.

(more…)

The debut of Iron Man: Armored Adventures this past Friday, April 24, gave Nicktoons Network a ratings record.  Based on Marvel’s Iron Man character, the series premiered with back-to-back episodes at 7-8p, with the 7:30p episode earning Nicktoons Network its highest-rated original series premiere among Boys 6-11 125,000.  The hour-long block of Iron Man debuts also boosted the network’s ratings during the 7-8p time period by +43% with K6-11 and +55% with B6-11.  The Iron Man premiere helped NicktoonsNetwork.com reach its biggest week ever, earning 239,000 visitors, an increase of +389% vs. last year.

A case of synchronicity in comics stories:

First, a quote from Mark Waid’s monster interview on AintItCoolNews:

BM: The Million Dollar Question: How did Mark Waid make his break into comics?

MW:The Million Word Answer: Writer Devin Grayson had a great quote. Shesaid, “Breaking into comics is like breaking into a high-tech militarycompound. The first thing they do after discovering you got in is goseal up your entrance so no one can ever break in that way again.”

Then over at Blog@Newsarama, they talk about the 2009 DC Bullets softball season.

Yep… that’s (part of) how I got in.

I’m just amazed– spring training? For the DC Comics team? Since when?