The Revenge of This 'N That!

A bunch of things to talk about in this edition of This 'N That!

Remember the house ad for the DC/Marvel Wizard of Oz tabloid comic (if you don't, scroll down and you'll get to it)? Not long after I'd posted that here, I got an email from my buddy, Tony Isabella, concerning it:

Hey, Jon...

I can't be 100% sure, but I think I wrote that Wizard of Oz ad you posted
the other day. I was using the "rule of three" even then, which is a bit
that many people have picked up from Martin Luther King.

The "most magical, most magnificient, most merriest" sure sounds like the
kind of thing I'd write, as does "sensational special features" a little
ways down. Either Stan or (more likely) Roy would have edited the copy,
but, like I said, I think I wrote the ad.

If you don't read Tony's online column, Tony's Online Tips, you should check it out by clicking the link there! World Famous Comics also hosts my weekly "Cover Stories" column, with a new edition every Sunday. This weekend should be installment #5!

Jessi's graduation ceremony Friday afternoon at Evergreen College was... well... long! It was three hours after it started before they announced her name... well over 1000 graduates there! The guest speaker was very good, I must say (I forget his name right now).

The party afterwards was a blast... I had been up until 3am getting things ready for it, and I got all kinds of compliments on the food. Just to give you an idea, here's what the spread was (and bear in mind everything was made to be Weight Watcher appropriate:

Veggie Tray: Carrots, Celery, Green Peppers, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cherry Tomatoes, Mushrooms, with non-fat Ranch Dip

Fruit Tray: White Grapes, Red Grapes, Watermelon, Cantelope, Cherries, Honeydew Melon, Pineapple

Relish Tray: Dill Pickles, Sweet Pickles, Black Olives, Green Olives with Pimentos, Green Olives with Garlic, Green Olives with Almonds

Vegetarian Spaghetti with black olives, mushrooms, onions, and Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles (homemade, and cooked in the crockpot)

Pizza: Pepperoni, Combo, Ham and Pineapple

Pies: Strawberry Jello, Banana Cream, Chocolate Cream, Chocolate Banana Cream, Blueberry Cheesecake

I ended up making enough food for 2-3 times as many people who showed up! Guess I know what we'll be eating for the next few days, eh?

Today, we're heading back to Evergreen for "Super Saturday," which is kind of a post-graduation party/festival/fair thing.

Jon

Gold Key April 1975 Ad #7!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Yep, I'm advance-blogging enough here so that you, my faithful readers (both of ya!) will have plenty of stuff to check out here, since Friday will be too busy for me to do much here.

So here's another Johnson-Smith competitor's ad... have I ever mentioned here that, when I was younger, I realized that you could practically re-create most of the contents of Batman's utility belt using the kind of stuff advertised in these things?

Jon

Gold Key April 1975 Ads #6!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Here's one of the more common ads of the period... and one that's become rather infamous over the past few years, since it was pointed out in the CBG what happens in this ad!

What? You never heard of anything about this particular ad before? Do yourself a favor... look at the larger version of it, and pay close attention to the details.

Especially the first and last panels. Margie is ready to order this booklet, and this other person (apparently a female, clues to that being the purse... later panels have definite female lips) is being derisive. That person appears again in the last panel... identified as... Billy!

Yep, in the middle of the ad, a character changed genders.

How the heck did this happen? So far as I know, nobody's been able to explain it.

Jon

Gold Key April 1975 Ads #5!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Now, this is more like it... an ad that would've appealed to GK's target demographic!

I remember seeing this particular ad in a lot of GK comics of the 1970s, although one doesn't see too many of these patches showing up in dealers' rooms of comics shows... I can tell you this, if I did come across that S-shield patch, I'd definitely pick up at least a few of 'em these days! Probably some of the other characters, too...

Although I should admit that I'd want the s-shield patch just to make life easier for me when it comes time to get my white boxer Krypto's Halloween costume prepared (yeah, I know, the s-shield on the cape should be all yellow... but considering more people are going to be familiar with the current Cartoon Network version of Krypto, and that he doesn't have insignia on his cape, I can probably be sloppy on that detail without anyone calling me on it!).

Jon

Gold Key April 1975 Ads #4!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Here's another rather bizarre ad to find in a Gold Key comic book... I mean, look at the patches advertised here! How many of these images even meant anything to typical readers of GK comics (by the way, just for contrast's sake, all these scans came from an issue of GK's "ADDAMS FAMILY" comic book, based on the then-current Saturday morning incarnation of Charles Addams' creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky characters).

Truly strange... !

Jon

Gold Key April 1974 ads #3!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Here's a two-fer for ya...

On the top, yet another of the ubiquitous ads for novelties which long were a staple of comics advertising...

And on the bottom, the half-page version of the Sea Monkeys ad... probably one of the most common ads that appeared in comics (maybe even more often than the Charles Atlas ad? Nah, that was the king... well, that or Grit).

Jon

Gold Key April 1975 Ad #2!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

You know... I just really find it 10 kinds of ironic that, of all the comics publishers that existed in the 1970s, what comics would you find the subversive "Roth" patches shown here?

In the squeaky-clean, wholesome as all heck Gold Key books.

Bizarre, isn't it?

Jon

Gold Key April 1975 Ads #1!

gk_04_75_1
Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

OK, I've done ads here from Marvel and DC books, time to take a look at a month of Gold Key stuff!

Here's the first one... thanks to the web, a lot of sites that have all the various Marvel and DC character-featured Hostess ads, but I don't think many of the other licensed character ads were seen... so here's the Road Runner hawking fruit pies!

Jon

This 'N That Walks Among Us!

Realized it's been a while since I posted much content-wise... I mean, there's been the 1970s ads, and the mini-reviews, plus the Episode III thoughts... but I haven't mentioned that much of what's been going on in my own life lately!

So, here's an update of sorts... Friday, Jessi's graduating from Evergreen College. She'll be taking a year off from school before going into the Masters' progam. The graduation is at 1 pm that afternoon (naturally, we both have the day off of work), and then after that, we're back here... but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Since her classes have all been in the evenings, apparently we need to be out there at 10 or 11 that morning, for a special party for the night students.

OK, so we've established that we'll be there relatively early Friday. So anyway, after the party, it's back home, so that we can make final preparations for Jessi's graduation party... and right now, it looks like there'll be 32 people shownig up for the party, starting at 6 pm!

32 people... the most we've invited over here at a time is 3, and we're having 32 people over for our first party. We haven't even had a proper housewarming party yet!

OK, time to backtrack a bit, as I go over the process of getting ready for this party. Today, I need to do a bit of price checking this morning... we're serving homemade spaghetti and pizza at the party, along with fruit, veggie, and olive/pickle trays, with low-calorie "pies" for dessert... but I don't have enough pizza pans to make the planned 6-8 pizzas! My plan as of now is to get some disposable pans, probably aluminum (although if I could find the same cardboard pans that Papa Murphy's uses, I'd get those), and that's what I need to check prices on. If they turn out to be a dollar each or more, I figure I'll just hit up the dollar store for some cheap pans that I won't care about saving anyway.

I'm also planning on picking up some carpet cleaner today, which will probably tap out my bank account until my direct deposit of my paycheck goes through sometime overnight... although I'd just as soon buy a new steam cleaner (I know Big Lots has one for $77, a better one than the one I've had that isn't working... but I need to look at how much this check will be for first, to see if there'll be available funds for it). Our carpets definitely need cleaning, or at least spot cleaning!

Tonight, after work, I start preparing the pizza dough... that, at least, I know I have everything for already. Once the dough has properly risen, I can store it in the fridge. I don't think I can do much more prep than that!

Oh, I also need pie pans, and want to do the disposable thing with those, too... I'm making 4-6 "pies" (I'll explain that more further down, trust me).

Anyway... the lawn also needs to be mowed, and I need to do a "poop patrol" in the back yard... but it's been a bit wet around here lately, and if the grass doesn't dry enough to mow, I'm not sure what we'll end up doing there... I may end up mowing the lawn right after the graduation ceremony on Friday, at the rate things are going!

Thursday is when things get crazy... before work, I have to run out to The Party Store to get the trays for the fruit, veggies, olives and pickles. If I have time (and I hope I do), I really want to find something nice to give Jessi for a graduation present, but right now, I have no ideas at all! If I decide to just buy a new carpet cleaner, I'll stop at Big Lots at the same time to buy that.

I may also end up needing to use my lunch break to pick up a few other things... and somewhere in there, I'd like to get to the comics shop to pick up the past two weeks' shipment!

After work on Thursday, I'm off to the grocery store, and I hope to heck that one cart will be enough for all the groceries on the list! When I get home from that, after a quick dinner (good thing I've got stuff in the fridge I can just pop in the oven), it's prep time! I'll probably first get the spaghetti sauce going in the crock pot... that'll mean chopping onions (some of which I'll be saving for pizza). Once the spaghetti sauce is going, then it'll be time to prepare the pizzas, so they can be in the fridge, ready to go into the oven.

After that? It's time to prepare the fruit and veggie tray contents (although those are going in gallon-size Zip-Log bags), and then to prepare the pies.

Ah, yes, the pies... I promised I'd explain those, didn't I?

OK... about a month or so back, we found a recipie for these low-WW-point pies, which use sliced strawberries for the "crust," with the filling being made of a combination of sugar-free strawberry Jell-O and sugar-free vanilla pudding. I've made this once before, although I modified the recipie (this time, I'll follow it exactly). I will likely make two of those pies. The remaining pies will be my own recipie. These others will have a modified version of a graham cracker crust.

My plan for that modified crust will be to use crushed Special K or Total cereal (nice and low in points), mixed with some Sugar Twin for sweetness and melted I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light, and using that the same as any graham cracker crust. That's what I'll use for the remaining pies, which will be filled with sugar-free puddings, and topped with Cool Whip Free, which is likewise very low in points.

These other pies will be (at present plan) a chocolate cream pie, a banana creme pie, and probably two "banana split" pies (which will have a bottom layer of either banana or vanilla pudding, a layer of chocolate pudding, and then topped with sliced bananas and strawberries. I may also make a cheesecake "pie," as I found some sugar-free cheesecake flavored pudding, with some fruit topping as well.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get all that stuff done by midnight, but I'm expecting I'll be up later than that... and it should be fun to figure out how that'll all fit in our fridge!

Oh... heh, heh... also forgot that there'll be lots of ice and low-point soft drinks (diet soda, Crystal Light, and Coors Light beer for our beer-drinking friends). I had considered making up some garlic bread for the spaghetti, but I'm thinking that will be a bit too much to attempt!

So, by the time I'm in bed Thursday night, there'll be spaghetti sauce in the crockpot, pizza, pies, fruit and veggies ready in the fridge... and drinks on ice.

How will we fit 32 people in our house? Well, we're not sure about that... a friend of Jessi's is bringing over some extra chairs, but I know there won't be seating for everyone. The party may overflow into the back yard, assuming it's not raining, and probably into the garage as well (we still have my couch and living room chair in the garage, and I'll likely put the drinks out there).

Will we pull it off? Well, I think so... and I'm sure we'll be exhausted by the time it's all done!

And now, you know if I don't post much over the next two days, the reason why!

Jon

DC November 1975 Ad #7

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

And to wrap up my look at DC Comics cover-dated November 1975 ads, here's this one from the back cover...

Kind of funny, when you think about it... both comics and model kits were much more popular back in the 1970s, although outside of, say, Star Trek and super-hero kits (the latter produced by Aurora), one doesn't think of much of a crossover market... but back in the 70s, I did, indeed, buy quite a few model kits (although never this particular one).

I remember that the corner drugstore had a pretty fair selection of model kits, and one could also find what I recall was an entire aisle in the toy department at Kmart of models... these days, does Kmart even carry model kits? I'd imagine most comics shops carry more model kits (at least, ones based on comics properties) than you'll find anywhere other than devoted hobby shops (and every decent-sized city seems to have one of those, with models, RC cars and other vehicles, pinewood derby kits, and slot cars).

In future "1970s comics ads" postings, you'll see more model kits, and perhaps, for those of you around my age (I'm 42), some of these will ring a bell for you, too!

Jon

DC Comics November 1975 ad #6!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

So, are you guys getting tired of seeing ads for tabloid-edition comics yet?

Well, this is the last one of these.

Somehow, I was never able to get that excited over this book... I mean, a comics adaptation of a musical movie? Plus at the time I didn't have that much fondness for the movie anyway.

Jon

DC November 1975 Ads #5

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Here's a whole page of Tabloid Editions to drool over... as I know I did when I first saw this ad myself!

Ironically, of all these, the only one I ever bought off the stands was the then sold-out ACTION #1 reprint!

Jon

DC Comics November 1975 Ad #4!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Here's the centerspread from the DC November 1974 cover-dated comics... promoting CBS' Saturday morning line-up! Remember when the networks used to promote those in the comics?

All in all, there was some pretty impressive stuff to be seen! Well, some of it, anyway... The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm show, which saw the teenage stoneage hijinks of the Flintstones' and Rubbles' kids was pretty lame by any standards. Then again, after that, you couldn't go wrong with classic Warner Brothers cartoons, eh? Those were a staple of CBS' line-up for a very long time.

Following that was the first, and best, of the various Scooby-Doo shows, "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" Anyone wanna argue with me about that?

Then, we had what I believe was the second season of "Shazam!", joined by "Isis," two of Filmation's live-action programs... and both were fun to watch! I understand a lot of daddies watched the latter show with their kids, probably because of Joanna Cameron's costume with the nice short skirt, eh?

I must've been mostly watching CBS shows that year, because I have very clear memories of the remaining shows... Far-Out Space Nutts featured Bob Denver, Gilligan himself, and Chuck McCann as two NASA service employees who were accidentally blasted off into space. I don't know what kind of fuel their ship had, but it must've had excellent mileage, considering how many planets they visited!

Ghost Busters reunited Larry Storch and his F-Troop co-star, Forrest Whitaker, and their co-star, Tracy the Gorilla (played by Bob Burns, if I recall correctly). The trio received their orders Mission: Impossible style to hunt down the ghosts of various monsters.

Next up was Valley of the Dinosaurs, a Hanna-Barbera show that even spawned a comic book! Typical HB program, a family is stranded in a lost valley in which dinosaurs and caveman still exist, and they can't find their way out (I wonder if this was the same valley that Dino-Boy, formerly of the Space Ghost show, was lost in?).

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was next, and I think even then, the number of new episodes per season was dwindling.

And finally, the CBS Children's Film Festival, hosted by Kukla, Fran and Ollie!

But I can't let this post go by without mentioning "In the News," a news program aimed at kids, that aired between each program. I remember these being very interesting!

Jon

DC Comics November 1975 ad #3!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Now, this is more like it... a house ad that does appeal to me, as it did at the time.

Well... okay, in 1975, I probably wasn't really in the market for a Super Friends tabloid-size edition (although if I recall correctly, the Super Friends portions were just framing devices for a few Justice League of America reprints)... and it would be a while before I developed much of an interest in Dick Tracy!

But one thing I do want to point out here... as with other ads for the tabloid books, there was an order form you could fill out and mail in to get these books, in case you couldn't find them locally! Yep, back in the days before comic book shops, this was probably the only way you could be guaranteed not to miss something like this!

Jon

DC November 1975 ads #2!

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

You know, looking at this full-page house ad... I can only imagine that someone had pulled their ad at the last minute, or something... because honestly, this doesn't have the usual appeal of DC's house ads of the period!

I mean, what, it must've taken them maybe 15 minutes to put this together, pasting up logos and standard licensing images?

Jon

DC November 1975 Ad #1

dc_11_75_1
Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

OK, with my new auctions up on eBay, the mini-comics reviews wrapped up for now, and photos taken for the next 17 or so posters I'll be putting up, I guess it's time to do some more comics ads postings!

This was a very short-lived line of war toys... ones I remember seeing in the stores myself, although I wasn't that impressed with them myself.

If I recall correctly, rumor has it that this line of toys was originally designed to be a Sgt. Rock line... but then Remco got the license instead (at least, I seem to recall seeing Remco ads for Sgt. Rock figures). Heck, for all I know, this might've been designed as a Sgt. Fury line!

Unfortunately for this toy line, however, war toys were still unpopular.. if they'd waited another five, six years... they might've been able to latch on to the GI Joe: A Real American Hero craze.

Jon

More Mini-Reviews!

Time to continue the mini-reviews:

FANTASTIC FOUR #527 -- J. Michael Straczynski takes over the writing chores with this issue... and I've got to say, he's got me hooked on his first saga! I'd still prefer it if new creative teams would do a "done-in-one" story at the start of their runs, as a way to bring new readers up to speed as a jumping-on point, if you will... but this story intrigues me. Will I enjoy it as much as my all-time favorite runs (which are 1) Lee-Kirby, natch! 2) (tie) Byrne and Simoson's runs, 3) Mark Waid)? Only the future will tell for certain.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #640: This was a pretty good issue... I really got a chance to get up to speed here, seeing the various relationships, and what the current status quo was. I'm not sure that what we saw on the last page is necessarily the "truth," but I'm willing to wait and see!

TEEN TITANS #24 -- So, Superboy goes to the dark side, as the title crosses over with THE OUTSIDERS. Well, I haven't been buying OUTSIDERS, and I don't plan on starting now... so I guess I'll only follow half the story, and trust that Johns will fill me in on what happens in the O-book!

THE INCREDIBLE HULK #81 -- It's Peter David writing the Hulk. Ergo, I loved it, as I've loved all his Hulk comics!

GREEN LANTERN SECRET FILES & ORIGINS 2005 -- I enjoyed this much more than the first issue of the new GL comic, although I didn't read the character file sections. The stories in this were very entertaining!

JLA #144 -- Busiek continues to deliver a very entertaining storyline in this title, concluding his first major story arc in a very satisfying manner!

CAPTAIN AMERICA #6 -- I keep going back and forth on this title... it seems as though Brubaker has come up with a way that Bucky could still be alive... But Bullwinkle, that trick never works! Again, I'm going to wait and see. This title's been a bit darker than I prefer for Cap stories, but I keep coming back!

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #6 -- I'm a sucker for Waid's work, and as I've said before, I'm enjoying this incarnation of the LSH! I think in another 6 months, I'll sit down with the first 12 issues and read 'em all in one sitting, and admire how everything ties together.

HAWKMAN #40 -- Well, the spit continues to hit the fan, if you will... there's something major brewing in this title (probably tieing into INFINITE CRISIS, is my guess), and it'll be fun to see what happens!

4 #18 -- I think it's great that there are two FF books set in the mainstream MU that I can read and enjoy... that, plus the Marvel Advntures version, gives me 3 FF fixes every month! Now if they'd just spread 'em out during the month a bit better...

FLASH #222 -- The war of the Rogues continues, and a new player is introduced on the last page, making me even more impatient for the next issue!

JLA CLASSIFIED #7 -- I've really been enjoying the current story in this title, and am sad there's only one issue left before there's no more of this pre-IDENTITY CRISIS team!

THUNDERBOLTS #8 -- It's all Nicieza this issue, no Busiek, which saddens me... as the Thunderbolts' previous title went downhill for me after Kurt left the book. I'm still sticking with it, though, as there are behind-the-scenes machinations going on that aren't all revealed yet.

BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE #2 -- I missed the first issue of this, and wish I hadn't... This is good stuff!

DOOM PATROL #12 -- You know, I really like this book... and despite the rumors I hear of its impending cancellation, there's still all kinds of stuff happening that seem to indicate Byrne has lots of plans for it!

And that's everything! Whew! And just think, on Thursday, I'll get another 2 weeks' shipment of books, and have to start this all over again!

Jon

New Auctions Are Up!

Well, I just posted 10 new auctions on eBay of more of my DC Comics posters, including 8 Alex Ross posters, a Crisis on Infinite Earths promo poster (that's a relist, actually), and a Justice League Animated poster. You can get the listing of these items for sale by clicking
here!

I'm offering these to US residents only, Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation shipping, and shipping is $5 for the first poster, and $1 more for up to 5 more posters... or something like that.

In the coming weeks, I'll be offering more of my posters, including some Beatles posters, as well as the Doc Savage prints I mentioned a while back, plus an Alex Ross Avengers print (just as soon as I can figure out what the USPS will charge to ship them, as well as how I can ship them and keep them flat!).

Your bids are greatly appreciated!

Jon

Comics Mini-Reviews!

Yep, it's been a long time in coming... so here's the first set of mini-reviews of the books I picked up last week and read over the weekend!

TEEN TITANS GO! #19 -- Always a fun book... if you like the animated series, you'll like the comic, simple as that!

ACTION COMICS #827 -- John Byrne returns to drawing the man of steel with Gail Simone writing! While it wasn't as good as the Superman stories I was used to during the 10 years or so after the reboot, it was much more enjoyable than the last several issues I've read prior to this!

SEVEN SOLDIERS: THE MANHATTAN GUARDIAN #2 -- Morrison amazes me... I've been enjoying all the Seven Soldiers miniseries, and I can't wait for the next issue of each!

DAY OF VENGEANCE #2 -- My biggest problem with this series is that it feels like we're not getting the whole story... it almost reads like a crossover tie-in more than a story in and of itself! Still, I'm going to stick with it, just to see what happens.

MARVEL ADVENTURES: FANTASTIC FOUR #0 -- This is a fun book! If you like to read fun FF stories, check this issue out -- even if they are monkeying around with the FF uniforms.

SUPERMAN #217 -- The cover plugs this as an Omac Project tie-in... and maybe by the next issue, I'll be able to see that... but as it is, it's as much of an Omac tie-in as the DC "Crisis Crossover" issues of the 80s were which were tie-ins only in the sense there were red skies. The story itself was all right, but I'm still playing catch-up with this title... someone needs to remind Mark Verheiden that every issue is someone's first issue!

GREEN LANTERN #1 -- Been waiting for this for a while, and... well... first of all, they monkeyed around with Hal Jordan's origin. In this revision, he's not in a flight simulator when he's called by Abin Sur... he's just yanked from Ferris, where he's not a pilot (at least, not yet). Why did they do this? I have no idea. I've never had a problem with retelling an origin and filling in the blanks or expanding on certain areas... but when things are arbitrarily changed (especially when the original story is so easy to read these days), like in this case, it bugs me. The remainder of the issue seems to exist to set up a very long initial storyline... and that bugs me, too. I'm not a huge fan of decompressed storytelling, especially when the story doesn't really call for it. I'd much rather see a first issue do a "done-in-one" story, that could possibly tie in with a longer storyline, but would be complete in and of itself.

DC SPECIAL: THE RETURN OF DONNA TROY #1 -- I really, really, wanted to like this comic book. I haven't been a big fan of Donna since she gave up her Wonder Girl ID to become Troia, and this issue isn't changing my mind. The artwork, by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, is certainly up to snuff... but the story isn't really grabbing me yet. I'm sure I'll get the rest of the miniseries, though, just to see how it ends.

And that's all for now... I'll be back tomorrow with more!

Jon

Marvel June '77 Ads #2

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

...and last, as it were! Most of us remember (I'd imagine) all the various Johnson-Smith Company ads for cool gimmicks like these, but they were far from the only company to advertise them in the comics!

This is a prime example of one of the other novelty companies, but unlike Johnson-Smith, I don't think they're still in business!

Jon

Marvel June 1977 Ads #1

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Originally uploaded by waffyjon.

Here's a very cool ad from Marvel's cover-dated June 1977 comics... and boy, did I wish I could get some of these (heck, I'd love to get some of these now!).

Jon

More Thoughts on "Revenge of the Jedi"

A few things I forgot to mention before, or have occurred to me since the initial post... Warning! Warning! Warning! Spoilers ahead!



















Did anyone else catch the brief glimpse of the Millenium Falcon, or a similar Corellian ship, in this movie? If you missed it, there's a sequence, probably a third or more into the movie with a lot of ships flying in and out of a spaceport, I believe on Coruscant... and the Falcon (or a similar ship) appears in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.

The various scenes at the end of the movie, after it's been decided to hide and separate the twins... those all worked for me... but then they showed Vader, the Emperor, and Tarkin on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, looking at initial construction on the Death Star.

OK, that's started to bug me. The scene ties things into Episode 4, sure... but how the heck did that stay a secret for at least 20 years? (I'm assuming Luke and Leia are at least 20 when Episode 4 begins) From Episode 4, it seems that the Death Star hasn't really been around that long, especially since Alderaan was the first target. But how do you keep something the size of a small moon hidden, with all the various ships flying around that universe? One would've thought rumors would've reached Han Solo or Obi-Wan, hmmm?

I thought it was very cool that it appeared Owen and Luke had a lot in common, at least in Owen's younger days. It seems he wanted off Tattoine himself when he was much younger, but was stuck there to keep Luke safe... no wonder he has it in for Obi-Wan, eh?

I do find myself thinking that there are a LOT of stories to tell about the 20 year or so gap between Episodes 3 and 4... like how Han and Chewie met, for starters... and about the training Obi-Wan received via Qui-Gon Jinn's "Force ghost" that Yoda mentioned. Why did Yoda pick Dagobah to set up shop on, while waiting for Luke? And what race was Yoda... and what happened to the rest of them? Were there any remaining Jedi who were out on other assignments that had to be hunted down?

I did think it was very cool to have the same ship appearing that appeared at the beginning of Episode 4... Captain Antilles' ship that was dubbed the Rebel Blockade Runner.

More on the stories in the remaining years... how did Leia join the Alliance? What happened with the stories of the Jedi during those 20 years -- they were branded traitors when Palpatine declared himself emperor, but it seems that their reputation was later restored to them.

And why was R2-D2's memory left alone, but 3PO's was wiped? Did they figure 3PO was such a blabbermouth he'd give things away?

And isn't it a good thing the Emperor lied to Vader about Padme? He really sowed the seeds of his own destruction there, didn't he? But then... apparently Vader (who appeared truly remorseful when he thought he'd killed his wife and child) didn't turn on the Emperor when he learned Luke was his son, and just tried to turn him to the dark side.

I'm sure there are Star Wars sites out there dissecting this latest entry all over the place... and if any of you reading this know of any, let me know, all right?

Jon

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Wow.

Just got back from seeing Episode 3.

And I liked it. A lot. There were a few things I was expecting to see that I didn't (for example... I thought that perhaps Obi-Wan would have a scene with Chewbacca... after all, in the original film, Chewie and Obi-Wan meet before Obi-Wan meets Han Solo), but the plot points that were needed to complete the connection to the original movies were all there.

Lucas does have a penchant for having things happen simultaneously, though, doesn't he? I guess it started with Return of the Jedi, when the battle on Endor took place at the same time as the space battle with the second Death Star... but all three of the prequels have had that, as well...

And in Episode 3, it happens several times during the film.

But you know what? It worked for me.

I did feel the end got a bit rushed in spots, as they tried to do all the set-ups for the status quo at the beginning of A New Hope... but still, as I said, I liked it, a lot.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, and you're any kind of fan at all of Star Wars, I strongly recommend it!

Jon