Marvel

In November of 2008, the popular collectible miniature game Heroclix was pronounced dead.

Heroclix was, and remains, the only published game where you can effectively and officially make teams of your favorite DC and Marvel heroes and bad guys and pit them against one another on a battlefield, using tiny figures that display a wide array of numbers and symbols to describe each character’s attributes. You could make DC’s Superman fight Marvel’s Hulk – and not only that, but you could make at least six or seven different incarnations of each do battle.

(Of course, Superman’s flight and ranged combat ability would give him the upper hand, but the Hulk could probably do some serious damage if you get him angry enough, or if you use ’smart’ Hulk with the giant gun.)

Over the game’s evolution, WizKids released over two dozen different sets of characters from throughout the universe of comic books. I was a pretty dedicated player from the moment that the game was released, and introduced many, many of my friends to it. We staged battles in my dorm room, over the internet, and anywhere we could find the time and space. We ran to the WizKids booth at ToyFair and got sneak peeks at production samples and asked prying questions. In short, we were fans.

The game evolved, the rules changed, and eventually, things got a bit too complicated for me to casually enjoy anymore. I gave up the game itself when I lost the ability to fly in Iron Man carrying The Thing and have him destroy everything in his path in one big move – but I kept on collecting the figures. Tiny superheroes are keen. Topps purchased WizKids, and before too long, Topps decided to very, very suddenly kill off WizKids, stunning the gaming community, as well as employees who were sent scrambling for new work. Just like every high school in the US, they were deciding to put all of their available funds towards sports-related things and leave the artists and nerds in the gutter. I’m not making this up – this was in the official statement. They did, however, decide to keep such wholesome, intelligent, and not at all alarming things as ‘Baby Bottle Pops’.

I kept my Heroclix. They were still useable, and almost every major and minor comic character had been made already – from Captain America to Zombie Colonel America, Frankenstein to MODOK – and even a gigantic Fin Fang Foom piece. There were talks of small gaming companies banding together to keep the game alive, but nothing came to fruition. Licensing Marvel and DC characters is not cheap.

In September of 2009, NECA quietly displayed a Heroclix piece at one of their convention booths. This was enough to stimulate hope and interest throughout the entire gaming community once again. Almost a year to the day of Heroclix meeting an untimely death, NECA released the ‘Hammer of Thor’ set, based on the titular Marvel Comics superhero – and still using the reconstructed WizKids to keep things in order.

While I don’t know if this ranks among the great comebacks of popular things pronounced dead, like Polaroid film, Justice League Unlimited action figures or Futurama, it’s certainly something that we gamers can all appreciate. Now, we can pit ‘Thor, Frog of Thunder’ against, oh, let’s say Ambush Bug.

If that last sentence made you at all excited, you’re a nerd. Welcome home. Let’s game.

Heros In Flight - Costume Delight

Ok, CQ folks. Today we have come to fulfill your ultimate nerd fantasy. Walk to your closet. No – actually run, because this event will be blow you away – literally.

Go get your costume. Don’t argue with us, we KNOW you have one. Come on down to New Paltz and unite with other Superfriends as you soar above the universe.

For more about this amazing event which our friends at FunList put together, read on…
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For anyone who’s ever wished they could fly, we’re offering the next best thing – the chance to free-fall while wearing a Superhero costume.

On Saturday, Oct. 24th, join us for a day of pant-soiling & skydiving near New Paltz, NY. Everyone is encouraged to bring a costume and prizes will be awarded to the best dressed. People dressed as themselves will be rewarded with non-stop ridicule.

Afterwards, we’ll take our renewed appreciation for life to the town of New Paltz for a few drinks. FunList will provide everything you need for this trip, including transportation from NYC and new underwear.

Included

• Transportation
• Skydive (training, gear, instructor, etc)
• New Underwear

Not Included

• Your Creative Costume

Departure/Return Info
Our group of about a dozen will depart from 37th/10th, in Manhattan, at 10am. We’ll be traveling about an hour and a half north, via our 15 passenger FunList van.

After our afternoon of skydiving and evening in the quaint town of New Paltz we’ll head back to NYC, arriving around 9pm. Upon our return, we’ll drop you off anywhere in Manhattan.

RSVP Info
This event is made available to you by Elizabeth Kressel, founder and CEO of Collectors’ Quest.

To RSVP, simply Register on FunList and click on the RSVP button for the Superhero Skydive event.

Sure, there were plenty of toy heroes at Toy Fair, but if I had to pick my personal heroes, it would be The Maestrosities.

See, every year, Toy Fair has the very unique distinction of having a band of sorts march around the main entrance hall of the Javits Center during opening day. As big a toy nerd as I am, the quirky marching band (usually comprised of monsters and / or figures from varying degrees of fantasy) is something I look forward to seeing a lot more than the 75th iteration of Luke Skywalker as an action figure. Oh look, this one has a raised eyebrow, as he appeared in that one deleted scene for a second! (Meanwhile, I’d be the first in line for the Darth Vader from the Scene Where He Had That Bit Of Lint On His Cape.)

This Toy Fair band, unfortunately, is usually wildly out of place, ducking and weaving between the men in business suits who are there to buy buy buy or sell sell sell. Said band is usually casually ignored by all but the most self-assured businessfolk, and it’s a strange site. I, however, am delighted like a 5 year old. Every year.

This year’s band was a group of haunted-looking musicians, carrying heavy tubas and accordions and other improbable instruments. I watched them move around the floor for a while, but the real act of heroism came later.

My pal Brian and I were eating lunch at a balcony full of tables when we heard the theme from 2001 cresting an escalator. As it came closer, we could see the Toy Fair band moving in slow motion, giving the pace of the escalator the importance of a rising sun, and again, exciting me as if I were a puppy. We applauded and hooted from our perch, and the band noticed us. What came next was perhaps the most perfect moment of all of my collected Toy Fairs. While I ate my overpriced sushi, the band stopped at the foot of the escalator and began to serenade us with one of my favorite songs – the Star Wars Cantina Song. Just for us.

We later encountered the band on the floor of the show and thanked them for the barrage of awesomeness, and despite sore feet and the pressure of keeping appointments and getting clear photos, I was reminded why I got into this job in the first place.

I did it for the accordions.

That anecdote aside, the proximity of New York Comic Con to Toy Fair meant that most major producers of superhero toys had already shown off most of their new stuff just a week previous – leaving few surprises for the geek media. I venture that it’s also worth noting that 80% of all major toy companies have dropped all toy concepts that don’t immediately link in with a film or TV show.

While Hasbro could be building on the immense popularity of the long-running and encyclopedic Marvel Legends 6” action figure line, they’ve opted to drop it almost completely and focus on a brand new line of 3 3/4” figures. In our economy, I have to question the effects of asking collectors to start a new collection instead of helping them complete an ongoing one. I think that the powerful collector’s urge to finish a set of something almost trumps the need to save a few bucks, whereas I don’t think we’re quite as compelled to start a new collection without a really good head start. Hasbro, give me a dozen of your new 3 3/4” figures and I’ll be compelled to go and buy a hundred more – but I’m just not really in a position to collect another Wolverine in yet another scale.

To that end, Hasbro premiered a few new 3 3/4” figures from a subset of the new line titled ‘Secret Wars‘. For the uninitiated, ‘Secret Wars’ was a comic event created by Marvel in the 80s, arguably for the purpose of selling action figures and playsets. The ‘Secret Wars’ subset seeks to recreate all of the original Secret Wars figures and characters in this GI Joe-friendly scale, and all in classic, fan-friendly costumes.

Also premiering were figures tied to the X-Men Origins : Wolverine film, the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon, and the Iron Man Animated Series. I admit that I’m quite ready for any new interpretations of Iron Man, after being hit in the brains with Hasbro’s repaint after repaint of the same two Iron Man figures and calling them different things. Marvel has such a rich and diverse range that can be culled from! It’s a disappointment that it’s not more financially feasible to create a greater depth of product, but I understand where they’re coming from.

DC Direct’s reveals weren’t many after last week, but each new product was exciting. Most importantly, they’re continuing their Museum Quality line of statues with a gigantic Hal Jordan Green Lantern, who joins Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The base of this sculpted-and-fabric figure also includes a removable Ch’ip figure – the squirrel-creature of the Green Lantern Corps. It’s a clever in-joke from the geeks at DC, and it’s nice.

DC Direct’s 1/6th scale figures are some of my favorites, as it’s obvious that they’re given the royal treatment. For $75 or more, they’d better. Last week, Wonder Woman was shown off for the first time. At Toy Fair, DC showed off Zatanna, everyone’s favorite backwards-talkin’ magician – fishnets and all. She’ll come with a rabbit-in-a-hat accessory, among other things. She’s another great, classic character choice from DC Direct – I can’t wait to see who’s coming up next. Can I wish for an Alan Scott Green Lantern? Go, Justice Society!

Tonner and Mattel, also holders of DC licenses, didn’t have a large increase in new products from the week before. Tonner was showing off their re-designed Wonder Woman figure, now with a bustier, more ‘heroic’ body type. Mattel had the usual DC Universe Classics, Dark Knight and Justice League Unlimited figures on display, as well as a few interesting figures from the animated Brave and the Bold line, which include a scary looking Joker and a very nice Gentleman Ghost. Who’s Gentleman Ghost, you ask? A guy with a few action figures this year, that’s who.

This year’s Toy Fair felt like a personal demonstration of how my tastes are changing from the complicated, exciting world of superheroism towards a deeper affection for the tranquil domesticity of Lego and Playmobil. Maybe this shift is subconsciously motivated by a combination of finances and space, but I’m starting to be okay with limiting myself to all of the new Batmen, while developing a hankerin’ for Lego Space Police.

More fun, as always, to come.

Collectors have definitely noted the shift in toys based on Marvel Comics since ToyBiz collapsed and Hasbro took over the creation and production of the once-popular Marvel Legends line. Hasbro has different ideas about what makes an action figure great, and those ideas don’t always sit well with collectors who’ve dedicated a whole bunch of money and time towards building a consistent collection. You want a Beast that will look right next to an Iceman and a Gambit on your X-Men shelf, and that’s all there is to it. Two She-Hulks in completely different sizes is just a little strange.

Hasbro, showing off their stuff at the Marvel booth, showed off their three main toy lines based on Marvel characters. The continuation of the 6” scale Marvel Legends line seems to be tapering away, with almost no new figures shown, and most future figures being distributed in 2-packs containing re-re-releases of characters that most collectors already have. Most of the future Marvel Legends are eschewing the classic Marvel characters that comic fans would genuinely appreciate (Inhumans, please!) and instead making figures from very current characters and comic situations. This is great if you’re into the strange synergy between seeing your favorite new character in plastic and perched on your desk, and it also sells well to newer collectors who actively read comics, but it lacks the history and endurance that Mattel’s DC Universe Classics hold.

I know that as a collector of goofy little plastic figures based on imaginary people, I enjoy ‘iconic’, not ‘popular’ – but I’m also an adult collector, not the kid who these are probably being sold to because he thinks they look neat. I understand my place in the collecting chain.

The common sentiment among many figure collectors is that Mattel spends a lot of time existing for the fans, and Hasbro is more about the profit. Anyone who’s witnessed the quality decline between past and current Marvel Legends will probably express the same idea. Hasbro’s fourth wave of Marvel Legends, a set of five with a giant ‘Nemesis’ buildable figure, is already months late and has dropped a figure from the lineup for unknown reasons. Stuff on display at last year’s NYCC has still not seen release.

Instead, Hasbro is focusing their energy on their new 3 3/4” scaled line, which is designed to fit right in with your GI Joes and Star Wars figures. While it’s awesome to be able to pit a properly-scaled Dr. Doom against Darth Vader, I’d almost prefer that we finally, at long last, get a 6” scaled Darth Vader. If you go back into toy history, the arbitrary 3 3/4” scale was created for the express purpose of saving money in the production process, and it’s hard to not see that happening here. On the positive side, Hasbro displayed a whole ton of characters, the look great, and variety is the key to any successful toy line. No one wants to collect the same character over and over again (unless said character is Batman or Iron Man, and your name is me), so the vast variety of characters that will soon be available will push the line forward. And there’s at least one Iron Man in there, so count me in… partially. It’ll be hard to beat the amazing Marvel Legends Showdown figures that ToyBiz made, though.

Finally, Marvel and Hasbro love their Mighty Muggs, and for good reason – they tap the urban vinyl toy craze at a much, much cheaper price that your average urban vinyl piece. They’re cheap to produce, as many figures are simply repainted decos of the same body. They’re cute and accessible, even if you’re not completely into every character. And somehow, despite the dark history of toy distribution and availability, they’re not hard to find. No one’s going online to rant about how they can’t find Iron Man at Target and why every Target should subsequently burn down and how Hasbro executive should walk in front of trains (which are common things said by some toy collectors when they can’t find what they want – spend some time on toy collecting forums!) Hasbro’s been spot on with creative, cartoonish and effective interpretations of classic characters onto the round, chunky canvas of the Mugg – and the only miss seems to be with the upcoming Phoenix figure.

Perhaps the Mugg form only can aesthetically coexist with the male form, but Hasbro cranked out a Princess Leia Mugg without such a negative reaction. Maybe it’s the hair, but something is funky. Hasbro had one big Marvel reveal at the Con, and that was the Target-exclusive Iceman and Magneto Muggs, which should hit sometime in the first half of this year. I’ve always like Iceman.

Marvel also has toys produced through Sideshow Collectibles, but unfortunately, Sideshow has begun to decline attending any conventions on the East Coast, as their home base is over in California, and the cost of safely shipping their museum quality (and very heavy) products is prohibitive. The stuff that Sideshow makes is exceptionally beautiful, but the company makes periodic reveals throughout the year on an irregular schedule, so NYCC wasn’t a time of anything new and spectacular.

Marvel and Hasbro, just give me some Inhumans figures, and I might come back on board. I have to say that as a collector, I’m a little out in the cold over here. I’m not feeling the collecting buzz after seeing the NYCC display, but maybe that’ll change after Toy Fair.

More NYCC awesomeness still on the way, including space vixens, space aliens and barely enough space to walk around.

It’s only been in the past few years that my love of comics has led me down the long and twisted road of comic book history – especially with modern comics of often resurrecting forgotten characters and plot points from bygone eras. Especially with my forays into drawing my own comics, knowing WHY I’m drawing comics and the efforts and styles of all of the artisans who preceded me has a real value.

Running Press recently released The Marvel Vault, an extra large spiral-bound, glossy, full-color history of the Marvel Universe, and it’s a beautiful thing. Not only does it capture the general feeling of every era throughout Marvel’s history (up until the time of the X3 and Ghost Rider movies, and the ‘Civil War‘ in the comics), but it discusses important, era-defining plot points, paralleled with the artists who came and went from the books and the greater context of everything. Every detail is accompanied by large, clear reproductions of comic pages, sketches, photos, and ephemera by way of illustration. It’s a great jumping-on point for anyone who wants a brief history of the Marvel Universe in terms of both artists and the evolution of various characters and stories.

But that isn’t what makes The Marvel Vault impressive. Spaced throughout the book are a dozen clear pages that are studded with pockets, and in each page are a handful of reproduced collectibles from throughout Marvel’s history. Among these are the original Sketches of Namor the Sub-Mariner (Marvel’s very first super-character), trading cards, stickers and letters from the Marvel fan clubs and conventions, a Marvel Comics stock certificate, and my favorite, a mini Marvel No-Prize comic that details a series of hilarious errors that were accidentally left within the pages of Marvel comics. If Marvel’s been anything throughout their entire history, it’s self-effacing underneath Stan Lee’s riotously overblown (and always semi-sarcastic) statements of greatness. All of these ‘museum’ items are paper, so while the ‘Howard the Duck for President’ badge is no longer a badge, it is a nifty vinyl sticker now. He’s my write-in vote this year anyhow.

There could always be more, but it’s definitely enough.

Because all of this stuff is in pockets, every item can be removed and inspected. Some are branded with a tiny indication that they are indeed ‘REPRODUCTIONS’, but it doesn’t distract from the fact that there’s some neat stuff hidden within the pages. The book doesn’t rely on what could easily be seen as gimmickry, nor does it rely solely on a well-grasped (but general) understanding of the history of Marvel and its artists and writers. It holds both of these aspects in fair balance, making for a neat addition to the Marvel shelf. It’s like a whole collection that’s already been pre-collected for you, and if you’re after the genuine articles, this is a great place to start the hunt. And above all, it’s FUN.

The book has a cover price of $50, so if you’re buying it from your local bookstore, get a SEALED copy. The many removable parts will surely provide far too much temptation to the sticky-fingered browsers of the graphic novel section. So, while buying it sealed will guarantee completion, also be warned that the loosely-bound spiral pages (and oversized cardboard cover) have a tendency to bend and ding very easily, and some of the ‘museum’ items have been slid into their pockets with bent corners & such – though I see this as just one more step towards authenticity. And there’s a Star Wars Museum-in-a-Book too!

Ultimately, it’s a pleasing and interesting addition to the Marvel-related library.

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