the eBay

I don’t often wear my Tom Servo “I’M HUGE!” t-shirt for the same reason.

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Another recently arrived purchase from the eBay: a companion Sluggo magnet for the one I received a few days ago:


This Sluggo is kinda sorta posed the same way as the Sluggo in the last Sluggo Saturday, only sans moustache.

• • •

Arrived at the store this week is an assortment of buttons called “DC Superheroes Have Issues,” and some of the buttons feature pics of superheroes and villains with captions identifying their particular problem and, perhaps, intended to comment on the wearer of said button. Like, Batman’s says “Needs Anger Management,” Flash’s is “Speed Freak” (er…), Dr. Fate’s is “Painfully Shy” (because of the full facemask, you see), and Joker’s is “Just Crazy,” which is pretty funny, actually.

The best one is probably this one:


And while this may be a problem of the Penguin’s (though perhaps overstating it a bit):


…that’s…um, well, what can you say, really. Apparently, expected demand for this button was low, as this was the only one in the box. Or maybe it’s a Rare Chase Retailer Incentive Embossed Foil Die Cut Cover – Death and Return of Captain America and Superman Autographed by Alex Ross and Buck Rogers and Silver Spoons Star Erin Gray Button! Starting Bid $129.99! L@@K! H@T! We Take PayPal!

…Er, sorry about that.

For some reason, I Googled “morbidly obese Penguin” and up came this page, and apparently the phrase is some kind of internet thing. Maybe. I guess. Who can tell?

• • •

Finally got around to reading some of this week’s comics, and regarding Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin #16…without getting into spoilers, let’s just say that they weren’t kidding about it being a “game-changer.” I mean, we knew where it was going, given the premise of Batman, Inc., but how it got from here to there is something else. Of course, my first reaction to reading it is “I wonder what they’re going to have to do when they eventually change everything back to the way it was” since, like any comic book character with this long an existence and with this much tie-in merchandise and other media translations, the inertia of its own history and reader/general public expectations always tends toward reverting these kinds of temporary fiddlings with the formulas. But, given the kind of change made, and the relative significance of the character, I suspect the transition back to the old status quo may be as traumatic as the change over to the new one…and I also suspect Morrison has said transition already built into place for when the time comes.

Oh, the comic was good, too.

Three things I found on the eBay.

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MING DEMANDS MORE GLITTER: a Ming the Merciless iron-on transfer from 1979 that features, yes, glitter. Thanks, Disco Era!


Here’s an old Popeye and Olive pin, featuring Popeye before the tragic loss of his right eye:


And then there’s this:


This belt buckle is delivering a message, and that message is “Batman will traumatize the skulls of criminals…for America,” which is something we can all get behind, surely.

In which Mike tries to get you to do something for him for free, and then asks you to buy stuff through his Amazon links to boot, the big jerk.

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I’ve been trying to come up with a new title banner for the site, there…not that I don’t love the Nancy and Sluggo, but I try to cycle through the banners every once in a while since…well, I don’t actually own those characters an’ all. Anyway, I’ve discussed this before, so click that link if you want to read me going on and on about it.

However, 1) I never seem to make the time to cook up a new banner for myself, and 2) I haven’t had any really good ideas for one, anyway. So, if any of you enterprising folks out there have a few spare minutes, a working graphics program, and a desire to lend a hand to a complete stranger on the internet simply because he asked, then please, feel free to slap together a banner, 825 by 100 pixels, that incorporates the title “mike sterling’s progressive ruin” (all lower-case) in the monospaced Courier font, and send it to mikester (at) progressiveruin dot com.

And, since someone’s going to ask: no, you don’t have to use Nancy and Sluggo (in fact, um, you probably shouldn’t, since I’ve been using them there for the last few months), and no, you don’t have to use Swamp Thing…but I certainly wouldn’t mind it.

This is a tad presumptuous of me, I realize, but hey, you never know…someone out there might be itching to provide me with a swell banner, and now is that person’s chance! It’s not a contest or anything…there’s no deadline, no Grand Prize (though I’ll see if I can’t send something to contributors), but if I use your logo, at the very least you’ll get a prominent “LOGO BANNER BY ________” link somewhere on my page, if you’d like.

I reserve the right to not use banners for any reason (sorry, Sims, that means no Tarot logo), and please don’t get mad at me if I don’t use your banner. Nothing personal. I still like you. We can, you know, still be friends, we’ll just be seeing other people, that’s all. It’s not you, it’s me.

There’s also so guarantee of how long I’ll use your banner. Maybe, eventually, if I get enough different banners, I can have them randomly come up whenever you load my page! That’ll make three different things that randomly load on my site with each visit! That won’t drive anyone crazy at all!

In other news:

  • Blake Bell recently posted an MP3 of Gary Groth’s 1992 interview with Todd McFarlane for the Comics Journal. Really, if you haven’t read the interview (and it’s a doozy…I remember thinking at the time “this is one of the most powerful people in the comics industry?”), do yourself a favor, set aside an hour, and give this a listen. You’ll be hornswoggled.

    Don’t listen at work, though, as Mr. McFarlane has quite the salty tongue.

  • Chris Karath presents more photos of recent action figure acquisitions, including the Marvel Zombies Spidey and Cap, as well as the Justice Armored Green Lantern.
  • MAN-THING VERSUS BEAR. Sounds dirtier than it is.
  • A Terry and the Pirates comic from the 1940s predicts Stan Lee’s future.
  • Hey, Fengi has a point…if Funky Winkerbean is jumping ten years ahead following the death of Lisa storyline (which takes place in present day)…that means the comic will now be taking place in the far-flung FUTURE! Flying cars, robot maids, Martians, the works! Okay, maybe not, but it still seems a little weird.

    Also, you should click that first link to enjoy Fengi’s own Lovecraftian vision of the strip’s future.

  • Bitterandrew presents a rather extreme punishment, Archie-Comics-horror-style. Sure, the guy was a jerk, but c’mon.
  • You should always be reading The Horror Blog, but you especially should be reading it during Halloween Month.
  • H at the Comic Treadmill has finishing his indexing of his Brave and the Bold collection, and is marking the occasion with lists of his favorite and least favorite stories and covers, noting which characters were best served and most poorly served by the series, and several other categories. Fun reading!
  • Hey, if you’re a Mystery Science Theatre fan, like I know I am, then you’ll want to know that the latest Film Crew DVD, The Giant of Pantheon, is out today.

    AHEM.


    Also, I’ve put another classic film in my sidebar for your shopping convenience.

    And I don’t get one red cent for this, but starting at some point today, the same MST3K vets who produce the Film Crew DVDs will be offering their “Rifftrax” commentary track for the first Spider-Man movie. Only $3.99…slap the file onto your MP3 player, throw the DVD into your player, and let the comedy begin.

  • Comics blogging mainstay Laura has been having some serious vehicular issues lately, and if you’d like to help out, please consider making a donation via Amazon or PayPal.

"…This is the final touch that will set you apart from everyone."

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Ladies and gentlemen…Hellboy Pants:

“All real leather Hellboy pants. Just like those worn by Ron Perlman in the sensational 2004 movie.

“These beautiful heavy black leather pants are highly detailed and come in all sizes.

“If you are looking for quality and authenticity to complete your look this is the final touch that will set you apart from everyone.”

Employee Aaron’s reaction to that eBay listing:

Me: “Hey, these pants come in all sizes!”

Aaron: “Wow, I come in all sizes!”

I so don’t want to know, you have no idea.

Yesterday at work, I was talking about Marvel action figures with one of our customers, and the MODOK action figure was mentioned. This is how that part of the conversation went:

Customer: “I have the old MODOK figure, but it doesn’t have a lot of articulation.”

Me: “Oh, just like the real MODOK then.”

…

“Just like the real MODOK then.”

“REAL MODOK.”

I hate me.

In other MODOK action figure news, I was under the assumption that the new MODOK figure (shown here) was going to be available in an upcoming Marvel Legends series. And, well, it is, but it’s going to be distributed like that Galactus figure…each figure in the series will come with a piece of MODOK, so you’ll have to buy them all in order to assemble your own villainous floating head. Rats.

Oh, and at that Galactus link, he’s described as “the gargantuan archenemy of the Avengers” instead of the Fantastic Four. Well, I guess that’s technically true, since Galactus was always trying to eat the Earth, and thus making himself the enemy of all the folks living here…including the Avengers, presumably.

Thank God I was here to set that straight.

So there’s this comic shop about an hour’s drive north of us that we’ve been doing business with for years. We’re always contacting each other trying to track down goodies for customers and whatnot, we post their flyers, they post ours…we get along swimmingly. Well, as it turns out, a young lady employed there, with whom I’ve spoken on the phone a handful of times, just happens to be a comics weblogger her own self. I just figured that out yesterday, when she gave me her name on the phone, and I finally pieced that together with some of the things she’s said about her job and locale on her site, along with the name she’s left in my comments sections. Yeah, I’m a real Miss Marple, but I still forced myself to double-check her site before I just blurted out “AM YOU COMICS BLOGGER ALSO?”

You can see her own reaction to finding out about my semi-secret double ‘blogging life here. And read her site…good reviews and commentary there.

The greatest image from an original art auction on the eBay ever.

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I found this piece of art being auctioned on the eBay almost exactly three years ago…Bob Marley and Yoda, together as Jah intended. I don’t know who painted it (I can’t make out that signature), but God bless whoever is responsible for bringing such a thing of beauty into the world.

(Some of you may recognize the image from my wall o’previous icons. It has the privilege of being my only icon that is not comics-related.) (EDIT 5/31/12: Okay, that bit about my icons isn’t true anymore. What can I tell you.)

Whining, new comics, the future, and eBay.

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I hate it when we have a rainy new comics day, mostly because we’re scrambling to unload the funnybook-filled cardboard boxes out of the truck without getting them too wet. Yeah, I know, “boo hoo, try dealing with three feet of snow, you pansy.” What can I tell you, I’m in Southern California and thus not used to the inconvenience of this “weather” you speak of.

Anyway, we got ourselves some new comical-type books yesterday, and, well, insert your own clever transition here, because I sure can’t think of one at the moment:

Infinite Crisis #2 – I just want to comment on my surprise at seeing the extremely negative terms used within the story to describe recent events in the DC Universe. Like pal Dorian said when I pointed it out, “I wonder if they used any quotes from comic ‘blogs?”

America’s Best Comics A-Z: Greyshirt & Cobweb #1 – Okay, first, why is each installment of the ABC A-Z series considered to be a stand-alone one-shot? Why isn’t this issue ABC A-Z #2? (That’s rhetorical – I already know the answer.) Second, if at some point of your story you make reference to a character’s “ice blue eyes,” maybe you shouldn’t have an extreme close-up of that selfsame character’s brown eyes. Oops. Anyway, that Greyshirt story is by Rick Veitch, who is a very, very bad man, and I hope he never changes. Those poor apes….

House of M Decimation Day After One-Shot Hey Wolverine’s Probably in It Whatever It’s Called #1 – Is anyone genuinely interested in this storyline? It seems like most of my customers that are buying this series are sort of doing so grudgingly. “Oh, the X-Men are in it, I suppose I’d better get it. (Sigh).” And not one of them seems terribly convinced that the “permanent” results of this series are any such thing…nor should they be. (I liked pal Corey‘s comment: “These people don’t know how good they had it when Grant Morrison was writing X-Men.”)

Men of Mystery Blockbuster Special – Okay, that is a lot of pages for this item, and I realize that the costs involved in producing this small-press item are probably astronomical. But still…$24.95 for a staple-bound comic book? I know there are solid economic reasons for this, but still it stopped me a bit short. Holy cow.

Friday the 13th: Bloodbath #1 – Here is the list of variants for this item, copied ‘n’ pasted from this site:

Friday The 13th Bloodbath #1
Friday The 13th Bloodbath Foil Incentive Cvr #1
Friday The 13th Bloodbath Gore Cvr #1
Friday The 13th Bloodbath Leather Cvr #1
Friday The 13th Bloodbath Red Con Foil Cvr #1
Friday The 13th Bloodbath Terror Cvr #1
Friday The 13th Bloodbath Wraparound Cvr #1
Friday The 13th Sp Surprise Cvr #1

I’m sorry, I don’t remember what the “surprise” is…beyond the number of covers, that is, but I don’t know if that counts as a surprise, anymore.

Corpse Bride action figures – Now, normally, we wouldn’t have bothered to order these, but we had sufficient interest in this action figure series that we went ahead and ordered a case. In July. It finally showed up this week, several weeks after the movie’s opening. Hopefully the interested parties are still as such. Ah, well. Plus, I can’t shake the feeling the primary reason for this film’s existence is to sell more and different merchandise to the same crowd that had been eating up the Nightmare Before Christmas goodies.

I had a young man looking for #2 of a particular Marvel comic series. I thought he meant the actual issue #2, but eventually I figured out that he meant the second trade paperback. In fact, he was confused by the very idea of individual, monthly comic books being reprinted under one cover. Such is the way of the future, I suppose.

“THE SIMPSONS Homer as Deathstroke”

“Just imagine Bart as Robin, Lisa as Raven and Milhouse as Beast Boy taking on Homer as Slade Wilson.”

I’ve imagined it, and now I can’t get it out of my head.

EDIT: Since this auction will be deleted from the eBay’s servers eventually, I thought I’d steal the image and put it up here for posterity: