gadzukes

I always knew the Challengers were similar to the Fantastic Four, but I didn't realize this comic made the comparison even greater. The cover is basically Ben Grimm (Rocky) emerging from the capsule with "Human Torch" powers! Later in the story we find he also has "Ice powers", then "Growing to Giant size powers", then "Invisibility" or "Intangibility", then "Metal Melting powers", and finally "Shocking powers". He becomes kind of a Super Skrull. All of this 2 years before FF 1 comes out! Perhaps this issue should be the "Key" of the whole Challengers run including their 4 Showcase issues? This comic is in decent shape, but you can see the flaws. It has a 1/2" spine split at the top.

I'm pretty excited about this one. The colors are dripping wet. Really the only obvious flaw is that upper left corner, although the top edge of the back cover has a light sun shadow and a little wear. Cover & centerfold are snug at the staples

Cover & centerfold are snug at the staples. Sun shadows on the back cover

Not a bad idea..... After all..... it seems like much of the story involves drinking or being at a bar so far. I did find it mildly humorous when she transformed back to her regular form and was suddenly very drunk.

Here's an interesting stamp. "The New Caledonian Market" Anyone familiar with this stamp? Is that the UK? Get Marwood & I?

Episode 1 didn't do much for me. My thought was "OK... get the "origin" exposition out of the way and the real show starts with episode 2." I give Episode 1 a 5/10 I kind of liked episode 2. Characters fleshed out a little more. New characters introduced, including her family. I'm going to give it a 6.5/10. I'm going to keep watching and I'm looking forward to the next episode.

I just asked him what he did to make the Ashe figure and this is what he told me... "The pelvis, head, and lower legs are casts from Gi joe figures. The upper legs, torso, and arms are from a Lanard figure. The chainsaw is 3D printed and even has a magnet in it to connect to the arm. I sculpted the hair, and the belt/straps in the torso. I also did some sculpting on the upper legs."

He does a lot of sculpting so he may have made the head or hair himself.

As a kid my son's favorite thing (besides legos) was to take the small GI Joes apart and put them back together, sometimes mixing and matching pieces (luckily not his valuable ones). Over the last year he has rekindled his love for "making figures" by adapting crappy figures into characters he likes. He just sent my photos of this Ashe figure from Evil Dead that he just made. I can't wait to see what he makes next. I think it's awesome.

Macthehammer, welcome to the boards. I think there's a lot of collectors who know about them now. They're gaining more and more traction and the prices have been soaring and in many cases values are on par with US versions. Perhaps 5 years in the future they'll be valued higher than the US versions (at least for Key issues)

I've got some really awesome Romance coming my way. Some look to be very high grade.

I've got this Challengers 1 coming my way. I'm pretty excited to see just how nice it is in-hand. Definitely a gorgeous comic. The colors are SO bright and the whites look SO white.

This is not GA art, but I thought it was an interesting swipe to post.

When Hulk pushed her off the cliff didn't she give him the finger as she fell? It happened fast so I'm not sure, but I thought she did. I'm no prude, it didn't really bother me, but for parents with younger kids, this isn't going to work. Does Disney do a rating system for it's shows now? I'm really out of the loop on this stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing how creative they get with cameos.

I feel like episode 1 gets all of the "Origin Exposition" out of the way. The show will really start with episode 2 (I really think the first 2 episodes should have dropped at the same time).

4.5 - 5.0 after press

I'll say 6.0 with a press