GeneticNinja

That's a really nice room setup. I keep debating about getting that Skinner Matrix poster you have.

I remember when Phantom Menace was released Mark Hamill said something about keeping secret the stuff in his collection or people would steal it. Someone posted a video of him getting a Jim Lee drawing too. So I would assume he still has comic stuff.

I finally decided to watch Dark Phoenix. And it's not that bad. I think there is a good movie somewhere in there. The actors are fine. The villain is kind of generic, perhaps because of the story cuts. But she's better than the last one. The music is good. I might get the soundtrack. The space opening is cool. Seeing the X-Jet is always awesome though. We finally have a good actress playing Storm. She didn't really get the chance in the last movie, which I thought was fairly forgettable. I wish Storm had more to do in Dark Phoenix. But she's pretty cool in all her scenes even the funny ice cube making sequence. I liked Dazzler's light show in that scene too but not the song from what I heard. These X-Men movies seem to be good with the cameos and quick scenes. Quicksilver always has some of the best scenes in these movies. Cyclops needs more time too but you can see him becoming the leader. I think overall the problem with the movie is that it feels kind of average. Jean is still doing the confetti stuff at the end which made me remember the terrible Last Stand movie. That fight scene in the street at Jean's house also reminded me of Last Stand. Maybe I don't remember the comic story but I wasn't buying her character. It feels like this sort of story should be built up over multiple movies as her actions seemed out of character and for the sake of the story. I did like the train fight. That's when we get to see the best scenes with Storm in the entire X-Men series I think. Which is pretty sad that it took this long. I believe I posted it before with these movies or another comic property, but after seeing these movies you should want to get Blu-ray and the Hot Toys figures. And these X-Men movies don't make me feel that way. Although I would take a casual costume Cyclops and Storm Hot Toys figures. But that's not happening. It's a odd way to end the X-Men series too on an ending that might as well be the same as the X2 ending. X2 is still my favorite. But maybe if X2 didn't exist Dark Phoenix would be my favorite. Perhaps that says something about how average I feel the whole series is. I did read above and on the wiki that Dark Phoenix was supposed to be a two part movie. But still, they need to get this stuff right with the amount of money they are spending. Although the profits from the previous movies certainly covered the loss on this one. Perhaps they will get it right on the next introduction of the X-Men. PS - Another thing, I thought at the end of the last movie that they would get the 90s costumes for Dark Phoenix? I guess they forgot about that.

What issue is this? Any images of this Against the Gods Vampirella statue? Dynamite should show images of their next Vampirella statue soon I guess from the Kickstarter. It's not a Frazetta one though. Sideshow's first one with the snake is kind of a Frazetta Vampirella. I think I saw a company post a new Vampirella teaser somewhere but I can't remember it. I bet someone will make a good one with a blood base soon.

I heard those names before but never saw a movie with them. Perhaps I'll check one out for laughs. Thinking about it now, it would be kind of strange to see adults rushing to buy drugs from an ice cream truck. I knew nothing about drugs in middle and high school. But I've crossed paths with far too many girls who were ok with having relationships with actual drug dealers.

I didn't think drivers were doing signatures anymore with the virus. I've had signature packages left for a while now from both UPS and FedEx. I'm sure if people wanted to do scams they would have a high chance of getting their money back or a replacement item with the whole item unsigned and missing excuse. Or course, if you have a normal or driver you know, you might put their job at risk.

They added a free sketchbook stretch goal to the Kickstarter. I was really hoping that a stretch goal would be making a better package for these books. They did that previously on some of their Kickstarters. I still don't get it with these Kickstarters though. If you are getting money from fans, I would think you want to give them the best possible package. I don't see how a free sketchbook would make people who already donated want to buy more books.

I hate it when people steal. I've had comics and many things stolen from me before. I never forget those for some reason. It looks like they really hit the city's downtown area though. There are people even posting videos online showing others running though stores.

I tend not to compare artists because I don't like to grade creativity. But modern artists that draw similar themes and who I look forward to getting comics and artbooks from are Frank Cho and Mark Schultz.

Yeah that's the thing with comics and wanting as close to mint as possible. You depend on so much to get it that way. But at the comic shop, you pick what you want. I would hope people working at Midtown are good at picking stuff though since they do sell different graded comics. I would assume like 95% of my Midtown orders arrived fine though. Never had to send any pictures back then.

Those slot cars were popular back then. I think I owned a few. But I only remember one for Knight Rider right now. And hating how the cars would jump off the rail if you went too fast. Are Ice Cream trucks around anymore? I remember them at parks and occasionally in neighborhoods. Those massive menus of different types of ice cream bars were always cool to look at. But then I remember playing Vice City and selling drugs from the Ice Cream truck. I don't know where they got that idea from but I assume someone tried it in real life. For some reason, I'm remembering a toy store with a moat type bridge to cross before entering. I don't know if it's this one. Or one of those Child World castle locations. But I can't remember this toy store from that video.

There is an older Flesk Al Williamson book? I was talking about this Flash Gordon print. I like his backgrounds. I remember enjoying his Classic Star Wars artwork too. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fleskpublications/the-astounding-worlds-of-al-williamson-and-mark-schultz/description Yeah from what I've read over on this other forum, none of the recent collected editions have those backup stories. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/spotlight-on-mark-schultz-t28162-s160.html They have a few Schultz topics over there. But I believe the Flesk Xenozoic hardcover that was limited to I think 500 was probably the best quality. I don't have that one. They made a paperback which went out of stock recently. I was hoping that it would be replaced with a new slipcase version not this smaller thing which they could have made on their own without a Kickstarter if they want a new audience. There is his Portfolio book as well which I recommend. That's a very nice book of a lot of his artwork. I have the deluxe slipcase version of that.

I haven't ordered from them in a while. I know they are a lot more popular now. I really want to get back to going to a comic shop. But when I did receive damaged items from Midtown, which was only a few times. They always sent me replacements. Or if it was sold out, a high discount or let me keep it if was really damaged. Usually, like with all online dealers, I try to order a lot so I get shipments in a box. That's always best to me. But it all depends on the packing and your luck with the mail carriers. I've received damaged items before that look like they were run over with a truck.

With the whole stay at home if you can thing, while watching the news I'm spotting a lot of people with comic books, posters, original artwork, and other stuff in the background of their homes. I guess it's nice to see how popular comics are these days. As I remember different behavior from many when I was growing up for reading comics. I should be more aware of the names of the people. But many times I'm just channel flipping or listening in the background. 1. The lady reporter with a New York newspaper had the recalled Spider-Man teaser poster in the background. 2. A doctor has comics in his shelf on display. He had Dr, Strange and he changed some stuff to add the first Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel issue. 3. A lawyer had what I'm assuming is a framed Fantastic Four original cover with another piece of original artwork next to it. 4. One guy had some of those small comic character figures in boxes. The figures with the oval heads. 5. Another lawyer had an Amazing Fantasy #15 poster. 6. Of course probably the most popular one is the comic writer who was harassed and threatened in New York had original artwork behind him. Any one notice others? I know I spotted a National Security lawyer with a Wonder Woman phone case once.

Some of these Lego sets are really expensive. I thought about getting that one. I had Hot Wheels like many when I was a kid. But these days, the higher end models are more exciting. It's like comparing a small figure to a Hot Toys figure. I did think for a while about getting one of the new Hot Wheels trailer collection though. But passed.

The Kickstarter started today. I guess yet another format for a collected Xenozoic will be next year. The Kickstarter says that the new story is for 2022 now. That smaller Xenozoic paperback & hardcover format isn't for me. You want work like this in a large format. But I guess some people these days are ok enjoying stuff on small screens and smaller formats. Still, I don't get it. If they want this for new readers, why not give small and large format options since this is a Kickstarter? Especially since Kickstarters are usually for fans of whatever company or product. Companies do like to get people to buy the same thing multiple times these days. But still, I think it might be a difficult sell to say buy this small format now to help with the new story. And then here is a large format deluxe edition next year to go with the new story. I do like this image. Perhaps a print will be an add on / stretch goal. Or a print for next year. I'll probably get that Al Williamson book later on. I might search down an old Flash Gordon print he made a while back.

Is this a custom magazine display?

Since comic pages are one of a kind, I tend to believe they are all grail pieces. I was too late on a cover and haven't seen it for resale ever. So I believe in watching for those pages and covers that you really want.

You're probably right. I don't remember the cookies being very expensive. No more than a few dollars for a dozen. I know I went to Mrs Fields once or twice and I remember her cookies were bigger, heavier, and more expensive. Like cookies for a higher end customer. I remember white chocolate and some kind of macadamia nut cookie. Also some kind of semi sweet chocolate and milk chocolate. Interesting options but I didn't want anything like that. Too confusing for a kid. Checking her site, she doesn't make those anymore it seems. But I like the more simple Original Cookie Company cookies. What are the best chocolate chip cookies these days? I haven't had one in years. I probably should make some homemade. But I wish I could just go to Original Cookie Company and get a few.

I too am noticing an extra 2 to 3 days on mail deliveries. Tracking that just says packages are moving through the USPS system or something like that. There is something going on with USPS. No politics here. But many cities are encouraging vote by mail as they should be with this virus situation. There should be official drop off boxes too. When I vote in person, I would go early anyway. Almost 100% of the time, I'm like in the first 5 or 10 people.

You mentioned candy shoppe and cafeteria and I remembered this cookie store. It was called Original Cookie Company. They had the best cookies. They weren't too big and were always fresh. I would get a bag of sugar and chocolate chip cookies after going to the mall. Usually after playing at the arcade or getting a book or video game. This image doesn't show it but I remember the oven was right up front. They always seemed busy. I can't believe they closed. I remember they were in just about every mall I visited. I don't remember shopping at Sears a lot. I don't know why we didn't do more shopping there. Seems like there was more choice of big stores then. I did use Sears catalog for games at times. Christmas catalogs were the best. I would always look for the playsets, vehicles, and games. Toys R Us and Kay Bee were the main ones for me. Also, I'm remembering old Sharper Image catalogs. They always had stuff that seemed so high end and for rich people. Sears had a place where I remember picking up games. I think they came out on a conveyor belt sort of system. Kind of like airport luggage. Also I read about a place called Service Merchandise. It's possible that I would check their catalog. But I don't remember visiting the store. I wish I could find more of those old catalogs and mall directory guides. I found my old kiddie camera manual but no camera. Or photos either for that matter.

What's FOMO? I hate all the sell out hype stuff on the forums. I saw a youtube video with a guy talking about how he missed the pre-order. It's like the old days of attempting to get Mondo Tees posters. But I don't know how they can do a pre-order that sells out. I guess I'm used to the old days of pre-order meaning a company would take all the orders for people that wanted the item early. Not take limited orders. I did think a separate Baroness would come out from a post on Craig Drake's Facebook about the preview artwork. But I thought they would have shown it by now.

I probably breezed over it in the video as I was looking and pausing at the contents. I read it over on this forum where they have an Artist Edition topic that I check. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/marvelmasterworksfansite/spotlight-on-frank-frazetta-contains-nudity-t34258-s120.html I imagine that in the end, the series of Vanguard books might equal or better the Icon, Legacy, and Testament books. I do like how that first series has insights from other artists. I believe it is Testament that has it. I have to check. Post #137 in that link above has a post from the publisher Vanguard about the book. I have nostalgia for those three books though because they were some of the most expensive books I purchased at the time. I was just getting into high end books with slipcases. And there was a level above the deluxe copies too.

Well I missed the original hardcover Xenozoic. So a nice deluxe slipcase version is what I'm after. If it's like the deluxe Storms at Sea we are in for a treat. I think the plan is for the new Carbon book next week. Then some time next year is the new Xenozoic story most likely along with the new edition of the complete Xenozoic. I can't remember exactly what they posted on their Instagram. And I don't have an Instagram account and can only go back so far. But I did see his work on the new pages a few months ago.

I didn't know that this is going to be a series of multiple books. Something to look forward to every year or so now.