Toy Commercial Tuesday: The Hulk Rage Cage!

Posted on by TJDietsch

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I’m fairly confident I found a doozy here! Check out the Hulk Rage Cage produced by Fun Stuff in the late 70s. I’d never heard of this one, but I love the idea of a toy designed to fully capture the Jade Giant’s destructive capabilities. On the other hand, I’m not sure how much replay value this would have after the first few bar-breaks.

What’s even crazier, though, is that this idea has persisted over the years. It looks like Toy Biz made one as part of the Marvel Super Heroes line in the early 90s, but also brought it back a few years later in a line dedicated to the Hulk’s UPN cartoon! Nice work Fun Stuff!

My Favorite Blockbuster “Discoveries” Of 2017

Posted on by TJDietsch

Happy New Year everyone. I decided to celebrate by compiling a series of lists celebrating my favorite films and shows of 2017. Sounds like pretty standard stuff, right? Yup, totally. However, these lists will include not just new films from last year, but new-to-me ones that I enjoyed. This one celebrates the glory of big screen blockbusters, most of which I saw on the small screen because, you know, kids.

First off, I’d just like to reiterate how much I enjoyed Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014) and San Andreas (2015) from director Gary Peyton.  I had a great time watching both of those movies earlier this year and highly recommend checking them out if you’re looking for big budget disaster fare. I also had a silly amount of fun watching Vin Diesel in 2015’s The Last Witch Hunter helmed by Breck Eisner. I think this will make a great weekend movie tune-in type of movie.

Continue reading My Favorite Blockbuster “Discoveries” Of 2017

The Midnight Comic Club Episode 10 – A Sinister Six Pack

Posted on by TJDietsch

Welcome to the tenth meeting of The Midnight Comic Club! After the extensive look at Frankenstein over the past three episodes (and a week off due to illness), we’re back with a new segment called The Sinister Sixpack wherein I grab a half dozen horror comics I’ve never read before and see how that goes.

Most of today’s entries happen to not be available in digital formats. However, if you’re interested in checking them out, I’ve provided the MyComicShop links here: Tomb Of Darkness #18, Night Force #1, Marvel Chillers #2, Secret Origins #15, Unexpected #166 and Vault Of Evil #7.

As I mentioned in the episode, the original Night Force series has been collected into a very handsome volume that I’m hoping to check out in the near future. For a less expensive taste, you could also try out the DC Comics Presents Night Force 100-Page Spectacular digitally which collects the first four installments. Finally, the Secret Origins issue featuring Deadman and Spectre can also be purchased on Comixology!

If you’re curious to read my series of Jack Kirby-related monster posts, you can check out the Unleash The Beasts archives on Marvel.com here.

I had it in my notes, but totally forgot to say that Modred would have made a delightful Amicus or Hammer horror feature in the 70s!

The Midnight Comic Club Episode 8 – Frankenstein at Marvel & DC

Posted on by TJDietsch

As we come together for the eighth meeting of the Midnight Comic Club, we celebrate the November 32, 1931 release of James Whale’s Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff by looking at how Marvel and DC have integrated the character into their universes!

Starting with Marvel, check out Menace #7, X-Men #40 and the fantastic Monster Of Frankenstein trade paperback if you’d like to learn more.  Scroll on down for some images of those books as well as plenty of others mentioned in the episode. I also mentioned the Avengers: Legion Of The Unliving trade which you can check out here.

I should probably link to the episode, so here it is!

Here’s a few more of the Marvel books I mentioned: Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos, Howling Commandos Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fear Itself: Deadpool/Fearsome Four and Punisher: Frankencastle.

Moving on to DC, these are some of the books I mentioned: Showcase Presents Superman Volume 2, The Demon By Jack Kirby, Showcase Presents The Phantom Stranger Volume 2, The Creature Commandos, Seven Soldiers Of Victory Volume 2 (though you should also check out Volume 1 as well), Frankenstein Agent Of S.H.A.D.E. Volume 1 and 2 and Elseworlds: Batman Volume 1.

The Midnight Comic Club Episode 7 – Frankenstein Adaptations

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The seventh meeting of The Midnight Comic Club will begin a multi-part examination of one of horror’s most iconic characters: Frankenstein’s Monster! This particular episode will focus on five faithful adaptations of the story which showcases the mountains of despair that can fall on a human being — or monster — and still not fully consume them.

The five books I talk about in this episode are Bernie Wrightson’s Frankenstein, The Monster Of Frankenstein, Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein, Classics Illustrated Deluxe Frankenstein and Puffin’s Frankenstein The Graphic Novel.

And with that, you can listen to the episode here:

Here‘s that article I mentioned where Guillermo del Toro talked about Wrightson’s Frankenstein. It’s really good and insightful, give it a read.

If you want to read the Monster Of Frankenstein Spooklight on Marvel.com, you can! You can also read more about Marvel Unlimited here if you’re curious.

If you’re interested in the books I mentioned that I didn’t get a chance to read, this link will take you to the current printing of the Classics Illustrated take, this one will get you to Patrick Olliffe’s version and I’m still not sure what’s up with Junji Ito’s!

Ooh, I also mentioned the Larry Fessenden Blu-ray Collection which you can buy from Scream Factory!

 

Toy Commercial Tuesday: Spider-Man Spider Wars

Posted on by TJDietsch

I’m returning to the well a bit with today’s Toy Commercial Tuesday. I’ve been writing about the Wall-Crawler a lot for Marvel.com lately and it reminded me how much I enjoyed the Toy Biz line in the 90s. So, having already covered the original line, Spider Force and even Web Splashers, I hope you enjoy this look at the Spider Wars line!

Of the figures shown in this spot I’ve got Hydro Man, Kingpin, Black Cat and Doctor Strange. Hey, since I have all of my toys here, I can now back that up with photographic proof and talk about them in a bit more detail!I still love the enormous Kingpin figure, Doc Strange and his bendy cape (it’s still in the garage somewhere) and, no kidding, everything about Hydro Man from his six pack to his water squirting action feature.

My daughter and I both like the look of the Black Cat figure, but she refuses to stand up. In fact, moments after snapping the picture, she and Kingpin both toppled over. The resulting pile is NSFW. I remember seeing that crazy Cyber Spider-Man and the Doppleganger figure in stores, but they didn’t really appeal to me. I do give Toy Biz credit for coming up with interesting takes on their lead character, though.

Thor Trade Post: The Goddess Of Thunder & Who Holds The Hammer?

Posted on by TJDietsch

thor-volume-1-goddess-of-thunderMuch like Scott Snyder, Jason Aaron is a writer I’ve become a big fan of in the past few years. I haven’t finished his initial Thor: God Of Thunder run just yet, but I did finally check out the wild Original Sin and have now read the first run of Thor starring the Goddess of Thunder!

The first book — aptly called The Goddess Of Thunder — picks up after Original Sin, which saw Nick Fury whisper something in Thor’s ear that rendered him unworthy of picking Mjolnir. Even Odin fails at lifting the weapon of uru, so it’s even more surprising when a woman succeeds where they failed just in time to stop some ice giants lead by Malekith from destroying a Roxxon facility. Continue reading Thor Trade Post: The Goddess Of Thunder & Who Holds The Hammer?