While I still have some things to show you – I will say, it’s a bit deflating walking through the aisles in stores to find them completely void of anything Hulk. It was so nice to see a whole green section in the action figure area – but now… nada… nothing… boo. BUT! I was able to track down this beaut right here! The ever comfortable Hulk sleeping bag! I found it in Wal-Mart – and I hate Wal-Mart – but I will go in to get Hulk stuff. So much for will power. This sleeping bag has a small light up feature on the side – which is cool, I mean, I know I would have loved a light up feature on my sleeping bag as a kid!
Bam! Out of the sac! Comes with it's own pussy!
Sorry, I couldn’t get a pic without my kitty. He loved the sleeping bag. And please excuse my attempt at dirty humor above… it’s not everyday I’m in the mood to be inappropriate (tee-hee!) One more shot: BAM!
Haven’t had one of these in a while – and then I found this. They took the first Bowen FS and made him… Santa? Santa Hulk? Is he bringing toys for the good little superheroes?
“Captain America – you were such a good boy all year – a brand new sheild!”
“Thanks Santa Hulk – you’re the best! And what happened to your shoes?”
Man, I hope Bowen’s Maestro has sculpted hair – because the real stuff can look… well, like this.
Thanks to a frequenter to the site, Kevin, he put this commission into perspective for me. Yes, the Leader grabbing Hulk’s naughty beans is better than his hand stuck up his brown eye… Thank Kevin!
Alright, here’s another commission. This was done at the Big Apple Con that I went to back in November. I was on a bit of a Leader kick. I asked this team about a commission Hulk vs. Leader. They gave me a price and then told me it would be a couple hours. Well, it was almost 4 hours! That’s okay – and the commission looks pretty good… there are a few things I could pick on… not that I want to – but I would like this better if The Leader didn’t look like he was trying to grab Hulk’s nuggets. Can you hear the Leader now? “I don’t think you want to smash Hulk – I will fondle your naughty beans if you let me live!” But the classic style that the Leader was done in couldn’t look any better and the Hulk is perfect. I really like the original art that I have been accumulating – and it truly is a one-of-a-kind collectible. Totally boss! Do people still say boss when they mean awesome? Do people still say awesome?
Alright, so this was my favorite of the two. They seemed to have rewritten a bit of Hulk history though. It starts with Wolverine being asked to investigate the destruction to a local Canadian town. As Wolvie does he comes across a crying Bruce Banner. Wolverine recognizes his scent as the monster he’s been searching – this of course is the part that they re-wrote for the cartoon – Wolverine’s first appearance with the Hulk was obviously with his fight against the Wendigo – pre-Wendigo hybrids… – Anyways… just as Wolvie is going to tear into Bruce he Hulks out and start to use Wolvie as a punching bag. This is my favorite fight – when Hulk causes a chunk of the mountain to crumble? Awesome! And they continue to fight under the water – and then back on land where Wolverine begins to use his claws on Hulk – and they work surprisingly well… I know weird, right?
The fight rages on until they are hit with tranquilizers. Those also work surprisingly well on characters with great healing factors – but I digress. We see Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red and Deadpool – best character ever! – which can only mean one thing. Weapon X program! That’s right! Weapon X was hoping to figure use Hulk’s power for their own uses! Wolverine slices through the Weapon X base – and a few arms, including Deadpool’s and Deathstrike’s – while every one’s gunning to kill Wolverine he frees Bruce and unleashes the Hulk on everyone. Best Scene Ever! No one is even a match for the jade brute! Dead Pool shoves a grenade in Hulk’s mouth – and it just agitates him even more!
I haven’t had a chance to watch the Special Features – or even to check out the digital comic that the DVD came with – that was the Target Exclusive – Best Buy had a pack of trading cards – but when I do I will let you know what I thought. Anyways, the movie ends with the Hulk destroying the Weapon X base and Wolverine and Hulk ready to battle once again. Stay tuned till after the credits too!
I really liked this one – it was a bit more graphic than the Thor one. It also had language that was right on the cusp of being inappropriate for kids under 9 I’d say – but it’s also that much more enjoyable for the adults watching. I wish there were cartoons like this when I was in High-School! Worth the buy – don’t just rent it – buy it!
I guess I will start by telling you that I was looking forward to these DVD’s for a while. I also had to avoid the many, many inconsiderate people who post plot summaries and spoilers WAY before these were released! I list spoilers – but I at least wait until the thing is actually out! Or mention that the review is riddled with spoilers! That being said – if you don’t want to know anything about these cartoons – stop reading… HERE!
Alright, down to the nitty gritty. My niece liked this cartoon better. Thor vs. Hulk always had the best fights – and Hulk had his fair share of wins over the years. This cartoon puts any question about who is stronger to an end. Let me just say – Hulk humiliates Thor in such a way, I started to feel bad for the Nancy boy. That’s right! I called him a Nancy! Long, flowing locks, pretty blue eyes – the guy is hotter than half the females in the MU – and that’s disturbing.
So, Loki, Thor’s half-brother, who hates his guts, has come up with a way to destroy his brother. Bring in the Hulk – remove Banner – put Loki’s mind inside, and WA-LA! Dead Thor! Thing is – even though Thor is pretty – he’s still a tough mother trucker. Him and his large hammer can pack quite the wallop! Well, Loki’s plan works perfectly – until the Hulk becomes so enraged that he breaks the spell and is released on Asgard – a mind-less, rage filled Hulk. Thor finds his brother to give him a little “talking to” about misbehaving when they discover that Loki had tired of Banner’s whining and has killed him. That’s right. Loki killed Bruce. The jerk. That means they have to venture down to Loki’s daughter’s realm and rescue Bruce from Hell. Meanwhile, Bruce is back with Betty and their kids and living the good life. Loki tells his daughter that she only has half a soul and needs the Hulk’s soul to complete it. She brings the Hulk to Hell – and learns very quickly that it was a huge mistake as Hulk starts to destroy everything. So they rip Bruce out of his pretend world and tells him that he needs to merge back with the Hulk. He doesn’t want to – but eventually they do. Loki’s daughter (sorry I forgot her name) tells Thor she will let Banner go – but she wants a soul to replace it. Thor says she can have his – but he’s not going to give it up without a fight – so she takes Loki’s instead.
Tomorrow I will be posting the review of the other movie. Vs. Wolverine – which, coincidentally, I liked a lot better!
Yes, I did pick up the VS. DVD’s today – but I will post my reviews tomorrow and Friday. Today – it’s the last Regener8’rs! The movie Regener8r’s aren’t that great – but they did enlarge the Hulk head car – which they didn’t have before. Goodness, something looks wrong with this guy! The tiny, little nose in between his bulging eyes… the out of control, wild eyebrows spiking out everywhere and of course there’s the 6 feet between his nose and his mouth. Still, it looks like the Hulk, and because of that you should definitely add this to your collection. I got all of the Regener8’rs at Kaybee Toys 3 or 4 weeks before Christmas – but I hadn’t seen them around anywhere else really. If you missed these – check out ebay. This one is a must have!
I found these at Target – they collect a lot of the Marvel Adventure stories – which are the more “kid friendly” Marvel Comics. These are original stories with original art that really rocks! Written by Paul Benjamin, these stories have quite the line up of heroes – Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Namor (Did someone say “The Defenders?”) which is smart of Marvel, especially if they are trying to turn the young kids out there into comic fans. I hate to say it – but not a lot of kids that I see read comics. They know who the characters are but some have never even held a comic book! That’s a scary thought. If we want these comics to survive we need to get kids into reading them! Here’s an idea – next Halloween give out comics rather than candy! Of course – the Hulk DVD’s that come out tomorrow won’t hurt either! I will be posting my reviews this week!
Monster Unleashed
Not only will the parents enjoy the fact that you aren’t rotting their kids teeth – but the kids may be exposed to something that they will begin making a habit out of! I know comics are starting to become a little more expensive – but let’s face it… these comics are not really going to retain value. Comics now are not like the silver-age comics. They really aren’t going to be worth… well, anything. But that doesn’t mean we should enjoy them! They are still great stories that should be treasured forever!
Hulk's Greatest Battles
Even this little TPB is awesome! It collects some of the older stories such as Tales to Astonish #’s 92 & 93 starring the Silver Surfer. The classic Incredible Hulk #181 starring… seriously? You need me to tell you? The Incredible Hulk vs. Fin Fang Foom one-shot, and the Marvel Adventures Hulk starring the Fantastic Four. The moving cover is pretty sweet. From one angle you see the Hulk and turn it slightly and you will see Dale Keown’s Bruce Banner.
Steven Yarish – the man who runs the greatest Hulk site ever (and that’s saying a lot because I really love my site!) told me where to find the mega-blocks Hulk stuff. Walgreens. By the way – Steve’s site is in my blogroll – it’s called the Engine of Destruction – if you haven’t checked it out do yourself a favor and do so right now! I never shop at Walgreens, so I was very happy that someone told me to go in there, otherwise I would never of had this. There’s one more set, a larger one, that I haven’t located yet -but I’m not really too worried about it. I have the big big one with the two figures.
Close up of Hulk
It’s funny they always stick the Hulk in a car or something because when was the last time that the Hulk had to go somewhere and thought – “Where did I leave my car?” Exactly! Never! Hulk has huge sausage fingers too! Can you imagine him having to handle keys? It’s like trying to type on a cell phone with gloves on.
The Hulk 100 Project was, in case you were living under a rock, a great project for the Hero Initiative – which is a non-profit corporation that helps comic creators in need. There is only one printing of this book – through an agreement between Marvel and the Hero Initiative this book will not be re-printed. Ever. If you didn’t get this – that’s really too bad because you won’t see this book any more.
Alan Davis Hulk Cover #1
Basically, what happens is Marvel prints out a bunch of blank covers for Hulk #1. They gave them to some artists – 126 to be exact – to create a one of a kind Hulk cover that will be auctioned off. And, true enough, most of them went for a good amount of money. The most was Frank Cho’s cover, it went for $ 7,500, but IT DIDN’T EVEN FEATURE THE HULK! But my favorite was Dave Simmons:
Dave Simmons
And Herb Trimpe did a great one with some classic villains:
Sorry – this should have been posted earlier but Lost was on last night. I love that show. So, here’s a quick item for Thursday – one of the sorriest looking stuffed Hulks ever! It’s disturbing how strange looking he is. He’s puffy – with Richard Grieco spiky hair and a creepy molester smile. Man, this thing is so ugly! So whay do I have it? How could you not get one of the worst Hulk ever created?
Now this is more like it! I showed you a commission that was a let down – so today I show you one that was sort of a nice surprise. Paul A. Hajj has a cool little website here – he likes to draw superheroes and drew the Hulk a few times before. Once here:
Hulk #1
Another here:
Hulk #2
He even did an Abomination here:
Abomination!
I enjoyed his style and asked him to create a Fixit just for me. He did and this was the results:
Fixit in Green
I liked it – but Fixit wore blue. I asked him to change the suit and he did – really super cool and easy to work with guy and came out with a fun rendition of one of the best Hulk incarnations! Trust me, the pic is great looks great when printed out – if you’s like a cartoony, digital commission – this is a guy to look up!
I had the hardest time tracking this guy down! After I sold my extra #181 I had a nice chunk of change – I bought the 2 McGuinnness pages as well as this guy with the funds! But a funny thing happened… I bought this guy off ebay, the seller sent it to me – but I opened the package, which was strangely longer and skinner than I expected. And then I found out why. Upon opening the package I discovered a Stone Cold Steve Austin figure.
Close Up
I was so bummed. I had been trying to find this figure for a good price for over a year! And now this! I emailed the seller – he apologized and asked that I send the figure back. He refunded me the money and told me that he would send the Hulk figure if he gets it back. I wasn’t holding my breath. But sure enough – almost a month later! – I get another package in the mail! I got it the same time I received the Marvel Select Hulks in the mail. Inside was the Hulk figure! The seller had refunded me the money AND still sent me the figure! Now that is service!
Side of Package
I love the little unique things about this package – the plastic cover has small, drawn cracks on it – like the Hulk has been trying to break out! And the sides of the package have huge images of the Hulk’s face! The other side has a different image – the Hulk’s mouth is closed – but man, I am so happy to have finally gotten this! Definitely worth the pick up!
Loeb hasn’t done enough to ruin comics as of late so he will be releasing a “Smash!” one-shot in April. If Smash looks familiar it’s because… THAT’S THE FREAKIN’ HULK! Just purple! Like Barney on steroids! Or a pumped up Grimace! Disturbing to say the least. This monstrosity comes from Liefeld – the same man who brought us Agent America. A man who knows something about plagiarism. This comes from Image Comics – the house of ripping off ideas…
So, I usually try to support any artist that I enjoy – especially undiscovered ones that I find – people who have blogs or pages and display their stuff that they sketch out for fun. So is the case with this piece. I love this website called the Daily Sketch and I decided to ask the guy about commissions. Keep in mind that I was fairly new at this – the guy quoted me a price I was a little hesitant about but finally agreed to. Looking at his other stuff I was excited to see what he would come up with. Than he sent me an email asking if I wanted a file sent to me – or do I want him to print one out and send it to me. I was stunned because the price he quoted me was A LOT for a simple digital print – I was almost angry! After another few emails he said he would send the actual piece, inked. The problem was… I wasn’t very happy with the piece itself. It wasn’t up to the quality that I had seen in his other work. Needless to say it was a lesson learned in being a little more clear in what I’d like – to make sure both the artist and the customer are completely clear on what they expect in a commission. I wish the story was a little better – but it’s an Iron Man vs. Hulk piece. And no, I still haven’t warmed up to this piece. When I look at it I think it looks a bit rushed. A bit of a let down. Live and Learn I guess.
Another shot
He even sketched a small Hulk head on the envelope that he sent it in – it was as good as the actual piece. That was almost a tell tale sign that this piece was a quick and rushed piece. I wish I had something brighter and happier to tell you – but alas you will have to wait till tomorrow for something more fun!
Ratchet's Hulk Collection 