Sadness

Hey, look everybody — it's Wednesday Comics Superman!

You've just been vetoed!

Since I haven't actively collected them in years, I don't normally talk about the action figure side of the geek world. Leave it to our friends in that future-world called Japan to bring me back in.

People across the globe seem excited by the idea of the Obama presidency, which officially began yesterday, and I'm definitely no exception. (That wheezing sound you hear? That's me finally breathing again after holding my breath for eight years). Maybe more than ever people are daring to hope for the best, but the Japanese — man, those guys have some expectations that might be tough to pull off. Check out this toy company's site and be sure to keep scrolling down.

I, for one, am totally ready for an administration with kung-fu grip.

Meanwhile ... the Iron Pumpkin!

So yesterday I had a dental appointment (whee!), but there was a fun surprise waiting at the reception desk. Instead of the usual clipboards and dour faces, there was a line of fancy jack o' lanterns!

Honestly, they were all pretty impressive — one of 'em was made up to look like Cinderella's pumpkin carriage and came complete with horses and a working light inside. I mean, holy crap. But of course, that's not the one that caught my eye. Instead I instantly gravitated toward Iron Pumpkin!

I don't know what the faceplate and ear-thingies are made of (Sculpey, maybe?), but it's a pretty good job. I just wonder; at the end of the day, does it go home as a drunken gourd named Tony Squash?

In case you missed the debate ...

When worlds collide

So I'm sitting at my desk pretending to be busy when I hear a co-worker say, "Super-duper! We'll be able to get right on that!"

And my first thought was — "Jimmy?!"

It's gonna be a long day.

Geek check: Taking inventory

While I was sitting here waiting for the computer to finish thinking about its latest task, I had a chance to kind of look around my work space and was surprised by how much comic book-related stuff I have on display.

Not how much, really, but how little. At one point I had a lot of comic book flotsam piled up, but eventually I decided I had to tone that shit down. Doing a 360 in my chair, I see:

• a tiny crouching Spider-Man

• a ghost with a cocked eyebrow made by Chris Yates

• my slightly too-tight plastic Green Lantern ring

• a Batman disc launcher (free with this nutritious breakfast!)

• an awesome Dead Space poster, signed by Ben Templesmith even

• another poster, this one for Staple! 2008 and drawn by Eric Powell

• Erasor, the Tiny-headed Terror of Ten Cities*

• a print-out of Archie Andrews, hand-colored with highlighters by yours truly

• a bag full of recent comics (not really a decoration, but a common enough sight here)

• an Iron Man magnet, which for some reason strikes me as funny

• and finally, a bigger Spider-Man figure with way too much articulation — he can barely stand up on his own! Which is why I usually refer to him as Drunken Spidey.

There's a whole box of more knick-knacks in a cabinet, but I'm not counting that since it's not out where everyone can see it.

So ... how is your work space decorated?

* A Post Toast to the first one to guess who Erasor used to be.

Must be the magic of Scotchgard

So yesterday I gently chided the choice of Mark Dos Santos' amiable drawing style for a creepy comic like Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar #2, and for the most part that still stands. There is something in one panel, though, that is pure genius. I give you ...

The Anti-Cthulhu
Couch-cushion Fort!

Panel from Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar #2
Michael Alan Nelson, writer; Mark Dos Santos, artist