The Realm of Frivolity

Return to the Quakes

2011-06-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well - it has been a while between posts - and quakes for that matter. My overly long holiday of 1 month that took me around the world again (I stated after the last one in 2009 that I would never do it again) came to a conclusion. It was a fun holiday although I didn't plan enough lazy days.

Being home again for a few relatively quiet days was nice - although unexpected news was delivered to me on the Sunday. It was expected at some point depending on divergent destinies but I wasn't expecting it so soon. Anyhow, Monday's work was firstly disrupted by volcanic ash and then a prick of an earthquake that took down two of my comic shelves. About half an hour after fixing these up a much larger earthquake hit that took down the same comic shelves and brought down one of my DVD shelves. None of the previous earthquakes had brought down my DVD shelves.

This is getting a bit silly. Our puppy was quivering with fear afterwards and I was fed up. After initial mutterings that this was enough and I wanted to leave, I am now leaning towards the opposite opinion. I'll be damned if I am going to run away from this. That would be far too easy.

I'll try and post again before the next earthquake. Although who knows when that will be.

Earthquake - you didn't know?

2011-02-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

I have had time to compose my thoughts on this and reflect. Here I go:

Surprisingly I was in Christchurch for the quake. My job often takes me away from home for long periods but I was home after a 6 week tour of duty and working at my old haunt in Cathedral Square.

One minute I was involved in everyday, jovial banter when the thunder hit and I commando rolled under the desk I was sitting at. I was literally thrown about like a rag doll and had to grab onto the leg of the desk or else I was going to be flung around. My personal cell phone is still somewhere in that pod at work. The scale of destruction hadn't quite set in at that point. A colleague pointed out bits of High Street that had fallen down but my office was relatively intact. Only once we got out and saw the Cathedral spire had gone and the windows had shattered in our building had it quite set in. And then another bloody aftershock it while we were dazed in Cathedral Square itself. Someone pointed out that we had better move away from the Chalice that was menacingly standing alone amongst the carnage.

The walking home bit really set it off. I walked north with another two colleagues down Manchester St. I saw first hand the PGC building. The roads were a mess with liquefaction and debris. I waded through knee deep water just getting through St Albans park. The street that I live in is relatively unscathed although several streets away are flooded. I have only ventured into the outside world once since and walked to Merivale to get some fresh air - or should that be fresh dust - as that was all there was. The same can't be said for other people. Traffic was busier at 11am that day than the normal 5pm work rush to get home. What are these people doing? Why are people using copious amounts of petrol queuing up for 1 hour just to get petrol? Our infrastructure is world class. There are ports north and south of Christchurch. Deliveries will come but it will take time. Why are people stockpiling at the expense of others who toil away during the day to remove the silt etc and get our precious city up and running again?

What will happen to this magnificent city? I won't be leaving it. We will rebuild and make this city better than what we had.

I am done writing.

In respect to those that have fallen I will not be posting any pictures. There is nothing new I can add to those photos elsewhere. Words can't really describe it. I almost certainly can't.

More Usagi

2011-02-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

Easiest to answer the comments from the previous post here!

1) I would love to do the colour Mirage comics. However, those comics are a bit more expensive and harder to track down. It is achieveable and I may look to do so when I have enough issues for a 5th Usagi Dark Horse bind.

2) I did design the title pages myself. I also added an an image to the back of each title page. I have posted the below photos of each title page of the four volumes. There aren't any 'bonus' pages. I could have included the

3) I didn't see the need for a contents page - everything is Stan Sakai and the spine of the volume lists the issues contained in each bind.

4) I have attached some of the story pages. The margins are quite slim compared to the other binds I have. The book binder (a big shout out to Darren for all his help) glues the comics together so must first 'tidy them up' and a certain amount is lost on the margin - but still perfectly readable.

PS - thanks for showing an interest!

AA

USAGI YOJIMBO!

2011-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Due to popular demand (well one person demanded it anyway!) I now present my Dark Horse Usagi Yojimbo bound comics. The text below was sort of sent into the Usagi letters pages around November. I don't expect it to grace that letters column - but I have that tiny little bit of hope that it will!

It seems like I have been reading Usagi forever, so a big thank you to Stan Sakai for so many years of entertainment! I have always thought the digest sized, collected editions of Usagi are a little on the small side, but they are fantastic to grab off the the shelf and read. However, I appreciate Stan's artwork more in the slightly larger format of the individual comics, but they are harder to store than the trades and much harder to pull from the shelf to read in a quick sitting.

I wondered how I could have the best of both worlds, so I started thinking. A friend introduced me to a book binder when I returned to living in New Zealand (I have recently spent two years living in London, UK) and I have slowly begun binding a lot of my comics into the hardcover format for my personal collection. The first comic I thought of binding was Usagi, but there was a lot of preparation to be done and the project has been ongoing for the last 6 months. However, it is now complete!

I like to consider my Usagi binds the magnum opus of my comic collection. I have bound issues 1 - 120 of the Dark Horse series in four separate volumes with soft black leather covers and with silver foil logos (I had foil stamps made) to give the books a really professional feel. These volumes create an amazing compromise for the two formats of Usagi! I now have the readability of the trades with the bonus of the larger format, the colour front and back covers and all the letters pages to boot.

PS - Since I had these bound the Fanatgraphics special edition arrived on my doorstep two years after initially ordering it. Now that is a sturdy volume and complements by binds nicely!

Chronicles of NOVA

2011-01-31T00:14:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Nova

I am actually around to post! I know – shock horror – well it is a public holiday for me.

When I started binding comics I always knew I didn’t want to start with my ‘magnum opus’ as there are always teething issues with anything. Ask any Action Figure customiser. You have to find the right materials, trust the right people and do your research. Low and behold my early binds were missing a few issues here and there that I didn’t even know about and I didn’t realise that spending an extra $10 bucks making a thicker foil stamp would save everyone a lot of time.

I had a streamlined process in place by the time I got to Usagi Yojimbo Dark Horse issues 1-120 which will always remain my favourite books. The combination of leather covers and the custom made dual foil stamps will always make that one a delight that stands out on my bookshelf.

My Nova project has been ongoing ever since I first started binding. I didn’t know what end point to use as a cut off as the series was ongoing. The Thanos Imperative gave me a pretty logical endpoint (thanks Dan & Andy!!) to finish up on so that aspect took care of itself.

I have the glorious oversized Hardcovers – but they stopped doing the Nova ones. I can’t understand that they just put out issues 1-12 when there are 3 hardcovers worth of material. Anyway, griping over.

I initially also had some trouble in tracking down the original Annihilation comics for a decent price. Why didn’t I just buy a trade of Annihilation and just throw it in there? I just like consistency. I can’t throw a trade willy-nilly into the middle of individual issues. I must have consistency across the whole spectrum of the bind. I also spent a bit of time ensuring the reading order was chronological in terms of Nova’s actual life. I couldn’t fit Secret Avengers in there without ruining the flow of the Abnett and Lanning comics so I placed them in an appendix at the back. Better than excluding them altogether.

Something that also stands out is a lot of the individual issues being signed by the creators when I was living in the UK. Here are some examples. Pretty cool and definitely personalised to me. I ain’t no scalper!

The dynamics of the Nova bind are:

Balck Leather covers with gold foil stamps.

Contents (not entirely in order):

Annihilation Prologue

Annhilation: Nova 1-4

Annihilation 1-6

Nova 1-36

Annihilation Conquest 6

Nova Annual

Thanos Imperative Sourcebook

Thanos Imperative: Ignition

Thanos Imperative 1-6

Thanos Imperative: Devastation

Appendices:

Nova No.1

Secret Avengers 1-4

What-if: Annihilation

A grand total of 65 comics – pretty much everything Nova has been in since Annihilation Prologue bar a few fleeting appearances here and there (e.g. Annihilation Conquest: Prologue etc).

I also chucked in a couple of pages of Sean Chen design sketches as well as a montage of sketches that Adi Granov, Alex Maleev and Kev Walker drew for me.

Interested in hearing peoples thoughts.

Death by Captain America Omnibus???

2010-09-07T01:06:00.000-07:00

Well. To those that do know and those that don't know. An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude (the old Richter scale goes exponential didn't you know?) hit us at roughly 4.35am on Saturday morning. And things went a flying while I was in bed.

The top shelf that all my beautiful MOTU Classics were displayed on took a dive and landed on the top of the figures that preceded it. This was right next to my bed. Luckily the DVD shelves were intact and stayed where they were.

However, had I been in the 'spare room' things might have been a little different. Take the below photo. This is how that part of the room is supposed to look and will look on any normal day.

And then the Earthquake hits. Shelf on the far right tips over completely blocking access to the doorway with every single item being thrown off. Big shelf in the middle stays intact. Shelf to the left of the big shelf also takes a dive into the couch and empties. This is some serious force. Seven Marvel omnibuses way 30 pounds on that individual level alone. The result is below:

Mind you - it did look a lot worse than this. I had to fish all the hardcovers out of the way before I could even get in the doorway and take a photo.

So - a warning to you all. Keep your enemies close - but your Marvel Omnibuses further away!

Some shots from London...

2010-09-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

Some shots from London while I lived there... There is probably a good reason why I never put them up on here before! My last day at work. They were trying to get me to chat up girls in that outfit as well. Big Love Batey would pick me up and sit me next to them.

My old Flatmate Tom & I at the Redback Tavern. I loved those shoes of mine but had to throw them away.

A fox having a dozy day in our tiny little backyard.

Matt Vincent kikcing my arse the one time I played a strategy board game against him. I was the green army.

At the head of the line for the Orbital Alan Moore signing. One of the the few photos I also have of Chan (on my right) before he passed away.

The Most Powerful Collection...

2010-08-26T00:31:00.000-07:00

The most powerful collection in the universe would naturally belong to me. Minus a Battle Cat... Hurry up and re-release him!!!

Edit - they were so powerful they survived the fully laden shelf falling on top of them after the big Quake!!

Binding

2010-08-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

I have taken up binding piles of my comic books. Most likely destroys the value of them (the Deadpool one in particular) but this is the format I want to read them in. Also makes them handy to have on the shelf.

Before you ask how much this all costs - I ain't answering. I don't like to think about it.

The Deadpool bind was a mess in the end. The stamp was too big and not deep enough so the binder couldn't press it properly - hence the foil is all over the show in places. But you live and learn.

I particularly like the Conan collection. Of course continuity wise I am stuffed if Dark Horse put out any more one shots or mini-series.

I need to find some leather for my forthcoming Usagi and Nova collections. They deserve it.

Here are some teases for the Sleeper and Majestic Omnibuses. Just need to configure the covers properly before I'll show them off too much.

I'm back...

2010-08-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for some new posts. Been busy back in New Zealand with some projects and time to cut loose...

That's about it...

2010-02-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

I may as well shut this thing down now...

The life and times of the Great Wadeboski in the wide world are done and dusted for a while as Wade enters a time of consolidation...

Dodgeball Massacre

2009-11-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

The Boys...

Dip, Dodge, Duck & Dive I did and boy do I feel it now. Commando rolls, evading balls while rolling around on the ground, over excitement from sugar highs… that would be the great Wadeboski. Long gone are the old touch rugby days, it is a struggle just getting out of my seat now after winning the work Dodgeball tournament. A blessing and a curse rolled into one really.

Ye olde competitive Wade came back to the fore after a long absence from team sport. Mildly amusing and thoroughly entertaining a tournament it was, with girls being blasted in the head, balls caught between the legs and a few minor injuries. The Great Wadeboski formed the team, named the team ‘Super K and the Great Inconsequential’, organised the outfits and sang the theme tune. Woof Woof.

Our round robin series was made easier by a no show of one of the teams. A rather nervous start ensued with my self-proclaimed blistering acceleration nullified by consistently late take-offs to grab the ball.

The race to the ball

However, the mighty throwing of our towering Godzilla, a certain ‘Big Love Batey’, combined with the titular ‘Super K’ quickly eliminated our opponents in the first set. You play to your strengths – and giving your ball to the mightiest thrower is one of them.

Big Love Batey winds up

The second set ended up a disaster with little old Wade stranded by himself against 5 people. Falling on my arse quickly followed, along with some strange movements that roughly resembled a snake slithering on the ground in an attempt to dodge the myriad of balls.

Wade: outgunned and outnumbered...

You live and learn. We hammered them in the 3rd set to win. Our 4 boy / 2 girl team was then tasked with taking down a team of 6 guys, which we did in straight sets. Game three was tougher but ended in a win.

By now the ‘Great Inconsequential’ had settled into a pattern. ‘Ritzy Maritz’, our resident South African, along with Bridie “I wear jeans to athletic events” O’Ashburton, had taken to hanging out on the wings.

Comfortable victors

I roughly stood with my hands on hips watching… waiting… to scream “we hit him – HE’S OUT” at the Ref. We then sat around until the other round robin had concluded.

In the meantime, a bit of table tennis was played and err… well… I consumed eight chocolates… yep… that is right… eight chocolates – which lead to a right old sugar overload.

The final was a real tussle. We won the first set when time ran out after I implemented some successful delaying tactics. It works in international rugby – so why not employ it? We had four people left – they had two.

Second set was a bit of a disaster. Matt “If there is a ref I’ll bloody well goddamn argue with him if I want” Super K ended up solo. Super K stood up against overwhelming odds, evading repeated throws with a variety of slow-time Matrixesque moves (8 or 9 in a row) but like all good men, he eventually succumbed…

So it was down to the third set. I must admit it did get down to the wire until we managed a few Switcheroos – which lead to Marius’s favourite moment of the night when a rampaging Incredible Wade came back into the game, charged up to the middle and let loose a powerful throw only to have it land two metres in front of him… Oh well…

We won and what did we learn? Girls can wear jeans and win. Wade is too competitive. Real men wear headbands. Playing Dodgeball can just as good as watching the movie.

Well played Governor… Well played…

Last of the Comic Book Cons...

2009-11-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

I wrapped up my overdose of comic book conventions (12 in the past 20 months) with Thought Bubble - a one day con where you must target your queues extremely precisely. Barry Kitson and Alex Maleev already had queues six deep before I even got in the door - whereas others had targeted Frank Quitely who it turned out wasn't actually sketching. Charlie Adlard was ten deep all day... My old banter mate Sean Phillips was keeping his queue down with fast but brilliant sketches.

I went a bit wacky and ran with a theme... But that is for another post... The only non-theme sketch I went for was a Nova. I've already nabbed sketches by cover artists Adi Granov and Alex Maleev - and this time managed to nab interior artist Kev Walker (currently on the New York Times best seller list) who drew the absolutely brilliant Annihilation: Nova.

The greatest GL of all...

2009-11-22T04:36:00.000-08:00

Hey you all...

Been Busy frollicking and attending comic book signings in Dublin, London and Leeds lately...

Anyways - more sketches...

GL Pussycat by Karl Kerschl:

Conan by Ramon Perez:

Sea Guy by Cameron Stewart:

Busier than normal

2009-11-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

Call me lazy for not posting... Unfortunately I have been packing an awful lot lately... Nearly 400kg's of collection actually... And when I mercilessly bubble wrap the hundreds of signed trade paperbacks it does take a while. Every night for the last two weeks to be precise. It will only take 88 days to reach NZ as well, indicating an arrival date of mid to late February. Nice.

In other news... DCUC Wave 9 was produced in smaller numbers than usual. I missed out on a full set at BBTS due to stuffing around with my credit card (when it was compromised) and cancelling the order and then creating a new order when all I had to do was change the credit card details on file.

I hunted down the full set from a variety of places and despite a few loose joint issues - they are mighty fine. Looks like the Green Arrow (aka Robin Hood) has his work cut out for him...

London MCM

2009-10-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

Good God... I haven't seen that many cosplayers concentrated in one place before and I don't think I'll see that many ever again... I certainly don't want to...

Once again I headed to the London MCM expo for the third time since being in London. The first time I attended I had no idea about artist sketching and spent 50 minutes scouring the merchandise stalls to no avail before leaving. I do remember being hungover though so that wouldn't have helped.

Impressive comics line up now though. I got sketches from Jock, Ben Templesmith, David Lafuente, Gary Erskine, Andie Tong, Jacen Burrows and Leigh Gallagher - so well worth it. Picked up a number of prints as well.

Anyway... Here is possibly my favourite sketch of all... Teela by Andie Tong (he drew MOTU: Rise of the Snake-Men didn't you know?)

Butcher from the Boys looking suitably smug... Drawn by Jacen Burrows (he of Chronicles of Wormwood fame)...

Nova Muttley

2009-10-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Apologies to Andy Lanning, but I inked a sketch of his and put some basic colours on it... So without further adieu, I give you Nova Centurion Muttley!

Tis Bliss...

2009-10-18T07:04:00.001-07:00

I only have one word for you... PERTWEE!!!

Sketches

2009-10-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

More sketches from BICS...

Mr Winslade with his comment on the ridiculousness of the Punisher's weaponary...

Staz Johnson was surprised I asked him, when nobody else has before, to draw one of the Great Lakes Avengers... I give you Mr Immortal!

Let's Hear It For the Girls

2009-10-05T12:20:00.001-07:00

I had a great time at BICS this year and had my queuing techniques perfected. We all know that girls just want to have fun :-)

Pyslocke with Pencils by Alan Davis and inks my Mark Farmer...

Ultimate Sue Storm by Pasqual Ferry

Snow White by Mark Buckingham

Eva Destruction by Sean Phillips!

A Post for Marky Mark...

2009-09-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Yo all... I am back from North America and I am shattered that I think I may be a little worse for wear at the moment. Oh well - chin up - stiff upper lip and all that business. Only another three weekends of full on craziness before I can have my first non alcohol related sleep in (of which there was 3-4 of in Vancouver and Seattle.

Right... Given that Mark always asks the question of what I eat - I'll give the run down of what lunches I had this week:

Monday: Chicken Curry with Indian Pilau Rice, Raita, Poppadom and Garlic & Herb Green Beans

Tuesday: Lancashire Potatoes,served with Champ Potatoes, Gravy and Buttered Garden Peas

Wednesday: Roast Norfolk Turkey Breast with Stuffing & Gravy, Vichy Carrots and Roast Potatoes

Thursday: Cajun Spiced Chicken Breast with Cos Lettuce, Steamed Spinach and Mustard Mashed Potato

Friday: I had a partial cooked breakfast so I only ended up having a BBQ Chicken Focaccia with Mayonnaise & Green Leaf Salad. The mayonnaise makes it look a bit gross in the photo...

Slacker!!!

2009-09-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have been very slack lately... not to mention that the copy and paste function won't work on this post for some reason - so I will have to type up some stuff I have aleady typed somewhere else. Yawn...

After consecutive weekends in Vienna and Oslo, I tried to relax this weekend and ended up in Bath on Saturday and Bath is one of the few English towns/cities that is a dedicated Rugby town. Fortune favoured the Wallabies. What more can I say?

I am still getting organised for Vancouver and Seattle. I fly out on Thursday and there are only a few days left to pack. After that I am going postal in Galway for Matt's 30th birthday. Then comes BICS in Birmingham. I almost have a suitcase full of stuff to take - but will once again use my cunning tricks to minimise weight. Alas - I follow that up with a short break in Zurich and Lucerne. Did I mention I am missing a good five or six signings happening in London while I am away? It is a hard life.

I have re-discovered the magic of the Marvel oversized hardcover. In fact I think I will re-read Annihilation: Conquest: Starlord in a few moments in that exact format.

I am missing vol. 9 of Fables so can't read vols. 10 and 11 sitting on my shelf.

If you haven't read Incognito yet then do so. Simply magnifico!

Finally, Tony Lee, who still owes me a Red Bull from LA, would like eveyone to purchase his upcoming Harker - the sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'll be purchasing it in November.

http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=15225

I'll buy any old crap it if it is cheap...

2009-08-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

And so the saying goes... Last week I bought the dinky things below for a grand total of £8.

I am more than happy to shell out full price for classic daleks though...

And a Hartnell Doctor...

And who doesn't like a menacing group shot?

Crikey...

2009-08-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well - this is one strange dance... Glad it is my evil twin doing it...

A few more sketches...

2009-08-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Just a few more sketches from some legendary comic book artists:

Crossbones by Mike Perkins (aren't you just jealous of this Graham??? I might even have an issue of Captain America signed by him for you...)

The Flash (Barry Allen) by Phil Jimenez

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) also by Phil Jimenez

Good week for collecting...

2009-07-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Got some good stuff this week. Finally managed to finish off FFF - albeit half is in NZ and other half is in the UK. Also nabbed the ML FO Wolverine & Sabretooth pack as well. The Sabretooth figure is particularly nice, especially as I have never opened my ML 5 Sabretooth which is still MOC.

A Post for Posts Sake...

2009-07-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Been busy planning stuff, doing stuff and trying to get some sleep in between it all. I ran the Great City Race on Thursday and mainly only because a girl I work with said she would beat me. So with only one practice run to make sure my ankle would hold up, I ran the 5km in 22.07 minutes. Not bad. Had some gas left in the tank so sprinted at the end like I used to do in my high school days. Oh yeah - the girl ran it in a reasonable 27 minutes.

I attended the London Film and Comic Con on the weekend and nabbed some cool stuff as usual. However, just before leaving, I bumped into Bruce (one of the five or six other comics guys I know in London) and he mentioned that my fellow comic signing queuer Chan had passed away. This actually hit me hard. I thought I was almost immune to death now - but obviously not.

Charlie Adlard (of Walking Dead fame) recently drew me as a zombie. I don't have much more to write - I am feeling a bit tired. I think I will have to watch Transformers: The Movie (1986) to cheer me up.

Mattel does some cool stuff...

2009-07-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

MOTUC... The word on the street is to be believed. These are damn fine action figures. Expensive action figures none-the-less, but well worth their weight in platinum.

I couldn't get hold of King Grayskull due to weird non-shipping of electronic chipped stuff from the States - but I now have every other figure that has so far been released. Stratos came out when I was in Hawaii enroute to New Zealand and I missed the bugger. Picked him up on Ebay for £4.50 more than what I would have paid had I bought him from Mattycollector.com.

Enjoy:

The Joy of Giving

2009-07-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those lucky people who knew me back in the day when I hated spending money on people? Still hate spending on people - but it must be done.

There are two people in the world who I know exactly what to get. Graham M and Garry J. Graham likes any weird piece of merchandise that he doesn't already have. Garry is perfectly content with any old Space 1999 or Terrahawks rubbish.

The perfect gift for Graham is something dedicated to him by the most critically acclaimed comics writer on the planet. Point made :-)

Quasibonko!!!

2009-07-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Pussycats!!

One of the great things about living in London is that people in the UK genuinely love the Fast Show. I was having Fast Show withdrawal symptoms a few weeks ago, so I decided to pick up the Fast Show Live Collection when I saw it cheap at HMV. I watched the two DVDs on successive nights and realised once again how much I simply adore this show. The Fast Show Farewell tour features the best Rowley Birkin sketch EVER (what a bold statement) and the ‘Cheesey Peas Dancers’ make a hilarious appearance. Mmmm… Nice…

Series one to three of the Fast How are back on my shelf in NZ and I bought the three spin-offs (Ted & Ralph, Swiss Toni and Grass) not long after arriving in the UK. But one day I had an epiphany that there was something missing from my collection… and that would be ‘The Last Fast Show Ever’ series. So, I did some minor research into the Ultimate Fast Show set and discovered that this jewel, as well as making of documentaries, “You Ain't Seen These, Right?" (a collection of original sketches that never made it onto the finished series), and audio commentaries, are all included on this glorious seven disc set priced at a slim £14.50 at Amazon.co.uk (including free super-saver postage).

This purchase renders my Fast Show DVDs in NZ redundant, so these DVDs will need to find a good home. And… The lucky winner of my New Zealand Fast Show DVD collection is John Moffat… because… I saw John wrapping presents when it’s nobody’s birthday!!! One good turn deserves another!

Besides you can’t go wrong when somebody like Johnny Depp (who is worshipped by God knows how many silly weak-at-the-knees women) declares Paul Whitehouse as one of the best actors of his generation.

You ain’t read this… right?

Mattel did some strange stuff...

2009-06-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time Mattel had the coolest mass-market toyline relauch in existence... And they stuffed it up... I am talking MOTU...

How did they stuff up? They made 1001 He-Man and Skeletor variations that defied belief while short packing all the interesting characters. It wasn't quite 'Street Luge Batman' stupid - but it was right up there.

I have all of the individual characters from the toy relaunch so thought it was time to nab some silly He-man variations. However - the new MOTU Classics range has lead to a resurgence in interest for all things MOTU. So all I could afford were the below two figures instead of a Snake-Armour He-man (which sold for £24 loose).

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you Deluxe Martial Arts He-man and Skeletor. Don't you just love the stilts? WTF!!!

The "State of the Shelf" and other stories

2009-06-14T12:01:00.001-07:00

Well - the shelf in the UK (the solitary one - I am used to having many shelves) is still a bit weighed under. Despite me having shifted a shelf worth of comics into comics boxes.

I estimate that at least 70% of the graphic novels on that have been signed. If Robert Kirkman or Ed Brubaker came to the UK that figure would increase to 90%.

That Walking Dead compendium thing is the size of a telephone book. 1100 pages of pure unadulterated fun.

Action figure collecting has slowed down substantially. Found a couple of Ares wave Marvel Legends (Guardian and Kang) at FP this week. Still need a leg to complete Fin Fang Foom as well. The top half is in NZ and the bottom section (minus one leg) is in London. FFF is split between two hemispheres.

The Nova comic has been extended for another 12 issues as well. Long live NOVA!!!

And what on Earth is up with the Fantastic Four comic at the moment? Why the heck does Doctor Doom have a master and someone he worships? He is Doom - he doesn't need to have a Master.

Hordak goes on sale tomorrow. That is going to be one hell of a bastard figure to buy. I might even buy two. I need to find someone willing to swap for a Stratos.

Anyway - I am off to Malta on Wednesday for 5 nights to get some "happy time". Stay well and all that stuff. I am going to open up my Yogi Bear and Boo Boo action figures.

Edit - was successful with Hordak. Sold out in 80 minutes. Wow.

Welcome to the Dance...

2009-06-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

Apparently you can tilt your screen using the Alt Gr button and one of the arrow keys...

Here we go!

What could possibly be worth all this?

2009-06-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Regular readers of this blog will know that my recent uploading of sketches and pictures of newly acquired fanboy stuff is a cover for Wade being lazy and not putting words on paper. Times change. I am in the mood to type. It won’t be pretty.

I turn 30 this year – Gah!- Let’s look at my life in retrospect with some vague considerations for the future:

0-6 years – live in Christchurch, New Zealand. Got my first Transformer (Decepticon Dirge) for my 6th birthday after my family shifts to a house 300m down the road.

7-18 years – still living in Christchurch. Unremarkable years – mainly noted for collecting Masters of the Universe and then selling them off. Example of Buttterfly Effect: I find a copy of Doctor Who and the Sea Devils novelisation on my brother’s book shelf at a young age. I declare I will own them all. Bugger. Complete my target novelisation collection. Find something else to collect. Still collecting. Life altering event occurs in 1997. Life is not as we know it.

19-23 years – still living in Christchurch. Have now shifted 900m down the road. Had a rather raucous 21st birthday party. Video tape evidence of Wade dancing exists from said event. Spent 4 years at Uni studying Economics. Don’t end up working for the govt – subsequently coined the term ‘non-practicing economist’ to describe myself.

24-25 years – living in Auckland, NZ. Work for a bank. Still not sure what I want to do in life – but realize I don’t want to get hit by a car travelling at 55 kph ever again. Have crossed the road more cautiously since. Miss my cat.

26-28 years – return to Christchurch. Still work for a bank. Would like to own a comic book shop. Declining comic book industry puts a dampener on that.

29-30 years – living in London, UK. Work for a different bank. Live in a house attached to another house for the first time. Realise Malta is my favourite place in the world to visit. Still miss my cat. Attend many comic book conventions. Build up a decent sketch collection. Go crazy buying comics.

A possible alternative future:

I suddenly become one of the over-30 gits at comic book conventions. I make silly noises, whack people with monstrous backpacks and say things like ‘That is a shit sketch – can you please finish it off more’.

Bugger me.

The only thing keeping me in the UK are comic book conventions. I am sort of over the whole ‘travel’ thing. There are only so many times I can be bothered looking at old architecture – paying stupid tourist prices and taking photos like a Japanese Schoolgirl (to coin a phrase I first heard in Wellington 2005). For crying out loud – I just booked a flight to Vancouver and I hardly feel excited about it.

Grrr… Maybe it is time for me to settle down, buy a house with a couple of cats and set up the ultimate display for my collection.

So – the question must be asked: What is keeping Wade in the UK? Is it comic book conventions? Is it earning pounds? Is it the rubbish UK laws and legislations? English jobs for English people!!!

When I find the answer to what is keeping me in the UK I will let you know.

PS – I might exaggerate a bit. Maybe. I don’t know. I can’t remember.

F**ken Vancouver! Bring it on!

"This is no job for an ordinary man..."

2009-05-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

I am falling in love all over again... with the Masters of the Universe!! The new classics line is all kinds of awesome... so I thought I had better tidy up my NECA mini-statues. I am missing quite a few - but lucked in on waves 5 & 6... Even getting the ridiculously hard to find Jitsu for a mere £12.

I can get waves 2 & 3 purchased and shipped to NZ for £100.00. Should I or shouldn't I??? The choice is yours... err... I mean mine... And yes - that is a 12" Blofeld in my room...

The Pains of Being a Collector

2009-05-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

What the hell... Gave in and bought the Hulk mini-statue today...

Bargain of the Week

2009-05-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

Popped in to T K Maxx after work and found these adorable little Marvel busts based on Alex Ross artwork at the whopping price of £6.99 each. They had a Hulk one as well - but maybe that will be the one that got away several months down the line...

More From Bristol

2009-05-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows I am a big Nova fan... There is nothing quite like asking huge names in comics to draw Nova and seeing their responses. Luckily for me they didn't bat an eyelid!

From top to bottom: Gary Frank, Alan Davis and Luca Erbetta.

Cybermen

2009-05-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

These were the hottest ticket in town. I first saw them for sale at Gallifrey One in LA and thought "nah - I can pick these up in London piece of cake". Little did know it would be three full months before I saw them again anywhere.

It's pretty clear that these early incarnations run rings around the new ones...

Bristol Comic Con

2009-05-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Yo... Just a couple of the sketches I picked up this year... Ronan by Dylan Teague and Sue Storm by Mike McCone!

Err... Backs to the Wall!!!!!!

2009-05-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Normally I wouldn’t blog about an ‘excursion’ away for a long weekend. However, last weekend in Istanbul makes for more than a few tidbits of reading.

I found myself being a little bit too popular with the Turkish Men, particularly our Hostel host Mustafa. Apart from him showing no interest in the other members of our small group, he seemed very enthusiastic to get me to join some other people from the hostel on a night out. It turned into hands on the shoulder and then constant attention he paid me when a group of us were having drinks upstairs. Our host showed no interest in the beautiful American girl who I took a particular liking too. The final straw was when he tried to dirty dance with me at a club. I just pushed him away. We left Mustafa to party with his Vampire looking friend (Mrs Dracula) while we caught a cab back.

In the morning Mustafa was looking a little worse for wear, but mentioned how I should have stayed out with him as he went to all the best gay clubs and saw some lady-boys.
As if that wasn’t enough – Amy and Simon seemed very intent on egging him on his quest to err – make advances at me. They made a definitive reference to my lack of a girlfriend which Mustafa got very excited about – and then his… err… offering me money and something about I like it from the back and down below (which I am sure Amy prompted).
Other Turkish Men were over friendly as well. From the waiters to the strange man feeding the stray cats (he also had a range of eye drops and medicines as well). The only one man I could trust was the guy from the restaurant next door to out hostel. He thought his friend’s Grandmother had died and asked me to compose a text message expressing his sympathy. I wrote down “Please accept my condolences for your loss”… Five minutes later he realised that he had confused this supposed death with his Latvian wife’s Mothers Day wish. So he had in fact sent a text asking his wife to accept his condolences for Mothers Day. All a bit strange really.

And in a moment of total honesty and a testament to my undoubted character, Amy and I were asked upon check in at the flight back to London whether we would mind catching a flight the next morning as the plane had been overbooked. We said no – we had to work the next day after all. Simon & Merrin (who were with us) didn’t mind. They had the following day off work and got the best deal of all. They were going to stay in a five star hotel for the night and be upgraded to business class on top of US$125 compensation each.

It is a hard life for the Great Wadeboski. I believe in Karma – but am still waiting for the reciprocation of all the nice things and good deeds I have done. Maybe I am paid back with all the great bargains I get? Maybe I am fortunate enough to have secured 5 of the 6 MOTU classics figures so far?

That was a bit silly...

2009-04-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

I commented a few days ago in general conversation that I thought the original moon landing was faked. Given the vast improvement in technology, I just can’t get my head around why no one has even been remotely near the moon since, especially considering all these wacky satellites that have been all over the solar system.

Someone (who shall remain nameless) then stated that there is nothing worth doing on the moon so why should we go back there. Without a conscious thought, my mind and mouth immediately came back with this rebuttal: “the moon should be our first port of defense against extraterrestrial threats”!!! Obviously I have watched far more UFO than I should have. Incidentally – I did meet Gerry Anderson a couple of weekends ago.

I then thought to myself that the moon wouldn’t exactly be a great point of defense for an alien attack. In fact it would be a rather lousy place to have a main defense system. The moon orbits the Earth so there will always be trajectories where you could simply attack the Earth by completely bypassing the moon. When the moon is to the left of the earth you simply attack the Earth from the right. Childs play. I wonder why the unnamed aliens in UFO never tried that.

Hmmm… Good post everyone… Lets keep the energy levels up!

Captain America

2009-04-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Haven't even shown Graham Muir this one yet. But sorry - its mine!!!

Captain America by the incomparable Olivier Coipel.

Wadeboski is scammed!!!

2009-04-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

I checked my bank account balance today and discovered that I have most likely been a victim of credit card fraud. Not sure where or how it happened. Could have been an ATM or online interception – but I do use Norton 360 which apparently offers good protection.

What was taken out of my account? At this stage there were two £20 Vodafone top ups (I am not even a Vodafone customer) and a mysterious £50 debit that is currently unidentifiable. Unidentifiable = another example of the sloppy banking system in the UK. I was told to wait a couple of days to see what the £50 debit is before I fill out a disputed transaction report.

A couple of things to note here.

Is it a case of fraud or sloppy banking systems? Given that two of the transactions were actually £20 cell phone top ups, these are either crafty criminals or silly ones. I have no doubt that some fraudsters would apply psychology and think that average Joe will not notice some low level transactions. Said fraudster would then be able to leech off the bank account for quite a while in the hope that the credit card company does not red flag the transactions. By this time, Average Joe would start scratching their head and wonder why the balance has become low or why their card has been declined at a shop.

I, however, am not Average Joe. I keep track of my bank account in my head and can instantly identify what the balance should be. Some say I am tight with money – others would say I have a memory like an elephant. In either case – you don’t mess with the Great Wadeboski.

Maybe the debits are flowing through to the wrong account? While sounding ridiculous – it does bring home a few truths. The banking system in the UK is undeniably sloppy. There is so much double handling etc that anything can happen.

A co-worker of mine had a similar problem. A mysterious £100 debit to Virgin Trains had appeared on his account as well as a £50 Vodafone top up. Is there a pattern here? Let’s wait and see what the mysterious £50 debit is before we draw conclusions.

Where to from here? My card has been stopped and a new one has been sent out in the mail. The only problem this presents is to the various pre-orders I have at BBTS and Amazon, not to mention the fact of Merman going back on sale in a weeks time. I am off to Istanbul in a week and a bit – but I can get by until my card arrives.

In the meantime I leave you with a photo from when I went to the WWE Raw taping on Monday. It was fun and hilarious to see the botched endings get redone for TV. And then even more hilarious to see CM Punk and Kane stink out the joint a second time when they failed miserably to finish the match a SECOND TIME!

PS - I really just wanted to try and blind you :-)

Another one...

2009-04-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is Nova - drawn by Adi Granov...

Sketch time...

2009-04-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

It is time I started showing off some of the sketches I have acquired in the UK... The first is from Duncan Fegredo - current artist on Hellboy!

Uh oh... Some corners of the universe breed the most terrible things...

2009-03-24T14:12:00.001-07:00

There are some cases where I feel I must be pedantic. These cases usually involve someone making a boast, stating a ridiculous half truth – or just making a smart arse remark. Oi. You. No! A mortgage is not the same as a home loan, a mortgage is the legal document that allows a bank to encumber your property.

These people must be fought. Especially when said people say stupid things like ‘I just love life’, or ‘I am so bubbly’. Firstly – if a person is telling you this then they have a distorted view of the world (where they feel they need to conform to accepted principles), or they really, really need to get out more. You are not in a position to tell someone you are bubbly. The mere fact that you should need to tell someone this indicates a ‘Me, Me, Me Me, Me syndrome’. To you dear reader – it might possibly be a ‘you, you, you syndrome’.

In this, the third paragraph of this blog entry, I am going to dismiss people’s claims that they ‘love travelling’ when in reality they actually only visit ‘popular tourist destination A’ for a weekend, followed by a visit to ‘popular tourist destination B’ the following month. If I go to Malta for a week to withdraw from my normal routine I call it a holiday. I don’t lump it in with a separate weekend in Prague and classify it as ‘travelling’.

Let us look at a definition of the word travel (as defined by Dictionary.com):

“to move or go from one place or point to another”.

So, when annoying person no. 1 says they love travelling and are going to ‘popular tourist destination C’ they are in fact saying they love the act of going to a place, be it by plane, car or rail. Please find me a person that loves flying in a couped up plane. Please do. Please find me someone that enjoys the hassles of getting to the airport, the associated security checks and the numerous delays.

Annoying person no. 2 probably enjoys driving to a new place. Annoying person no. 2 should rightly say they ‘love driving’. I have no qualms with this. People’s biggest complaint of other people saying ‘they love travelling’ is usually confined to the choice of destinations. Some people should say they ‘love holidaying’. Others say they love getting off the beaten track (and they don’t mean getting lost and almost dying in a sub tropical Malaysian forest) when in fact in reality all they do is go for a wander into the slummy suburbs and wonder why they get mugged/pick pocketed. Still whether you want to go live it up in Albania or go to Brighton Beach, it means nothing to me if you just say “I love travelling”. For all I know you actually do love getting strip searched at the airport.

Think of me the next time someone says they ‘love travelling’. Ask them to explain exactly what they mean. I am actually currently visiting ‘popular tourist destination D’ one month followed by ‘popular tourist destination E’ the next month. Yet I don’t feel the need to tell someone ‘I love travelling’, just to conform to popular modern day expectations. So there. And no, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder.

End of rant.
And for you dear reader – if there are any of you out there that managed to read through to the end of this blog entry – I am pleased to be announcing (spoken like a true East European) my 30th birthday party on the 30/01/2010 at a venue to be confirmed in Christchurch, New Zealand. Yes, you read that right. Comments / suggestions for said event are welcome. Can someone please start making me a ‘Nova Prime’ costume for the said occasion?

Gah - I'm back...

2009-03-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Zoe curls up on my stuff...

The future is shaping up nicely since my exhausting three week round the world trip. It was tough. Well – the only real difficult part was the flight back. The adrenalin wore off on the way back. Ok – call me soft. World leaders and sports people can do it. I can’t. But I can open up lots and lots of action figures in an afternoon to keep myself from falling asleep. Photos attached.

Stage One: Gallifrey One was interesting. I can’t write up too much about the convention without upsetting a lot of Americans. So talk to me instead. I’ll give you some anecdotes that mainly start with “I was just wondering…”

Stage Two: Hawaii appears to have been bought up large by Japanese people. How ironic. Interesting highlights included a days shopping where I discovered I had shoppers block. I bought zilch the whole day – but redeemed myself the next couple of nights. I couldn’t find any exciting nightlife during the week – so I went on down to the Nashville Waikiki which was readily accessible from the hotel. I volunteered to be some Navy bloke’s wingman for the night after the poor bugger told me about his failed marriage. He (I have never been good at remembering names) kept buying me drinks on his tab – so I was happy. We met some lovely girls but unfortunately all of them were married or had their boyfriends with them. Wade ain’t the sort of guy that married girls go for – hardly lots of danger and excitement with me – even when I have my knack back and my all natural ‘sexy European accent’. There was one nice girl – but I can’t remember her name so I’ll leave it at that. As normal – I went and did my own thing while the fat people lazed about on the beach. I found three comic shops, walked up the top of cliffs and even ventured into a Walmart.

Wade and a married girl from Ohio

Stage Three: NZ was the same as I remember it. Even the toy shops still had the same crap clogging up the shelves as they did a year ago. It was nice to finally drive again – albeit I’ll have to wait a while before I get my next car. Graham & Robyn’s wedding was very nice – I have never seen Graham lost for words – but the Big G was “nervous as buggery” (to pinch a Graham-phrase). However, I was suddenly afflicted with a sinus infection about halfway through the proceedings – which pretty much buggered me up for that night. I was a bit unpleasant as well for which I must apologise. And for those that didn’t turn up – I can promise that you didn’t miss much. Wade doesn’t make a good patient.

Back to normality:

The dates for various UK comic book conventions have been announced so the year will go fairly quickly again. The dates are:

Bristol Comic Expo: 9/10 of May
London Film & Comic Con: 18/19 July
Cymru Con (Wales?) 8 August
BICS (Birmingham): 3/4 October
Dublin City Comic Con: 13/14/15 November
Thought Bubble (Leeds): 21 November

With Bristol being downsized this year, BICS will be the largest UK comic event. I am looking forward to the guest list being announced. I wonder if the hostel I stayed in last year will have me back following last years debacle. Do they even know what happened? I certainly can’t remember.

There is a Transformers convention (Auto Assembly) in Birmingham 15/16 August. In general, Transformers fans are world renowned for being some of the most obnoxious people around. I hope I get the chance to disprove this.

Orbital Comics have got some great signings announced up until August – so pretty pumped up for that as well. I can start planning a few more weekends away around all these dates. How geeky is that? Too geeky!

I'm signing off for a while

2009-02-12T03:28:00.000-08:00

Okey Dokey... I'm signing out of London for 3 weeks for my 'Return of the Great Wadeboski' world tour. I'll leave you with Jigsaw :-)

This week in comics (Spoiler alert!!!)

2009-02-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

This week was one of the better comic weeks so far with only the last purchase sucking me in (simply because I can’t stop buying the blasted Transformers comics)!

What I bought:

Agents of Atlas #1
Secret Warriors #1
Kull #4
Deadpool #7
War of Kings: Darkhawk #1
Transformers: All Hail Megatron #7
War of the Kings: Darkhawk #1

I often wondered how the big event of the year and a small-time hero would fit in with each other. I guess the same could have been said with Nova and Annihilation. They took a silly looking minor player and turned him into a super-powerful and ultra-cool costumed hero.

Having read the first issue, CB Cebluski has obviously thought up some rich tapestry of cosmic events that manage to weave the ‘Darkhawk history’ in with the Shi’ar and Kree. I would put money on the crazy ‘fiery ball thing’ that destroyed Darkhawk’s Mum’s house (and presumably his Mum etc) was something to do with the Shi’ar – thus putting Darkhawk on a collision course with the big event. However, if the conclusion of this big event mirrors Annihilation with old bird brain ripping Vulcan’s stomach out then I am not going to be amused. It should be Rocket Raccoon doing the destroying!

Thus we can begin a series of convoluted events and retro-continuity where Darkhawk will become an A-grade cosmic hero. I’m sorry for sounding just a tad cynical – but Darkhawk doesn’t have a coolness factor. He looks like a guy with a motor cycle helmet on and silly wings. I know Darkhawk has a bit of a cult-following but I am sure that there are other cosmic characters, such as Drax, that deserve their own title more.

The big reveal of the Marvel universe this week was Nick Fury realizing that S.H.I.E.L.D. was a Hydra run organisation. At least he would have got a good employee dental plan!

Gorilla Mans Continuity Catch Up (the first page of Agents of Atlas #1) was one of the funniest things I have read in a long time.

Deadpool and All Hail Megatron are up to the same issue number now. I’ll do a quick comparative analysis.

Deadpool apparently defected to the Skrulls, then made ridiculous fools of them and appeared to have successfully swindled them before his job was hijacked by Norman Osborn at the last minute. Deadpool then took a job involving the rescuing of some girl from crazed zombies before blowing everyone up (which was just one of those priceless moments) before beingn set upon by Tiger Shark (an assassination attempt set up by Mr Osborn). As Wade realised the significance of who set him up, Norman instructs the new Thunderbolts to set their sights on Deadpool.

All Hail Megatron has featured 5 issues of Megatron & Co killing some squishies (humans are referred as ‘squishies’ by Transformers fans in the know) followed by several issues of the Autobots standing around feeling sorry for themselves.

Hmmm… which one sounds more interesting?

Arrival of the week? Easy – the best Marvel Legends figure of last year: Crossbones!

An example of the craptacular UK banking system.

2009-02-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

Say that the Great Wadeboski wanted to send some money back home from his UK bank account. How would the UK banking system fare compared to the New Zealand one?

Check ANZ website to see what the GPB bank buy rate is. At the time it was 0.3588. Check the sell rate of 0.3453. So the mid market rate would be somewhere in the middle. Checked XE.com to confirm that rate given that London is half a day behind. Looks to be about right plus or minus a few points given real time currency fluctuations.

Now lets use an example of £3,000.00. The ANZ buy rate would give me: NZ$8,361. Sounds good given that the sell rate was 0.40 when I first arrived in the UK.

Arrive at ‘the most trusted UK bank’ (I am a customer) expecting a good rate in comparison. The teller bangs in a few numbers and gives me a currency quote of 2.63. I do a double take as the inverse of 0.3588 is 2.78. Hang on. Isn’t that a rip off? I go over and sit on the comfortable couch at the branch and do my numbers. £3,000.00 at 2.63 is NZ$7,890 which equates to a NZ$471 difference. We aren’t talking a few points here – we are talking an absolute massacre. Imagine what the bank buy rate must be compared to the small ANZ buy/sell differential!!

So what do I do? I ask to send pounds to NZ and am told to fill in a form at the branch. Not only do I state all the information already on record (as opposed to NZ where you give them your details and they print out a form for you to sign – where you can double check the details they have entered in) but I am given a carbon copy of the form I filled in with a bank stamp on it. So obviously some monkey elsewhere is going to re-enter the details. Double handling always leads to more errors.

It will apparently only take 5-7 working days to get to NZ. Gulp. In doing so I am running the risk of major exchange rate fluctuations de-railing me at the ANZ end. But it also opens me up to some upside and the rate would have to deteriorate to 0.38 before I start losing out on the most trusted bank’s laughable rate. On principle I send the money as pounds to NZ. I am not letting ‘the most trusted bank’ in England cream me by nearly NZ$500 on a simple and straight-forward currency conversion of a low magnitude. So I run some downward risk – but given the state of the NZ dollar I am willing to take it. There will be a lot of carry trades selling out of NZD about now and the UK economy can’t get much worse before there is some upside (in comparison to the rest of the world).

Theoretical exercise completed. Don’t mess with the Great Wadeboski!

Around the world in 21 days.

2009-01-30T11:17:00.000-08:00

Strange news: I did my first trade with a fellow Fwoosher this week (thefwoosh.com). I exchanged a FF4 movie Doombot for a DCUC Riddler (to complete my DUCU C&C Metallo) with a very helpful guy in the States. Hoping it all goes smoothly. Also nabbed a Crossbones – one of the 4 figures I actually want from the ML Ares wave.

My TV back in NZ blew up. Oh well – I was going to get a new one anyway.

I was involved in another dance-off on Thursday night at APT bar in London. A girl came up to me and asked if I would dance-off against her guy friend. Apparently I won (after a gratuitous warm up session).

I removed my ‘single’ status on Facebook. So despite some very funny and dubious comments from other people – I assure you I am still single (as far as I know anyway). I was just sick of seeing ‘single’ on my profile page.

Upcoming gobbledygook:

Alas – it has finally hit me that I am off on holiday shortly. The schedule for you 2 people that read this blog is as follows:

Thursday, February 12, 2009 – Depart London & arrive in LA for Gallifrey One 2009. WHAT? I go to LA for 4 nights and don’t leave the airport? Why can’t anybody believe that only Wade would do such a thing?

Monday, February 16, 2009 – Leave LA and arrive in Hawaii to annoy the locals and all the err… beach bums. I decided not to do the Volcanoes tour (deeming it too expensive at £200 just for one day), so spent the said money on a trip to Istanbul in May instead.

Friday, February 20, 2009 – Leave Hawaii and arrive in Christchurch on Sunday, February 22, 2009 (Yep – I skip two days while on the one plane – how cool is that?). Greet my nosey big brother, niece & nephew at the Airport and then venture home to front up to Mum and the cat. Zoe will no doubt ignore me for the first couple of hours before attacking me and pulling DVDs off my shelf. Say hi to Mum before falling asleep no doubt. However – ye olde sugar rush from eating my standard 20 chocolate bars on the plane may prevent that. Non-holiday type things booked in: Dentist appointment, final HEP B/C jab, glasses fixed… Yawn… Trip to the comic shop – exciting!!!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 – fly to Wellington to catch up with the Big Man (who knows what he has in store for that night) and any other Goobers who are around then. Corey????????? Return the next day.

Saturday, February 28, 2009 – Big G’s wedding in Ash Vegas… Followed by a night of frivolity and frolicking in Christchurch with my Hombres… Team Dancers United (with ‘Buddy Blair’ A and ‘Marky Mark of the Funky Bunch’) will be re-united. Does that make sense?

Tuesday, March 03, 2009 – Leave Christchurch to fly to London. Back to work on the Thursday. It is a hard life.

Trips to Bruges and Istanbul lined up in the short term. Long term plans remain inconclusive at this stage.

And finally – is Mr Catley wearing a wig now??? Comments are welcome.

Lets get ready to rumble!!!

2009-01-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

In the Red corner we have the Shi’ar… In the blue we have the Inhumans/Kree…

Wades Revison Master-Class of recent Marvel Cosmic Events.

While the Civil War was raging in the Marvel Universe, something much more interesting was taking place in space. Annihilation is easily my favourite Marvel ‘event’. Lets chuck in Annihilus, lets reformat some of the forgotten characters of the Marvel universe and make them interesting, hell – add Galactus to the mix and turn him into a cosmic bomb. It made Civil War feel unimportant (and less personal) in comparison.

The defining panel of Annihilation was surely the Silver Surfer rising and declaring ‘no more’ after being told to herald Galactus’s rage. I’ve read that page far too many times to count now. I feel a huge sense of satisfaction (and relief – the universe gets to live!) watching Galactus unleash his rage.

Annilation: Conquest was simply the most depressing saga I have read. I’ll admit I wasn’t familiar with some of the characters (namely Adam Warlock – so I bought the Infinity saga to catch up) but the saving grace of this was putting Starlord and his squad of misfits at the forefront (namely everyone’s favourite heavy ordinance bearing Racoon!).

This year we have the War of Kings to look forward to. It has already started and from having read the Secret Invasion: War of Kings one-shot you just know this is going to be spectacular. The Inhumans have long been the poor cousins of the Marvel Universe, despite them being supremely powered. Yet Abnett and Lanning have taken the Kree tampered super-humans to a new level. The whole of the Inhumans’ city is now travelling through space with Black Bolt looking for revenge and a meaning in life. Not only is this a sight to behold – but we are witnessing Blackagar’s unleashed and astonishingly amplified power – something that was teased at in the Secret Invasion: Inhumans mini-series.

Throw into the mix the Shi’ar Empire (sort of editorially blocked from being used in the Annihilation events) who are in expansion mode due to King Vulcan looking a bit bored with his empire. With the Shi’ar Empire at a reasonable strength, if not stretched a bit thin with the expansion, it makes perfect sense to have them as protagonists. The Skrulls have been wiped out for all intents and purposes, and the Kree are severely depleted.

Gladiator is one of the more powerful beings in the Marvel Universe so I am looking forward to see how he measures up against Nova etc…. I for one would love to see Ronan smack Deathbird into the next universe.

Will Drax get to go on a killing spree? Will Black Bolt scream? Will there be more surprise appearances from ancient and powerful beings? This is the event to follow in 2009. I’ll be there with bells on. But I won’t jump out of a cake for the finale.

The quick fix:

The first issue of Incognito blew me away. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Sean Phillips several times and his passion for creating beautifully illustrated comics really shows here.

Kull is quickly turning into my favourite fantasy comic. Given the creative slide that Dark Horse’s Conan has been on, it is a treat to read. Snake People!!!

Soloman Kane is picking up pace. It will definitely be a better read as a trade.

It is great to see Deadpool back in action. I’m looking forward to his involvement in Dark Reign. Speaking of which – I can’t get into this Dark Avengers stuff at the moment – it just feels silly having Venom as a Spiderman.

All Hail Megatron is even slower in pacing than Neil Gaiman’s Eternals series was.

Captain Britain & MI13 is just about to begin a stunning arc featuring an alliance between Doctor Doom and Dracula. On the Moon.

I have 9 issues of Usagi to read when I get back to NZ. It has been a long wait – a world without Usagi scarcely bears thinking about.

Fables

2009-01-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

It came as a shock when people asked my why I haven’t updated my blog for a while. I didn’t think people actually read the rubbish I spout. The last couple of posts have been very minor. Call me lazy. Blame my computer elbows. Blame it on my boogie (yes – I have been refining my dance moves for my return holiday to New Zealand).

Anyway - I was grotesquely sick over the Christmas and New Year period. As many of you will know, I become totally unbearable when sick, as opposed to normal when I am just slightly unbearable. Thus I watched a lot of DVDs and caught up on all the Trades sitting on my shelf.

I have managed to avoid reading Fables for several years. The first two volumes have been sitting on my shelf for months, but I dared not actually read them because if I did like them I would have to buy the lot, just like Invincible when I bought eight trades at once after picking up volume 7 cheap at a Borders. I am attempting to resist but ultimately (as is always the case when I collect) resistance is futile. Do I really need all of my various collections? No – but boy do I like looking at them when I wake up in the morning.

For those not in the know, Fables is set in ‘our world’ where the various Fable characters (Snow White, Goldilocks – who is an absolute scheming bitch, the Jungle Book characters etc) have escaped from their own dimension which was overrun by the ‘Adversary’. The human Fables, and those non-human Fables that had glamour spells cast upon them live in a building in New York city. The rest live on the Farm, where the Mundies (Mundane humans) won’t venture due to a powerful spell cast upon it.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster but boy is it successful, weaving great characterization in a world full of personal dilemmas. Bigby the Wolf and his relationship with Snow White is easily one of the most dynamic parts of the book. The back story of the Wolf in the first trade (added as an addendum) is perhaps the most interesting part of the story.

The first trade is a murder mystery, and while the story isn’t the overwhelming, it sets up the characters to be more interesting than real people. Prince Charming is more than a stereotype – he is more like that guy went to your school and scammed all the hot girls into bed. If you spend time on characterization, you had better have some good stories to throw these great characters into.

The second trade is utterly superb. The non-human Fables are getting restless on the Farm. The decapitated head of one of the three piggys ends up on a pike in street. Turns out that a faction of the Fables want to take the fight to the Adversary’s forces back in Fables lands, using modified-for-Fable human weapons. A machine gun that can be mounted on the Tortoise while the Hare fires it. How cool a visual image is that? The Fable authorities are forced into making gut wrenching decisions. Wouldn’t you want to take back your conquered homelands? What are the authorities to do though? They know that the rogue faction is right in their beliefs – yet they must make an example of them to keep the rest of the Fables in order.

Brilliant!!!

I met Mark Buckingham (the artist of Fables) a couple of times this year and grabbed a sketch from him at Birmingham, albeit on the inside cover of my copy of the second trade. I wasn’t dumb enough to take the first trade to get signed (unlike several other people there) as he had nothing to do with it. If I could draw like Bucky, I would be wooing women all over the world with cool sketches. The man just draws the non-human Fables so cute. And then he draws them with their brains blown out or lying on the ground decapitated (like the original three little pigs) thanks to the super sharp scripts of Bill Willingham.

Matt Smith

2009-01-03T12:55:00.000-08:00

So - they are replacing David Tennant with a boy. The the biggest surprise is that he is younger than Wade Campbell. A whole three years younger than the Great Wadeboski.

I am going to wait and see what happens before I put the boot in - but at this stage my foot has been raised and is ready.

Another glimpse of my room...

2008-12-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

Eek... I slowly reveal piece by piece of my room in London. In this shot is the ledge above the fireplace. To put it all into scale, the Robocop is 18 inches tall.

Gah... Photo of the year award...

2008-12-15T15:07:00.001-08:00

One of those timeless moments where everything becomes clear... Not sure what I am doing exactly - but it initially appears to be some sort of chicken dance. Although on a second glance I appear to be doing inverted Spider-Man web shooters...

Ye Olde Work Bash...

2008-12-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

Work parties in London walk all over those in NZ. Over 1000 people in attendance? You betcha. Playing Sega Rally on freeplay? You would be right.

I've still got the ability to get home at some stupid hour and go to work the next day as well. Only just. I also have my knack of pulling silly faces in photos - as well as being able to display my more gentile side. Which is which in the below photos? I will let you decide.

Wolverine and the X-Men

2008-12-10T10:57:00.001-08:00

My first introduction to the X-Men was the 90’s Fox cartoon. I didn’t start reading comics until my honours year at Uni – so many of my first exposures of characters were via film or TV. Admittedly, I was at High School at the time when I first saw the cartoon and it wasn’t until the 3rd season (take that as you will for some one who is nearly 30 and getting very excited about re-watching the Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers), but the cartoon was hardly kiddies material. The characters were edgy, the plots sophisticated e.g. Bobby’s split with Polaris, Archangel’s vengeance on Apocalypse, the persecution of mutants with government intervention and viruses with no apparent cure. All in all a bit more grown up than Mighty Morphin Power Rangers…

The title of the new cartoon is totally cheesy and appropriately named to cash in on the upcoming Wolverine movie, if not to distinguish it from the 90’s Fox cartoon. So much so that Wolverine is cast as the unwilling leader of the X-Men. Yes – you read that right, absurd as it may be, they have gone down ‘Cyclops is an angst ridden and ineffective leader’ road. The central focus of the show is a ‘Days of Future Past’ type plot, although done in a semi-ridiculous method: Xavier wakes from a coma 20 years in the future (he is in a coma in the current timeline) where the world is ravaged by Sentinels and proceeds to contact Wolverine telepathically in the past in a bid to change the future. As half arsed as this sounds – you are never quite sure whether Xavier is living in the future and sending his brainwaves back through time (how gay is that?), or whether the comatose Xavier is just dreaming the future and communicating to Wolverine in the present (which is much more believable). Other recurring plot threads include Wolverine recovering his lost memories (another staple in the series), Scott’s search for a missing Jean, Magneto’s grand plans for world domination, and Rogue’s indecision after having ditching the X-Men for the Brotherhood.

Sauron and the Savage Land haven’t popped up in the first 11 episodes – but they can’t be too far off… The Shadow King has featured though and the results are sleep inducing, particularly after a nice episode set in Canada featuring everyone’s favourite Gamma irradiated scientist. There is also no sign of Apocalypse, the Phoenix saga or even a glimpse of Juggernaut.

The costumes loosely resemble John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men designs, with the occasional Jim Lee design thrown in as well. However, there are some odd ball choices. Beast wears a remarkably silly waistcoat along with his X-bike pants, while Kitty and Wolverine sport ridiculous boot/trouser cuffs. Stupidest design goes to Toad. It has nothing to do with taking Toad down the dufus road that he was in the original comics, it is more the way Toad looks. Toad appears like a cross between an Emo music freak and a street bum with geen skin. Hardly hideous or even goofy looking. Emma Frost is hardly uber sexy, and Kitty and Iceman look like they have hardly hit puberty. That flirting between them is a big no go zone… Ewwww… Storm is my least favourite character – I know it’s not very PC of me to dislike the sole black character, especially when Forge is now a skinny latino kid – but it doesn’t help when this incarnation of Storm looks even less African than Halle Barry.

In conclusion, the show is fun but if my few minor design quibbles were solved – it would be great. However, I still prefer the 90s cartoon for all its faults.

Best guest appearance: Bishop
Most underutilized X-Man: Colossus
Worst facial hair: Avalanche’s goatee beard
Unlikeliest appearance: Squid Boy
Surprisingly effective in combat: Nightcrawler
My biggest want: Deadpool to appear and kick arse
Missed opportunity: Nick Fury could have been styled on David Hasslehoff

My Name is Wade... Err... I mean Bruce...

2008-12-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

I finally managed to see “My Name is Bruce” last night after a long wait…

A glorified plot outline for those not familiar with one of the biggest B-movies released this year: Bruce Campbell is abducted from his trailer-park home to fight against Guan Di, a Chinese war deity. Thinking it all a joke, although thinking clearly is not one of his strong suits in this picture, Mr. Campbell discovers that it all is real, much to his shock and dismay. Mayhem ensues.

Bruce playing himself is similar to the way the stars portray themselves in the TV show Extras. Bruce is downright obnoxious at the start of the film but warms up not long before the credits start rolling.

Highlights:
Bruce Campbell - why would anyone else want to see this movie???
Bruce drives around in a beaten up old Mazda 323/Familia – which is the first car I ever owned.
The misspelling of Campbell as Cambell by the country bumpkins. Do you know how many people ask me to spell Campbell for them – or ask does it have a ‘p’ in it?
The ‘den’ set up by the Bruce Campbell fan, and in particular the Brisco costume.
Hooch for the Pooch!
Bruce trying to shoot Guan Di as he is running way – but managing to shoot the retreating country people instead.
The number of decapitations.
The cool song about Guan Di running through the movie.

I love this movie…

Wallaby pain in Cardiff

2008-11-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

It was supposed to be a quiet weekend at home - but Marius (codename: Mario) and I managed to acquire tickets to the Australia vs Wales game at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. So while my fellow workmate Bridie (codename: Bidie) took the easy option and went to Twickenham, also courtesy of work, myself, Mario, Madel (no codename), Matty V (codename: Donnie) Did a cardiff mission.

Highlights:

The funny Welsh people.

The friendly Welsh supporters who didn't mind me yelling when Australia scored while they remained deathly silent.

The closed stadium roof.

The "Whoo-Happer" burgers at BK, Mario had a double Whopper while Donnie pulverised a Triple Whopper. I had no idea there even was a triple Whopper.

Lowlights:

The poor refereeing.

The absurd 100 car parks available for a 75,000 capacity stadium.

The lack of urgency shown by the Wallabies.

The loss.

Wade the Stirrer...

2008-11-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Lets face it. I always ask awkward questions. Especially when I am drunk. But - at one of the Marvel forums in Dublin, I asked the question "are there any books that are not performing as well as you think they should be?". Routine answer about Iron Fist. Then somehow rumours start flying and then C B Cebluski posts on another message board:

"And though not reported here, but rumored elsewhere, one thing I DID NOT SAY was the Iron Fist was in any danger of cancellation. I don't know where this came from. In speaking of overall low comic sales, I did make the comment that given the positive buzz, word-of-mouth and critical acclaim that the book has constantly received, I'm always surprised it's not selling better. This no way implied it was under-performing or in any danger. Not the case at all!"

Butterfly Effect all over again. Only I am the butterfly. And it didn't change my life Mr Catley.

The State of the Shelf

2008-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hmmm.... As usual, I have gotten completely carried away in the UK with my collecting habits. On top of all this there are comics shoved in drawers, action figures packed in boxes and a big talking Robocop on my fireplace.

Dublin Comic Con 22nd/23rd

2008-11-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

I had a great time at the Dublin Con on the weekend. The weather wasn't flash of course - but I think Dublin would be far nicer in Summer. I caught up with a few people and secured a number of sketches.

Everyone knows I have an addictive personality. All collectors do - so once I got a couple of sketches I couldn't stop.

Dan Slott was very impressed that I had the Flatman cutout on show in my Marvel Legends display back home (yes I showed him photos). Dan has never seen that before!

A big thanks to all the guests and organisers for putting on such an entertaining show. I have my obligatory scans and emails of the sketches to do - so I will get those out in no time. I'll do a seperate post of my favourite skecthes etc...

The only downside of the Con was my leaving the 'Lying in the Gutters' panel to catch my plane and discover my plane was delayed by 90 minutes.

Actually - the main downside was the obese guy in my hostel room who suffered from 'crescendo snoring'. Man - never heard anything remotely like that before.

I even managed to find an Irish pub that had live coverage of my beloved Wallabies playing France.

Garry Jackson spotting!!!

2008-11-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Yes - I saw a Garry exact-a-like sorting through the Doctor Who DVDs at HMV Bond St. He had the backpack on and all! Long live Garry exact-a-likes!!!

Art Spiegelman

2008-11-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

I wandered down to FP around lunchtime today for a signing. The usual Ebayers were there - discussing how much their signed copies could sell for on Ebay. I don't like scalpers - yet these guys are almost too goofy not to like.

For those who are not familiar with Mr Spiegelman's work, you should be - he is the Pulitzer prize winning author of Maus.

DCUC 4

2008-11-21T13:36:00.001-08:00

The weakness of the pound has made collecting less fun. What can I say - it is a simple matter that you can't collect everything when it costs more money. I have been cancelling pre-orders left right and centre lately. However - the one shining beacon in this misery is DCUC. While the first three waves sit in my room in NZ unopened - I gave in and bought wave 4 from FP. And astonishing it is, so feast your eyes upon my latest haul.

The mysterious first post...

2008-11-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

And more shall be added.

Voila!