Spider-Mickey?

I'm sure you all heard the news today... Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4,000,000,000.

Yahoo

Wall Street Journal

What does this mean for the publishing arm? Probably nothing. We were around when Time/Warner purchased DC Comics. We said "Finally, surely NOW we'll see nationally-televised ads for comic books!' But we were young and naive then, and giant corporations tend to let their different departments function without any overlap. I guess we'll see.

But just imagine the crossover possibilities... like...

HOWARD THE DUCK VS. DONALD DUCK!

(Thanks to all of you who sent this story in!)

The Ballad of G.I.Joe

To all the G.I. Joe fans out there that have wondered what G.I. Joe and Cobra are up to when they're not locked in epic battle with each other. This song's for you!



If some of the faces here look familiar, it's because this thing has a bigger all star cast than the recent theatrical release! The credits are as follows:

Laz Alonso as Doc
Alexis Bledel as Lady Jaye
Billy Crudup as Zartan
Zach Galifianakis as Snow Job
Tony Hale as Dr. Mindbender
Frankie Kang as Storm Shadow
Geoff Mann as Buzzer
Andreas Owald as Snake Eyes
Daniel Strange as Torch
Kevin Umbricht as Ripper
Vinnie Jones as Destro
Joey Kern as Tomax
Joey Kern as Xamot
Chuck Liddell as Gung Ho
Julianne Moore as Scarlett
Henry Rollins as Duke
Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck
Olivia Wilde as The Baroness
Jamin Fite as Cobra Commander
Sgt. Slaughter as Himself
(all credit for this video goes to www.funnyordie.com)

Thanks to Chuck Cordivano for the heads up on this!

The Walking Dead Now Google Mapped!?!

Yes, indeed! One, Jason McDonald, of Brooklyn, NY, has accomplished a monumental task in Google mapping play by play the entire Walking Dead series from issue #1 to the current #64! The effort and attention to detail put into this is incredible to behold! See for yourself here!

There's even the inclusion of the hope of a zombie free safe zone! It could happen... or are they really doomed?

GODZILLA FEET PLUSH SLIPPERS!

GODZILLA FEET PLUSH SLIPPERS:



Godzilla feet plush slippers.

Visit Scenic Arkham Asylum!

Are you one of the hundreds of thousands of gamers who just got their paws on the new XBOX 360 game BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM?


Did you know it's based on one of the best Batman and Joker stories ever written, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM?

More importantly, did you know you can get a copy of the collected edition at either Comix Connection locations? Well, you do now! Reserve your copy today!

Run, don't walk

TO RITA'S RIGHT NOW AND SAMPLE THE DELICIOUS NEW SWEDISH FISH FLAVOR!

HOLY MACKEREL IS IT GOOD!

HERE'S a handy RITA'S finder.

Break the ice cream habit! GO RITA'S!

Playtime

My pal Jeremy sent this:

Addictive flash games:

Knock down buildings

Blow up castles

Go play!

NEW COMICS WILL SHIP THURSDAY AFTER LABOR DAY!

Let me repeat that:

INSTEAD OF NORMAL WEDNESDAY SHIPPING, COMICS WILL SHIP ON THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 10TH FOLLOWING LABOR DAY, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7th!

(Not next week, but the week after! You have been warned!)

Too busy to post anything of substance

I'm working on this month's comic orders for August (shipping in October) so I really have nothing to put up here today, except this:



I want one of those.

Second Annual Creators Cookout at Comix Connection - Mechanicsburg!

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO EMBIGGEN!)

Come and meet artist Mike Hawthorne and novelists Brian Keene and J.F. Gonzalez on SATURDAY, September 12th at Comix Connection - Mechanicsburg, and from Noon to 2PM partake of the cookout stylings of Mike Hawthorne as he works his culinary wizardry on the humble picnic staples, hotdog and hamburger! All food and drink is FREE, but we will be accepting cash donations for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank if you are so inclined! We will also have a donation barrel set up all week for canned goods and other staples to help Central Pennsylvanians in these grim economic times.

As a special incentive to get you off the sofa and into our parking lot, we will also be having a giant sale on all back issues in the bins... they will be a measly ONE DOLLAR EACH, so fill your belly and your wantlist at the same time!

The Weekend Comics Chat Open Thread - The So Wrong But So Funny Edition

So, did anyone read any comics this week? Which ones?

Tell us all about it in the Comments while Smokey and I take care of this thing for this guy.

By the way

ARCHIE PROPOSED TO VERONICA!

Get your copy of ARCHIE #600 today and read what all the hubbub is about!

(And how does Betty feel?)

Coming soon from DC

A full spectrum of Green Lantern promotional rings!

(Click on the image to embiggen!)

We're not positive of the details at this early stage but it looks like these rings will be tied to the purchase of a few crossover titles. WE WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW TO GET THEM AS SOON AS WE FIGURE IT OUT!

From DC:

DC COMICS SOLICITS BLACKEST NIGHT PROMOTIONAL RINGS

With BLACKEST NIGHT ramping up the danger across the DC Universe, DC Comics presents a full spectrum of BLACKEST NIGHT PROMOTIONAL RINGS, solicited in the September Previews!

DOOM PATROL #4 --> YELLOW PROMOTIONAL RING. The YELLOW PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on November 4.

BOOSTER GOLD #26 --> ORANGE PROMOTIONAL RING. The ORANGE PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on November 18.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #39 --> RED PROMOTIONAL RING. The RED PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on December 2.

BLACKEST NIGHT #5 --> GREEN PROMOTIONAL RING. The GREEN PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on December 16.

ADVENTURE COMICS #4 --> BLUE PROMOTIONAL RING. The BLUE PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on December 30.

R.E.B.E.L.S #10 --> INDIGO PROMOTIONAL RING. The INDIGO PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on January 13.

OUTSIDERS #24 --> VIOLET PROMOTIONAL RINGS. The VIOLET PROMOTIONAL RINGS are scheduled to arrive in stores on January 27.

We'll be starting a list of folks who want all of these (which involves purchase of the comics the rings are tied to), so let your friendly counter monkey know that you want to be added. Please don't ask us here on the blog in the comments section, as we may miss it. Call the stores or talk to a clerk when you're in!

ASTRO BOY trailer!

Woot!



Thanks to Mike Bollinger for the linky!

The best news this year

is that AMC has outbid all comers for the rights to a series based on Robert Kirkman's WALKING DEAD comic book! This is great news to me, as WALKING DEAD is consistently in My Personal Top Five Favorite Comic Books every month. Each issue ends with a cliffhanger, and Kirkman isn't shy about having his characters go through drastic changes, including sudden death. It's one of the best-written comic books I've ever read, and I'm not really that much of a "zombie fan"... it's just that Kirkman writes believable, gripping, character-driven stories that happen to occur in a world where zombies roam free. Anyway, read more about this awesome news HERE!


If you're not already reading WALKING DEAD, start today. Just do it. All past issues are kept in print over 10 softcover volumes, and the first one is only $9.99. It's one of the few books that I will offer my unconditional guarantee: If you buy it and honestly hate it, bring it back and I will swap you for ten dollars worth of anything else in the store. Yes, WALKING DEAD is that good.

A poignant moment from WALKING DEAD:



I can't wait to see this series!

What I did on my summer vacation

The first day of my summer vacation, I woke up.
I went downtown to look for a job.
Then I hung out in front of the drug store.

Remember that one? No? Guess I'm too old. That's a Cheech and Chong classic, folks!

Anyway.

My family and I just got back from ten days in fabulous Daytona Beach, Florida, home of the best stretch of beach in the continental USA, bar none. I love it there. No crowds, a huge beach, and perfect weather. Now if only there were some really good seafood restaurants there like in Calabash, North Carolina. Still, a great vacation was had by all. What did we do? Besides the usual fun stuff like swimming, body-surfing and lying around, we went to THRIFT STORES! What did I find there? Behold:

BRAND NEW RED CHUCKS, size 10! 'Nuff said.

Two dollar DVDs, including an early-'70s thriller fave THE BEGUILED.

TEN CENT CASSETTES! Let me say that again: TEN CENT CASSETTES! It doesn't get any better than that. For that price I can play them once in the van and then chuck them at that annoying tailgater behind me. Human League, Oingo Boingo, Kate Bush, Squeeze, Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Joe Jackson, Billy Idol, Blondie. Talking Heads, The Time (FREAK-A-ZOID!), and some miscellaneous Hawaiian music for Wahl's Friendly Tavern! Some of these were on the 747 Records label, a mysterious bootlegger(?) from Saudi Arabia that littered the record store bins in the late-'70s/early '80s. What a haul!

A four-foot Toucan for the Tiki Bar! Thanks, Mom and Pop! You always know just what to get me!

A flat tire in Carson, Virginia. This gift was for the entire family. Still, it could have been a lot worse. We got it literally a quarter-mile from THE ONLY OPEN REST AREA on I-95 in the state of Virginia! Pure luck. Towed to a real working garage at 7PM on a Saturday and replaced in seven minutes! We're back on the road with only two hours lost!

At least I didn't take my dad's garage door opener home this time.

So what happened while I was gone?

Steady Flow of Fun!

We at Comix Connection went in with Marvel Comics to celebrate the 70 years of awesome comics they've published. These were the results!

First thing that blew my mind was when we spotted the return of the infamous and mysterious sasquatch monkey, Mike!

After we harnesed the power of the sasquatch we got on with the sale. Many showed up to partake in our sale and enjoy the hard work of The Mighty Marvel Bullpen!

Then, as the sale peaked, we brought out the glorious cake, and it was a delicious cake at that! We have many who will testify.


So thanks to all of you who came out and enjoyed the sale and cake. Hoo-RAY for Marvel Comics and all the growth of their timeless characters and stories! And also horay for our winners, who took home some extra goodies from our "Radical Raffle!"

David Stermer, Jonathon Walker, Jeff Marrero, Brian Grimes, James Rigney, Stephen Ellis, Theresa Micheau, Steve Stough, and Matt Gecelosky!

See you again @ the Buck...I mean Comix Connection! Oops...Bill, would you please stop having fun and get back here and post...I'm losing it. That is, if I ever had it.

Highest Recomendation to Indie Lovers!

Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. But what is this “escape” really about?

As the story unfolds, moving between the present and the past, we begin to understand this confounding yet fascinating character, and how he’s gotten to where he is. And isn’t. And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But now she’s gone. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually.

In the meantime, we are enthralled by Mazzucchelli’s extraordinarily imagined world of brilliantly conceived eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception.

Asterios Polyp is David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece: a great American graphic novel.

Nothing today, just this cool picture

Photoshopped from this image:



Pretty darn cool, eh?

Marvel 70 Anniversary Sale is Today!

It's on now! Marvel Comics is 70 years old and we're celebrating with a one day sale, today, Wednesday, August 12th! From 10AM until 9PM we're offering the following:

All Marvel Comics back issues in the bins 70 cents each!
All Marvel Comics back issues on the wall 30% off!
All Marvel Comics graphic novels, collected editions, and books 25% off!
But that's not all! Wednesday is also the release day for the premiere issue of the Marvels Project and Marvel Comics #1 70th Anniversary Edition! While supplies last there will be a limited number of Variant cover versions for both of these incredible comic books available for cover price!

Also you can enter to win various prizes including variant cover comics!

This event is being held at both our Mechanicsburg and York locations! Come out and enjoy the sale! Marvel's got a wealth of comic book history after 70 years, and this is your chance to add some more of those amazing comic book moments to your collection at a fantastic price!

See at you the sale!

WD-40

Things I Didn't Know Department:

WD-40 stands for "WATER DISPLACEMENT, 40th FORMULA" and was first used to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from rust and corrosion.

Read about it HERE!

And now you know too.

Marvel's Having an Anniversary & We're Having a Sale!

That's right, true believers! Marvel hits the big 7-0 this year and we're celebrating with a one day sale on Wednesday, August 12th! From 10AM until 9PM we're offering the following:

All Marvel Comics back issues in the bins 70 cents each!
All Marvel Comics back issues on the wall 30% off!
All Marvel Comics graphic novels, collected editions, and books 25% off!
But that's not all! Wednesday is also the release day for the premiere issue of the Marvels Project and Marvel Comics #1 70th Anniversary Edition! While supplies last there will be a limited number of Variant cover versions for both of these incredible comic books available for cover price!

Also you can enter to win various prizes including variant cover comics!

This event is being held at both our Mechanicsburg and York locations! Come out and enjoy the sale! Marvel's got a wealth of comic book history after 70 years, and this is your chance to add some more of those amazing comic book moments to your collection at a fantastic price! Excelsoir!

See at you the sale!

This is Going on My Christmas Wish List!

Christmas if you can believe it is a mere 137 days away, and this Japanese invention is now at the top of my list! I present to you the rubber band machine gun!

A Dark Knight is in Store for the Man of Bronze!

DC Comics is the place for adventure this November as the company releases the first book to bring a new world of classic adventure characters to the DC Universe, and that first book is none other than, Batman/Doc Savage! This one-shot has writer Brian Azzarello teaming with artist Phil Noto for a special which sets the stage for an entire new world of adventure for Doc, along with an amazing cast of characters along the way, including the Blackhawks and Rima, the Jungle Girl. Word is Will Eisner's Spirit is even going to be part of the fun!

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll leave you with not one but two covers for the new series! The first one above is the painted cover by JG Jones, and the second cover below is Rags Morales' variant cover for the book! Enjoy these and enjoy your weekend!

Green Lantern Fan Trailer.

Pretty cool. Wonder if they'll have any of the corps in the actual movie. I hope so!

Walt Disney History!

This is a trailer for a really cool looking Disney documentary about his time in South America with some of the animators.

Nothing But Time!

Have an appreciation for a good time-traveling sci-fi flick but finding you're uncertain of what films really portray such a sojourn with any understanding of the effects then on time? Then let M. Joseph Young's Temporal Anomalies in Time Travel Movies website be your source for temporal analyses of different time lines created by the Terminator films, the Back To The Future trilogy, Millennium, those Trek films that dealt with time travel, 12 Monkeys, Flight Of The Navigator, Army of Darkness, Lost In Space, Peggy Sue Got Married, the Bill & Ted movies, Frequency, Planet of the Apes, Kate and Leopold, Somewhere In Time, The Time Machine, Minority Report, Happy Accidents, The Final Countdown, Donnie Darko, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Deja Vu.

There's certainly lots to read through here! A few hours reading this stuff and I think you'll agree this is time well... spent!

AND NOW IT'S VAMPIRE BATS!

MUCH LIKE THEIR MYTHICAL NAMESAKES VAMPIRE BATS MUST FEAST ON FRESH BLOOD EVERY 2-3 DAYS OR DIE OF STARVATION.

THEY SEEK OUT WARM-BLOODED MAMMALS THRIVING OFF DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK LIVING IN THE TROPICAL REGIONS OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA.

MOST VICTIMS NEVER FEEL A THING AND THE BITE ITSELF IS SUPERFICIAL.

BUT INCREASINGLY BATS ARE TARGETING HUMANS AND THE ENCOUNTERS ARE TURNING DEADLY.

See more HERE!

I'm never leaving my basement again. Maybe I can sic them on the giant-ant-colony-controlled flying squid.

This has nothing to do with comic books but

I'm somewhat a fan of SEINFELD, but the more I watch CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM with Larry David, the more I realize that he was the genius behind SEINFELD's success. The man is funny and the situations he comes up with in CURB rival the odd synchronicities in SEINFELD. Anyway, I was very happy to hear this news:

First noted on Clifford Meth's blog, then fleshed out HERE on NPR's site, it looks like it's going to happen. The SEINFELD crew will reunite in the fictional CURB universe!

The seventh season of "Curb" returns on Sept. 20 and will center around Larry finally "agreeing" to do a reunion of the defining '90s sitcom. All four "Seinfeld" cast members will play themselves in multiple episodes, and the season finale will feature extensive snippets of the show-within-the-show.

and

The "Seinfeld" co-creator and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator-star says the cast will appear together in the finale of the upcoming seventh season of the HBO comedy series.

It marks the first time in 11 years that Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards have appeared together on screen.

It's a dream come true for this CURB fan. You just know it won't end well.

Pffft. My six-year-old could paint that!

No, really:



Read all about this incredibly talented six-year-old artist HERE! Crazy!

Jobhunting?

Apply at STARK INDUSTRIES!

CLICK HERE and then click on "Join Stark Industries".

Good luck!

(Hat tip to Jeremy for the link! Thanks!)