It’s election time again and time to take a serious moment away from arguing over who will bring about the fall of America as we know it, because they announced today the nominees not for some silly political thingie like President- The Strong Museum of Play announced who is up for inclusion in the Toy Hall of Fame. The 12 finalists were announced and after a vote by the general public three will make it. Here’s the official announcement: https://www.museumofplay.org/exhibits/toy-hall-of-fame/2024-finalists/
For those who don’t like clicking on links, the 2024 finalists:
- Apples to Apples
- Balloons
- Choose Your Own Adventure Gamebooks
- Hess Toy Trucks
- My Little Pony
- Phase 10
- Pokémon
- R/C Cars
- Sequence
- Hobbyhorse
- Trampoline
- Transformers
While some Toys seem like they should already be included, and others make you scratch your head (Is that really a toy?). This is serious business. So who will join last year’s inductees: Baseball Cards, Cabbage Patch Kids, the Fisher-Price Corn Popper and Nerf Toys? Some other notable inductees include: sand (2021), the ball (2009), the cardboard box (2005), Silly Putty (2001), LEGO Bricks (1998), and the stick (2008)? Yes, there are 84 toys currently in the Hall of Fame since it started in 1998. There is a long process that leads to the actual vote which goes on until September 25th. So Vote Now! You can vote once per day unlike the presidential election (no matter what one party continues to claim). Fortunately there will be no debates, rallies, or tweets filled with propaganda trying to sway your vote. The conservative and liberal media seem not to care. The current candidates have not weighed in, and probably won’t. Hopefully things will be better than in 2013 when there were all those scandalous posts about the rubber duck and its relationship with a certain muppet. 🙄 Like I said, some people take this seriously.
VOTE NOW! VOTE TOMORROW! VOTE UNTIL SEPTEMBER 25!
This Week’s Comics
Please note that these reviews tend to be after a quick cursory reading of the comic and while some people think “Comics aren’t real reading” it does take more than just reading the words to get all the subtlities infused in the words and pictures (It’s called “multimodal literacy” in the Ed Biz). So I apologize ahead of time for things I might glance over. I do go back and reread most of the comics I get each week, multiple times, unless I get busy petting cats. As you can tell, while I might enjoy a character, there are times in which I can tell (after decades of practice) that for me, the story isn’t worth more than a quick once over – usually these are tie-in issues in which I really don’t care about the massive universe ending tale they are connected to.
Superman #18 ( Absolute Power Tie-In) 🙄 – Blah, blah blah, Amanda Waller is bad, heroes need to stop her… Universes will change, heroes will make sacrifices, read it or you’ll be left out.
Whatever.
In this case Superman and Zatana are in a very warm place Dante wrote about and in order to get the map to find their way through they need to make a deal with the DC version of the devil – Who usually shows up in these “multiverse changing” events. Superman makes the ultimate sacrifice (you’ll need to read it to find out). Now it’s time to pick up the next issue of a comic you usually never read or the next key issue of Absolute Power to find out what happens next. Let me know once you find out.
Spider-Boy Annual #1 (The Infinity Watch Tie-In?) 🙄- I really have no idea where this annual fits in the grand scheme of things. Spider-Boy is on the boardwalk enjoying some time off when he decides to stop a thief who happens to have a dog’s face. Could he be another escapee from Madame Monstrosity? Hijinks ensue. Maybe not hijinks, but a fight and a team up with guys who currently have control over individual Infinity Stones- you know those things Thanos wanted in the Avengers movies. “snap!” By the end Bailey is back to enjoying his time and there is some sort of cliffhanger dealing with the Infinity Stone people if I was following the saga of The Infinity Watch, I might know more. Hmm… The Infinity Watch… I wonder what apps it comes with? Is it compatible with my iPhone? Does it keep track of the exercise and sleep patterns?
Ultimate X-Men # 7 – I’m not really seeing any kind of arc as I read this. Not saying it’s bad, just in western comics it’s gotten to the point where after 6 issues you are used to some conclusion. Here we are still building things up. Making me want to find all the previous issues and go back and reread them so that maybe I can understand what is going on. I’ve got a month before the next issue comes out.
Huge Detective #2 – Giants and “dolls” aka humans inhabit the Earth, this crime drama we’re still trying to figure out the rules of the world and how everything works. What I know so far, there is a giant who serves as a detective along with his human partner. They are working on a case dealing with missing people and murder. In this issue a giant skeleton pops out of the moon and heads to Earth. Why? I guess we’ll find out next issue. With many comics I’m starting to think I’m getting too old to figure these things out… Now get off my lawn!
Flash Gordon #2 – I tend to say I started reading comics with Flash Gordon… When I would ride my bike during the age of “Be home before dark” I would stop at the drug store, which was more than a drug store, it also had books. One of them was Flash Gordon Volume 1. I was in second grade and I coveted that book. At some point I got it, my older brother got Volume 2. I read it over and over again. When other volumes of Alex Raymond’s original Sunday strips came out I bought those, unfortunately over a few moves I don’t have them anymore… I have replaced them, but different publisher, so all the nostalgia has leaked out of them. I’m currently reading Dan Schkade’s take on Flash Gordon by King Features which I have thoroughly enjoyed and look forward to every morning. (I really recommend it and wish I could find him at a Con. While it is not Alex Raymond’s style, it is awesome.
Now Mad Cave Comics has relaunched their take on Flash. I picked up the Free Comic Book Day teaser, but unfortunately missed issue 1 which I will ask about the next time I’m at Comic Carnival. It looks like after whatever happened in Issue 1, Flash is now on a prison planet with Ming the Merciless (who is also a prisoner). He is trying to get away and Ming offers to “help.” (Ming is never to be trusted… he earned the title “The Merciless” for a reason and it had nothing to do with his puppy dog soufflé.
There was some initial commentary about how Ming and the inhabitants of Mongo had been drawn in the Mad Cave FCBD teaser. It is definitely a more alien style, but that is up to the artist and by deviating from Raymond’s style defines these stories, (like Schkade’s) not as attempts to reproduce Raymond’s amazing artwork, but to honor the characters and the story of Flash Gordon. Basically, get over it.
Flash Gordon Quarterly #1 – These seem to be a conglomeration of stories either from the Flash Gordon Universe or a “Elseworlds” “What if” take on the characters by various writers and artists. The main story is about Vultan (King of the Hawkmen) and his son, a coming of age kind of story in which Vultan’s son tries to prove he’s not a little boy anymore in the face saving his father from the enemy.
The second story is a western… with Flash Gordon as the sheriff of a small derelict town going against the gang of bad guys led by Ming. Flash is, of course, saving the town and Dale from the evil clutches of the villain.
The final story is the 1930’s gumshoe detective tale. Flash is the Sam Spade like detective, the damsel in distress is Aura, Zarkov is Flash’s partner who makes gadgets for him. Dale is Flash’s informant in the Police Department. So who is after Aura, and in the process trying to kill Flash? I’ve read too much Dashiell Hammett not to be intrigued. I looks like these will be coming out quarterly so I’ve got some time to reread and figure out what clues might be hidden in the panels.
Shake of the Week
