Brief reading note I wanted to mention, before I wrote today's blog proper. I have NO clue what it is about the late 70's/early 80's DC titles, but as of these past two days, I've read one issue of "The Flash" and one issue of "Wonder Woman" that BOTH featured battles against dinosaurs, and hyper-evolved dinosaurs. Maybe Bronze Age comics influenced Michael Crichton for a trip to a certain "Jurassic Park"? Theories, theories...
Yesterday, I discussed favorite Christmas comic issues of mine. But while sharing the Christmas Spirit through the printed page is a noble cause, there will STILL be a "little kid" side of me, around this time of year, wanting to ask the Comic Book-Based Santa to reply to a few measly "wish list" items of mine. And for today's blog, I wanted to share with you some of those items that either:
- Do not exist in a 100% legal format, as far as I know.
- DO exist in a legal format... but NOWHERE near the states.
- Just have not been given ANY justice, whatsoever.
So, hope you enjoy my trip down my wish list... But sorry, Santa; no sitting on your lap. I do have SOME measure of dignity to uphold.
1. Complete DVD Set of the 1960's "Marvel Super-Heroes" Cartoon Series: If you've ever done a Youtube search for ANY of the featured series under the Grantray-Lawrence Animation studios helmed series KNOWS it is not an animation dynamo. Comic panels are BARELY animated, hardly bear any continuity... watch ANY episode of the "Mighty Thor" feature, so you can see Odin wear at least SIX SEPARATE OUTFITS in a single episode... and sometimes you get some of the cheesiest voice acting this side of American dubbings of Japanese video game dialogue. That being said, this series STILL holds a soft spot in my heart, for being one of the first efforts to bring the Marvel Comics Universe to a televised medium. And since the stories are based SPOT-ON from the source material, you get stories that are interestingly interpreted dramatizations of the budding Marvel Universe. And as far as I've seen, this series is ONLY available via... er... "less than honorable" means. So c'mon Marvel... I KNOW you've had better animated efforts through the years, but you need to pay some tribute to your founding steps!
2. The ULTIMATE 1980's "Spider-Man/Woman" Animated Series Collection: Are you able to find "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" in its entirety on Netflix Instant? Sure! ... But there is a noticeable gap in finding Stateside access to the precursor to that very series, a series with the simple label of "Spider-Man". Some fond memories of that particular series that I STILL carry are an episode featuring Spidey's battle with Doctor Doom, as Victor seeks to gain control of the United Nations, along with a clash with Dr. Curt Connors... AKA the Lizard! Pushing together both series into a nice simple DVD set would be a dream come true for a person who found his initial Marvel Comics LOVE by these shows' exposures. But why not make a tidy Oreo Cookie with this set, by also including the one-season only collection of the "Spider-Woman" animated series, of which I have ZILCH memories of! Now, remember my mention of the "Stateside access" to these series? Well, those lucky English citizens DID see proper DVD releases of ALL THREE of these shows? Why doth thou forsake us, Mighty House of Ideas? Need FURTHER proof?
3. A Heaping Helping of BOTH "Incredible Hulk" Series on DVD: Yep... Denied yet ANOTHER revisit of a classic set of Marvel Animated series. I was CONVINCED at least the 90's "Incredible Hulk" series would see a re-release with the theatrical release of the most recent "Hulk" feature film. (Heck, when "Iron Man 2" was released around the same rough time, the 90's "Iron Man" series was collected into a DVD set!) But much like a repeat "Hulk" sequel, the prospects of the 1980's Hulk cartoon AND the 1990's Hulk cartoon are about as likely as Marvel NOT putting out another event after their current comics event ends. Which is a shame, because I remember the 80's series having AMAZING animation quality for a single season, along with one of the BEST animated theme songs of all time. And the 90's series was about 2 seasons worth of a distillation of the best of the Peter David era of the comic title. And even better... it ALSO featured a set of episodes with Doctor Doom, who ALSO was the inadvertent creator of She-Hulk for that show! Hail Latveria!
4. A Marvel 75th Anniversary Music Compilation: Sigh... Marvel, you DO realize DC STILL has you beat on this front, because for their 75th publishing anniversary, they put out a VERY fun music compilation of the various iterations of their popular characters' themes in cartoons, television shows, and movies. (Man, jamming out to that "Wonder Woman" television theme NEVER gets old, nor does the excitement chills of hearing that John Williams "Superman" theme.) Marvel has close to 50 years worth of cartoon, movie, and television show themes that people KNOW and LOVE! (I'm sure you're all familiar with the 1960's "Spider-Man" cartoon theme, and more than a few could probably hum the 1960's "Iron Man" show theme.) Why not tap that RICH history of their characters' exposure to media, and collect them as either a hard CD release, or maybe even just a digital download? Some, I do understand, are probably points of legal contention. (Good luck seeing hide OR hair of that Danny Elfman "Spider-Man" theme on the collection, thank you VERY MUCH, Sony...) But think of how much this collection could tap into people that just LOVE catchy theme songs for their favorite Marvel characters throughout the years. Marvel, I will even send you a BLANK CHECK to make this happen.
But as we're about to see, DC is not totally free of guilt with lacking in materials that just BEG to see release! So, why don't we look at two particularly notable deficits in their trade paperback program...
5. An ACTUAL Series of Reprints for "Fury of Firestorm": The reprinting of the first six "Firestorm" issues, along with "The Flash" backups in ONE TRADE does not count as a comprehensive exposure to the history of Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein. And due to the fact that Firestorm is starting live-action life in CW's "The Flash" series, you would THINK the company would want to give their nuclear-powered paladin some proper time in the sun by FINALLY giving reprint trades to the long-running series that started in the 80's. It's only right, y'know!
6. Reprinting at LEAST the first "DC Who's Who" Mini-Series: Obviously, the Internet makes any comic book reference book outdated, by nature. But where would those Wikipedia entries be without the influence of that original 26 issue guide to the DC Universe that took place during, and AFTER, the initial "Crisis on Infinite Earths"? A lot of these characters' backgrounds are NOWHERE near where they are reported to be for the course of this series, but there's still something quaint about seeing the character write-ups at the time, along with various artistic interpretations of certain characters. Plus, I think this series represents a HUGE chunk of DC at their nadir, with emphasis on the growing popularity of the "New Teen Titans"... and by proxy, AWESOME artwork by George Perez for those particular entries. How hard can it be to give this series just ONE SINGLE omnibus/trade, and see how it goes, before delivering on the remainder of the future year entries?
And just because I KNOW it exists, but still find it VERY hard to get my hands on in a reasonably-priced manner...
7. A Carded Original Superman figure from the Kenner "Super Powers Collection": ... A guy can dream, can't he?
And before I forget, while it's early, it is still NO LESS sincere, when I wish everyone that's helped support this blog, or even just read it, the best the Christmas Holiday can offer. May you all have a very Merry Christmas!
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