I have been invited to have a table at a local comic shop and do some demo art work and provide an example of local 'talent' on Free Comic Book Day. I'm pretty excited about doing it and a free comic or 2 will be nice as well.

As a collector, I am a bit distressed that this event is geared towards the specialty shops. I think if they opened it to larger retail venues, it would reach more people. Comics have left out the large audience that is comprised of children and many do not even know these shops exist and finding comics in any retail store is rare. The comic industry would serve itself well if they broadened the scope of where they make the free comics available. But, who am I to question an industry that still has not fully recovered from being near or at bankrupt a few short years ago.

I am a proponent of Free Comic Book Day, but the audience that will actually know about it is much smaller than it ultimately could be. They should have small spots during the preview segments prior to Spiderman 2. Anyway, I know about it and will be as involved as I can. I just hope the same can be said for others...

This is an alphabetical list that was started about 6 years or so ago. The keeper of this list is a buddy of mine in San Francisco named Tony. He has toiled long and hard (over many nights under the influence of illicit substances) with many friends to compile this list.

Now the nomination and election process is a bit more complex then one may think. So I’ll go over the basic rules for a movie to be deemed ‘bad’.
1. No sequels allowed! It is very rare that any sequel is actually ‘good’.
2. No ‘b’, cult, horror or spoof movies allowed. These are so bad they are actually good.
3. A made for television or cable movie is pushing it. A movie that goes straight to video has got to be bad, so those are pushing it too.
4. You must consider that these are movies that you would be paying money to see in a theater.
5. There are movies that are bad that can have enough redeeming qualities they won’t make the cut. Examples are: Judge Dredd (Stallone) or The Punisher (Dolph Lundgren). These are comicbook movies and for the fans that know the medium, they are pretty good. Early Schwarzenegger and Stallone Action flicks have enough one-liners and action that they have entertainment value.

With this in mind, there is a process that a movie must go through to make the list.
1. 2 or more people must agree the movie is really bad.
2. If someone is against it being added, they must make a valid case for keeping it off.

Movies that are on the list can be removed but only if you are undeniably correct and have reasons that are hard to argue. The panel of Stoners and Drunks and dudes that made the list are professional movie viewers and have placed these beauties on here for a reason. The effort to break out something like, “Cop and a Half” during a round table discussion was the motivator to take the list to this level.

If you have a suggestion, a nomination, disagreement, then let’s hear it! I will try and revise the list as often as possible. I will have final say (after Tony’s blessing) on movies that make it or not. I know a lot of modern and contemporary stuff is missing. It has not been ‘officially’ revised for about 2 years. Again, I will consult Tony for additions and add them soon. I just thought that this list was good for a laugh at least and I hope people dig it and get into trying to come up with the doozie that echoes laughter throughout the site and beyond.

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54
8mm
Air Force 1
Airheads
American Anthem
Anaconda
Angels in the Outfield
Any Which Way But Loose
(The) Apple Dumplin’ Gang
(The) Bachelor
Beethoven
(The) Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Big Bully
Big Business
Big Daddy
Bio Dome
Bird on a Wire
Blue Chips
Breakin’
Bright Lights Big City
Capt ’n’ Jack
(The) Cell
Child’s Play
Cliff Hanger
Cobra
Congo
Cool World
Cop and a Half
Cops & Robbersons
Corvette Summer
Curly Sue
Dark Man
Daylight
Deep Impact
Demolition Man
Desperately Seeking Susan
Doc Hollywood
Dragonheart
Dream a Little Dream
Dream Lover
Dunston Checks In
Encino Man
Envy
Existenz
Exit to Eden
Fair Game
Father of the Bride
Father’s Day
Feds
Final Destination
First Knight
Fist of Fear
Footloose
Freejack
Free Willy
Fresh Horses
From Dusk to Dawn
Ghost Dad
Ghost in the Darkness
Gigli
Gleaming the Cube
Goin’ Ape
Gone in 60 Seconds
Greed
Hardwear
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
Harry and the Harrisons
Haunted Honeymoon
Her Alibi
Hero
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Hope Floats
(The) Hurricane
Ice Castles
If Looks Could Kill
(The) Island of Dr. Moreau
Ishtar
It's Pat
Jingle All the Way
K-9
Kazam
King Ralph
Lady Bugs
Lake Placid
(The) Last Action Hero
L A Story
Leonard VI (not a sequel)
Leprechaun
(The) Light of Day
Like Father Like Son
Look Who’s Talking
Mannequin
(The) Mario Brothers
Men at Work
(The) Mighty Ducks
(The) Money Pit
Mister Saturday Night
(The) Mummy
MVP (Most Valuable Primate)
Nell
(The) Net
Nurse Betty
Oscar
Over the Top
Palmetto
Paternity
Poison Ivy
(The) Postman
Problem Child
(The) Quick and the Dead
Razors Edge
Return of the Disco Godfather
Rhinestone Cowboy
Shang-Hi Surprise
She-Devil
She’s Outta Control
Short Circuit
Side Kicks
Sideout
Silver Bullet
Stone Cold
Stop or My Mom Will Shoot
Tango and Cash
Titanic
Tremors
Turner and Hooch
Two if By Sea
Vice Versa
Walk Like a Man
Waterworld
Way to Go
Weekend at Bernies
Wild Orchid
YMCA
Young Einstein
You’ve Got Mail

I think Kellerman's book detailed the mailers from the vintage era well. Just curious if anyone has any of these in the original white box or mailer bags...

There's just something about these that I like even though they are figures available on cards. I love the idea of sending away for a Sears promo and receiving 10 figures to add to my collection. Reading the names that came in these boxes is enough to make me cry. And I like that they are rare and exclusive in their own right. It's great to see such detailed information (what came in the box, the item #'s and vendor). I see these from time to time on ebay and just cringe. Stinks to be someone with so much financial responsibility that I can't indulge in what I am most passionate about...

I have a few things I'd like to rant about if people will entertain my thoughts...

1. Who is buying/reading/collecting comics besides me? What titles do you like right now? I would like to recommend a few titles I find to be extremely well written and drawn (outside of the Dark Horse SW comics, which vary). They are te following: The Losers (Wildstorm), Black Hole (Indy), Conan (DH), Batman: City of Light (DC/The Pander Brothers!), The Escapist (DH), The Moth (DH), Plastic Man (DC)... Notice please the lack of Marvel (other than 1602, I have no interest in Marvel).

2. The Slow Death and Immense Decay of Comics as we have come to know them...
Brief History: Comics come into being in book form from collected dailies. Sequencial art and storytelling becomes a lucrative business with unlimited possibilities. Heroes are born, heroes go to war while America is at war and they are popular and distributed everywhere. Comics have a tough time tring to recover from the end of the war. Horror and True Crime comics are the focus and they are eventually censored. Then we see ridiculous monster comics and then back to super heroes. The writing becomes very good and Stan Lee humanizes the hero. Comics become popular and are widely distributed. The 1980s. comics boom and start selling millions of copies per issues having to do several printings to sate the demand. They are at convenience stores, super markets, retail, drug stores. They are out there!!! They are advertising by being a fixture. Specialty shops are for the serious collector, but remain fairly covert.

Then Marvel has a great idea. Let's focus on the collector and forget the kids. Marvel decides that all they need is several thousand people to buy 3-10 copies of 'collectible' issues and they will do just fine. These select people invest as planned, but soon realize that there isn't a market for their 'collectibles' because anyone else interested has them or is trying to get rid of them. They stop buying comics. Marvel prints the few million or so comics expecting to have the continued effect and no one buys them. The market is flooded and there is no more demand. This makes Marvel  focus exclusively on specialty shops that order and pay up front and the distribution is taken from the public eye. Marvel goes bankrupt and almost kills the industry because the other companies followed Marvels lead. Indies fold, go under and suffer. Comic books are on life support.

They slowly creep back but stay limited to the specialty shops. Advertising by putting them in every retail store is gone. People don't buy comics unless they hunt them down in specialty shops. Graphic novels become the focus and the monthly books cut corners, artists and writers are hired for their speed and ability for meeting deadlines. The quality drops. Comics go from selling up to 2 million per issue in the 1980s and 1990s to considering good sales on a book being 15,000.

The movies come out and out and out and nothing is done to publicize the comic book industry. Comics are kept in a private world. 250+ million are viewing these movies and no one is buying comics because they can't get them. They are not there...

Rumors ripple through the industry that Marvel wants to focus solely on graphic novels and continue to focus on large corp. bookstore chains buying up front. The idea to stop printing monthly 22-24 page books is considered and could possibly come to be from Marvel.

DC stays true to form and doesn't want to shake things up. They are as concerned with quality as they are with profit. They sign the industtries best creators to contracts and recruit a house of legends by 2004.  Dark Horse also stays with the comic as an art form concept nad continues to put out quality books. Image is about the art and not the writing. But the art is worth the cover price.

Comics are hanging by a thin thread.

3. I love comics as a creator and a reader and a collector. I hope something is done to promote the industry better and to make comics more accessible to the average Joe.

I saw a kid (15 or 16) in a Borders bookstore reading a comic the other day. He had a mohawk going and looked fairly nerdy (who am I to judge). He was reading a graphic novel (more underground or independent).
I asked him why he was reading that comic and he said he liked the writing. I asked him if he collected or knew of a few titles and he said no. He was just starting to get into it. I asked if he knew where a local specialty shop was and he said... No.

My point is... The fan is out there, but the comics are not. This is going to be the demise if it is not amended. This art form must live on! I do not know if there is really anything we can do as fans. Just thought I'd air that out because it depresses me and makes me quite angry.

Hope the message is clear here. I tend to ramble when I'm all worked up.

Did anyone ever play Space Opera back in the day? It was an RPG that tied in all realms of the space genre (Star Trek, Star Wars...). It was released in 1980 by Paladin Press and didn't make it too far despite it being a damn good game.

I was in a really cool used bookstore/collectibles shop recently and found it in the box in mint condition (all books and gaming sheets included). Bought it for $10. The memories are good enough for me. The biggest hurdle of the game was character generation. So many rolls and facets to complete before you could even start up a good game. The math involved could be a bit trying at times too. It was definitely not mainstreamed. Very complex, but once you got to the actual roleplaying, it was a total kick in the butt.

Hope I can find a few old buddies to revive some Space Opera gaming.

I had an Ursoid Battle Starship Commander named Ruse Caliban. I couldn't roll bad with this character. My stat rolls were uncanny and I had a high Psionics to begin. I played a game where Ruse went out in search of an alien species that was threatening innocent planetary settlers. I came upon one and managed to take it out. They had a poisen that fetched a high price, so I decided to find out why. I cut out the poisen sac and chugged it to try and rally some cowardly soldiers.

The GM said in order to survive, I needed to roll a 1, then a 2 & then a 3 in that order on a 10 sided die. I freaking made the saving throws (the odds are pretty insane) and everybody was stunned. Then a buddy playing with me went and did the same and he freaking made the saves! The GM was in shock.

What the poisen did was basically take us into the realm of Superior species. It got to be that we had to retire them due to the extreme nature of their power. Nothing was a challenge. We'd walk in a room and any battle that was to take place was over before it started.

Don't ask why the GM would've made such an elixir or reward, but to make the saving throws we did deserved that kind of payoff.

Anyway, sorry to reminisce so. I just thought I'd share and see if anyone else ever dabbled in it.

Does anyone have the 4-Pack of rereleased vintage figures they put out during the Power of the Force (II) era? I am just curious about how the figures look and what they did to change them so they would be obviously more modern. I assume the dates are different, but I am interested in other changes people may have noticed and what those who have this set think of it overall.

I prefer figures in the package on mint cards. I have not found a single animated Clone Wars figure without a slight crease running across the middle on the back of the card. I have concluded that this is due to the bubble and how it is applied to the card. I think these figures are pretty cool and would like to collect the sets, but I cannot find cards on these figures that measure up to my stringent expectations (no creases or bends. Card dings and dents are okay to me.

Anyone else seeing the same or is it just my area being affected with this rash of creased cards?

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