Big Wheel Race...

Ok...this is just cool...

1960's Spider-Man to air on internet from Marvel!

Yep, that's right True Believers, Spider-Man is now airing once a week on the internet. Marvel will be posting new episodes each Thursday (on their website) of the original, and closest representation to the comic, animated cartoon.

Here is the first episode:



By the way, they also have the old 1970's Japanese production of Spider-Man on the same site; very interesting if you've never seen it.

Here is the episode with Electro and The Lizard Man:




And, since we're in the past anyway, have a look at this:



So, enjoy.

And remember, Captain Kirk says:

"Always rub your balls for good luck!"

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Farewell Mr. Shaw...

I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mr. Bob Shaw on Friday, April 10 2009. For those of you who are not familiar with him, he was "KTVU's film critic extraordinaire and Emmy Award winning video editor" here in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was only 56 years old.

I had the pleasure of meeting him a few months ago at the first screening of "Watch Horror Films; Keep America Strong" at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Mr. Shaw had worked with Bob Wilkins on Creature Features and was the guy responsible for editing together the iconic Creature Features opening:





At the event I had the opportunity to tell him that this opening scared the hell out of me as a small child on more then one late Saturday night.

Mr. Shaw passed away quite young. Here are some highlights from his stay on this earth:

Robin Williams

Shirley MacLaine

Sandra Bullock

Billy Crystal

Farewell Mr. Shaw, and thank you for the memories.

Remembering the fallen....

I want to take a moment to remember the 4 Police officers shot down in Oakland. Their memorial is today.

For more information see the Oakland Tribune.

Sgt. Ervin Romans

Traffic Sgt. Mark Dunakin

Officer John Hege

Sgt. Dan Sakai

Thank you for your service to our community and for your sacrifice.

May you rest in peace.

Three Days Of The Con: Wondercon 2009- Friday

I had not attended a Comic Book Convention in about 11 years, I believe. This was indeed an eye opener. My God, how times have changed. Wondercon used to be solely about the comics and the artists who make them, and the local artists. These days, it is still comics and artists, but now there is a massive Hollywood presence that simply was not there back in the olden times.

The biggest differences at Wondercon 2009 were the panels. There were so many cool panels on Star Trek, Terminator, Watchmen, Star Wars, you name it. Even Bob Wilkins had 2 great panels. I could not make up my mind on what to attend and sometime left one in the middle to attend another.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, take a look at this killer video Mark Day put together:




So, I started on Friday with grueling physical therapy on my knee, which underwent ACL replacement and meniscus repair a few weeks ago...so I knew this would be a painful weekend of being on my feet all day with a backpack...but it had been 11 years!

I took BART into the Mascone Center in San Francisco and was immediately pleased with what I saw. The last Wondercon I attended was in Oakland, at the Hyatt I think, and the scope of this one was much bigger. The great thing about Friday was, everyone was working! I practically had the whole place to myself!

By the time I got there and got my ticket it was already 12:30, so I didn't have a lot of time to walk the floor before the first panel I attended; "Sit Down, Shut Up". A new animated TV show for FOX by the creator of "Arrested Development", Mitch Hurwitz. The panel featured:

Josh Weinstein (The Simpsons- writer)
Will Arnett (Arrested Development, 30 Rock)
Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live)
Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants- voice)
and, best of all:
Henry Winkler (Happy Days)

It was a great panel. They showed a clip of the show and it really looks like a treat. The did a great job with getting some funky designs. They also do something I have not seen an animated show do; all the backgrounds are live action photographs. Because the designs are visually interesting and are usually doing funny things they get away with it pretty well. Of the clips they showed, it totally looks cool. And the voice acting is top notch.

Unfortunately I did not have a real camera with me, so I used my phone, which was pretty crappy quality wise, but at least you get the idea. Check it out:






The whole panel was very entertaining. Really funny and spontaneous. Henry Winkler even went into his "Fonzie" mode, threatening to come to our houses and break our knees if we did not watch the premier. He was asked the inevitable "Jumping the Shark" question, as it was his very performance that created that euphemism. He brought up the fact that he is the only actor to have literally jumped the shark twice: once on Happy Days and again on Arrested Development.

Mitch Hurwitz probably had the best line though. When introducing his new show he started by saying "I made this show about teachers. Becasue teachers are so inportant and so valuable to our society that we are willing to pay them literally thousands of dollars per year."

Nice. And true.

Will Arnett, Kenan Thompson and Tom Kenny all had some great one liners. Tom Kenny went into the SpongeBob voice, by request of course.

Below is some video.

Here is Henry talking about his character:



...more...







Wow, I did not realize how much of this stuff is on Youtube. Amazing.

Moving on, I then traveled upstairs to the panel of the owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord. If you have not been, go check it out. It is a fantastic store and the owner, Joe Field, is a truly great guy. He created "Free Comic Book Day" and knows everything about the business. Joe was on this panel with Brian Hibbs, who owns the Comix Experience in San Francisco. He was really funny and very informative.



Between the two of them I learned a lot about the comic book retailing business that I did not know before. This was a very informative and interesting panel for anyone interested in the comic book industry. The best question, however, came from Joe to Brian: "What is the weirdest thing that has happened to you as a comic book owner". The responses were truly unique. Perhaps I will post them here some day.

The next panel I hit was called "The Once & Future Trek!". This was great fun, they showed some clips of the original series cast in what looked like a commercial possibly from Canada? The also played a clip from the old animated series. They talked a lot about the new film and the re-imagining of the franchise. It sounds like they are staying true to the die hard fans, keeping in alignment with canon, while trying to attract a new generation of fans. The movie looks like a real treat!

Next, I hit the floor. Artist alley had changed the most from what I had remembered. There were a lot more big names than local artists. I saw Ernie Chan, Tony DeZuniga, Sergio Aragones, Wendy Pini, just to name a few. Classic artists along with the newer generation. It was a real treat to see these people I have admired for so many years. All of them terrific people.

Jim Lee was sketching, and I swear to God it is uncanny how fast he draws. It's as if he's possessed or something...and all the work is amazing! I watched him doing a sketch of Havoc, from the X-men, and you almost couldn't even see his hand. Truly amazing to watch him work, really. Plus, he is a super nice guy and very gracious.

Here he is drawing at his panel on Sat:



Plus, this is cool, he draws a Joker on this guys laptop computer...pretty cool stuff:



Also, I got to chat with J Scott Campbell. He seemed to be the only artist whose entire line of people was women. Appropriate I suppose, considering he draws great sexy women. Like this:



He is an extremely nice guy as well, and a truly great artist.

I did the walk with the "celebrities", including the guy who played the Storm Trooper in "Star Wars" who said "These aren't the droids we're looking for". I've been waiting literally years to meet him, what a treat! Nice guy too!

I did see Carrie Fisher's booth, but she was not there on Friday. As luck would have it I'd miss her on Saturday. But, I'm sure I'll meet her one day.

I did get to meet Mark Hamill, here he is doing his "Joker" voice from "Batman the Animated Series" for a fan:



His booth was really swamped...I could hardly get this picture of him...

People were complaining that he was charging for his signature, but I don't blame him. These same people will sell these items signed by him on ebay for 20 times the price...

Next, I really wanted to go to the Bob Wilkins panel, which was showing the documentary "Watch Horror Films; Keep America Strong", but by the time I was done walking the floor it was 6:30, only a half hour to closing time, and I'd missed it. Plus, my knee was killing me by this point. So I walked back up to Market Street and took BART back across the bay.

That was Friday. Great fun.

I'll tell you about Saturday next time.

Until then,



I think Captain Kirk is pondering some serious questions about his masculinity.

Wondercon 2009 is comming...

In honor of Wondercon 2009 coming to town I thought I'd post some cool comic book images from some of my favorite artist, like Steve Ditko' Mysterio to the left. I have not been to a comic convention in 10 years and I'm going to this one to recruit artists for my company, so it should prove to be very interesting. I heard that it has changed drastically since the 90's. I'm looking forward to it.


See if you can guess the names of the artists who created the artwork below?

OK, so how did you do? Could you name all the artists? You get an official "noprize" if you could. Maybe I'll post a legend someday. In the meantime, to keep your spirits up, I think Captain Kirk needs a hug...

Until we meet again, farewell.


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A Legend Passes

If you were born in the 1960's and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area then the chances are that, when you were a child, every Saturday night at 11pm you and your siblings sat in a dark room in front of an old fashioned television set and watched Creature Features with Bob Wilkins.

It was something we all talked about on the school yard playground and one of those things everyone did together and shared. During his tenure as a "Horror Show Host", Mr. Wilkins shared his dry wit and uncanny taste for low budget horror with all of us.

For any of you, like me, who ended up entering the entertainment industry Mr. Wilkins was the first to really expose us to science fiction and horror before Star Wars was released.

In a yellow rocking chair, with a big cheap cigar and by the light of a waxy skull candle, every Saturday he entertained us, exposed us to some true classic horror and science fiction, some really bad movies, and sometimes movies that scared us half to death (remember Night of the Living Dead?).

I will always look back on those days with fondness, and I thank Mr. Wilkins for his contributions to helping local film makers have a venue and entertaining me.

On January 7, 2009, Mr. Bob Wilkins passed away from complications due to Alzheimer's disease.

Thank you sir for all you have done, and may you rest in peace.

WATCH HORROR FILMS; KEEP AMERICA STRONG!

Creature Features with Bob Wilkins
by realitychecktv