Mello Yello, the beverage that can make even Albert Einstein stupid!
It would seem that Mello Yello is trying to sell itself as the drink of choice for free spirits and iconoclasts, in part by purloining the famous picture of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue at a photographer. But the “Give your day the brain off!” copy makes it sound more like a drink for dumb people. Really dumb people. Read more…
Monogram might want to rethink giving old-timey cars to kids
Not to say that all model kits are aimed at kids, as it’s a hobby that people of all ages can enjoy (and rip their hair out over). But should Monogram have aimed car prizes at bell-bottomed 1970s teenagers? Read more…
An anarchist anti-hero for our angst-ridden age? – Anarky
It’s tough to get a new Batman villain to “take.” The Rogues Gallery of rogues galleries is so star-studded, it almost beggars description. With iconic luminaries like the Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, the Riddler — need I go on — there isn’t a lot of oxygen left over for a fresh face to catch fire. So it was a minor miracle that Anarky, the philosophizing youngster with the cattle-prod and creepy outfit, became somewhat of a fan-favorite foe of the Caped Crusader. They don’t admit a whole ton of members to that exclusive list — it’s like the Augusta Country Club of evil-doing. Read more…
Sunday Stupid: Joe Frazier, the Bizarro-Aquaman
There’s always a debate among fans of professional sports about which athletes are the best athletes. A tangent of this never-ending argument is whether or not skills in one sport can translate to another. Could Lebron James be a wide receiver in the NFL? Could Michael Jordan play baseball? (Kind of, but not really, as it turned out.) There was an actual TV show that once sought to answer these questions: ABC’s Superstars, which took athletes from every sport known to man and lumped them together in neutral contests of speed, stamina and agility.
And this was the show that nearly killed Smokin’ Joe Frazier. Read more…
Whoever knew that the Kool-Aid Man was such a rugged outdoorsman?
I know that there’s nothing I’d rather do upon reaching the midpoint of a harrowing rock-climbing ascent than stop and make some Kool-Aid with the water, ice, powder and pitcher that I’ve lugged with me. Read more…
I admit to being no fan of even the moderate changes made in recent years to Superman’s costume, the discarding of the red undies and the yellow belt. A part of that is an innate conservatism — but it’s a conservatism born of one fairly strong adage: that something that has worked without serious complaint for seventy years should be left alone. Now, without the red and yellow to break up the middle of the Big Blue Banana’s outfit, his big blue banana is even more highlighted and on display than it ever was before.
Of course, you also have the electric Superman-Red/Superman-Blue from the 1990s. Which was so beyond awful it almost defies description. Read more…
Trading Card Set of the Week – Deathwatch 2000 (1993, Classic)
Ah, the comic card boom of the 1990s. We remember it fondly. The Marvel cards were all nice, whether the regular issues or those of the Masterpiece variety, and DC’s Batman-less early releases had their charm — even if, similar to their movie franchises now, they were struggling to catch up. The explosion wasn’t limited to the big two, either. Lesser companies like Valiant and Image got into the act, moving their smaller but still significant market share over to this new territory. And this fresh field was so inviting, even publishers that were barely off the ground got in the swing. We’ve already examined one such set here, based on Malibu’s Ultraverse line. Maybe someday we’ll get around to looking at its two(!) sequels.
We have another boutique’s cards before us today, a set backed by no lesser name than Neal Adams. Yes, the long-buried Continuity Comics had trading cards, and what a set it was — one almost buried under the weight of its own interminable chase cards. When Ken Griffey Jr. wanders into your comic book trading card set and for some inexplicable reason he’s an insert, you are reaching, my friends. Read more…
Use the American Indian Hand Wrestling Kit in the privacy of your own home (because it’s probably obscene)
This “hand wrestling” kit — most of us would call the activity arm wrestling — is somewhat unique in the annals of workout gear advertised in comics. Because it looks like the sort of thing you’d get trapped in, requiring a call to the paramedics to have them come and cut you out — not to mention that it also appears that you have to use it while nude (hence the “in the privacy of your own home” copy). Read more…
The Wall-Crawler vs. Drugs, Liquor and Ice Hockey – The Amazing Spider-Man: Skating on Thin Ice!
Here we have our umpteenth Spider-Man PSA comic. As Marvel’s kid-friendly standard-bearer, the wall-crawler has drawn the lion’s share of the duties when it comes to educating America’s youth on the assorted issues of the day. Sometimes these comics can be goofy: witness Spider-Man elucidating the horrors unleashed by reading, or promoting safe sex by violating an alien’s mouth with his goo. And sometimes they could be searing, as was the time our arachnid hero recounted his own history as a victim of child abuse.
Drugs are a frequent topic of these comics, and they are in this one. But with a little twist: Spider-Man is heading to Winnipeg, ladies and gentlemen! Get your parkas ready, eh! Read more…
Mad and Tang go together like, well, Mad and Tang
So Tang went from the official beverage of NASA to the favored refreshment of Alfred E. Neuman in an orangutang (naturally) suit. Not even a lateral move — from the penthouse to the outhouse. Read more…
Sunday Stupid: Kojak Sings! Kind of! Well, not really!
Telly Savalas, may he rest in peace, was a great talent. From The Dirty Dozen to Kojak he was an actor with tremendous presence, one who, through thespian alchemy, could weave whatever dopey lines were put in front of him into pure gold. By God, he made it cool to be a chrome-dome, to make a Bic a daily part of your scalp regimen — he and Yul Brynner.
But what the hell is going on in this music video? Read more…
Scottie Pippen isn’t Michael Jordan, but he’ll do for this Fleer Ultra basketball cards ad
Michael Jordan was of course the most in-demand of endorsers during the 1980s-1990s glory days of the NBA, the athlete everyone from underwear manufacturers to hot dog purveyors wanted hawking their products. But he was just one man, and thus couldn’t be all things to all people. Which opened up a pitchman door to the eternal second banana, Scottie Pippen — the Cyrano de Bergerac of the National Basketball Association. The man with a beak like a hawk got his chance to hawk! Hey, kids, he’s on the Bulls too, see! He can spin a basketball on his finger and everything! Read more…
Not Terminator: Genisys, but Terminator on Genesis
It was commendable that the makers of the unbelievably spectacular Terminator 2 arcade game tried to port it over to home consoles. Really, it was. But it could never ever replicate the glory of standing in a noisy arcade and pointing a rifle at a screen and blasting away. Maybe with a friend at your side firing the other gun — or the T-800 endoskeleton in the ad. Read more…
Happy Halloween, from Beavis and Butt-Head and Blog into Mystery
Thank you for your continued support of the site and fine posts like the one from which the above image is drawn. Now go egg cars, eat candy and get fat.
President Superman, Man-of-Steel-in-Chief – Action Comics Annual #3
Here’s an American Election Day special, folks. People will travel to the polls from coast to coast next Tuesday, holding their noses as they try to decide which utterly contemptible preening egomaniacs they want to put in charge of their and their children’s lives. As they do, maybe they can reflect on how great it would be if the Man of Steel held the reins as the Leader of the Free World. President Superman — it has a ring to it, you know?
Or maybe it doesn’t. [Sinister music plays…] Read more…
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