Section Zero

There is no Section Zero.

That’s the tag line for the comic book series from writer/inker Karl Kesel and penciler Tom Grummett. The book tells the story of a team of United Nations operatives tasked with investigating the weird and unexplained. It’s kind of like the X-Files, if the X-Files had been created by Jack Kirby along the lines of Challengers of the Unknown and Fantastic Four. It’s a big, bold, beautiful comic full of intriguing characters, larger than life monsters, high adventure, drama, mystery, and humor. And, for too long, it felt like “There is no Section Zero” was sadly more than an apt tag line.

October Treats at Disneyland

Obviously, it’s been more than a week since my last post. And this post isn’t going to be about our late cat, Penelope, as promised a month ago. It’s been a busy, frustrating month for me, and when I didn’t have other obligations getting in the way of blogging, I just didn’t have the energy for it. 

One thing we recently did that wasn’t so frustrating was spending a few days at Disneyland. We had planned on our trip last January being our last trip to Disneyland for at least a year, but circumstances conspired to bring us to the LA area a couple more times, making this latest visit our third one this year. And I’m going back in a few weeks for a fourth, but that really will be the last one until 2020. Unless it isn’t. This time, we set a specific goal of trying as many of the Halloween special snacks the parks are currently serving, so this week, I’ll be talking about which ones we ate and what we thought of them.

The Bozz Chronicles

In today’s comics industry, most creators working for Marvel or DC come there after proving themselves working on their own creations. That wasn’t so much the case in the 1980s, when I became a comics fan. At the time, I was fascinated to see what the creators working on corporate-owned superhero characters did when they had the opportunity to do their own creations. Surprisingly to me at the time, most of them didn’t choose to create their own superheroes, instead creating work in other genres. Jim Starlin and Bill Mantlo did science fiction epics like Dreadstar and Swords of the Swashbucklers. Chris Claremont did historical fantasy like Marada the She-Wolf and The Black Dragon. Walter Simonson also did science fiction with the Star Slammers. And David Michelinie, perhaps best known at the time for his work on Iron Man, fused the Victorian mystery genre with science fiction, creating one of my favorite series of the time, in collaboration with artist Bret Blevins: The Bozz Chronicles.

What's in the Box?!?: August Marvel Collector Corps box

As I have mentioned earlier, Funko is no longer producing their subscription boxes on their own, instead licensing them out to other retailers. I think the Disney Treasures box has been licensed to Hot Topic; I wouldn’t know for sure, since it was sold out from their site before I even heard about it. They haven’t announced who is taking over the DC Legion of Collectors box or the Star Wars Smugglers Bounty box yet. However, the first new Marvel Collector Corps from Amazon.com arrived the other week, featuring Deadpool, and here’s what’s inside.

What's in the Box?!?: July Funko Smugglers Bounty

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, Funko is discontinuing their subscription boxes, instead licensing them out to other retailers to put together. Already, Amazon.com has released the first of their new Marvel Collector Corps boxes, and I’ll talk about that soon. Hot Topic released a Disney Treasures box, but it sold out before I could order one, and I’m pretty ticked about that. I don’t know where the Smugglers Bounty box will end up, but I hope I’ll be able to continue getting it. In the meantime, I received the Revenge of the Sith box last month, which will be the last one coming directly from Funko. What’s in the box? Let’s check it out!

Catching Up, and ATA Girl

Welcome back! This week, I want to talk about a recent audio drama from Big Finish Productions that I think is worthy of some attention: ATA Girl. But first, some follow-ups to previous entries.

What's in the Box?!? Funko Marvel Collector Corps April 2018

I’m feeling a little down today, I have to admit. It’s just been a crazy week, with another crazy week ahead, and a busy weekend in the middle. However, yesterday, I got to take a break and go see Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War with my wife. I thought it was a great Avengers movie. The filmmakers managed to capture on the big screen the same feelings I got reading comics like Infinity Gauntlet and Crisis on Infinite Earths and all those other great superhero crossover stories when I was a kid.

Tying in with the release of the movie, Funko delivered what appears to be their final Marvel Collector Corps box. The theme this time around is Infinity War, and when I picked it up off the porch, it was a big one. (You’ll have to take my word for it; for once, Gizmo wasn’t interested in jumping inside the box to show the scale.) Do the contents live up to the excitement of the huge box? Is the Marvel Collector Corps going out with a bang? Let’s check it out!

What's in the Box?!?: April Funko Disney Treasures

Welcome back! Sorry I missed posting last week; once again, I was feeling overwhelmed by the world. I did finally get to see Black Panther with my wife, though, and we loved it! This week, I’ll be talking about the contents of the latest Disney Treasures box from Funko. Is this the last box  they’ll be producing in this subscription? I’m not even sure what’s going on with their subscription boxes any more, to be honest. Just taking it one box at a time any more.

What's in the Box?!? Funko Star Wars Smugglers Bounty April 2018

This past week has been frustrating for a number of reasons. There’s the general atmosphere of the world around us, which just depresses and upsets me. Then there have been more than a couple of personal frustrations, both at home and at work. On the other hand, my wife has been trying a new job from home, and it looks like it might be starting to pay off. And today, we had my car washed at a student fundraiser to raise money for a local high school’s robotics club. I felt good about that. 

Overall, though, I’ve been feeling pretty stressed out. I took an extra day off from work, which helped a little. I’ve also been retreating into my happy place a bit, which—as you can probably guess from last week’s entry—is Star Wars right now. So when I got a text from my wife the other day that the new Funko Star Wars Smugglers’ Bounty box had been delivered, I was pretty excited.

What's in the Box?!?: DC Legion of Collectors March 2018

As I write this, last week’s post about Neil the Horse has been viewed 432 times. I’ve never had anything I’ve written read by so many people before, and I’m pretty happy about it. You all can definitely expect more stuff about 80s comics in the future. However, this was never intended to be just a blog about comics, so if you found me last week through the Neil the Horse post and stuck around for more of the same, I apologize. As the title blog implies, this is meant to encompass everything that brings me joy. This week, I’m going to talk about what may be the final Funko DC Legion of Collectors box (which actually features a tie to one of my favorite DC comics from the 80s, so there’s that.)

Neil the Horse

I don’t believe in “best” lists, at least not the way they are presented as some sort of objective final word. I get that we all understand that they just represent someone’s opinion anyway, but even the notion that somehow you can compare, say, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen to Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge to Art Spiegelman’s Maus to Walt Simonson’s Thor to fill in whatever comic you think is the best comic ever is ludicrous. Having said that, if we are going to have lists of the best comics ever, one that should always be on those lists is Neil the Horse, created by Katherine Collins

What's In the Box?!?: Marvel Collectors Corps Animal Instinct

While it’s been a while since I’ve blogged about a Funko subscription box here, I still love them. Sadly, the boxes in their current form are coming to an end. Funko has announced that they will be partnering with a retailer or retailers for a new iteration of those boxes, but there are no details yet as to what form those will take. Hopefully, it’ll still be something we will enjoy. However, while it’s a bit bittersweet, here is my unboxing blog for what may be the final Marvel Collector Corps box, whose theme is Animal Instinct.

Matinee

I love the 1993 movie Matinee, starring John Goodman, directed by Joe Dante, and written by Jericho and Charlie Haas. I saw it in its original theatrical release (one of the few who did, it turns out), and owned it on videocassette and laser disc. However, I hadn’t seen it in quite a few years, until Shout Factory released a special edition blu-ray. When it arrived, my wife and I watched it together. It was her first time viewing it, and I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen it. It absolutely held up to my memories, and she really enjoyed it as well.

Ron Randall's Trekker

Recently, I was trying to remember how many creator-owned comics from the 1980s are still being produced today, still being created by their original creators. I could only remember a handful, and I was embarrassed to see that not only had I forgotten quite a number of them, like Mage by Matt Wagner and Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini, but they were all titles I am still buying and reading. What prompted this question? The launch of a new Kickstarter campaign to bring the latest volume of Ron Randall’s Trekker into print. I’ve enjoyed Ron Randall’s work since his early days, on a science fiction backup in the pages of DC’s Warlord, called The Barren Earth. And I’ve been a fan of his series Trekker, featuring a female bounty hunter in the future, since it first appeared in Dark Horse Comics Presents #4, from 1987. Seeing new stories coming out today, over 30 years later, makes me extremely happy, and I want to share some of that joy with you.

My Valentine's Day Dinner

Recently, I’ve been writing about restaurant and theme park food. We enjoy going out to eat, but we also enjoy staying in and eating. And the more confident I become with my cooking skills, the less interested I am in going out to eat. Too often, that involves driving down to the Strip, walking through a smelly casino, and paying tourist prices for good food and mediocre service. So, for the last couple of Valentine’s Days, instead of going out for disappointing meals, we’ve been staying in. The last two years, we had the exact same meal, and both times, it turned out great.

Winner, Winner, Chicken... Sandwich: Jack in the Box's Asian Fried Chicken Food Truck Series Sandwich

While we had a great time on our recent Disneyland trip, things have been a bit stressful since we returned. In addition to dealing with some health issues, we also learned that the wiring in our house was done pretty cheaply and shoddily. The repair guys we hired said we were lucky that a fire hadn’t been started in our house… and then they found evidence of a fire in the attic. So, having dealt with all that, I don’t have the energy for a big entry this week. Fortunately, Jack in the Box has come to my rescue, with a brand-new, limited-time chicken sandwich: the Asian Fried Chicken sandwich, part of their Food Truck series. 

Dining at Disneyland: Table Service Restaurants

Welcome back to my series of posts about Disneyland food! In the first of three parts, I wrote about Eat Like Walt, a book about food at Disneyland while Walt Disney was still alive. Last week, I wrote about the quick service meals we ate on our recent trip. This week, I’ll talk about the table service meals we had this time around. How do those experiences compare to our quick service meals? The answer may surprise you!

What's in the Box?!?: October Marvel Collector Corps

November brings with it a new movie from Marvel: Thor: Ragnarok! Along with it comes a new Marvel Collector Corps box from Funko. The theme? Thor: Ragnarok! Dismissed as coincidence! Let’s take a look and see what we got.

For starters, this box is physically small than many of the recent boxes from Marvel (or, indeed, any of the Funko subscriptions). It can barely contain one cat!

What's in the Box?!?: October Funko Disney Treasures

First, apologies for not posting anything last week. I was sick the whole weekend, and pretty much all this week. But, tired of just sitting around reading comics, I decided it was time for another Funko subscription box unboxing! This time around, it’s the new Disney Treasures box! This month’s theme—appropriate for the Halloween season—is Haunted Forest. As usual, Funko had revealed one of the items, but the rest were a complete mystery. Would there be an item from Nightmare Before Christmas? Haunted Mansion? Join Gizmo and me, and find out.

What's in the Box?!?: September Star Wars Smugglers Bounty

Apologies for not posting last week; I was feeling pretty stressed and pressured. However, I’m back on the blogging horse. This week, it’s time for this month’s Funko Star Wars Smugglers Bounty unboxing!