The Baroness visits the Secret Stash

Last night's episode of Comic Book Men featured a woman dressed up as the Baroness from GI Joe trying to sell the comic shop a carded Baroness action figure to raise money for cat charities. Well, that woman is a good friend of mine, and co-organizer of Retro Con, Rose Tuski. I was excited to see her on the show. You did a great job Rose.

The opening segment of the show was filmed on the same day. A few other friends appeared in the opening. In the background you can see my friend Mike Breaux, host of the Breaux Show.

Depending on if Mike Zapzic was leaning forward or backwards you could either see Mike Breux or Rose's husband and Retro Con Co-Organizer Tony Tuski. These guys weren't the first people I've seen on Comic Book Men that I've known. Red Bank, NJ isn't that far from where I live, and the toy and comic community isn't that big. This was the first time how ever the people on the show were close friends of mine.

Comic Book Men go to the Ren Fair

This weeks episode of Comic Book Men starts off with the boys talking about solving personal problems for their customers. I would imagine that spoilers would be one of the worst things about working in a comic store. Customers would probably talk about comics, movies, and TV shows you haven't seen or read yet.

They cut away to the the boys sitting with Kevin Smith around the mics and they start taking about the rarest item ever in the Secret Stash. It was a Mego Elastic Hulk, similar to Stretch Arm-Strong. The owner claimed there are only 13 left in existence and his is the only one in mint condition. He had the box, the instructions, and he oils the rubber skin on the Hulk off and on to keep it from drying out and cracking.

The next customer brought in an original Spider-Man splash page - by John Romita Jr.It was a really nice piece and Walt bought it to resell.

The boys from the Stash joined Jason Mewes at the New York Renaissance Fair. They met up with the knights and went through the tests to be knighted. The entire time they were there the "characters" from the Fair picked on Ming.

The first challenge the boys were put up to was axe throwing The first couple of guys to try sucked. Mike and Jay were pretty good. The next challenge they had the guys try was to ring a bell by swinging a hammer. Most of the guys didn't come off as being to strong, but Bryan was able to ring the bell.


Next the guys got to throw tomatoes at Jason Mewes. I'm not really sure what the point was, but it was kind of funny.

Finally the guy had to sword fight with some girls. It was clearly choreographed and full of sexual innuendos.  The sword fighting vixens declared that the guys were ready to meet the Queen. The Queen then knighted the Clerks of the Stash.

The final customer into the Stash this episode brought in some props from the newer Battle Star Galactica show. Walt passed on the items, partly because he's not a Battle Star fan, but also because the Stash doesn't specialize in props.

It was a decent episode, but I would have rather seen more fun stuff come into the Stash. It felt a lot like the Zombie Run episode from last season.

Comic Book Men promote the CGC

This episode started off with a debate over the ending of the War of the Worlds movie. They didn't really specify which version they were talking about.

Kevin Smith wastes no time asking what the best thing to walk into the Secret Stash was. Walt starts drooling over some silver age comics. They showed off some amazing books. Walt suggested that the guy get the best of the books graded. The guy really didn't know what he had, so Walt agreed to call in a buddy of his to pick through the collection and identify which books the guy should invent in having graded.

The next customer brought in the terrible TurboMan figure from Jingle All the Way. Jake Loyd, who would later play a young Anakin Skywalker was the main kid in the film. It's not a great film, and the figure sucked as well.

The next customer brought in some sports memorabilia. Wayne Gretzky items. Walt really wanted to buy the collector plates and figures for Kevin, since he's such a huge hockey fan.

The episode wrapped up with the expert comic book grader stopping by the Stash. This segment felt a little like it was just an ad for CGC. I understand grading stuff so you know the condition, but it's a comic. If you can't open it what's the point. Once they grade them they are sealed in a plastic slab.

Not the best and not the worst episode. I did enjoy seeing the really old comics. I don't really care about the sports stuff, and the one toy in the episode was crappy.

Comic Book Men ride the Batcycle

This weeks episode started off by making fun of the Marvel superhero Starfox. There was of course a light jab at Ming for good measure.

The first time they cut away to Kevin Smith and the gang, they were all taking about the various vehicles that have been to the Secret Stash including the 66' Batmobile and General Lee. This of course was a lead=in to the fact that someone recently came by the shop with a '66 Batcycle with sidecar they were trying to sell. The Stash wasn't able to offer the guys money for the cycle, but they asked if they could go for a ride.

The shots of Walt, Ming, Bryan, and Mike taking turns ridding the cycle all kind of looked like a bad green screen job. At the end of the segment you could briefly see the they were sitting on the motorcycle while it was trailered. So, all the riding shots were staged, but not green screened.

Later in the episode a customer brought in a 70's board game featuring Marvel Comic characters. The Amazing Spider-Man & Fantastic Four board game is a pretty simple tie-in product that could have probably been used for any licensed property. There was very little marvel art other than on the box to the game. Walt said he had it as a kid. Walt, Bryan, Ming, and the customer played the game.

During one of the quick segments Kevin Smith had comic artist Greg Capullo on CBM. Greg said the first thing he draws is the neck when he starts Batman. Greg also said that Alfred and Jim Gordan are two of his favorite supporting characters to draw.

The next customer brought in a pristine copy of FOOM Magazine. In the 70's people could subscribe to FOOM if they wanted to get the behind the scenes and inside scoop on comics that we get online today. FOOM stood for Friends of Ol' Marvel. I had not heard of FOOM before, but as a kid I occasionally read Marvel Age, a different publication which served the same purpose. It was pretty cool to see, because the guy had the Hulk envelop the magazine came with along with the poster, stickers, membership card, and other little items.

The boys had a quick conversation about the lame super powers Superman has been shown to have from time to time. They complained about the plastic wrap "S" symbol from Superman 2 and well as other tricks.

The final customer to come into the shop wanted to sell a Back to the Future "OUTATIME" license plate singed by Doc Brown actor Christoper Loyd. The customer wanted an outrageous price , and since the stash doesn't specialize in movie items, Walt had to pass. Considering it's not hard to find the Outatime license plates online and that Christoper Loyd still does conventions this item probably, while is very cool, is not that rare.

Comic Book Men - Inker's Auction

In true Comic Book Men fashion, again this week started with making fun of Ming. Mike Z. also took a little ragging based on one of his favorite pop culture robots.

Comic inker, Mike Esposito's nephew brought in some original artwork by Mike. Walt called in "pop culture expert" Rob Bruce to take a look at the art. They decided the best thing to do with the art, which was reproductions of work he had previously inked for comics, is to take it to an auction house. Walt and Ming agreed to help Mike Esposito's wife auction the art.

The next main segment showed off the Loki Hot Toys figure based off his modern movie appearance.I have to admit that the Hot Toys look incredible, but they just aren't what I'm into. Like the 12" GI Joes, I can appreciate all the details in their uniforms, but I don't really need all those cloth clothing on my action figures.

I though it was interesting that Kevin Smith mentioned his favorite villain is Darkseid. I just would have expected it to be a Batman villain. Although Kev did mention a Batman connection with the character. Smith likes Harley Quinn so much he named his daughter after her.

The main segment of the episode focused on the Mike Esposito auction. The art work looked great. Some of them were based on some really classic pieces. I really liked the recreation of the panel in which Peter Parker meets Mary Jane Watson. At the end of the episode Walt called Mrs. Espositio to tell her that the art sold for over $21,800. I loved the fact that Kevin Smith made fun of the fact that Rob Bruce estimated that the stuff might sell for around three grand. Some "expert".

Comic Book Men after the Oscars

As usual this episode starts with all the Comic Book Men making fun of Ming. Tonight's topic had to do with costumes in the bedroom.

The first customer to come into the Secret Stash for this episode wanted to buy the first appearance of the Hobgoblin. The girl didn't want to pay full price so she worked out a deal to pay $60 and two mystery boxes. One was a yellow Batman box and the other was a purple Batman box. After Walt agreed to the sale he opened the boxes up to find a Christian Bale Batman figure, and a Catwoman figure inside. He wasn't impressed.

The next bit of comic shop banter came in the form of why can't they build a prison to hold the super villains ? Of course if the villains stayed in prison there would be no new adventures for the heroes or the writers would have to continue to design new villains.

The next customer brought in some vintage 1982 Game and Watch Nintendo hand held games. These early games which are similar to Gameboy or the old Tiger Handheld games are pretty rare now. Walt had to turn the guy down. They are a comic store, not a video game shop.

Kevin Smith shared a funny story about how his family acquired an Atari 2600. Basically his Dad bought a console from an ad in the paper. The Dad selling  the Atari was doing it to punish his own children.

Instead of having a guest on this episode, the boys from the Secret Stash went up against each other in a trivia contest. Mike and Ming were given decent questions, but Bryan was handed all softball questions. Mike did well, but Ming was buried by the competition. I watch Comic Book Men because I like comics. I had more fun listening to these guy try to answer trivia questions than seeing a C or D-List star come to the shop.

The final customer on the episode brought in a prop replica of Hellboy's gun, The Samaritan. The guys discussed other famous movie guns, but I think because they are comic fans they were biased to place the Samaritan high on the list. The Hellboy movies were good, but I don't know if people really remember them close to 10 years later.

Comic Book Men at Asbury Park Lanes

Comic Book Men started off talking about made for TV horror movies the boys remembered from their past. They boys each had a favorite, and they picked on Bryan more than Ming for once.

The first customer brought in a Batman bag and bowling ball. The custom ball just happen to fit Walt's hand. Ming mentioned that the guys from Clerks had a team. So the clerks from the Stash are going to bowl against the cast from Clerks.

I've seen some cool bowling balls over the years including one that looked like a soccer ball. One of the kids on my bowling team at school even had a Darth Vader ball. The all yellow bat-ball was pretty striking. (strike, get it?)

The next guy who came in to the Stash is a known dealer in this area. I've bought stuff from him at NJCC and Retro Con. He brought in several issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine printed by Warren. He said his father worked for Warren Publishing and shared a few stories. My good friend Doug Moench wrote for some of Warren's horror comics before going on to write Batman.

Then a young guy brought in the Punisher figure that transforms into a gun. When half transformed the Punisher looks like he's got a big silver missile firing member. The boys of the Stash all got a good laugh out of the figure.

The show ends with the big bowling showdown. The Clerks team includes Jay, Dante, and two lesser known actors from the film. The Clerks  team was throwing a good game, but the Stash Workers sucked. Walt switched teams because he played four roles in the movie Clerks and the Secret Stash team was loosing. Then the tide started to change. It was up to Mike to win the game.

It was a decent episode. Fun but possibly the least educational episodes. The bowling ball, Punisher figure, and bowling match didn't really draw any attention to a famous comic issues or licensed properties. At least there was a little something to learn from the Monster Magazines.

Comic Book Men: The Search for Mego Uhura

The cold open about the most horrific thing in comics was very funny. If the entire show was the boys talking comic and making fun of each other I'd be happy.

Just by chance Michelle Nichols, Star Trek's  Lieutenant Uhura, walks into the Secret Stash. She's got a couple hours to kill before catching a plane out of Jersey. Michelle bestows a quest about the staff of the Stash to find her a MOC Mego Uhura toy. It's kind of ridiculous, but fun at the same time. So they jump on the phone calling collectors and dealers they know. Walt name drops New Jersey Toy Dealer, Rob Bruce. It would have been really funny if they called the Toy Hunter, since he's from Jersey. Then again his show is on the wrong channel to do a cross over.

The next customer at the Secret Stash is a die-hard Jean Grey Fan. She asks about X-Men 101, the firs appearance of the Phoenix. I love when they highlight important issues from comic book history on the show. In fact it's my favorite part. They know comics inside and out. I've never heard anything about a comic that I didn't think was accurate on the show. Some  times the guys just aren't that educated about some of the toys and other pop culture items they talk about.

The next guy brought in the awesome 200x He-Man statue sculpted by the Four Horseman. Ming starts blasting He-Man. Mostly the goofy names of the characters and the fuzzy boots.Oh well, I guess we can't all be MOTU fans. Only the guy who brought in the statue seemed to even know that there was a relaunch of He-Man in the 2000's.

The episode ends strong with the return of Michelle Nichols looking for her Lt. Uhura action figure. There was a great bit between Michelle and Walt. This is only topped by a bit between her and Bryan. It was a fun episode with a little something for everyone. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

Comic Book Men Returns

Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men  has returned for another season on AMC. I wish it had a better time slot... I hate waiting up for it. I mean couldn't they move up CBM and replay the Walking Dead in the later slot? No, oh that's right, the Walking Dead is a "main stream" comic book show.


The show starts off  highlighting an old non-articulated Clark Kent figure. The figure was still in it's original blister card packaging and had terrible sculpting and horrible paint applications.




In true "reality tv" fashion, the customer reminds Walt that Superman is turning 75. So the staff of the Stash begin planning a big birthday bash for the Man of Steel.

The next customer to come in bought an issue of Lois Lane in which Superman uses a krytonian device to transformer her into a black woman for a day. A pretty wacky plot, but I guess over 75 years writers have explored pretty much every possibility. How many times can Lois fall from some place high and still have the book be interesting when Superman saves her.

Walt, Brian, Ming, and Mike all dressed up goofy half assed costumes. Walt was Jor-El, Brian was a Kryptonite Rock, Ming was Jimmy Olsen, and Mike was Bizzarro. The big celebrity guest for the Superman Party was Superman himself from Lois & Clark The New Adventures of Superman, Dean Cain. As a present they gave Dean a gift certificate to the Secret Stash. It seemed kind of weird. Then they had Dean cut and serve the birthday cake.

The celebrity guests can be fun, but I prefer when Comic Book Men (and Toy Hunters) focuses on the history of interesting toys and comics. I feel like they burn up so much time trying to build up suspense before revealing the guest, that they barely get any screen time.

Winter Fever Toy Show - Mt Laurel, NJ

So, yesterday I met up with a couple of my friends at the Winter Fever Toy Show. The show was held at a community college and as spread out between two rooms and a couple of hallways. I planned to stop at a flea market on the way, but they weren't open (I guess because of the snow yesterday). So I headed straight to the toy show. I paid the early buyers fee since I got there earlier than I intended to do so. I walked around and scoped out the place. Later on I met up with my friends Rose, Tony, Nick, and Mike.

The show had a lot of dealers including Robert Bruce, the pop culture expert from Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men show. The toys ranged from old metal tanks and trains to modern action figures. I saw quite a few carded vintage Star Wars figures, but not much in the way of carded vintage GI Joes.

I was totally blown away by the sight of this complete Eternia Playset. The box of course was beat, but it was still cool to see. I thought about buying the GI Joe placemat at the bottom of the table, but didn't. When I came back later it had sold.

Rose bought a carded McCoy figure from the Star Trek Movie line. Tony got a cool Buck Rodgers Pop-up books. Mike bought two GI Joe Collector's Club subscription figures and Nick got a carded GI Joe Renegades 3-Pack from back in the day. They each bought other stuff, but this isn't their blog.

I'll be posting some of my other purchases through out the week, but here are a few of the random toys I picked up. Hoggish Greedly the pig man bad guy from Captain Planet in the tan military suit. A 90's Toy Biz Nightcrawler figure. Frankenstein's Monster from the Real Ghostbusters. Bizarro from the animated DC Justice League cartoon. Michelangelo from the 2000's TMNT line and a Robotech figure.

Wayne NJ Toy Show

This morning I got up early and headed out to a local Flea Market here in Pennsylvania. While I was there I ran into  a toy collector and dealer named Mike who I have known for a long time. He works at Sellersville Auction, were I bought my 2nd USS Flagg. If you watch the show Toy Hunter on Travel Channel you may have seen the episode where Jordan bids on a carded Super Powers Shazam! figure at Sellersville.

Mike and I walked around a little, not really finding anything. He told me he was meeting up with Tony and Nick later this morning. Tony is one of the organizers of Retro Con. It a big toy (and other stuff 70's & 80's) convention in Oaks PA. They were planning on going over to the Wayne New Jersey Toy & Collectible Show and Mike invited me to go along. This Wayne NJ show is another location that has been featured on Toy Hunter. During the episode were Jordan was buying Kiss items for Gene Simmons, his buddy Steve took him to a "flea market" in Wayne. He guys some Kiss underwear and a view master disk there.

So the four of us piled into Mike's car and headed out to New Jersey. It was fun paling around with other toy fans. I was a little lost some of the time. The other three guys I was with are all huge Transformer fans. I like Transformers, but I really don't own many. If they weren't in the G1 cartoon than I don't know who they are. We also talked a lot about Matty Collector and the Masters of the Universe Classics line.

None of us found anything too crazy in Wayne, but we had a good time and picked up a few items. I will be posting my purchases very shortly. We saw a couple of "Reality TV Stars" at the show. Steve Savino who is the "Toy Scout" on Toy Hunter was there selling mostly junk. I did buy a figure off of his though. He was mostly fielding questions from people about the show. He was much more calm in person. He's easily excitable on the show and today he seemed almost depressed. Another person often referred to as a popculturist, Robert Bruce was present selling action figures. If you've ever watched Kevin Smith's reality show Comic Boon Men you have probably seen Robert. He is the expert they call in most often to evaluate items that they are about to buy.

So I had a fun time and I got to check out a new show.

popculturist, Robert Bruce was also there.

Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash

I still remember the first time I saw Clerks. I was in high school and I was talking to my best friend's Dad, Doug Moench who is a comic book writer, about the movie Mall Rats which I has recently seen at my friend Brian's house. Doug told me about Kevin Smith, the writer/director of the two films, and how he actually opened a comic book store after the success of his independent film. From that moment I have always wanted to go to the Secret Stash. At the time it seemed so far away and I just never went. With the debut of the show Comic Book Men my interest in going to the store was renewed. So, I finally went.

The store is well organized and has some interesting architectural features and moldings inside. There are also several display cases full of props from various Kevin Smith movies. I love the fact that they have many of the high priced (rare) book displayed on the wall above the normal shelves. I miss that about many comic stores. When I was a kid every comic shop carried back issues and the best ones were always on the wall. Less places are carry back issues and so less places have them displayed this way. It's cool to look at the classic covers of some of the most famous issues in comic book history. 

It's funny how different the store really is from what you see on TV. Many of Kevin Smith's movies are a little controversial because they use foul language, talk about drug use, and poke fun at religion. In the show you never really see all the Kevin Smith stuff. The giant Buddy Christ or Bluntman and Chronic's vehicle. The store was also much dimmer than in the show. They must bring a lot of lighting with them to film.  The second counter (in the middle of the store) that they have been predominately using this season has lots of merchandise and junk piled on it while I was there.

I was also expecting a lot more vintage toys and back issue comics. They has some modern and some vintage toys. They had a decent selection of the new Nick TMNT figures, some Walking Dead, a few vintage Mego toys, and a couple of boxed high end Star Wars vehicles from the late 90's early 2000's. They had a lot of high end back issue comics on the wall, but there were less back issue bins to go though than I would have expected.

So what did I buy...

 

The GI Joe Field Manual, I knew this was coming out, but didn't know it was out. This book is a collection of model sheets and designs from the 80's Sunbow cartoon. It's pretty cool, but I would have liked a little more information. The "writing" is pretty much just the stuff from the characters file cards (and probably the cartoon shows series bible). I enjoyed looking at the designs, but I didn't really learn anything new.

 I wanted to get a back issue for my collection to commemorate the trip. They didn't have any GI Joe back issues that I saw. There wasn't any Batman books that would fill in holes in the 90's run I collect. So I ended up grabbing this 4 part Night Crawler series that I remember reading at school. A kid I was friends with in 3rd grade has this series and he was a die hard X-Men fan. We used to play X-Men outside at recess. He would pretend he was Wolverine, and I'd pretend I was Iceman. This is back in the good old days when the first wave of Toy Bix X-Men toys came out.

I had to get something Kevin Smith while I was there. Batman Cacophony... I was thinking about asking Walt Flanagan (Artist of the Book and Manager of the Stash) if he'd sign it. When he rung me up I just got a funny vibe and so I didn't bother asking. He didn't say much of anything during the transaction or while I was in the store period. So I turned off all my fan boy impulses, other than to say I was enjoying the show when he handed me my receipt.

There were three guys working at the store while I was there. Mike Zapcic was there for a short time and then left. He was running the register when I walked into the store. He seemed very friendly as I over heard him running transactions. Walt was there "eagle eying" everyone for a while when I first got there. He sort of stood in the middle of the store watching everyone. He did answer the cordless phone "Comic!" just like in the show. I got a kick out of that. Once Mike left Walt hung out at the register. There was also a teenager there that would pretty much just circulated and kept and eye on people.

I'm glad I went. It was cool to be there. I can't really see driving an hour to go there very often. My "local" comic book shops do a good job of keeping me in reading material and I see more toys at the Flea Market each weekend. If I go back sometime in a few years I'll make sure I watch all the View Askew movies again so they are fresh and I can pick out each and everything in the display cases.

Back to Toy Hunting

It's interesting how not having my license gave me lot of free time at home to work on the blog. I did my first couple of Animated Reviews out of sheer boredom from not being able to get out of the house. For the past few months, I really haven't been able to go toy hunting. I've been reviewing the Matty Collector toys as the come out, but almost everything else I've posted are toys I already owned.

So, with my new found freedom, I hope the quality of the blog doesn't slip. I plan to keep up the frequency of the posts, but I have a feeling there will be less Animated Reviews. I actually got so far behind on doing the videos because of the hay ride. I have posted anything about the past two months worth of Matty Collector figures.

As a side note I want to talk about toys on TV quickly. I have wanted to go to Kevin Smith's comic book store for years, and of course his show Comic Book Men have increased my desire to do so. This weekend is busy with visiting friends I haven't seen much in the past few months and Retro Con. I am going to try to work in a trip before long. I'm sure I'll post about that trip when I go. Also I need to mention how much I have been loving the current season of Robot Chicken. There have been some really good GI Joe and He-Man skits. That show just keeps getting better.

Now, onto my finds from yesterday. I have been dying to get the Dollar General GI Joes. I have been so worried that I would not be able to find them in stores by the time I got my license back. They have been pretty rare all along. I drove to Dollar General today and found a complete set!

I was also very excited to find Metal Head from the new TMNT line. I bought all the previous figured off Amazon while I was without wheels. The episode of the cartoon that featured him was really funny, so I really wanted to pick him up. I wish he came with a remote control accessory for Donny to use.

Look for future posts about Metal Head and the GI Joes.

Comic Book Men on AMC

After watching the final episode of the series I figured I write up a quick post. I really enjoyed the show, and I hope they do another season. I've read some of the other reviews online, and I agree that some of this stuff is scripted or staged. The reality of reality tv is that it's not real.

I think it's cool to expose mainstream audiences, casual comic fans, and the newest generation of comic book fans to classics issues from the past. I love seeing the classic books. In the final episode they showed the first appearance of Wolverine and the Death of Gwen Stacey. As a kid, my friend Kirk was a huge Wolverine fan. He owned that first appearance in the Hulk as well as Wolverine #1. It was crazy cool to see "Wall Books" in someones personal collection. The closest thing I ever had to a wall book was Uncanny X-Man # 183 - the issue where Colossus and Juggernaut get into a bar fight. I was going through back issue boxes at Comics Adaptation in Quakertown, PA back in the day (the store is no longer there) and I saw this issue.  I remembered seeing the cover of it in Wizard Magazine as an issue to watch. I think I paid around $7 for it at the time, which was a lot because I only got like 6 bucks a week allowance. The book isn't really anything special anymore, but it was an important book in my collection as a kid. Just like my hologram 30th Anniversary Amazing Spider-man. (They are gonna be worth money some day *wink*)

As a side note, the thing I miss most since my local comic shop stopped carry back issues is the wall books. They haven't carried back issues in 10 plus years, but I miss looking at the ultra rare and important books.   Back to the show...

This blog is about action figures (and comics, cartoons, and anything else connected to action figures)! So over the course of the series they showed off the Lee Majors action figure which was also featured in the first episode of Toy Hunters. They heavily feature Mego figures and a lot other "doll" type action figures. I would have really enjoyed seeing someone bring in a carded GI Joe or He-Man figure from the 80's. Either they aren't old enough to be worth the big bucks, or AMC's target audience for the show is just a little older than myself and so they aimed for more of the 70's figures.

I plan on taking a road trip to The Stash this summer, since it's only an hour from here. I'll be sure to post some pictures from the trip. Maybe I'll buy a Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) action figure while I'm there.