Mattel's DC Universe Classics: Titans Together

Mattel is bringing on the Titans with their DC Universe Classics line.

Wave 3 (which should be out about now) features Deathstroke, Nightwing and Robin. Including variant Deathstrokes, with and without his mask.

Wave 4 (due in the fall) includes Cyborg. KB Toys will have an exclusive variant with Sonic Arm Cyborg.
Wave 7 (yeah, there's a bit of break there) is fairly Flash-centric, but that begets us a Wally West Kid-Flash!!
There's also a Starfire figure coming, but this one's a little trickier. It only comes in a two-pack with Adam Strange...and it's only available from mattycollector.com.
There is a little bit of "boo" associated with these, though. They've all already been released by DC Direct in one fashion or another. How many DC Direct and Mattel versions of Nightwing and Robin have there been?
DC Direct did Starfire and Kid Flash in 2000 followed by Cyborg in 2001 as part of The New Teen Titans series.
Deathstroke has had two recent figures from DC Direct: One in Contemporary Teen Titans series 1 in 2004, and then The New Teen Titans Series 2 this year.
And while it would be cool to get updated looks for the characters... All the Deathstokes are basically the same. These looks for Nightwing and Robin (even in his more recent costume) have been well-covered by both DC Direct and Mattel. And they're giving us a retro-look Cyborg. Which he wore not only on his DC Direct figure...but also on his Super Powers figure back in the 80s!
Only Starfire is in an outfit that has yet to be released on an action figure.
Oh well.

Go figure...

Keep up to date on all the DCUC awesomeness at DCUC.info (which is where I stole all the pics from, could ya tell?)

Donna Troy: The Quicker Picker-Upper

That's such a stupid title for this post...but I just couldn't think of anything!

Anyway...my buddy Doug (over at dougsploitation, check it out!) was awesome enough to share this with me (and allow me to share it with all [3] of you!). It's a drawing of Donna Troy on a cocktail napkin done by no-less-than Phil Jimenez!! How great is that!?
Almost makes me want to start a con-sketch collection of Donna Troy napkins!

I love Donna. I love Phil. I guess I'm going to have to love Doug now, too...

The things I'll do for my blog...

Project Superpowers: Pyroman!

Time for some more PROJECT SUPERPOWERS Golden-Age-y goodness!! (Considering I've fallen behind, LOL).

Today we've got Pyroman, who was featured on the cover of PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #4!

Pyroman first appeared in STARTLING COMICS #18 (December 1942). Although "pyro" means flame, and he looks like he's burning, Pyroman's powers were actually electrical-based and that's electricity crackling around him that causes the glow.

Alrighty, then, without further ado, let's get on with a story from the early days of Pyroman's career!!

From AMERICA'S BEST COMICS #4 (February 1943):

I took this story (and cleaned it up a little) from an AWESOME blog: Nedor-A-Day. You really need to go check it out. All kinds of Golden-age Nedor/Better/Standard goodness!

70 Super Years: The K-Metal from Krypton!

Before Kryptonite came to comics as the cure-all for Superman villains in SUPERMAN #61 (Nov/Dec 1949)...
Before Kryptonite was intoduced to the world on The Adventures of Superman radio show in 1943...
Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel wrote a story that would've changed the Superman mythos dramatically. But the powers-that-were at DC refused to print:
THE K-METAL FROM KRYPTON!!
Believed to be intended for SUPERMAN #8 (Jan/Feb 1941), "The K-Metal from Krypton" was lost and forgotten for decades until an ancient, faded, and blurred carbon-copy of the complete script was discovered in a dusty box in the back of the DC library archives by a young staff member named Mark Waid. Over the years, various pages of completed art from the unpublished story also began to turn up in an equally various number of places. And now the story can be told!!
In the same vein as what has been done with Superman and the Secret Planet, webmaster Tor Kinlok, along with artists Angel Criado, Bob Rivard, Shane Foley, Randy Sargent, and Jon Bogdanove, has spent the past few years tirelessly restoring and recreating the artwork to present the completed story for the first time!
Here's a sneak peak:

Now head on over to The K-Metal from Krypton website and read the full story!! And while you're there, don't forget to surf around the site and read all the in-depth articles concerning K-Metal!
It's fascinating stuff, really!!

See Also:
The K-Metal from Krypton @ Wikipedia
Kryptonite @ Wikipedia

Comic Coverage: Superman @ 70

Well, apparently I'm not the only blogger who thought celebrating Superman's 70th anniversary all month was a good idea! Is it a case of "great minds think alike" or... Heh.
Either way you should really do yourself a favor and visit Mark Emblom's Comic Coverage blog. There's all kinds of nifty stuff there. Plus it's funny. And he's a much better writer than I am. It's a win-win situation!
I'll be curious to see (although, I may wait until the month is over to check it out) how much of the same territory we end up covering. He's already done an ACTION COMICS #1 cover homage post! His goes much more in-depth than mine. Bastard.
Okay, okay, now go check it out!!!!

FINAL CRISIS Counseling

A new awesome blog!! Final Crisis Counseling!
Gives a blow-by-blow of the issue, helping catch details you may have missed. And follows up with annotated notes on who all the mysterious characters are!!

Check it out!!

Superpowers: Origins - The Black Terror & Tim

One of the golden-age stars of Dynamite's PROJECT: SUPERPOWERS is the Black Terror:
But just who is the Black Terror?
Travel back to May 1940 and read EXCITING COMICS #9 featuring the origins of the Black Terror and his sidekick Tim! Notice at the bottom of page 3 how Bob Benton has got a little bit of Frank Miller's All-Star Batman 'tude goin' on!

You can find this and many more apparent public domain comics at Golden Age Comics Downloads.

Superman and the Secret Planet

I stumbled across a cool website today called The Adventures Continue, a tribute to George Reeves and the cast and crew of The Adventures of Superman TV series. The layout is kinda wanting of a 21st-century makeover, so it's easier to browse through, but it's got lots of cool stuff.
But the pièce de résistance is Superman and the Secret Planet. It's apparently a script for a Superman movie written during the filming of the series, but (obviously) never produced. Awesome artist Randy Garrett took the time to draw the script out as a 40-page comic book story. It's pretty amazing. He even captured the likenesses of the actors! Here are 6 random pages to whet your appetite:

Now, if you want to see the whole story (and why wouldn't you!?), head over to the site and start reading!!!