May 4th -

NEW  Spider-Man Movie !

May 5th -

FREE Comic Book Day !

Check with YOUR Local Movie Theater For Show Times!

& Then Check with YOUR Local Comic Book Store, (LCBS), to see what comic books they will be providing for FREE for the 2007 series! 

Thanks for viewing this comic book blog post.... and feel free to comment!

Plus don't forget to VOTE for YOUR favorite Superhero for PRESIDENT in our poll below... just click on the 'easy button' being held by yours truly on the bottom left !

Michael

VOODOO CHILD....

the Illustrated Legend

of  Jimi Hendrix 

I have never been one to bone up on the  rock artists' personal lives, so this graphic novel really enlightened me as to what I didn't know about Jimi !   'Far out man' !

Thanks for reading this blog post, and feel free to post your comment!

Michael

Long-haired Michael selling comic books at the San Diego Comic Con in the post-psychdelic era of 1973 !

Roy Thomas,

Comic Book Writer... 

... Will be a Special Guest at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con International show July 26-29, 2007 !

Roy is recognized as the first fan to make it as a 'Pro' back in 1965.  I remember when he first started writing, taking over some of the titles that Stan 'The Man' Lee had to let go as the Marvel Comics line was expanding.  Indeed it was Roy 'the Boy' Thomas who pioneered for other fans to break into the business. I especially enjoyed his run on the Avengers, and the Invaders for Marvel. 

I first met Roy at an earlier SDCC, where pictured to the right, he signed several Fantastic Four Comics for my personal collection. He was fun to talk with, and I enjoyed meeting him in person. It is hard to believe that Roy 'the Boy' is now 66 years of age and supposed to be officially  'retired'!! 

 For those interested in comic books that Roy wrote, both for Marvel and DC Comics , please check out our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store! 

The History of Blackhawk.... 

'Blackhawk' was a 1950 ABC radio series that was adapted from the long-running Blackhawk comic book about the team of World War II aviators from Quality Comics. It was an unsponsored half-hour show that aired on Wednesdays nights at 5:30pm.

Michael Fitzmaurice, (1908-1967), portrayed the team leader Blackhawk. The radio series premiered on September 13, 1950 and concluded a few months later on December 27, 1950. It is thought that there were only sixteen episodes in the entire run. 

I first discovered Blackhawk in the early 1960's when it was published by DC Comics.  I did not know that the series was a continuation of Quality's earlier series, and that DC had picked up the numbering with #108.

Quality Comics had the Blackhawk feature debut in Military Comics #1 in August of 1941, and Blackhawk earned its' own comic title in 1944. 

DC Comics picked up the title in 1956. The comic became a  little outdated by the mid 1960's because it was still about the aviators adventures so DC revamped the Blackhawks into super-heroes with issues #230 - 241 but it just didn't go over sales-wise.  The revamp didn't do anything for me either.... Then the comic was changed back into its' original premise but lasted only two more issues before its' 1968 cancellation.

By the time DC Comics attempted a short 1970s run (#244 to #250) I had quit reading the series. Indeed, my original interest were the stories with the Nazi operative Killer Shark and Lady Blackhawk whom Killer Shark changed into Queen Killer Shark. Those stories piqued my interest just from the covers!  

For those interested in Blackhawk comic books, we have a large run of issues in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael selling Blackhawk and other comics at the 1973 San Diego Comic-Con.

Just Finished Watching Last Night..... 

The 'Warrior Princess Trilogy' VHS set  which was originally shown on the Hercules: Legendary Journeys TV Show! 

My youngest son had not seen this trilogy, as he was too young when it first came out, and he was curious about this VHS set of tapes.

I told him that Xena of Amphipolis was a fictional character in the now ended television series Xena: Warrior Princess and also in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.  She was played by the New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless, pictured to the top right. 

Xena first appeared on the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys television series, (in the episode The Warrior Princess airing in March 1995), as a seductive but treacherous warlord.

Two more episodes during the May 1995 TV sweeps presented her evolution from a villainess to a friend and ally of Hercules. Viewer interest in her was so high that shortly afterwards she became the main character of her own spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess,  and the two series quite often played back to back.

Ironically though, her character was originally obsessed with defeating Hercules and thus obtaining his title as the greatest living warrior, she never did defeat "Zeus' Favorite Son". As a matter of fact, Hercules was the one credited with pointing her down the path of redemption when he beat her in combat and showed her that selfishness and greed were not the way to live.

 In her own TV series, Xena set out to redeem her murderous past by fighting against tyranny and evil and protecting the innocent and weak.  I personally caught the show after it had started and began watching the rerun episodes to catch up. A lot of her past would remain obscure, but flashbacks would open up new chapters in her past as she revisited the people or areas again.  

Kevin went on to play 'Kull the Conqueror' in the movie of the same name, which was set in the days before 'Conan the Barbarian' and was also created by Robert E Howard!  (See movie poster middle right photo.)

My son already knew about Xena Comics as he helps me interfile those comics in boxes!  He asked if I had any other Xena tapes... Unfortunately no! 

For those of you interested in seeing Xena in comic books from Topps in 1997-1998 or Dark Horse 1999, we have several listed in our eBay Featured Store and even more in our eBay Pro Store.  Xena was published as mini-series by Topps, while Dark Horse published one unlimited series. Topps has variant photo covers as well as drawn comic covers for those issues.