Michael D Hamersky On Comics Shares His Take On...      Iron Man 3!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3846 -    I've just come back from viewing Iron Man 3 on the Big Screen with my wife, Tina LoSasso. 

This blog post is 'My Take' on the film.  Please check back tomorrow to read Tina's 'Take' on the film.

Before I start, here are 'My Takes' on Iron Man 1 (8.5)  & Iron Man 2 (9.2).

So... What did I think of the film?

I've got to say... This film was like a drama to me... Which is good!  The storyline was well written, and there was a lot of 'Tony Stark' on film, instead of Iron Man.  Plus a lot of Pepper Potts!  Which also was good.

There weren't as many characters in this 3rd film of the Iron Man Trilogy.  Which was also good! 

However, the ending of the film was just a little 'comic booky' for my tastes.  And yes, I am a comic book collector!  So I know 'comic booky', LOL.

Yet the storyline for the most part was very well written & directed.  I liked this film because for 3/4 of the film there was a 'human touch' to it.

It could also be the actors that brought more to this film. Here's my grade on the actors:. 

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man - A Near Mint (NM) 9.4.  Robert is Tony for sure!  Plus his interaction with the kid in Tennessee was very well played.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts - A Near Mint (NM) 9.4 also!  At last she got more film time, and played it very well.

Don Cheadle as James Rhodes / (War Machine) Iron Patriot -  Very Fine / Near Mint 9VF/NM) 9.0 - Was pretty good in this film.

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin - Near Mint Minus (NM-) 9.2  - Very well played, especially with the twist!

Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian - Very Fine Plus (VF+)  8.5 -  Good role for Guy, except the ending part, which was written a little too comic booky.  I realize that it isn't the actor's fault, but it affected my grading of the role.

Rebecca Hall as Dr. Maya Hansen - Very Fine Plus (VF+) 8.5 - Pretty good acting for a minor role!

Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan: - Very Fine (VF) 8.0 - Happy gets hurt early in the film, and is out of it... Too bad, as Jon was good as Happy in the earlier two films.

Ty Simpkins as Harley - Near Mint Minus (NM-) 9.2 - This kid got a role a lot of kids would love to have had in the film.  And he pulls it off!  Good job!

Paul Bettany reprises his role from previous films as JARVIS, Stark's AI system - Very Fine / Near Mint (VF/NM) 9.0  - JARVIS is still  hanging in there!

Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as a beauty pageant judge. Very Fine Plus (VF+) 8.5 - Too small of a cameo for Stan the Man Lee! 

I would have to say that this film rounds out the Iron Man Trilogy very well.  I for one, along with the rest of the audience in the theater enjoyed this film!   And almost all of them stayed for the final scene at the end of the credits!

My comic book grade for this comic book movie is a Near Mint Minus (NM-) 9.2.   The film was well played until just near the end when it became just a little too 'comic booky' for me.  Yet I will still buy the DVD when it comes out, because it is a good movie, and worth seeing again!  So yes, check this film out on the Big Screen near you! 

If you want to know more about the film, you could read the Wikipedia entry for the film.  But be aware, there are a LOT of 'SPOILER ALERTS' in that entry!

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,846 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Shares His Thoughts On...    A Self Publishing Checklist!       Batton Lash & Michael D Hamersky at the Spotlight On Batton Lash Panel! At the 2012 Long Beach Comic Con on Saturday! Batton asked Michael to 'interview' him on the panel, which Michael gladly did!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3845 -    I've had the pleasure of meeting many independent comics creators over the past decades... Usually at comic cons.

I've also seen several of them 'breakout' and become small indie publishers. 

However, most of them haven't become small indie publishers past their own 2 - 3 issues story arc, and several I haven't seen lately at comic cons. Possibly they have given up on making it in the comics industry...?

Yet others, and actually, though just a few, have gone on to make it big in the comics industry.  By becoming indie press publishers.

So what's my thoughts on publishing your own comic book?

Here's what I have come up with, and no it is not everything you should do... But are things you could do to help yourself make it 'big' in comics.

1. Create your comic book - Which should be somewhat easy for you to do, unless you have to have other comics creators do the writing or artwork or inking, etc., while you do one of those functions.  Oh, and in general terms, it is less expensive to start online with a web comic, and build a following of readers.  After that... Then you can sell print copies.  But be aware that printing webcomics could be an odd-sized shape for the comic book to be printed in.  I've see some weird formats that webcomics have been printed in!

2. Post the copyright notice in the comic book - Be sure to do this!

3. Keep control. Period.  You must maintain complete creative control and own your copyright.  Keep this in mind for all of these steps!

4. Look at getting a trademark for logo of your comic book. 

5. Place an ISBN on the front cover.  This is a MUST!  That's because you're supposed to have an ISBN for each format that you use to publish your comic book. Actually some printers offer inexpensive or free ISBNs, but it is up to you to make sure to read the fine print before using those printers services!

6. Barcode the front cover! Why? This simple action will open more vendors for you. You can actually find places to get the barcode images for free.  You can also pay a small fee for an easy-to-use file.

7. Okay, before printing this comic book... Check to see if you want to do a 'crowd funder' program like KickStarter or IndieGoGo.  Do you have enough Facebook Friends to get the word out about your comic book?   KickStarter & IndieGoGo have different rules and funding programs.  Investigate both and possibly other 'crowd funders' thoroughly.

8. Seems funny to say this, but PRINT the comic book, even if you don't use a crowd funder. In some quantity.  Check sources online for the best prices for printing small quantities.  You don't want to be sitting on cases of comic books that you have to sell to recover your printing costs.

9. Plus, which most people don't do... print an alternate cover as a retailer incentive!  Or use it at comic cons as an exclusive comic con cover!

10. Then, after printing your comic book, you should convert your comic book to a digital format.

11. Publish digital format comic via some format.  There are several formats to choose from.

12. Create a sales page on your own website.  Don't have a web site? Do it now!  And for goodness sake, you should make sure that your comic book's title isn't already owned online by another person / company.  Buy that Domain Name for your property ASAP!

13. Set up your own Paypal account to receive payment for selling copies, whether online or at a comic con.

14. Contact the comics press about your new comic.  Include bloggers like myself, when contacting the press.

15. Set up a Facebook FanPage, a Twitter Acoount, and possibly other Social Media avenues.

16. Check the Local Comic Book Shop Locator for comic shops in your area. Contact them to sell your comic book.  Possibly even on consignment?

17. Set up at nearby comic book conventions in the Artists Alley for a cheaper table rate.  After you make it, you can set up in Small Press sections.

18. See if you can get on a program at a comic con, any program that you have knowledge about, and mention your comic book when you are introduced, and what your table number is at the con for sales.  Later you can check out about getting a 'Spotlight On... (yourself) at a comic con, like in the top right photo of this blog, where Batton Lash and myself went over his comic book career and small press business at his program.

19.  Bookkeeping... Yes, Bookkeeping!  You have to keep an accounting of what you have spent and what you take in.  Being an accountant by trade, I'll let you in on what I use.  QuickBooks!  It is definitely worth the money if you plan on continuing to publish this comic book as a series, or have plans for another one or two.

20.  And I saved this for last.  Use Amazon.com to sell your comic book.  The charges that Amazon places on you are a large percentage of your sales price, so use this sales tool only after you have already iniitialized doing all of the above 19 steps.  

Okay, the above list is just thoughts that I've now put down on 'paper'.  Like I said before, listing these 20 steps... This list is NOT everything you could or should do, but a really good start. 

If you are thinking about creating your own comic book, or have already done so and not made any traction in sales... the above 20 steps are ones you might go over and ponder on just a bit.

I may be back with more thoughts on self-publing in the future, but for now, these are the ones I believe are most important.   Good luck to your on your self-publishing venture.  Maybe I'll see you at a comic con with your self published comic book(s)?!

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,845 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics       So I Started With...   Chilly Willy!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3844 -    I've received an email asking about what comic books I started reading when I was a kid.  That's because I've mentioned here and at my Facebook fan page that I started off with 'funnybooks' and then started reading other comic books.  

You see, I was reading comics before I actually started 'collecting comic books', which actually started with Journey Into Mystery #72.  Here's the blog to that background story on how I came to start collecting comics!

Anyways, one of the earliest comic books I can remember was a 'Chilly Willy' comic book.  Yeah, it really wasn't a 'Chilly Willy' comic book, it was a Dell Four Color comic book, but heck, I was a kid, what did I know, LOL!

The above right photo is just one of the 'Chilly Willy' comics that I had.  There were others as well.  Here's a link to the special album I've made at my Facebook fan page.  I believe that is all of the issues, from 1956 to 1962.  

Oh, and the photo to the top left is my little brother and I at Santa's Village, Skyforest, California in 1959.  Man, was it 'chilly'!  BTW... Santa's Village, after many years in operation... is now shut down!

I believe that I first saw Chilly Willy as a cartoon.  The earliest cartoons were in 1953, the year after I was born, so I'm older than Chilly Willy!  However, my folks didn't take us kids to the theater as littler kids, so it must have been the Woody Woodpecker Show on TV that started in 1957 where I first saw Chilly Willy.

I'm still kind of attracted to Chilly Willy items.  I'm amazed at antique stores that have Chilly Willy items from the past.  Most kids today probably don't even know about Chilly Willy...

So sad to even think of that...

Anyways, I do remember Chilly Willy as being one of the comic books that were called 'funnybooks' by my Great Uncle Howard & his wife Great Aunt Marge, who were the ones that started me reading comic books!   Here's a link to me thanking them in my annual Thanksgiving blog. See part V in that blog for their mention.

Well, that's it for today's blog.  I wanted to share this rememberance with you all...

BTW, for those of you that want to know more about Chilly Willy... Here's his Wikipedia entry!

Oh, and for those of you that have kids, here's a link to the 'cartoon comics' that I have for sale at my online comic book shop, ComicBooksCircus.com!

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,844 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Mentions...    Wally Wood's   HEROES, INC.!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3843 -    I've listed the remaining copies I have of Wally Wood's 'Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon (#1) at my online comic book shop, ComicBooksCircus.com!

This was a two-issue comic book title that represented one of the earliest known efforts of 'independent' comics publishing!

The first issue was self-published by Wally Wood in 1969, with another issue published by CPL Publications in 1976.

This comic book was an 'in-between' publication, in that it bridged the gap between underground comix and the more 'mainstream' Marvel and DC Comics publications of the time.

This original one-shot comic attempted to provide mature genre stories for an adult audience. It could be considered a forerunner of the late-1970s modern graphic novel!

The one-shot was actually created for the 'armed forces' readership that Wally Wood had cultivated with his "Sally Forth" feature in Military News and Overseas Weekly.

The first issue, pictured at the top right, contained no U.S. Postal Service indicia.

Additionally it was higher priced, set at 15 cents cover price, NOT the 12 cents cover that other comics of the time were priced at when it was publsihed.

As Wally's target market was NOT children,  it wasn't submitted to the CCA and thus had no Comics Code Seal on the cover!

Aimed at an older audience, the comic contained more 'action' violence and more 'revealing' clothing on the illustrated nubile young women than did mainstream comics of the day!

However, it was not 'grim and gritty'. It did not contain nudity or gore. Most of the deaths illustrated occurred in silhouette or off-panel.

The blaring comic book cover itself did promote "Amazing Adult Adventure" within its' pages, but it is far milder than today's comics!

A self portrait of Woody can be seen at the top left of this blog post.

Wally's Wikipedia entry can be found at this link.

In addition, this comic book series has its own Wikipedia entry!

So don't miss out on owning a piece of comic book history for the low prices I'm offering this historical comic book at.  Again, this is the link to my online comic book shop!

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,843 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Presents A Reminder About The Upcoming...    Long Beach Comic Con Expo! May 11th of 2013!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3842 -    This blog is just a reminder that the weekend after Free Comic Book Day is... The Long Beach Comic Con (LBCC) One Day Expo in Long Beach, California, on May 11th!

I haven't missed one of these One-Day Expos yet!  Nor the Two-Day Cons later on in the Fall of each year! Matter of fact, the above photo on the top left of this blog is me in front of last year's LBCC!

Here's a few of the photo albums that I have set up for previous LBCCs:

2012 LBCC

2012 LBCC EXPO

2011 LBCC

2011 LBCC EXPO

2010 LBCC

2010 LBCC EXPO

2009 LBCC

Here is a link to Long Beach Comic Con's Facebook Page.

Here is a link to the Long Beach Comic Con's web site, where you can pre-pay for a ticket.

Okay, after checking out those links, you gotta know that this is one comic con that I really enjoy attending!  I haven't missed one yet!   What I enjoy seeing at the OneDay Cons are the comic book creators that set up a table and are available for sketches or other commissions.  Plus most are pretty good to talk to if you are a fan of theirs!  Even if you don't know them, stop at their tables and check out their work!

Who is attending this con? Well... Here is the link to the list of those that will be in the Artists Alley section of the con.

Plus here is the guest list of those that will be at the con. 

The Long Beach Comic Expo will be held on May 11th at the Long Beach Convention Center from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.

If you are in the Los Angeles Metro Area... Or even in a county nearby, (Like I am in San Diego County), this One Day LBCC Expo is worth the drive!   So I suggest you check it out, if you already haven't been there in a previous year!  And if you already been there before, you already know it is worth the drive!

See you there!

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,842 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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