Sometimes I get around to a really good read when it's a week, sometimes a month old, but usually it's worth the passage of time.

FIRST WAVE #1 begins DC's new pulp universe. Doc Savage, The Spirit, Batman, The Blackhawks and Rima, The Jungle girl are among the characters to appear in this six (6) issue mini series.

For many of the younger readers not familiar with Doc Savage or The Blackhawks or Rima for that matter, this very solid, sure to make an impression series may not be to their interest.

Issue #1 opened with the introduction of Doc Savage, The Spirit, Rima and The Blackhawks and the Red Right Hand. The Red Right Hand I find to be quite an interesting choice of Organization, another reason why I don't think younger readers may feel drawn to this limited comic series. A Big Mistake.

Allow me to review the overall characters and the Red Right Hand.

Now everyone is familiar with Batman and his beginnings, but how about Doc Savage?

Doc Savage: a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Doc Savage has appeared in comics and a movie, on radio, and as a character in numerous other works.
Doc Savage's real name was Clark Savage, Jr.. He was a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and a musician.
A team of scientists assembled by his father deliberately trained his mind and body to near-superhuman abilities almost from birth, giving him great strength and endurance, a photographic memory, a mastery of the martial arts, and vast knowledge of the sciences. Doc is also a master of disguise and an excellent imitator of voices.
His absence from his fathers funeral in First Wave is a direct result of his upbringing, the reason why those who do not know him that well berated him for his absence.
His office is on the 86th floor of a New York City skyscraper, implicitly the Empire State Building, reached by Doc's private high-speed elevator. Doc owns a fleet of cars, trucks, aircraft, and boats which he stores at a secret hangar on the Hudson River, under the name The Hidalgo Trading Company, which is linked to his office by a pneumatic-tube system nick-named the "flea run." He sometimes retreats to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic which pre-dates Superman's similar hideout of the same name. All of this is paid for with gold from a Central American mine given to him by the local descendants of the Mayans.
DC announced in 2009 that it would publish a Doc Savage crossover with Batman, written by Brian Azzarello with art by Phil Noto and a cover by JG Jones. Other characters involved will be Black Canary, The Avenger, Rima the Jungle Girl, The Spirit, and Doc Savage's The Fabulous Five. It is a prologue to First Wave, a six-issue limited series with art by Rags Morales
The First Wave line was then expanded to include a Doc Savage ongoing series written by Paul Malmont, with art by Howard Porter.
SO...I hope you guys picked up Doc Savage #1 from COSMIC!!!!!!!

Now many if not all of you are relatively familiar with The Spirit.

The Spirit: The Spirit (Denny Colt) is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a seven-page insert into American Sunday-newspaper comics sections. In the 2000s, following Eisner's death, the Spirit appears in comic books published by DC Comics.
The Spirit chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. Despite the Spirit's origin as a detective named Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again, and for all intents and purposes he was simply "the Spirit". The stories range through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

The Blackhawks: Blackhawk, a long-running comic book series, was also a film serial, a radio series and a novel. The comic book was published first by Quality Comics and later by National Periodical Publications, the primary company of those that evolved to become DC Comics. The series was created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera, and Bob Powell, but the artist most associated with the feature is Reed Crandall. Future Justice League of America artist Dick Dillin succeeded him in the 1950s, continuing on through DC's acquisition of the series.
The Blackhawk Squadron, usually called the Blackhawks, are a small team of World War II-era ace pilots of varied nationalities, each typically known under a single name, either their given name or their surname.

In 1987, comics innovator Howard Chaykin updated the Blackhawks with more adult characters and story in a Prestige Format, three-book limited series. Chaykin’s revised team consisted of:

* Janos Prohaska (Blackhawk) their leader, is Polish. However, Janos Prohaska is not a Polish name. Chaykin should have used Janusz (or Jan) Prohaski.
* Andre Blanc-Dumont is French.
* Olaf Friedriksen is Danish.
* Carlos "Chuck" Sirianni was born in Italy but raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, United States.
* Ritter Hendricksen is a Dutchman.
* Stanislaus Drozdowski is Polish.
* Weng Chan (Chop-Chop) was born in China but raised in San Francisco, California, United States.
* Natalie Reed (Lady Blackhawk) is American.

Rima, The Jungle Girl: Rima the Jungle Girl, is the fictional heroine of W. H. Hudson's 1904 novel "Green Mansions": A Romance of the Tropical Forest. In 1974, she was adapted into a comic book character and featured in the short-lived monthly series Rima the Jungle Girl, published by DC Comics. Though Rima the Jungle Girl ceased publication in 1975, the comic book version of Rima appeared in several episodes of Hanna-Barbera's popular Saturday morning cartoon series The All-New Superfriends Hour between 1977 and 1980.
In First Wave, Rima is given a more athletic, hard body look that is reminiscent of a Frazetta female figure.
Natives avoided her forest, calling her "the Daughter of the Didi" (an evil spirit), but Rima's only defense is a reputation for magic, earned through the display of strange talents such as talking to birds, befriending animals, and plucking poison darts from the air.
Rima is mentioned, but not seen, in America's Best Comics' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 2, #3 (2003), by writer Alan Moore and artists Kevin O'Neill and Ben Dimagmaliw: "...it is near here that the world-famous 'bird girl' Riolama or Rima was discovered..."

Red Right Hand: a phrase from Milton's Paradise Lost which refers to the vengeful hand of God. We've seen organizations like this before from both DC and Marvel, hopefully this one will be just as developed.
And yes there was a 2001 movie by the same name (Horror)
And yes there was also a song by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

This first issue promises to be quite intriguing as the basic foundations are understood by older readers. SO, you younger guys and gals...Jump on the band wagon and grab it as well as Doc Savage #1. There's a lot of comic history and pulp fiction here that shouldn't be overlooked.

Yes it's back once again at the Hilton Parsippany, New Jersey.

If you are a collector, horror fanatic, model builder or one that is into Horror, then this is a must attend show.

You will find old Movies, Toys, TV Celebs, rock stars, idolized actors, people in costume, special effects gurus, bats, magazine publishers, and the collector who only comes out of his cave to collect more stuff from these shows.

Show Hours:

Friday - 6 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday - 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday - 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Train routes:
NJ Transit Morristown Line from NY Penn Station to the Morris Plains stop. (The train also stops at Secaucus Junction for weekend NJ connections.)

It takes approx 1 hr & 15 mins. Buy tickets before boarding to avoid a $5 surcharge.
Once you arrive at the Train Station the hotel is approx 2 miles from the show hotel.
Once you arrive at the Train Station call the hotel at 973-267-7373 and they will send a shuttle to pick you up, Based on availability. Make sure to let them know you are part of the Chiller Theatre Expo Group.

Car Directions:

From New York City
Rte 80 West to Rte 287 South. Take exit 39B, Take Rte 10 West. Go 1/2 mile and turn right on Dryden Way. Make first left onto Campus Drive. 1st left onto Hilton Court.

There are no rumors...no subtle hints...no tell-tale signs or even the slip of a tongue to tell who will be the next villain in the Batman trilogy. And even though this third Christopher Nolan story will be his final tale in the trilogy, hopefully we won't see the end to the Batman films under his creative leadership.

We've seen the Joker already, more than once, and his maniacal mannerisms have delighted our warped sense of humor and twisted tenacious thoughts persisting at making a point of diabolical diatribes relating to the irony of a master criminal mind.

The Riddler as well has graced the silver screen and in my opinion the late Frank Gorshin was the master of riddle whit and mayhem.

The Black Mask ? He would fit well into the Gotham City criminal environment that Nolan has created, but I don't think he would be accepted by many of the fans who are already attached to the major characters that have been presented in the Bat franchise over the years. If this is to be the finale of the trilogy, then it should go out with a BANG!

Maybe Cat Woman would be a good pick, after all there have been several fine and freaky feline foes in the past that have really stirred the male libido.
Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Halle Berry.
If Cat Woman is a pick, then having The Black Mask along for the ride in the story might not be a bad idea. But I would hope that the Helena concept doesn't pop up.

The Penguin, Azrael, Mad Hatter, Egg Head, all decent possibilities, especially Egg Head who hasn't been seen since the Batman television show of the 1960's.

But we'll have to wait until somebody lets the cat out of the bag before we actually know.

Stay tuned......

So how will Scarlett Johannson fare in Iron Man 2 as the Black Widow?

The Black Widow movie which was supposed to be made in 2005 suffered many disruptions mainly the fe-male vigilante movies of that time: Kill Bill, Tomb Raider, BloodRayne, Ultra Violet and Aeon Flux. Aeon Flux didn't do well and the studio that was to produce Black Widow decided no to go through with the production.

So possibly her appearance in Iron Man 2 is better suited for the talented Ms. Johannson, as an added character to the sequel instead of having her own film...for now at least.

But the big question is...will Scarlett be capable of filling the role as the Black Widow as we have come to know her over the years? And will she be a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.? The trailers hint at this as a possibility as she sports the logo on her left arm.

I've seen many of Scarlett's movies and she has done magnificently in every role. But this particular film will be quite a challenge for her, as Natasha Romanov she will definitely have to be kick ass. She has the look NAILED DOWN, no doubt about that, but she still needs to be able to master that Russian accent. This may seem like nit picking, but for the hard core fans it's not just about the sexy looks, it's about the character as a whole.

Her one sheet mini poster for Iron Man 2, which is not impossible to get a hold of, but a bit on the difficult side to acquire never the less, is going to be a hot item if she can pull off the role, and although the WonderCon is over in San Francisco some are floating around.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Well I actually went to Clifton...yes I was bored...and when I arrived I became totally frustrated.
If you went there for comics from the late 70's up till present day, then you were in luck. There was a plethora of back issues; signed copies, variants, hard to find incentives, from every genre, all at very affordable prices and in pristine condition.
However,if you were to go there for Golden Age or Silver Age, you sucked out of luck as far as pricing goes.
WAY Over The Top. I couldn't believe what I was seeing as far as prices go.
First I thought...okay, April fools...but the one dealer heard my astonished blurt and rebutted..."What...That's a good price."
Yea...Okay...that's a good price IF the dealer gets it...a good price for him that is.
I happened to have that particular GA GREEN LANTERN issue in VF condition (Inherited it) and the book value on it is close to $4000, in GD condition it's listed as $528...how is it that this Fair to Good comic cost a little over $900!!!!!!!WTF!!!
And this Incredible HULK issue #102 for over...well over $300 in almost fine condition...DUDE WTF!!!!!!
Well I decided to move along to other tables:NOTE: There were only comics and toys and tee shirts available didn't see any trading cards.
Don't you just hate it when they don't put prices on their comics!!!!!! Yea so what's the logic about that...If you can afford to buy it you don't need to ask??????
Most of the GA & SA comics were priced way over their book value.
I only found one dealer who had his $#!T together and whose GA & SA comics were actually priced either at book value or slightly below and whose copies were magnificent!!!!!!
I know times are rough...but golly gee willikers and holy crapola...that was a bit over the top of reality.
Wait for the real Comic Cons or buy your stuff from Cosmic!!!!!!!!!!!!

To all the dealers at the show: You did what you could to make it pleasant but fair pricing???...come on guys I know times are tough but Oy vey zmir!!!!!!

The Flash races out of BLACKEST NIGHT and into his own monthly title as the all-new adventures of The Fastest Man Alive starts with “Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues!” Barry Allen runs back to his life in Central City, but when one of the Rogues turns up murdered under mysterious circumstances, it’s up to The Flash to not only solve this bizarre crime, but protect those that are still targeted by the elusive killer.

Well it's been done once again...this time the tables have turned. When Detective Comics #27 sold for a whopping $1,075,000 beating out Superman in Action Comics #1 in February, the man of steel just couldn't take it lying down!

Another copy of Action Comics #1 has sold now for $1.5 Million !!!!

For 50 years, the comic book was buried in a stack of old movie magazines from the 1930s. When the magazines were sold at a antique auction in Pittsburgh, the buyer was surprised to find Superman keeping company with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford.

“Because it was tucked inside a magazine, it was well protected all those years,” says Stephen Fishler, founder of ComicConnect.com and its affiliate, Metropolis Collectibles (metropoliscomics.com), the world’s largest vintage comic book dealer.

“That’s why it’s in such remarkable condition.”

This Action Comics #1 is the only one in existence with a grading of 8.5.
That they know of....hee hee hee...

Holy Kryptonite Batman!!!!!!!

Well this is going to be a very interesting series to say the least. Let's see...1953 New York...Agents Reed & Stark Continuity?...hmmmmm.
We have our Point-of-view character, Leonid who has that crazy star effect going on...Jim Starlin effects...nice....
Interesting that we see the historical flash backs, especially with Moon Night and Apocalypse in ancient Egypt ready to kick some unholy Brood arse..remember there is continuity here, Apocalypse was born in Egypt around the 1st dynasty, and let us not forget Khonshu, the Egyptian Moon Knight.
Although the Chinese thing did throw me...No Iron Fist or Shang Chi...unless...

"We are a SHIELD, protecting humanity from the known and unknown

And so the emblemized Sun and Eagle

But what is that darn ball Leonardo flies into the sun with...hmmmmmmmm

And as Galileo prepares to ZAP Galactus......

Now this Night Machine character leaves me wondering indeed...he's our Point-of-view characters father and appears to be one from among the "Bad guys", is it genetic?? Is this why they needed to get to Leonid. But Night Machines powers remind me of something...hmmm...it's in the back of my mind....oh well it'll pop up eventually.
I'm wondering if the ball that Da Vinci had, has anything to do with his powers...

But the talking dove...now that's...oddly interesting...

Now the comment by Agent Reed..."Aren't you supposed to be dead" suggests familiarity and hopefully soon we'll find out what is going on there, especially since Leonid hasn't seen him in over three years and he's been in "protective custody" by S.H.I.E.L.D. for the last three years...in Rome.

The secret chamber....Leonid meets Leonardo and in Da Vincis' hand..."Hope, and the rescuing of all things."

Remembering this is 1953...continuity Marvel...continuity please!

This first installment leaves you hungry...speaking of which my bagel and coffee are calling from the great beyond.

If you haven't purchased this piece of comic history yet, get your arses in motion before Mark runs out...DO IT NOW MAGGOTS!!!!

A copy of Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman, sold for $1,075,500 at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, Texas, on February 25...CGC-certified at 8.0.
It was thought that the comic would bring in at the most $800,000, but instead nosed out Superman in Action Comics #1 that sold in a fixed price sale for $1,000,000 on the web site Comic Connect on February 22.
WOW!

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
Written by: Jonathan Hickman
Art by: Dustin Weaver
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 7, 2010

Leonardo Da Vinci was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. So was Issac Newton. So were Imhotep and Zhang Heng and Galileo and many other geniuses throughout time. They were the first heroes to defeat Galactus and the Brood and turn Celestials back. They saved the world long before Captain America or Iron Man were ever born, but what does this mean to our heroes of today? What does this mean to Nick Fury?

Issue #1 / Chapter 1: The unholy resurrection of Leonardo Da Vinci

Get all three covers: Regular and variants A & B