Trailer Thursday: Captain America's latest

Here is the latest clip from Captain America. This is definitely the best we've seen of it so far. Looks like they're pulling out the stops for this one and I hope it does great. Superhero films this summer have performed a little poorly compared to years past, so let's get out and support this one.

Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of The Rocketeer, CGI Style!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Rocketeer, a 1991 superhero movie that was based on the comic book of the same name. In honor of this anniversary, animator John Banana put together an amazing, Pixar-esque animated shot that you can watch on the Vimeo video site here. You can also read BigFanBoy.com's exclusive interview with Banana about his colorful tribute cartoon here.

The Rocketeer character first appeared in 1982 and was created by the late writer/illustrator Dave Stevens. Stevens designed the Rocketeer as a homage to the Saturday matinee heroes of the 1930s and 40s, and the visual style of the Rocketeer comics had a very nostalgic, retro look. (It should also be noted that the director of The Rocketeer movie was Joe Johnson, the same man who directed this summer's nostalgic, retro Captain America movie.) If you're a fan of the Rocketeer, Banana's cartoon is a wonderful trip down memory lane. If you've never heard of the Rocketeer but are a fan of all things that are pulpy sci-fi, check out the Rocketeer short and movie--you'll be greatly entertained. The Rocketeer comics are also still available, both in regular and deluxe editions.

Save The Retro Action Heroes!

Just found out Mattel is killing off the Retro Action Superheroes lineup due to poor sales. How any company can complain about poor sales when you can never find the product is beyond me. Someone is putting together a petition you can sign to try and salvage the line or at least make it available on MattyCollector.com as a subscription service like they do for Masters of the Universe toys. I'd gladly sign up for that subscription myself.


Mattycollector.com is a weird place anyway though. They complain about how no one buys their stuff enough to keep a line going, but almost every single DC product they put up sells out within minutes of release! You can never find a single DCU product on their website (everything says "Sold Out" except the newest Stewart Green Lantern Retro). If everything you make sells out, how can you complain that you have no sales? It's crazy! They even had a special DCU sale this past Monday morning to help clear up inventory, and those sold out within minutes! Again, if you're selling out then you're either not making enough or what you're making is selling better than you expected!

They even released a special 4 part Green Lantern series set to coincide with the movie. Sinestro and Guy Gardner sold out within hours of their release. John Stewart's GL hasn't fared as well and is still available, with Kyle Rayner's GL due to come out in a few days to complete the set. 

At $20 a pop, these Retro figures were incredibly expensive for what they were. The figures seldom stood on their own due to flimsy construction on the legs--but I still bought all of them and would gladly buy the next sets coming out just due to the nostalgia factor. The problem was you could never find them in stores!

Anyway, please take a moment to sign the petition to keep this line alive, even if only from the website or--preferably--through a subscription-based service that promises everyone who wants one can get one. It's kept the MOTU line going for years now, so there's no reason it wouldn't work for us. Even if you don't collect the line, please sign it for a fellow collector...please!

Will You Wii U? An Early Look At Nintendo's Next Video Game Console

The E3 Expo, the annual cutting-edge video game dog and pony show, was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center a few weeks ago. Of the many previews provided at this year's E3, one of the most heralded was Nintendo's next generation console, Wii U. Although I wasn't at E3 to sample the new system first-hand, I've seen enough articles and video footage about Wii U's debut to come to a few conclusions about Nintendo's latest step forward. As long as Nintendo gives their new system the support it needs, it looks like the Wii U could be the next blockbuster system in the video gaming community. Read on....

When I first saw what the Wii U looked like, I had some doubts as to how this new system could be fun and interesting to play. Sure, the Wii U console has the same compact appearance as the Wii, but Wii U's touchscreen controller is almost as big as the console itself. With so much space in the controller devoted to a 6.2 inch touchscreen video display, it looks like players would be interacting with the Wii U games through something as bulky as an Etch-a-Sketch.

This stands in sharp contrast to the Wiimote and nunchuk, the Wii's controllers that (in my opinion) added a new kind of energy and enthusiasm to game playing through their nimbleness and simplicity. In fact, it was the simplicity of the Wii's controllers and game play that got many people playing video games who would not do so otherwise, so I could only wonder what motivated Nintendo's decision to implement a larger, more complex controller as an integral part of its next system.

It didn't occur to me, though, that Nintendo has been experimenting with dual screen gaming (one on the TV and one on the controller) for quite some time now, as far back as 2003 with their GameCube and GameBoy Advance systems. As recognized by Chris Kohler in an article he wrote for Wired magazine last April, titles such as Pac-Man vs. and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures were designed to explore the different game play formats that were possible through controllers that had their own built-in display screens. Unfortunately, these kinds of games were too cost prohibitive to promote outside of a handful of titles because gamers would have to own both the GameCube and GameBoy Advance systems to play them. With the Wii U, Nintendo overcomes this problem by including a touchscreen controller as part of the console.

So what does the prospect of a console that has dual screen displays mean? Simply put, Wii U will allow for a greater level of depth within a virtual gaming environment, greater than any other console that has come before it. The Wii U won't turn our living rooms into virtual reality worlds akin to the holodeck in the Star Trek franchise, but it will allow two or more players to look at the same digital worlds from different perspectives and operate within those worlds in different ways. Before the Wii U, only massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) were capable of providing such immersive game play, but those require each player to have his/her own PC or gaming console. In contrast, the Wii U has the potential to make MMORPG-style game play available in a single console in a style that's more immersive than just a split-screen display, which can get confusing and crowded.

As two preview games at E3 demonstrated, the Wii U's utilization of both the touchscreen controller and the Wiimote allows for more flexibility in local multiplayer gaming. In the games Chase Mii and Battle Mii, players compete against each other by assuming two completely different roles. On the basis of these games alone, I can imagine a Star Wars Battlefront game where the player with the Wiimote assumes plays as a Rebel or Imperial soldier, while the player with the touchscreen controller plays as a Rebel or Imperial pilot.

The Wiimote and touchscreen controller combo has unique applications for single player games as well. As Wired's resident "Geek Dad" Andy Robertson observes:

"While the main action continues on the big screen in front of you the (touchscreen) controller can offer an alternative view of the game world from any number of different angles in the space you are playing. ... This creates the sense that the gaming arena extends into the room and you can look around it by holding the controller up as if it was a window into that space. Want to see what’s above your head, or to your left or right, simply hold up the controller in that direction and you can instantly see what’s there on the screen. ... The simplest and most compelling example is Wii-Sports Golf on the Wii U. Here the player puts the Wii U controller on the ground in front of them and it displays the ball, ground and lie, ready for them to hit it. Using a Wii-mote they then hit the ball in the usual fashion and watch their club swing through the Wii U screen and send the ball flying onto the TV. It was a simple demonstration that was quite magical to watch."

By adding a new kind of controller while keeping the older Wii controllers, the range of games in which Wii U can support will only broaden in terms of diversity. That alone will give Nintendo a considerable advantage against its competitors in the years to come. By extension, the Wii U's breadth of game diversity has the potential to further refine the game play formats that are available to each Wii U controller.

A recurring complaint that I've heard about the Wii is the excessive use of "Wii waggle". While the Wii has many games that put the the Wii's motion controls to good use (such as Wii Sports Resort, Boom Blox and Red Steel 2), not all Wii games utilize the motion controls in a creative, compelling or useful way. The arrival of the new touchscreen controller could promote the reduction of Wii waggle-heavy games and a greater focus on games that focus on the strengths of each different controller or a combination of them. (That said, I'll be severely miffed if the Wii U doesn't release a Predator game that allows players to play as the title creature while using the Wiimote as a weapon interface and the touchscreen controller was as a control pad with glowing red buttons.) Furthermore, the inclusion of Motion Plus technology in all new Wiimotes for the Wii U will overcome Nintendo's previous mistake of not including the Motion Plus in Wiimotes for the initial release of the Wii system.

Of course, Nintendo could drop the ball at any point during the Wii U's release and its run on store shelves. It could become lazy and overtly rely on its core game franchises (such as Mario and Zelda) to shore up sales to compensate for its lack of support for its latest gaming gizmos. It could also lose the interest of third party game developers who'd rather stick with more traditional game play formats on the rival game systems, thus leaving Nintendo by itself to ensure its console's profitability. Yet barring some unexpected development on the market, I doubt that either of these scenarios will come to pass. Nintendo has been working on the dual-screen gaming idea for some time (as opposed to some of Nintendo's other gimmicky oddities, such as the Power Glove and R.O.B.) and the Wii U looks to be the result of almost a decade's worth of trial-and-error experimentation.

I've never been disappointed with the Wii, despite its frequent lack of support from third party developers. Whatever the Wii lacked in more mature titles and high-end graphics, it more than made up for by simply being fun, time and time again. With a game lineup that already includes Aliens: Colonial Marines and Killer Freaks from Outer Space, it looks like the Wii U will keep the fun going and boldly take it to places where no game console has gone before.

It's Our Birthday and You Could Get the Gifts!

As I mentioned yesterday, this little blog just turned 3 years old! Now, I'd love to pass out cake and ice cream for everyone, but we've decided to do something special for one lucky reader instead.

Random pic from the web--but the right size box

I'm an avid comic book collector and unfortunately I have a tendency to buy too many books sometimes. I've been selling a lot of stuff on Amazon.com lately, but I have a box of comics sitting here that needs a good home. So that's what we're giving you the chance to win: absolutely free, a box full of Marvel and DC comics!

How do you enter? That's simple:

1. Go to our Facebook page

2. Click "Like".

3. Wait and see if you've won!

Around July 31, 2011 we'll put our list of followers into a randomizer program, hit enter, and take the first name that pops up!

Tell a friend though, and here's why: If we reach 30 followers, I'll throw another box of comics into the mix so that gives you 2 chances to win! 

Now to the FAQs:

1. What comics are in the box?   Different ones, but all Marvel and DC. I will do my best to have absolutely no repeats in any of them. Most are from the past 3 years. You might even find a complete run of an "event" like Blackest Night or Siege!

2. Can I request a particular title?  Afraid not. I'm packing that box full of goodies though, so you should find something you like.

3. How many comics will I win?   As many as I can safely pack into the USPS $10 shipping box. I estimate around 20 or so, but it could be many more.

4. What does it cost to enter?  Nothing. There's no cost to you at all. I just want to get more readers heading our way and Facebook seems like a great way to start.

5. How many chances do I get to win?   One per "like", but for every 30 "like"s we get I'll throw out another box of comics. If we get 60 likes, there will be 3 boxes of comics given out which means you now have 3 chances of winning!

6. Are they bagged and boarded?  Nope, but they're free!

7. Why would you do this?  I just wanted a chance to give something back to the folks who take the time to read this blog. It's a contest all month long, so get on in there! I'm giving away an early-bird prize when the "likes" reach a certain number, so enter quickly and you might win another great comic-book-related gift while you wait!

It's our birthday, but thank you for reading our blog! Jump on in here and get a chance at some free comics!

Happy Birthday To Us!

Today our blog officially turns 3 years old! I never would have imagined when I started out ranting about comics that I'd find enough stuff to keep it going for 3 years. I guess comic books just keep on giving me material to work with, eh?

Anyway, grab a Twinkie and some milk and celebrate with us!

And come back tomorrow morning for a very special announcement on the big celebration and giveaway we're having to honor our 3rd birthday!

War of the Worlds Tripods are Coming to Vaporize Your Model Collection This September

Last January, I wrote a post about Pegasus Hobbies' release of an alien creature model kit based on the invaders from the 2005 version of War of the Worlds. Of course, what good are alien invaders without some kind of terrifying war technology (you hear that, M. Night Shyamalan?), so Pegasus Hobbies will be releasing a 15-inch tall kit of the alien tripod from the same movie this September.

This tripod kit looks like an amazing complementary piece for the previous alien creature kit, as well as for model kits of the alien invaders and the golden war machines from the 1953 version of War of the Worlds. The kit will consist of one alien tripod and will include additional parts--such as deployed arm lasers, tentacles and collection cages--for building you own customized version. For model-making experts who have electrical wiring expertise, the kit will also have a transparent hood and clear eye lenses for possible lighting additions. This studio-accurate tripod comes with a logo display base, and you can pre-order your kit now at Monsters in Motion.

Trailer Thursday: The Green Lantern Animated Series

Not sure about this one. It really looks amateurish compared to even Batman: Brave and the Bold, but at least it's something besides Young Justice.

Revenge of the Giant Spider Invasion!

A few days ago, David Lohr published an article on AOL's Weird News site entitled, "Junkyard Michelangelo Dick Schaefer Turns Rusty Old Cars Into Glorious Monsters". As the title suggests, Lohr's article is about how Schaefer, a retired automotive dismantler who lives in Erie, PA, turns scrap metal from his brother's junkyard into sculptures. The article features a few photos of the junk artist's work, but the one that stood out for me was one of Schaefer's own favorites: a spider he made out of a 1970s Volkswagen Beetle.

Seeing this picture reminded me of another, er, creative work that relied on using Volkswagens as giant spiders: the 1975 big bug movie, The Giant Spider Invasion.

In this campy z-grade film, giant spiders terrorize a small town in Wisconsin. It was directed by Bill Rebane, who directed other campy z-grade films such as Blood Harvest (the one and only slasher film that featured Tiny Tim in a starring role), Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake, and Monster a-Go-Go. Like Monster a-Go-Go, Giant Spider Invasion was skewered on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

To create the largest of the giant spiders, Rebane had fake fur and puppet legs attached to metal frameworks that were built around Volkswagen Beetles. The end result is far less than convincing, due in no small part to the tread marks that the spiders leave behind in a few shots.

Among the film's cast was Alan Hale Jr., who is largely known for his role as The Skipper on Gilligan's Island. Fun big bug trivia: One of the episodes in the third season of Gilligan's Island, "The Pigeon", featured a giant spider.

Learn more about this piece of cinematic junk art at the official Giant Spider Invasion site. You can also check out the official Bill Rebane site, which features audio clips of songs from Giant Spider Invasion: The Musical. Eat your heart out, Spider-Man musical!

Superman and Lois No More!

In an interview, DC EIC Dan Didio announced that the longtime marriage between Superman and Lois Lane will be experiencing a sort of wipeout with the new reboot. A company's flagship character has his two-decade marriage wiped clean by a reboot...does that sound familiar?

It's a Super One More Day!

To be fair, Didio keeps coy about the whole thing, but when he mentions how proud he is to have Grant Morrison on the character it pretty much shows the trouble we're in with the character.

Don't believe me? Then check out the cover for Action Comics #1, with Morrison at the helm with his new vision for the hero:

Blue jeans and a cape? I'm from Alabama and see this often at Wal-Mart, but I never expected anyone to purchase an actual comic book with this as the true costume scheme!

DC is doing this, according to the interview, because comic shops are being filled with "older generations of reader" who grew up with the stories, while this new approach should bring in the younger new readers who go the movies and want to learn more about the heroes without the back-stories. Whatever.

I just think this whole Superman/Lois breakup is a dumb idea. Whether it's by choice or they get Darkseid to wipe out their history with omega beams to Ma Kent won't die, it stinks. Comic writers seem to think that any comic book with a married couple is death on a cracker. Never mind showing how tough a relationship might be when one of the pair is out fighting super-villains all the time, let's just break them up and start all over.

Well, at least we still have Reed and Sue Richards as a married couple making it work...for now.

Green Lantern Review: The Space Knight Rises

Continuing with this summer's crop of big-budget superhero movies, Green Lantern arrived in theaters last weekend. Unfortunately, unlike Thor and X-Men: First Class, the Green Lantern movie has become the whipping boy of movie critics who feel that there are just too many superhero movies arriving at the multiplexes. To be sure, Green Lantern is a more formulaic movie than its two immediate predecessors, so that would make it the most likely choice to get a collective wedgie from our nation's film critics who view blockbuster superhero movies as the unmistakable portents of our culture's decline. But don't let the negative reviews fool you--Green Lantern is a welcome blast of emerald-shaded, 3D summer fun (more fun than X-Men: First Class, actually) that's well worth the time of both comic book fans and general audiences alike. Read on for my complete review.

One of the problems with superhero movie franchises has been the issue of origin stories. It seems that every time that Hollywood chooses to bring a superhero to the silver screen, it almost always is in the form of an origin story that sets up characters, themes and settings for the purpose of establishing a framework for sequels. The problem with this trend is that while it makes sense to introduce audiences to a character by telling an origin story, the overreliance on origin stories as part of superheroes' portrayals in movies has resulted in a formulaic predictability that permeates many superhero films. Thus, for a superhero movie to succeed as the beginning of a franchise, other aspects of the superhero--aspects that make the superhero interesting and distinct from other characters who are similar to him or her--must be present within the origin story.

Green Lantern is a perfect example of this principle at work. The movie is at its best when it remains faithful to who and what the Green Lantern is, and it is at its most mediocre when it cribs plot themes from other superhero movies. Green Lantern tells the story of how test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) becomes part of the Green Lantern Corps, a group of intergalactic peacekeepers who patrol the universe. The Green Lanterns were formed by a group of immortal aliens called The Guardians and the Corps members derive their strength from their power rings, which transforms whatever the wearer is thinking into real (albeit temporary) objects. Jordan reluctantly accepts his invitation into the Corps, but his true mettle as a Green Lantern is tested when the amorphous, planet-destroying entity Parallax (voiced by Clancy Brown) threatens to destroy Earth.

I'm not very familiar with the Green Lantern Corps and their particular corner of the DC superhero universe, so I can't say for sure how faithful the Green Lantern movie is to its source material. Yet for as little as I know, I couldn't help but to get the feeling that the movie could've made a better selection of narrative choices from the 71 years worth of Green Lantern stories that are available. Another problem with the movie is that it tries to shoehorn two themes that are common in superhero origin movies that don't fit well into the Green Lantern origin story: the themes of friends becoming enemies and the unresolved tensions and intergenerational conflicts between fathers and their children. These themes have be used effectively in Marvel superhero movies (particularly in the Spider-Man and Iron Man movies, as well as Ang Lee's Hulk), but they feel forced in Green Lantern. For example:

* The second villain in Green Lantern is Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), who is infected by Parallax and mutates into a deformed, vengeful monster with telekinetic abilities. The movie insinuates that there's a personal connection between the characters of Jordan and Hammond, suggesting that they were once friends. I suppose that this plot thread was inserted to maximize the dramatic effect in the final confrontation between the mutated Hammond and the Green Lantern-ized Jordan, but it doesn't add anything to the action.

* Each of the main human characters has a father figure who exerts some kind of dominant influence in their lives. Jordan is haunted by the death of his test pilot father, Martin Jordan (Jon Tenney), Hammond lives under the thumb of his father, Senator Robert Hammond (Tim Robbins), and Jordan's love interest Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) still works in the corporation owned by her father, Carl Ferris (Jay O. Sanders). Whatever point that was meant to be served by having all of these fathers present in the movie's plot remains a mystery to me. In fact, there's a brief scene in Green Lantern involving Jordan, Hammond and Sen. Hammond that's very similar to a scene in the first Spider-Man movie that involved Peter Parker, Harry Osborn and Harry's father Norman, but it has neither the dramatic effect nor narrative purpose as its predecessor.

Shortcomings aside, Green Lantern has much going in its favor. It provides a fantastic, live-action version of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians that would have been impossible without CGI effects. As superhero powers go, the ones granted by the power rings are tailor-made for CGI special effects, which allow for all sorts of ring-generated artifacts to appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. While the narrative logic about the power rings, the nature of will versus fear, and the significance of the colors of green and yellow may sound a bit loopy to newcomers, it accurately explains how power works within the Green Lantern narrative world and its metaphorical relation to the real world. Along those lines, the scene where Sinestro (Mark Strong) makes his case to the Guardians that they should use the power of fear to fight against Parallax reminded me of the hype surrounding the use of "Shock and Awe" tactics in the mishandled 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Perhaps to two most important things that benefit Green Lantern are its direction by Martin Campbell and Ryan Reynolds' performance as Hal Jordan. Campbell's experience with the James Bond and Zorro franchises have clearly influenced his direction of this movie, which seamlessly assembles heavy CGI effects, intense action sequences and self-aware humor into a thrilling, funny and well-paced movie. Reynolds' performance as Jordan goes a long way towards selling the movie: He makes Jordan a relatable character, someone who hides his insecurities under a thin veneer of daredevil bravado and yet can rise above that to become what he needs to be to defeat Parallax. I'll even go so far as to say that without Campbell and Reynolds, Green Lantern could have easily fallen into the category of superhero movies that were ambitious in attempt yet ultimately disappointing and forgettable, movies such as The Shadow, Superman Returns, and the Tim Story-helmed Fantastic Four movies.

In comparison to the other superhero movies of this summer, I think Green Lantern falls somewhere in between Thor and X-Men: First Class. While it's not as good as Thor, it's more fun--and much less frustrating--than X-Men: First Class. It should also be said that the 3D effects in Green Lantern exceed those used in the 3D version of Thor. Both movies were converted from 2D to 3D in post-production, but Green Lantern is the better 3D experience of the two.

Heroes I Miss: Part 1

Here's where I wax nostalgic. There are certain comic book series and heroes that I loved reading when I was a kid but you never see anymore. Some are gone for licensing reasons, while others just didn't sell well enough to warrant another series attempt. But these are the comics I scoop up happily when I see them in the back issue bin at the comic shop.

ROM

Ok, this one was created simply to get the toy of the same name some business, but who would have ever guessed the comic book would be so popular! This guy teamed up with everybody! During the 75 issue run of the series, we saw guests like the X-Men (pretty much a staple guest star to every comic of the 80's), Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, the Avengers, Alpha Flight, and even the Master of Kung Fu! Not bad for a cheap toy that couldn't bend its arms!

I owned the toy and thought it was cool for the time (it's pathetically laughable in today's age of action figures). The eyes lit up and the rocket pack made noise. As long as I had batteries, I was happy. Still, it was the comic book that made the guy memorable to me.

Over the years, ROM ended up becoming a great comic. He fought the Dire Wraiths, hunting them down and blasting folks away (the DWs could disguise themselves as normal human beings and only ROM could detect them using one of his cool tools). Naturally this didn't sit well with most heroes, though eventually they found out the truth when the DWs became more obvious in their invasion attempts.

An entire storyline was developed that allowed ROM to have a true origin. He was a normal man who became a Space Knight to save his beloved planet Galador. He began chasing the DWs across the galaxy and ended up on Earth trying to wipe them out completely. He was never a regular part of any super-team, but he interacted with a ton of major and minor heroes and villains along the way. He even fought Galactus at one point!

When the time came to end the series, fans were treated to a rarity among comics: a satisfying ending. Marvel didn't own the license to the toy so the hero was perishable at best. They finally allowed ROM to return to being a human back at his planet with his loving wife at his side. Happily ever after? Nope.

The recent miniseries Annihilators allowed us to see what happened over time to everyone but ROM (they couldn't even mention his name because of the licensing issues, just alluded to his death sometime in the past). The Dire Wraiths infiltrated Galador again, and ROM was dead. No chance now of ever seeing him back in his armor again.

The Micronauts

Yes, I know many of these guys have come back in different titles, but the original team was one of my favorite must-read comics of the time. I had the figures (most of them anyway...I was never able to buy an Acroyear figure and actually still want one today) and the adventures these guys faced were above the standard Marvel fare at the time. They gave each member of the team a true backstory and the chance to examine it in detail.

The series ran for 59 issues, ending a few years after the toys themselves were no longer available. That attests to the popularity of the title at the time. They introduced another Marvel regular in issue #8: Captain Universe. The team even made it from the Microverse to our universe to face the Fantastic Four, SHIELD, and even had a helping hand from Ant-Man. The tiny heroes always managed to create this larger-than-life world of adventure and fun for this little (at the time) reader.

Unfortunately Marvel only owned the rights to certain aspects of the title, so Commander Rann (not Space Glider), Marionette, and Bug are the only members of the team we'll ever see again in comics (and do see on a fairly regular basis lately). Acroyear, Biotron, and Microtron, along with Time Traveler, Force Commander, and Baron Karza are gone from us forever.

JJ Abrams was rumored to be helming a Micronauts movie back in 2009, but that has apparently fallen through. And Marvel's recent reintroduction of Rann and Marionette in the Enigma Force miniseries wasn't the update we'd hoped for either. Rann and Mari had marriage problems and were at odds with each other after a messy breakup. Here's hoping they find a happy future someday. 

Dial H for Hero

During the 80's there was a very simple storyline of two teenagers, Chris King and Vicky Grant, who became "The heroes created by you!" Every month I grabbed the latest issue of this short-lived series that eventually found its way into the last few pages of Superboy comics as a backup story. These were heroes that were created by kids just like me!

The premise was that you could send in your drawing and brief description of the hero and hope it ended up being printed. While I had a ton of cool hero ideas in my head at the time, I was a horrible artist and could never get anything on paper like I saw it in my head. As a result, the world is forever robbed of DreamStalker in comic form somewhere.

The "Dial H for Hero" concept actually came out two decades earlier when a kid named Robby Reed found the dial and became 3 heroes throughout the course of each issue of House of Mystery from issues 156-173. This collection was actually brought out in a "Showcase Presents" collection last year. But it's the 80's version of the title I miss.

Where else could you hope to actually see your own hero or villain in print? And for a group of amateurs, people came out with some pretty cool creations. My personal favorite villain was called Wildebeest, sort of a Kraven/Deathstroke combo that was very effective.

The only downside was Carmine Infantino's artwork. I know there are people who put him as one of the greatest comic artists of all time, but I have never understood that. Put his work next to Neal Adams or Jim Aparo from the same time period and there is absolutely no comparison.

Unfortunately, we were robbed of a happy ending to this little tale. By the time the series moved to Superboy, the heroes were created mostly by some comic writer rather than a kid. Finally, Robby Reed showed up and the kids both were supposed to be big heroes forever. Years later we found out in a Teen Titans storyline that Chris was a hero but Vicky had become evil due to some cult. In the end, both characters basically disappeared, while Robby Reed continues to show up from time to time.

In today's litigious society a series like that could never fly. If one of the heroes became popular, their creator would get greedy and want to sue for more money. It would be more trouble than it was worth. Still, it was unique for the time it came out and was the dream of many budding comic book writer-wannabes to see something like that in print.

And on my own personal happy ending, thanks to the very fun MMORPG City of Heroes, I've been able to create my own heroes decades later just like I saw them in my head (I'm still a horrible artist though). DreamStalker lives!