Superman

More Marvel Movies Coming Your Way This Summer

Toy Review

More Marvel Movies Coming Your Way This Summer

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Marvel Comic Books Dominate Hollywood

Marvel Comic Books, dominating Hollywood and movie makers all over the place. The last time I counted, Marvel comics was taking it to DC comics, and hard. Quite frankly I do not believe that DC comics can compete. Marvel Comics had laid the foundation of their fruits many, many years ago. This did not occur overnight. Hey I paid the price too, watching those early Saturday morning Marvel comic cartoons of the Fantastic Four, Thor, Spider-man. You know the ones I am talking about the still framed comics. Who made those anyway? In one scene, the thing was taking a punch, next scene he is smoking his famous cigar, what happened in between? I know, we were young…I would always look at my brother and say, hey what gives? He would tell me something like, that is how fast he is! Whatever, I did not buy it.

Marvel Comics paid the early price of exposure and now they reap the high rewards, what I need is for the good old comics to make a rebound, not just so that my collection would be worth something again but rather so that this piece of Americana does not get lost! I said to myself, I said self, what can we do to make sure that this art does not get lost. So that Spider-man forever will swing from the highest high-rises that NY City has to offer. Superman will no longer be intimidated by kryptonite, The Fantastic Four find a way to defeat Galactus, and deal with Dr. Doom, you get the picture.

Up to now, It is hard for DC Comics to contend with the likes of those 3 Spider-man movies, I will say it, not even the last Batman movie, It was real good I will give them that, but was I the only one that left the film feeling like the makers of the film did all they could to make Batman the co-star of that movie. It seems like the Joker was the main character and Batman was just along for the ride. Spider-man movies have all been about him and his conflicts and then the villains like Venom, Sand-Man, Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin come in to his life and just mess things up some more.

The New Superman Movie – Please No Lex Luther!

I believe that Marvel Comics must have been very instrumental in making sure that these characters/Superheroes were kept in the context of the comic books and for the most part, I left those movies feeling that way. Maybe the fact that there are so many more movies from the Marvel Comics side of the comic book world to judge, it would not really be fair to judge. I do have to declare though, that If I see another Superman movie with Lex Luther as the villain, I might hurl a piece of kryptonite at the producers. Superman needs to fight a villain with color, boldness, and some kind of flair, if we can survive another Superman movie. Please!

Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics entertaining families for so long, lets not let this piece of Americana comics history go by the wayside…Read a comic…

Specialty Cards

1966 Topps Superman Alternative Set

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PSA Registry Sets

You won’t have to “leap tall buildings in a single bound” to complete the 1966 Topps Superman set. An affordable alternative to the 1940 Gum, Inc. Man of Steel issue, this 66-card offering showcases black and white photos from the ’50s TV show. The fronts – exhibiting vertical or horizontal designs – also boast captions, while the backs of cards #1 through 44 can be uncovered in three different formats.

“The white backs are the rarest. They’re the ones that are commonly called ‘proofs’ because of the absence of color on the back. They never made the final stage of printing,” explained Steve Lucas, whose 1966 Topps Superman set is tied for fourth on the PSA Set Registry.

Superman

PSA Set Registry Hall of Famer, Bill Bengen, who owns three sets, agrees. “I’ve been collecting the white back variety for 10 years and I’ve got all of one card to show for it,” he said. “The white backs are incredibly rare.” An orange border is present on the second back incarnation that also includes copyright information along the card bottom. The final variation boasts an orange border, but showcases “WATCH SUPERMAN ON T.V.” in black print across the bottom. These two versions are more common than the white backs.

The back variations don’t apply to cards #45 to 66 which showcase puzzle pieces. Bengen notes that these pieces can be merged into two puzzles. Cards #45 to 56 form a cartoon picture of Superman, while singles #57 to 66 depict George Reeves. Superman – The vast majority of these cards were distributed in five-cent wax packs without gum. However, in issue #176 of The Wrapper, non-sports card pioneers, Bob and Jeff Marks, unveiled a Superman wrapper indicating on it that gum was included. Wax packs with gum are extremely rare. “I’ve had several boxes and opened a lot of wax packs, and there has never been gum in any of the packs I’ve opened,” said Steve Lam, who owns the registry’s top set. Bengen has had a similar experience. “I really don’t know what went on at Topps at that time. Gum really was Topps’ primary business, so I don’t know what they were trying to do. This set is a real puzzle,” he said.

But mysteries like this are part of this set’s appeal, as are the memories it evokes. “I’m a big Superman fan. I used to watch the show when I was a kid. The cards bring back memories for me,” said Brian Karl, who owns the No. 2 registry set. “I’m such a fan that I own the episodes on DVD now.” Lam shares similar recollections.

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