Yes, it's official. Thor and I have jumped ship on almost all the X books we were getting except Ultimate X-men, which is constantly a SOLID GOOD read, X-men The End, and the new Gambit series.

I'm too weary of bad storywriting, bad artwork, and bad Disneyesque characters. Besides, how many books can Wolverine be in???????

So, now I'm just looking for a few good books.

Well I have a few of the first wave of these and although I think branding them as 'action' figures is really skirting the edges as far as the sale of goods act goes (there really ain't a lot of action in them, especially when you compare them to a marvel legend's figure) nevertheless the sculpt quality seems to match Jim Lee's original artwork pretty well and the ones I have look good standing together.

Batman
Huntress
Hush
Joker

I didn't pick up Poison Ivy, the sculpt on this one just didn't appeal to me, even for the sake of a complete set of wave 1.

Now I see wave 2 is out, and I guess I might just splash out on a few of these:

Ivy Infected Superman
Riddler
Nightwing
Harley Quinn
Cat Woman

Supes, Harley & Selina especially catch my eye as potentially looking good on my shelf.

what about the rest of you, any thoughts on this set of figures?

Press Release

Marvel Enterprises, Inc. a global entertainment licensing company, today announced that Alan Fine, President & CEO of the Company's Toy Biz division, will expand his duties to also include the role of President & CEO of the Publishing division. Mr. Fine's strengths in design and marketing uniquely position him to drive growth in both divisions by leveraging synergies among these important consumer product categories. Joe Quesada remains as Editor in Chief and Dan Buckley remains as Publisher of Marvel Comics. Marvel also announced the appointment of David Cho, 45, a business-oriented senior technology executive, as the Company's new Chief Information Officer. Gui Karyo, who previously held the titles of President of Publishing and Chief Information Officer, has recently left Marvel in order to pursue new business opportunities.

Mr. Fine, 54, has held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Toy Biz since October 1998, except for a brief tenure as an independent consultant to Marvel during 2001. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Marvel, a position to which he was appointed in September 1996. Prior to joining Marvel, Mr. Fine was Senior Vice President, General Merchandise Manager and then promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Kay-Bee Toys, a national toy retailer.

New Chief Information Officer

David Cho comes to Marvel with more than twenty years of experience managing technology-driven information businesses that serve professionals and consumers, including the last ten years in various positions at The McGraw-Hill Companies. During his tenure at McGraw-Hill Mr. Cho most recently served as Senior Vice President, Applications & Operations at McGraw-Hill Corporate and as Senior Vice President, Technology & Communications where he identified $100 million in incremental revenue by commercializing technology-enhanced products and services. Mr. Cho earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and an MBA in Operations Management from Columbia University.

Toy Biz Division Management Promotions

Solidifying the senior management leadership of its toy division, Marvel recently promoted Ralph Lancellotti and Joann McLaughlin to the newly created positions of Co-Chief Operating Officers of its Toy Biz division. In their new roles, Mr. Lancellotti, who was most recently Executive Vice President of Sales and has been with the Company for 8 years, and Ms. McLaughlin, who had served as Senior Vice President of Product Development and has been with the Company for 12 years, will play a greater role in managing the day-to-day operations of the toy division. Mr. Lancellotti and Ms. McLaughlin continue to report directly to Mr. Fine and continue to oversee the Company's toy sales and product development efforts, respectively.

Commenting on the appointments, Marvel CEO Allen Lipson stated, "Having worked closely with Alan for nearly five years, I know that he possesses the ideal set of management skills to expand his leadership to our publishing operations. Alan has broad retail and leisure and consumer product experience, as well as a strong base of retail and distribution relationships. We expect that he will be able to utilize these important assets to develop avenues for the long-term growth for our publishing business as well as to better leverage publishing as a driver for our core licensing engine.

"We are also excited to welcome David as Chief Information Officer of Marvel. David is a seasoned technology executive with broad management skills and a track record for profit improvement in diverse consumer industries. We look to his guidance in developing further operational efficiencies as well as in extending our ability to leverage our intellectual property through online opportunities and other emerging technologies."

Here's a chance for you to get to know some of the 'young gun' artists announced by Joe Q at WWC earlier this year.


Steve McNiven: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18046">http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread. ... adid=18046</a><!-- m -->

Adi Granov: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18097">http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread. ... adid=18097</a><!-- m -->

Now, I'm sure you folks overseas haven't been paying much attention to the US weather...

However, my home away from home, the most beautiful city in the US (in my opinion) is due to receive what could be a direct hit from one of the most powerful Hurricanes in current history. New Orleans sits 9 feet below sea level as it is, and with a Storm Surge of 25 feet, it will sink the entire city. If you look at the maps of NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) you'll also see there is no where for that storm surge to drain off to...this could be catastophic for that area.

So, I'm just asking that everyone pray for the 1.9 million people who live in one of the oldest cities in the US and hope that Hurricane Ivan decided to die off before he reaches Gambit's hometown.

'Chanty

According to Moviehole, Australian politician Steve Bracks dropped a tidbit in a press conference "that the highly anticipated "Ghost Rider" will begin shooting at the Central City Studios next January, and will be the most expensive production yet filmed in Victoria." Shooting is allegedly set to begin in January with a summer 2006 release.

It's six years since he wrote his final Hulk issue (#467), but now he's back. According to his webblog, Peter David has announced that he's the new hulk writer starting with issue #77, which will be the first installment of the previously announced six issue miniseries, Tempest Fugit. David wrote:

Although this has been announced at various conventions, I haven't stated it here, and word hasn't apparently filtered through to the on-line community. So I figure I'll clarify matters, especially since I see folks on Newsarama wondering if "Tempest Fugit" is going to be a $3.50 per issue price point similar to the current Hulk/Thing limited series.

Bottom line is this: The combination of the positive fan response to the "Hulk" limited series by Lee Weeks and me, and the fact that Bruce Jones is now exclusive with DC, prompted Marvel to say, "Why the heck are we doing this as a limited series instead of as part of the ongoing?" So rather than it being issues 1-6 of "Tempest Fugit," the Hulk series will simply start up again in January after a four month hiatus and my storyline will be issues 77 through 82 of the regular book. Which means that, to all intents and purposes, I'm back writing the Hulk.

Whether I'll stay beyond that hinges on a few things. First, I want to make sure that I'm comfortable back writing the Hulk. So I've really only committed to six issues Then again, I initially only committed to six issues of "Young Justice," so it's not unprecedented for me to stay around.

Second, of course, is fan and retailer response, and third is whether Marvel wants to keep me around on the series. But naturally those two aspects are inextricably bound. If the retailer and fan support is there, that will send Marvel one message. If it's not, that sends them another. And they will act accordingly, and I wouldn't blame them.

So ultimately what it comes down to is, I'm back on "Hulk."

Whether I stay or not is up to a variety of factors, not the least of which is you guys.

~~~~~~~~~

Although I enjoyed some of Jones stuff it seemed to drag out a bit towards the end there, perhaps PAD is indeed ready to make Hulk angry again eh

That's right me hearties, 'tis but a week until ye all can celebrate the grandest o' days. Next Sunday, September 19th is International "Talk Like a Pirate Day." So brush up on the lingo ye scallywags, for it’s the fastest growing craze ye've ever seen. Ye ain't a mate unless ye walk with a crazy limp or wear a proper parrot atop ye shoulder, savvy? So get ready for it ye lubbers, because there be plenty or pillaging afoot this week.

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Arrghhh!!!

Nice big article over at Comic Book Resources:

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A new Beta Ray Bill miniseries will be coming from Marvel Comics. Co-writer or Thor and co-creator/artist of Powers Mike Avon Oeming and Thor co-writer Dan Berman will be working on the series.

More news as I find it