• Saw Captain America with Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and Red Kryptonite this past weekend. I enjoyed it–more than Thor, and probably more than any Marvel flick since X-Men 2. We knew Joe Johnston could direct period pieces, and this was sort of a sideways sequel to The Rocketeer anyway. Chris Evans was great, Tommy Lee Jones did a great job being Tommy Lee Jones, and the Red Skull was Red Hulk to Jim Carrey’s The Mask. (I did find the Red Skull make-up a bit too cartoony, but I realize that–as well as the German-accented English among the foreign bad guys–was done to make the film accessible to kids, and that’s fine.) Did I think it was better than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight? No, but it was unquestionably more fun than those movies, and a nice set-up for The Avengers.
• Speaking of Nick Fury & the Avengers, this spoof is cute. Love the slow clap.
• As you may know, Mattel is bringing the DC Retro Action line to a close soon. Some fans have a petition up to save it. I wish ’em luck!
• I received an email from a company called Geek Design, who create high-end furniture for storing and displaying collectibles.
• Looks like I’ll be attending NYCC this year. I keep hoping more of SDCC’s hype will spill over into NYCC as SDCC becomes more crowded; maybe that will start this year, with the show moving back to October. The Tuesday after the show, incidentally, is the release date for Batman: Arkham City, the Arkham City trade paperback, and the Blu-Ray of Batman: Year One. Busy day for Bats.
• In case you missed it, there were a couple small MOTUC news bits out of SDCC. First off, the Wind Raider will have real box art, painted by the same artist who did it thirty years ago.
• Also, here are all the new bios that were revealed. Battleground Evil-Lyn’s is a doozy; Demo-Man’s disappointingly contains nothing about Demo-Man himself, nor explains what happened when Keldor merged with him (i.e., did any of Demo-Man’s mind merge as well, etc.).
• Finally, it looks like there very well may be an exclusive at PowerCon: a pedestal for King Grayskull’s Orb of Sparkle Crest Toothpaste. The PowerCon part is speculation but seems likely.