The FLASH cupcakes! Just in time for… Halloween?

I know the comic book community was buzzing over the Green Lantern cupcakes that popped up a few months back. They were pretty cool looking and despite the Justice League branding, it was just DC laying the groundwork to help get the character some more recognition for the movie comes out next year. But then I saw these…

Sorry it's blurry. I just didn't feel like taking another picture, okay?

Flash cupcakes!

Not that I’m complaining. I love seeing someone from DC besides Superman and Batman get a piece of the licensing pie. So it’s nice that they’re really going for it by pushing the Justice League brand (if you consider Flash and Green Lantern cupcakes as “pushing it”, I know I do). Could Martian Manhunter cupcakes be too far off?

Now, as cool as this is, I’m puzzled by one of the selling points.

8 Individually Wrapped Scary Cakes. “Scary Cakes”? What’s so scary about the Flash? Is that just what they call this particular cupcake all year round? How does this connect to Halloween? The Flash isn’t some type of creepy or supernatural comic book character. The cupcakes have no obvious Halloween look either. The red frosting and yellow sprinkles as based off of Flash’s color scheme.

C’mon, if they had Solomon Grundy or a Black Lantern or any villain I could buy this as being “scary” and related to Halloween but the Flash? You’re really stretching it, Hostess…

3-D Batman

As we roll on into the 2010s, the entertainment industry is enjoying what is basically the third 3-D craze. Though 3-D has surprisingly been around since the early 1900s (!!!), the first “craze”  took place in the 1950s and the second in the 1980s. Will it actually stick around this time? Has technology finally caught up to the concept? That remains to be seen as there is already backlash and debate over which new releases are “worthy” of being converted to 3-D. Personally, I’m not a fan of it as it exists right now. It distracts from the movie more than it enhances it. The technology just isn’t there yet, it’s too straining on the eyes.

3-D was a hugely popular form of entertainment back in the 1950s as tons of movie theaters and drive-ins were pumping out various sci-fi and monster movies to cash in like House of Wax and Creature From The Black Lagoon. The mainstream popularity of 3-D did not last long but 3-D never went away, it just became obscure and harder to find. Then, nearly thirty years later 3-D movies experienced a revival in popularity with films like Friday the 13th Part III and Jaws 3-D. Again, the casual movie goer lost interest quickly (to be fair, the movies given the 3-D treatment have never been of high quality) and it would be another 20 years or so until it this type of film-making started to pick up steam again. Good luck going to see anything animated these days that doesn’t have 3-D slapped on it (that is, if your local theater offers 3-D).

3-D wasn’t just restricted to movies though. Television, home video, toys, theme park rides, magazines and comic books have all taken part in giving the public three dimensions of entertainment. I remember back in 1990 having a Simpsons 3-D comic magazine that I absolutely LOVED and it was basically THE comic book of that summer for me. It was full of all kind of 3-D comic strips, ad parodies and activities that I used to eat up as a kid.

Okay, getting to the actual point of this article (and the inspiration for all the above rambling), here is the cover to the 3-D Batman comic book that was released in 1953. Released smack-dab in the middle of the ’50s 3-D craze! I love the 3-D glasses. I bet this book costs a pretty penny these days (certainly much more than the original asking price of 25). I would love to read it in 3-D.

The cover below is to the reprint that was released in 1966. I don’t believe there was any sort of 3-D revival going on. More than likely, DC just wanted to put out a special Batman book to cash in on the popularity of the Adam West show.

I have to believe the original 1953 publication is probably one of the earliest 3-D comic books ever published. Much like 3-D movies, 3-D comic books never really went away. Even to this day, every now and then you’ll see some type of book get the 3-D treatment. In the last few years Superman had an entire limited series done in 3-D (granted, it was only a two-issue series) and even back in the ’80s Rambo got the 3-D treatment thanks to a small-time comic book publisher!

Hm… Hey DC, would ya like to re-release this book again? No time like the present!

1985 Booster Gold comic book ad

I’ve been a huge fan of Booster Gold for as long as I can remember. I’ve always enjoyed scheming, arrogant, self-centered, cocky, smart-mouth, loudmouth but good-hearted characters like Booster, Zack Morris, Wheeler from Captain Planet and Ted from Hey Dude. I could relate to those characters best even if I wasn’t as outspoken and didn’t seek the spotlight like they did.

This was an ad that ran in DC Comic books for the Booster Gold series that started in1986. He was created/written/drawn by one of my favorite comic book creators — Dan Jurgens. The first issue of that series marked the character’s debut but in short time he was added to the Justice League line-up and became a staple of that team for years. This ad really highlights Booster’s ambitions for fame and money and the character was created to be a representation of  the 1980s’ “greed is good” excess.

I enjoyed this book. Although it wasn’t based around humor like the Justice League books were under writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, it was still a fun superhero romp showing a self-centered guy trying (and sometimes failing) to be a hero all while trying to make a buck off his exploits. Sadly, the book was canceled in 1988 with issue number 25 but Booster remained in the popular Justice League books for many more years. Luckily, his entire solo series was collected in 2008 as volume one of Showcase Presents Booster Gold.

By the mid ’90s, the character kind of faded away and was treated as a D-list joke but came roaring back in 2006′s weekly 52 series where he was a central character and that led to the great comic book writer Geoff Johns’ relaunch of the Booster Gold comic in 2007 where with the help of his robot pal Skeets and Rip Hunter he travels to different times in history trying to preserve the time stream. In a nice twist, much of this is done undercover so no one really knows just how great of a hero Booster has become. All of this has lead to the character being taken seriously again (and with Booster himself getting a bit more serious about being a hero) by the comic book community, even though the populace inside the DC Universe still views Booster as somewhat of the same screw up he was in his Justice League days.

In a nice touch, after Geoff Johns left the new series, Dan Jurgens returned to the character to write and draw the book and did a solid job. Recently, he too left the title and the book is now in the hands of two men who are certainly no stranger to Booster and have probably written more stories involving the character than anyone: Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis. I expect a bigger emphasis on humor and I’m okay with that because their run on the Justice League franchise is a favorite of mine.

By the way, I’d LOVE to own or even see what that Booster Gold pin looks like.

Rocky Balboa was almost a G.I. Joe

Planned packaging art

In 1985, Hasbro introduced professional wrestler Sgt. Slaughter into the G.I. Joe universe by turning him into an action figure and even featuring him in the cartoon series (voiced by Slaughter himself). In 1986, Chicago Bears defensive lineman William ”The Refrigerator” Perry also became a G.I. Joe action figure. Unfortunately, we were robbed of ever seeing The Fridge in animated glory. Then, in 1987, Rocky Balboa joined the ranks of the Joes.

Er, well, he was supposed to.

I’m not exactly sure who would’ve been negotiating with Hasbro to make this happen. Sylvester Stallone obviously would have been needed to approve his likeness but whether Hasbro was having to go through MGM/United Artists (who had released the then only four Rocky movies) for licensing rights I don’t know. Either way, the deal fell through for whatever reason.

Now, Marvel at the time was publishing the G.I. Joe comic books. Apparently they were so confident that Hasbro and Stallone & MGM/UA would reach a deal that they even went as far to print a character profile for Rocky Balboa (codename: “Rocky”) in the second issue of their G.I. Joe: Order of Battle handbook.

Here it is:

Personally, I love the idea of Rocky Balboa kicking it in the Joe universe. Rambo would’ve been cooler but by this point Rambo was too buy ripping G.I. Joe off with the rival Force of Freedom cartoon and toyline. They already had a professional wrestler and NFL player so why not a fictional boxer? Oh the adventures those three could have had together!

Knowing Rocky’s close call with G.I. Joe sheds a bit more like on the creation of Big Boa. Though I loved the character, I always thought having an evil boxer was an odd addition to the Cobra organization. As noted his profile, Rocky was to be a combat instructor for the Joes, just as Big Boa is listed as being a combat instructor for Cobra. My guess is either Big Boa was meant to be Rocky’s main foe or after the Rocky deal fell through Hasbro soldiered on the the project ended up giving us Big Boa (presumably because the idea of a boxer was too good to pass up).

It’s been eight days since my last post. Let’s talk about my Green Lantern wallet.

If you read the title of my post, it should come as no surprise to you that I have not posted in eight days. As Dusty Rhodes might say, “Ah’m at a croth road, eef you weel”. I’ve lost my drive, my passion and my inspiration for keeping this blog ’80s themed. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the ’80s and there’s no other decade I’d rather live in but I can only do so many food, toy, cartoon and commercial posts without getting bored. There’s thousands of blogs just like this out there and we all keep running in circles talking about the same old (literally!) stuff.

I think maybe I got burned out last year doing so many Halloween and Christmas posts. The funny thing is, as I’ve slacked off on posting this year, my views keep rising each month. March 2010 was my second highest month for views. December 2009 is the tops by far though. I had an obscene amount of visits then that I won’t be touching on a regular basis anytime soon.

Besides, I’m having a heckuva time writing for my music blog Metal Excess. That’s really where I’ve been devoting my time. I’ve got big things poppin’ and little things stoppin’ over there. Of course, just as sure as my posting frequency at The Metal Misfit has fallen, I can pick it up again at any moment’s notice and who knows? Tomorrow may kick off a 17 day posting binge so keep me in your thoughts, prayers and Google Readers.