Holiday Wish Lists -- Whatcha Want?

Doug: As it seems things have slowed down on yesterday's holiday decorating post, we'll use that topic to segue right into a discussion on comics-related goodness for which you'd appreciate landing on the receiving end.

Doug: As I've been saying for quite some time, I've become enamored of Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America. I'm not ready to branch out yet into his Batman and other work, as I'd really like to complete my reading of the Cap/Winter Soldier material. So in that vein I've added The Marvels Project from the main Cap team of Brubaker and Steve Epting. And based on the recommendation of Edo and some others I've also requested that a gift of Captain America: Forever Allies by Roger Stern and three artists.

Doug: I also mentioned in yesterday's post that I have several Hallmark ornaments from years past. This year there is a bevy of choices and I hope I'll get at least a few. I'm always a sucker for a good Captain America ornament, but also of great interest in this year's batch are the Batman '66 and Lynda Carter Wonder Woman ornaments. The upside-down Spidey with the scarf and gifts is a great sculpt as well.

Doug: In the area of books, I've spied a couple of pricey tomes that I'd love to see -- but that's just it. I think I'd be satisfied in merely having a few hours to leaf through them and see all of the nostalgic goodness. I'm speaking of The Full-Color Guide to Marvel Early Bronze Age Collectibles: From 1970 to 1973: Third Eye, Mego, F.O.O.M., and More (Full-Color Guide to Marvel Collectibles) (Volume 2) and its predecessor, The Full-Color Guide to Marvel Silver Age Collectibles: From MMMS to Marvelmania. As I said, each book is only over 150 pages yet retails for close to $40 -- that's a bit much. But I'm sure they're quite nice!

Doug: So what about you, kids? What goodness will you be asking for/hoping to receive?

Genre Christmas Ornaments

Karen: I was out doing some Christmas shopping and I went into the Hallmark store and took some time to look over the ornaments. Maybe I am becoming a traditionalist, because I felt sort of annoyed with all of the Star Trek, comics, sports, movie and other ornaments that had nothing whatsoever to do with the holiday! On one hand, I understand wanting to have collectibles of favorite characters, shows, etc., up on the tree. I certainly have my fair share of figurines and other memorabilia crowding me out of my home. And  it's not like I don't have some genre-related ornaments too. When Hallmark first started making Star Trek ships, I bought them each year. But then they started putting out scenes from Trek episodes, and that's when the disconnect between Christmas and the ornaments really started to happen for me. I remember seeing poor
Capt. Pike, scarred and paralyzed in his futuristic wheelchair, and I thought, "Well that's a cheery Christmas ornament!" This year, it is the Gorn about to stab Capt. Kirk. It would make a great diorama, but as an ornament? I don't know, doesn't say 'peace on Earth, goodwill towards men' to me.

Karen: There are a ton of Disney ornaments. and some actually feature characters in Christmas scenes, but some make little sense, like the big Jolly Roger from Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, nothing says Noel like the Skull and Crossbones.

Karen: But perhaps the ornament that truly captured the spirit of the season was Heath Ledger's Joker. Really? Why not just hang a picture of Charles Manson from one of the branches?

Karen: I did wind up buying a new ornament: It was Linus from the Charlie Brown Christmas special, with the little tree next to him. It has a button you can push and hear Linus' speech about the true meaning of Christmas. Yes, it's a licensed character from a comic strip, but at least it is connected to the holiday! 

Karen: I know most of us here are collectors, to one degree or another. But I'm just wondering if anyone else out there ever feels like sometimes the licensing just goes too far. 

Doug says, "Check out some of my Stuff!", Part 10

Before the Christmas season totally leaves us, I wanted to do one last "Doug's Stuff!" post to show off my especially-geeky Christmas tree. I have to give a lot of credit to my wife, who has encouraged the purchase of many of these ornaments. She also came up with the idea to dedicate one of the trees in our house to all of this.

Starting at the top (sadly, no cool tree topper on this -- but wouldn't something to do with the Angel be sweet??), you can see miniatures of Catwoman, Batman, Robin, and Superman -- all made by Hallmark. Toward the left is the extremely cool Wolverine ornament from Carlton Cards; the Spider-Man in the center is from Carlton as well. I don't know where the Superman and Batman logos (the Batman logo is somewhat hidden near the bottom of this picture) came from -- maybe just Toys 'R' Us? Lastly, you might notice the Super Friends lunchbox on the bottom left, the Superman lunchbox middle right, and the Wonder Woman outfit on the bottom right.

Moving down the tree (by the way, the tree is one of those pencil trees, usually comes pre-lit, and stands around 5-feet tall), you get a better look at the Batman logo and the Wonder Woman outfit, and you can see the Hulk, Superman, Captain America, and two Spider-Man ornaments from Hallmark. To the top left you can barely make out one of Hallmark's comic ornaments for 2009 -- Wolverine from the tv show Wolverine and the X-Men. The Batcycle at the bottom of this frame is from the Warner Bros. Studio Stores.

Heading to the bottom left are the black Spider-Man 3 ornament from Hallmark, the Amazing Fantasy #15 ornament from this year's Hallmark offerings, a very cool phone booth with Clark Kent/Superman action and lights, and some non-descript Dynamic Duo again from probably Toys 'R' Us.

Swinging around to the right, you can see the Iron Man movie ornament that Hallmark offered last year, a neat 5-character Marvel puzzle from Hallmark, a Superman relief ornament, and Batman on his Batrope -- one of the first comics-related ornaments I got. The Wonder Woman hanging off the lower right side is from the Warner Bros. Studio Stores.

Wrapping it up, you can see a Clark Kent outfit near the top of this photo, and above it is a neat ornament from the United States Postal Service -- a picture of Superman from the Siegel/Shuster era on a porcelain postage stamp. In the middle is a Batman holding a Joker jack-in-the-box, again from Warner Bros.

Of course there are several other little wonders I've not mentioned by name, including Mighty Mouse and Bubbles from the PowerPuff Girls!

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season, regardless of the faith you practice. Here's to 2010 being a great year! Stick with the Bronze Age Babies and we'll try to do our part!