What Else Do You Collect?

[AndyFish]

Lord Death Man returns! Yay! And Maniac Cop-- I think we do have a lot in common.
All right, I'll dig a little deeper-- so speaking of Doc Savage....

This is the Go Hero Doc Savage figure, it was actually one of the first ones that landed in the US several years ago, I fought my way thru NYCC to go meet friends at the Go Hero booth, only to find that the B-Team was working. When I mentioned they were holding a Doc Savage for me they looked at each other, there was none on display at that point, then after some names correctly dropped, they pulled one out from a box way in the back. As I carried this out of the show floor I had offers over several times what I paid for it but I would never part with it. It's actually two figures-- because it also has the golden age version with it (not shown-- that one is packed away).

While we're on the subject of pulps...

I've really been enjoying re-discovering The Shadow's and finally getting around to reading Doc's adventures. Good old fashioned action in these.

I have a complete set of these Penguin Books reprints of the Ian Fleming James Bond series. These have great vintage style covers and I really like the feel of them. The model they used for Casino Royale looks so much like my wife that everyone who see's it (including her) is convinced I photoshopped it.

From Japan, I picked up this Real Action Hero of Moon Mask Rider...

Although he's called many different things, and I'm sure Lord Death Man will let me know if I'm wrong, but I picked this up as well as a DVD set of his complete TV Serial series on my last trip. I'm a big fan of any hero wearing Canasta glasses.

Super7 has been doing some fun things, and I like their Reaction line of Universal Monsters-- they recently did a Neon version of them that I like even better...

More next time!

[Lady Death Man]

Here’s a couple of photos from new acquisitions I have yet to work into my ‘kaiju museum’ along with a jacket displaying our toku group’s logo.

[Lady Death Man]

Some of my fav Ultraman items, including a licensed Captain Action Ultraman suit.

[AndyFish]

That Shin Godzilla is an impressive suit-- and I've always loved the Captain Action Ultraman set!

[batfatty]

Andy,
Is that a Frank Robbins original above surfin’ Batman?

I think his Batman art is fantastic and I’ve never seen an original page . That’s some cool stuff!

[AndyFish]

Good eye-- it sure is-- I'll post a better pic shortly.

[AndyFish]

Here's the Robbins Batman Original-- I'm a huge fan of Frank Robbins work-- going all the way back into the 1940s when he was a noted comic strip artist. I actually have several pieces of his work, but this is the only one from his brief period on Batman, which ironically, I HATED as a kid, now I see the ink mastery.

Continuing off topic collectibles, I have several vintage Star Trek items, mostly books but I've got a few Shatner items specifically, it was thanks to him that I invested in Priceline right at the start after trying and liking the service, and that stock value ensured my retirement. I was able to thank him personally for that.

Some of my Batman serial items include a lot of promotional posters and materials, production art, mockups, etc.

And speaking of serials, in this detail photo you can see the extremely limited edition 54mm Batman figure that I commissioned.

There are only 3-5 of these in the world (I forget) and the mold was destroyed so there are no more. I chose the 54mm size because I was always a fan of army men. The Raygun was a must.

I have several Hot Toys figures from back when I was doing some design work for them. I have a whole case of Chris Reeve Superman's which I think along with their General Ursus was the best figure they ever did.

I have a very selective collection of FAMOUS MONSTERS Magazine, all are in pristine condition and only the ones that have some personal attachment to me. The Captain Marvel Serial is one of my favorite serials of all time (I'd also recommend the Flash Gordon's, Buck Rogers, Spy Smasher, Captain America, The Phantom, The Shadow and The Spider serials) so this one featuring a great color shot of Tom Tyler as Cap was a no brainer. I have other issues with Universal Monster covers and Barnabas Collins appearances.

[Therin of Andor]

"Kooky Spookys" by Hasbro: Brother Mortimer, Grandma Macreak and Baby Spook'em by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Kooky Spookys! Glow-in-the-dark ghost finger puppets. Mine was the Grandma Macreak; the others belonged to my two younger brothers, but they left them behind when they moved out. Thanks to eBay, I have recently been able to add the three characters we never received for Christmas 1969.


Chicago Tribune, Feb 9, 1969, comics Section 8 by Ian McLean, on Flickr

I also found information online about creator Patti Peticolas and some of her sketches of two characters that were proposed, but never produced, and two even earlier sketches that had evolved into actual characters. So I custom-made those four figures out of luminous, oven-baked "Fimo Soft" modelling compound (ie. Sculpy).


Custom Kooky Spookys: Cousin Cadava, General Gilghouly, Geisha Ghost and Shirley Shriek by Ian McLean, on Flickr

I also collect many "Star Trek" items, but one highlight was my suggestion in an online competition held by NewForce Comics mail order firm. It had to be a popular Trek character that could be assembled/customised from pre-existing Playmates' sculpts. The winning figure was: "Captain Kathryn Janeway as seen in the 'Star Trek: Voyager' episode, 'Flashback'." This is the advertising banner for that exclusive Playmates action figure.


"Flashback Janeway" promo banner by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Love my Funko Force Fantastik Plastik "Wacky Races" figures, too. The Anthill Mob and car are actually two pencil-toppers from a different company.


Funko "The Wacky Races" by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Years later, Funko made Pop figures of most of the characters they had missed the first time. I plan to customise two Captain Caveman "Pop" figures into the Slag Brothers.


"The Wacky Races" Pops by Ian McLean, on Flickr

I coveted the sets of tiny "The Wacky Races" cars on eBay and then watched them start jumping in price, so I eventually weakened. The eleven cars came in two "volumes", packed in thick foam inserts.


Kensin "The Wacky Races" cars by Ian McLean, on Flickr

[AndyFish]

I loved the Kooky Spookys!

[rsaffle]

I loved the Kooky Spookys!

Your Doc Savage figure is awesome! I've never read any of the Savage novels. Do you have a favorite to recommend?

[Larry A.]

Andy Fish, Your figure looks like a James Bama come to live...NICE!!!!!!!

[SprangFan]

Andy, I'm a big pulp fan and those Doc and Shadow books have me intrigued. Are they the size of mass-market paperbacks, and who's the publisher? These may be only Shadow pulp reprints I've seen trade-dressed with the logo from the Golden Age comic.

Are these maybe more treasures from your sojourn to Japan? I won't envy you as much if it turns out I could never read them anyway.

[AndyFish]

Rsaffle - for Doc they are all pretty good if you like Superman and The Fantastic Four because that's how the characters come across. You kind of have to get over everyone's glowing admiration for Doc which is repeated over and over again, but once you get into the stories it's not unusual for Doc and his team to be fighting dinosaurs or mummies or whatever else exists in the center of the Earth, on some obscure island, etc.

I like HEX very much-- which is set in Salem MA and has Doc going up against some witches. RED SNOW is very good, and THE RUNNING SKELETONS is a lot of fun. I only really started reading Doc Savage with these hardcovers and I've yet to be disappointed in them.

And speaking of hardcovers, SprangFan! I'm glad to see you lured out of the dark! They are in English and incredibly hard to get. But they look great on the shelf-- and I often buy things just for the aesthetics of it.

[SprangFan]

I've been known to buy books for their shelf appeal, too, and sometimes even if they do come in languages I can't read.

Rsaffle, if you're interested in affordable reprints of vintage pulps, there's some nice ones published by Sanctum Books. I'm not sure what the board rules are for linking to specific vendors, but if you do a Google search for "Sanctum Books Shadow" or "Sanctum Books Doc Savage," you should turn up plenty of options. They also have reprints of The Avenger and my personal favorite, The Spider, all with nice reproductions of the original cover art and b/w interior illustrations.

My favorite Doc story is probably "The Thousand-Headed Man," but there's plenty of other good ones. "The Fortress of Solitude" deals with his secret arctic retreat, predating Superman's by several years. Doc has five assistants who are the second-best experts in their respective fields (chemsitry, electronics, archeology, etc). The FIRST best expert in all those fields, and many others, is Doc himself, which kind of makes you wonder what he needs the others for. In fact, Doc has sometimes been sarcastically referred to as "Batman with five Robins." The real reason they're needed is to pad the stories out to novel-length, otherwise Doc would solve every crisis in about 10 pages. But they are a fun bunch to watch interact, especially Ham and Monk who bicker like Doc and Festus or Spock and McCoy.

That's a geat Doc figure, Andy, even if I am more of a Baumhofer guy when it comes to Doc.

[Ben Bentley]

I'm not sure what the board rules are for linking to specific vendors, but if you do a Google search for "Sanctum Books Shadow" or "Sanctum Books Doc Savage," you should turn up plenty of options.

You're totally good to share links to products!

For anyone needing a refresher, the Merch rules are always on hand here:
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