Category Archives: Cats

November 10, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2019 Unboxing

By Jasomania

Another year another Marvel Unlimited Plus membership kit and this year the theme is House of X.  As an X-Men fan I was pleasantly surprised with the them as I actually really wanted to read the new House of X event but hadn’t gotten any issues yet.

Here is everything that is included in this years box:

  • House of X Issue 1: Shalvey Connecting Variant
  • House of X Issue 2: Shalvey Connecting Variant
  • Marvel Legends Exclusive Purple Deadpool Figure
  • X-Men Patch
  • X-Men Cyclopes Enamel Pin

The box is X-men themed and looked really good.  The bright yellow and red colors really popped and it had a wrap around picture across the front.  (added a bonus cat in the pictures.

First up is the yearly letter which is in the X-men theme.  I don’t know why but I do like these letters and they are printed on very nice paper stock.

The comics are the first two issues of House of X.  The variants look great and I really like that they are connecting variants.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’m disappointed in the Marvel Legends figure.  This is clearly a just a old figure they already had with a new paint job and being called an “exclusive”.  Marvel Unlimited Plus is a 30 dollar premium over the normal Marvel Unlimited subscription and while that isn’t a huge amount its enough that I expect better than this.  Right now the Deadpool figure goes for 19 to 60 on ebay (which my figure will be joining them for sale soon…).

Last is the patch and pin.  The enamel pin is similar quality to years past and while it’s not terrible it’s also only ok.  I like the Scottie Young design on it but still feel mostly meh on it.  I like the patch a lot, this is the new X-Men logo for House of X so there isn’t a lot of mech for it.  It’s a cool design and fits in to the theme well.

What else do you get in a Marvel Unlimited Plus subscription?  There are invites to members only events at SDCC, NYCC, and C2E2.  They actually seem like cool events that if you go to them you get additional free variant covers of comics and some insider information at the panel.  However, I don’t live anywhere near these events and will likely never go to them so it’s not much a benefit.  You also get 15% off digital comics from comixology / Marvel Comics Digital store.  However, Marvel has just recently announced the Marvel Comics shop is closing so this benefit is ending.  Lastly you can get 10% off all things from marvelshop.com.  I’ve never used this benefit before and forget that it is a benefit entirely, but hey, 10% isn’t much but it’s something.

Overall outside of the disappointment in the Marvel Legends figure it’s a really great box and I’m pleased with what I got in it.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Cats, Comic Books, Unboxing

May 12, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2018 Unboxing

By Jasomania

Does it make a lot of sense to do an unboxing for something that came out a year and a half ago?  Not really.  But here we are.

This is my fifth year being a Marvel Unlimited Plus member and the theme for 2018 was Venom, based on the fact that the movie was coming out a few months after the release of the new Unlimited Plus kit.  I’ll be honest I’m not a huge Vemon fan.  When a villian becomes popular enough to become the “star” or the “anti-hero” it has rarely worked out.  They wind up just being the hero “but edgy” while not actually being edgy at all.  But that isn’t why we are here.

First off here is a run down of everything included in the kit:

  • Blank Panther Vol. 7 Issue 1: Marvel Unlimited Subscription Variant by Jamal Campbell
  • Venom Vol. 4 Issue 1: Marvel Unlimited Subscription Variant by Paul Renaud
  • Fantastic 4 Patch
  • The Thing Enamel Pin
  • Marvel Legends Venomized Punisher Action Figure

The box was venom themed and looked pretty good.  It had a cool venom logo in the inside and on the flap.  I added a bonus picture of Celine helping me take pictures.

 

First up is the yearly letter.  It’s very much the least important item in the box but I actually do appreciate it.  Its on nice paper stock and has a vemon theme.  I hope they continue to include this in the future boxes.

 

The comics are look great, the art is fantastic and event though its two different artists they have a similar theme.  I like that the art also takes up the whole front cover and has the Marvel Unlimited logo at the bottom as well.  In my case I enjoy the comics and have kept all of the ones I’ve received in these Unlimited Plus packages.  However if you are looking at upgrading to the Plus subscription to make money off the comics sadly they don’t go for much at all.  It’s been a year and a half since this box was released at the resell price for these comics is still at $5 which is the cover price for the comics.  10 dollars for the two is still something but for a variant that I’d imagine is actually kind of rare i’d have thought it would go for more

Next is the Venomized Punisher Marvel Legends figure.  Overall it’s a nice looking figure.  It doesn’t look like they just put spare parts together like they did last year for the Tony Stark figure and used a new mold.  Like I said before, I’m not a huge Venom fan so I actually winded up selling mine on ebay.  Unlike the variant comics the Marvel Legends figures still catch a decent price and this figure is still going for 60 to 100 dollars on ebay.

Next is The Thing Enamel Pin and Fantastic Four Patch.  There isn’t a whole lot to say about these.  The quality of the patch is fairly good but the quality of the pin is only ok.  I do like that they have been including the patches in with the kits but wish the pins were better quality.  It is a little odd that they went with Fantastic Four for these since the box, Marvel Legends figure, and comics were all venom themed.

What else do you get in a Marvel Unlimited Plus subscription?  There are invites to members only events at SDCC, NYCC, and C2E2.  They actually seem like cool events that if you go to them you get additional free variant covers of comics and some insider information at the panel.  However, I don’t live anywhere near these events and will likely never go to them so it’s not much a benefit.  You also get 15% off digital comics from comixology / Marvel Comics Digital store.  This isn’t a terrible benefit but I generally forget about it and don’t use it.  In order to get it you have to buy your comics through Marvels separate digital store so it’s unlikely you’ll get to stack your 15% off with other comixology deals.  If you are buying full price comics from marvel digitally this could be a good deal though.  Lastly you can get 10% off all things from marvelshop.com.  I’ve never used this benefit before and forget that it is a benefit entirely, but hey, 10% isn’t much but it’s something.

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the package.  Basically it’s a 30 dollar premium to get Marvel Unlimited Plus over a yearly Marvel Unlimited subscription and I’ve still found it worth it to pay for it.  Selling the Marvel Legends figure actually brought the price of the entire subscription down quite a bit but it’s not something I factored in to my decision to continue to get a plus subscription

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Cats, Comic Books, Unboxing

May 8, 2020

All-New, Possibly Different? Comic Books and Cats

By Jasomania

Hey there True Believers,

It’s been a while.  It’s funny, in my mind I hadn’t posted in a few months and then I actually look and whoops it’s been 3 years.  A lot has changed and some hasn’t changed.  I’ll get into it more in a future post but basically I got really burned out on comics after the Secrete Wars / Convergence event back in 2015 and never really recovered from it.  I went from a weekly reader of new comics to going well past a year of reading any new comics.  I’ve tried to read some here and there but mostly have struggled to get back into comics.  I hope to still blog about comics here and pick up some series but honestly I’m not going to force it.  So there may be a slew of non comic related posts on here instead.

Outside of comics there is news I have to post and it is entirely cat related.  Our clan of two has become and clan of 3 and we added a new cat to the family last summer.  We were not planning on having more cats than people in the house but fate had different plans.  We found Celine at my wife’s work and decided to give her a home.  I wouldn’t say she’s “getting along” with the other cats but they have decided on a understanding of each other and mostly continue to keep to themselves.

2019-06-07_11-34-50_602

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Bullpen Bulletin, Cats, Comic Books

October 29, 2015

Streaky The Supercat Part I: Action Comics 261

By Jasomania

Action Comics 261 - Cover

A couple of years ago my wonderful wife qcait bought me three old issues of Action Comics featuring Streaky the Supercat for my birthday.  So I decided to write about them in here!  This will be the first of my three part series going through each of these comics.  The first issue we will look at is Action Comics 261 which is the first appearance, and origin of Streaky the Supercat.  If you are wondering why Streaky doesn’t have top billing on the cover, this comic is old enough that they used to have multiple non-Superman stores in each issue of Action Comics.  “Supergirl’s Super Pet!” is actually the third story in this comic along with “Superman’s Fortresses of Solitude!” and “Congorilla’s Last Stand!”.  I actually didn’t read the other two stories as this comic is pretty old and I didn’t want to be handling it too much.

Action Comics 261 Front

Streaky’s origin begins with Linda Lee aka Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl hanging out at her home, an orphanage.  Her super vision spots a small piece of kryptonite falling from the sky.  She quickly changes into Supergirl to go retrieve the small rock.  Kara takes it back to her orphanage chemistry lab and begins experimenting with it to try find a way to reverse its effects.  After believing her attempts have failed she tosses the Kryptonite out a window.  Just then her new pet kitten happens to find the rock which, through her experiments, has become the new element x-kryptonite.  The x-kryptonite gives Streaky superpowers which he immediately goes out on the town to show off.  Supergirl hears Streaky’s distinct meow magnified over 50x so she goes to investigate and finds her new pet has super powers.  The two go into space to play when suddenly Streaky’s powers are lost and he starts dropping back to earth.  Kara quickly swoops him up and takes him safely back to the orphanage.

Action Comics 261 Chem Lab

Here are my stray thoughts and observations.  I was surprised to find out that Streaky was not actually from Krypton.  I had always assumed with his stripe that he had somehow gotten to earth similar to Krypto the Superdog.  I also did not know that Supergirl had an alter ego named Linda Lee.  I’ve seen the Supergirl movie in which she uses that name, but like most people I immediately blocked the film out of my memory.  I was also surprised that Supergirl wears a brown wig when she is her alter ego Linda Lee.  I mean it makes sense, Superman’s glasses have to be the worse disguise of all time.  I did laugh out loud when it said, “Next day, in a small chemical laboratory in the orphanage”.  You know the small chemical labs that orphanages are all famous for having.

Overall I really liked the story.  It was short (only 8 pages) but tells a nice little complete story.  It also was corny (as the golden / silver age tend to be) but not so corny that it was unreadable.  The art was fantastic, very detailed and able to emote a lot of action.

I don’t really collect a lot of high dollar comics so this is by far the oldest and most valuable comic I own.  So I was a little afraid to handle it and in order to read it winded up scanning the complete Streaky story.  Since I already went to the trouble of scanning the whole thing I figured I mine as well share the whole thing with you guys, so here it is the complete origin of Streaky the Supercat!

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Cats, Comic Books

May 27, 2015

Mystery Comic 5: Catwoman 1 (1993)

By Jasomania

Comic (5)

This is actually the first issue of the first on going Catwoman solo series that they ever created. It also happened to take place during the middle of the Batman Knightfall major event. If you don’t know that would be the event that lead to Batman’s back being broken by Bane and a guy named Jean-Paul Valley briefly taking over the cowl. This is important to note because there are a lot of references to Bane and him being in control of Gotham throughout this comic. I don’t think following along the Knightfall titles is necessary but it does put this book into context.

Comic 5 Pic 1

The overall story is pretty straightforward. Catwoman is up to her jewel stealing ways and is giving all that she steals directly to Bane. She isn’t pleased with this agreement but it seems like it’s what she’ll have to do for now. Other crime lords in the city want to attack Bane so they do so by attacking Catwoman who they describe as his love. I don’t remember there being a love story between Bane and Catwoman so its probably a misunderstanding they deal with later. Either way the book ends with them finding Catwoman’s apartment and shooting it with a rocket launcher. The last panel is an explosion with a to be continued.

Overall it was a pretty good book for a first issue. There was a cool part at the beginning where Catwoman tricks a guy into thinking she’s his wife and steals all her jewels. Catwoman is a badass in this book and while it ties into Batman she is her own strong black woman. There was one part that was especially amazing and that was Catwoman’s fence (person who sells her stolen goods) who wears crazy cat lady tee shirts. At least I think she was Catwoman’s fence, she doesn’t seem to have a real purpose other than she lives with or possibly just hangs out with Catwoman.

Comic 5 Pic 2

Comic 5 Pic 3

And lastly here are our two comic ads, first we have a grand opening of a Mile High Comics with Rob Liefeld! And then we have the greatest of fighting games on the Genesis.

Comic 5 Pic 4

Comic 5 Pic 5

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Cats, Comic Books, Mystery Comics

May 11, 2015

Catwoman 75th Anniversary

By Jasomania

Catwoman - Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale (2004)

This year marks the 75th Anniversary of Catwoman.  She made her first appearance in Batman issue 1 which came out in April 24th, 1940.  In her 75 year history a lot has happened to Catwoman and there have been a lot of interpretations of the character.  She’s had three on going comic book series, been in TV (animated and live action), and in two different movies!  So in honor of her 75th birthday (I saw she doesn’t look a day past 60!) we are going to go over 9 facts about her you may not know.

1) Catwoman has been Portrayed in Film by TWO Academy Award Winning Actresses

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Not only have both Halle Berry (Catwoman 2004) and Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises 2012) have both portrayed Catwoman and won Academy Awards but Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns 1992) has been nominated for Academy Award as well.  Julie Newmar (Batman TV 1966) has won a Toni award for best actress in a musical and Eartha Kitt (Batman TV 1966) has won a Daytime Emmy for Best Actresses.  Lee Meriwether (Batman TV 1966) has been nominated for two Golden Globes and one Emmy.  So far the only Catwoman actress not to win or be nominated for a major award has been Gotham’s Camren Bicondova, but seeing as she is only 15 I don’t think it will be long before she joins this list as well.

2) Catwoman was Ranked on IGN’s top Heroes AND Villains List

Catwoman Jail

Is Catwoman a hero or a villain?  During IGN.com’s 2009 rundown of the greatest heroes and villains Catwoman ranked 20th on the list of greatest heroes and 11th on the list of greatest villains.  So it seems our femme fatale is a little bit of both, as Selina Kyle says in The Dark Knight Rises, she’s adaptable.

3) Catwoman has been a Member of the Justice League

Justice League of America Vol 3 1

In 2011 the reboot of DC Comics entire line of comic books was centered around the Justice League comic book which started at the origin of the team.  After some misadventures Amanda Waller of the shady government agency A.R.G.U.S. decided America needed their own Justice League in case something were to happen and the original Justice League went rogue.  This lead to the creation of the Justice League of America whose members included: Steve Trevor, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman, the new Green Lantern Simon Baz, Stargirl, Katana, Vibe, and Catwoman.  Each member was meant to counter a specific member of the original Justice League with Catwoman on the team as direct counter to Batman.

4) She was Once a Flight Attendant

Batman 62

Comic books be crazy yall.  I was unaware of this but going through the DC Wiki there was an origin story of Catwoman in which she used to be a flight attendant but during a crash got amnesia which lead her to her life as a criminal.  You can’t make this shit up.  I’ll let the DC Wiki tell the story since it is not available digitally and I wasn’t able to read the issue first hand.

“When Catwoman leaves her hideout, she finds Batman and Robin waiting for her. They try to give chase, but she throws a box at them with angry cat inside it. Batman runs towards falling debris, and Catwoman realizes he will be killed. Instead of escaping, she leaps to save Batman’s life and gets hit in the head by a brick.

They wake her up in the Batcave, where she feverishly screams about airline rules. It’s revealed that Selina Kyle was a stewardess, who fell out of a crashing plane and got amnesia. Kyle is horrified to hear that she’s become a criminal in her amnesiac state. Batman asks about her obsession with cats, and she explains that her father used to own a pet store. He taught her all about cats, and she subconsciously remembered that through her amnesia.”

5) On Earth-2 She is Married to Batman and They Have a Child

Huntress TPB

Yes its true! Gotham’s favorite on again off again couple had a love child!  Well, technically this takes place in an alternative reality, I tried to avoid dipping into the Elseworlds stories of Catwoman but I can’t avoid this one.  The character of the Huntress has grown in popularity and had her own mini-series and ongoing series in the new 52.  She has appeared as the main star of the short lived Birds of Prey TV Series along with a few guest appearances in the CW’s hit Arrow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There are two versions of this character, the first is Helena Bertinelli, the daughter of a crime boss that shows up in the main continuity stories of DC Comics.  Bertinelli is the version they used for the TV Series Arrow.  The other version is Helena Wayne, the daughter of Catwoman and Batman.  Helena is the version that is used for the TV Series Birds of Prey. Helena is also the version of Huntress that was used in the recent on going comic series Worlds’ Finest which was centered around her and Powergirl (Earth-2’s version of Supergirl).

Worlds' Finest Issue 1

6) Catwoman Has her Heart Removed by Hush

Heart of Hush

The popular villain Hush returned during “Heart of Hush” story arc that took place during the larger Batman RIP story.  In this story Hush performs plastic surgery on himself in order to make him self look identical to Bruce Wayne.  His plan is to kill the actual Bruce Wayne and live the rest of his days off of the Wayne fortune.  During a scuffle with Catwoman she tears his bandages to reveal his new face and give away his plan.  He manages to subdue Catwoman and removes her heart.

Heart of Hush 1

Batman tracks down Hush who uses a paralyzing gas and reveals his big plan.  Batman is able to over come the gas and eventually over take Hush.

Heart of Hush 2

Batman gets Catwoman’s heart back to Doctor Mid-nite and he is able to return her heart back into her body.  He warns her however that she may not ever return to her former level of physical prowess again.  However in true Catwoman fashion Selina enlists an all-star team of friends (Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Slam Bradley) to find and drain all of Hush’s bank accounts leaving him penniless.

7) Catwoman is Currently the Head of a Mafia Family

Batman Eternal 37

During the year long Batman Eternal comic event it was revealed that Catwoman is the daughter of mafia boss Rex Calabrese.  Rex is a new character who was the cell mate of James Gordon who was in jail while being tried for murder.  Rex had been in prison for a some period of time and used to be known as “The Lion” due to the scars on his face and his sharpened teeth.  Catwoman breaks into Blackgate to speak with Rex where he tells her to seize power and unite the crime families of Gotham under her leadership.

Selina’s crime boss story picks up in the on going Catwoman series starting with issue 35.

Catwoman 35

8) Catwoman has a Side-kick Catgirl

Catwoman & Catgirl

In Batman issue 695 Catwoman steals the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family.  When she returns home she finds Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone’s long lost daughter, breaking into her apartment.

Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room and calls Batman to her house in order to turn her over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself.  This impresses Selina, who had tied up Kitrina using an “inescapable” knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier.  Following a massive battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl.

Catgirl

During the legendary story by Frank Miller, the Dark Knight Returns, Carrie Kelly took up the mantle of Robin.  Well in its sequel the Dark Knight Strikes Again Carrie Kelly has ditched her role as Robin and continued her work under the title of Catgirl.  In the Miller-verse Selina Kyle exists and is the Madam at a brothel, having long retired as her role as Catwoman.

9) Catwoman has a Sister Named Maggie

Maggie Kyle

Selina Kyle’s parents both died pretty grisly deaths (her mother committed suicide and father died of alcohol poisoning) while Selina and her sister Maggie were young.  Maggie went to an orphanage and was quickly adopted while Selina grew up on the streets.  The two lead pretty different lives and while Selina entered the criminal world her sister Maggie became a nun.  Selina’s criminal activities have had a big impact on Maggie in that she was at one point kidnapped and beaten by Black Mask.  Things get worse for Maggie Black Mask then forces Maggie to eat her own husbands eyes.

Maggie Eyes

Selina does get revenge however and kills Black Mask, shooting him in the head.  Maggie however goes insane and is committed to a mental institution.  She later escapes and takes on the villainous persona of Sister Zero after killing a nun and using her nun-tools as weapons.  Sister Zero then hunts down Selina and attempts to kill her believing that her soul has been taken over by a Cat Demon.

Sister Zero

That’s it folks!  I hope you enjoyed and maybe learned something new about every ones favorite feline femme fatale!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Cats, Comic Books

May 3, 2015

Top 6 Killer Catwoman Moments

By Jasomania

In honor of Catwoman’s 75th Anniversary (who’s first appearance was on April 24th, 1940) DC All Access has released the following video with some her best moments.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Cats, Comic Books