Comic Book Pick 7/20/22

  The comic book I am most excited to read this week is...
MADBALLS VS. GARBAGE PAIL KIDS #1

(W) Sholly Fisch (A) Jason Crosby (CA) Joe Simko
For the first time ever, the "heavyweights of gross" have combined forces in a massive merchandising blitz that pits the Madballs against the Garbage Pail Kids-winner take all! As part of this blitz, Dynamite presents the comic book crossover of these iconic 1980s brands! For over three decades, Madballs and GPK have both been known as the "grossest of the gross," co-ruling counterculture with their pun-heavy names and subversive humor. This all-new limited series event presents the first time these two delightfully crude forces have ever crossed paths! Written by Sholly Fisch, each issue features three incredible covers by legendary Garbage Pail Kids artist Joe Simko, series artist Jason Crosby, and a special trading card team-up cover created specially for this momentous meeting of the (depraved) minds! 
SRP: $3.99
Synopsis Provided By: PreviewsWorld.com 

Retro Lines at Toys R Us Today!

This past weekend I took my kids to our local Toys R Us for a FREE Mega Construx build! These free events happen about twice a month at Toys R Us and allow kids to come in and get stuff for free! In the past we have done free builds for Lego Nexo Knights, Lego Batman Movie, Pokémon cards, Pokémon Figures and a birthday party with Geoffrey himself!

This time around my boy got to build a ship from the HALO series and my girls built a beach set from the American Girls line. Of course since we were already there, we had to look at all the awesome toys at the store. It's like that's what Toys R Us had in mind from the start? Those crafty bastards! I was surprised to see so many toy lines from my childhood still available on the shelves. Here's a few of the cool things I found:

 

Masters of the Universe: Mega Bloks Kubros ($14.99)

These things are brilliant. It's almost like you get to build your own action figure. I always look at these on the shelf and want to buy them, but I am a cheap man with 3 kids and always wait for a sale. The He-Man version of Kubros was on sale for $8.98 when we went. Maybe I'll grab it next pay day?

 

Transformers Fortress Maximus ($149.99)

WOW!!! I never thought I would ever see a Fortress Maximus in stores again! This thing was massive and a total status symbols for kids growing up in the 80s! If you had this, you were the man! For $150 though...I'll let someone else be the man.

 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Action Figures ($16.99)

My little brother was huge into Power Rangers. He had all the toys, collected the cards, played the games and of course watched every episode of the show. These brought back memories of watching this show with him and having epic battles in the living room as his Ninja Mega Zord would conquer my bad guys led by Goldar. If they had the White Ranger in stock, I may have to grab it for him as a gift. That was the elusive toy he never got. You might say the White Ranger is his White Whale! I know...terrible :(

 

Pokémon Cards ($3.99 - $17.99)

I know these cards have been around forever, but isn't it reassuring that in 2017 Pokémon is still a popular brand? When these cards were at their crazy peak, I worked at a mom & pop toy store in Jersey. Kids would come in every day with their allowance money to buy the latest series packs. Eventually when I would get bored and to pass the time, they taught me how to play the game and we would have matches in the store. It was fun and now as my kids are getting into Pokémon, I can pass that knowledge onto them. See Mom, it wasn't a complete waste of my time!

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Figures ($10.99)

I absolutely LOVE THESE! So much nostalgia is rushing through my head. I have picked up the original 4 Turtles, Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and April in this line. I never had Super Mikey or Super Donatello as a kid. I will be adding these to my birthday wish list!

 

Madballs ($2.99 - $9.99)

I saved what is in my opinion, the best for last...MADBALLS!!! Months ago I had heard that Just Play Toys and Kid Robot were going to be putting out several different lines of Madballs. My sons favorite is Oculus Orbus and I was going nuts looking to find him one for Christmas. Well, maybe the Easter Bunny can drop one of these guys in his basket? I really like how there are different sets for different audiences. They have the classic versions based off the 80s toys. New revamped/updated versions, which my kids prefer and the Madballs Mini blind bags which are a cheaper way to get your nostalgia at $2.99 a pack.

Such a great commercial! That's it for now. Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

Retro Revival Challenge: First Comic

So this week, participants in the Retro Revival Challenge were asked to write about our first comic or comic book experience. I still remember the first comic I ever received...Heathcliff #16!

My sister bought this for me in 1986 when I was around 5 years old. She also bought my brother a Mickey Mouse comic that same day. She brought them home and read them to us on the couch. I still have this comic packed away somewhere in a long box.

One thing I remember from that book was the advertisements. My sister would read them to us as if they were commercial breaks in the comic. The one that stuck out the most was the ad for Bonkers! Ugly Balls. These balls were just a rip-off of the popular Mad Balls franchise, but man did I want one. I never did get it in the mail, but the search on e-bay has begun!

Another great first in my comic collecting career was my first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. It was the Archie published Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #20. My Dad bought this for me when I was really sick one time and I could not leave the couch. I remember reading this issue over and over again. Me and my brother were huge Turtle fans at this time. We had the toys, played the games and watched the cartoon, but I had never experienced the Turtles in comic form before my Dad bought me this book. Since then I have completed the Mirage 1st & 2nd series, the Image 3rd series and I'm close to completing the Archie Adventure series and the Mirage 4th series. This was the one that started it all! Thanks Dad.

Check out these other participants and their comic firsts:

Retro Ramblings: Take a trip back to the 90s!