The Squad is finally here!

This is the movie I have been waiting all summer for! The Suicide Squad is finally here! Yes, I am a huge fan of the Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters, but Suicide Squad is something new, something that hasn't been done before. The villains are the heroes, Harley Quinn is hot and it stars Will Smith aka The Fresh Prince, one of my all time favorite artists! I've been down with the Prince since "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" came out on the Rock The House album when I was 7 years old.

In honor of the movie being released today, I thought I would share some of my favorite comic covers starring the Squad consisting of Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, Katana and The Joker. Without Further ado, here they are:

Harley Quinn #23 (DC Comics)

Suicide Squad #64 (DC Comics)

Detective Comics #660 (DC Comics)

Katana #4 (DC Comics)

The Flash #217 (DC Comics)

El Diablo #2 (DC Comics)

Batman #38 (DC Comics)

Suicide Squad Comic Con Trailer (2016)

Comic Book Pick: 8/3/16

This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...

SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1

Soldier. War hero. Traitor. Captain Rick Flag was one of America's greatest military commanders before he was banished to a secret military prison. But after years of isolation, Flag's life changes forever when a woman called Amanda Waller offers him redemption in exchange for taking on the single most dangerous job in the entire DC Universe: keeping the Suicide Squad alive!
(W) Rob Williams (A/CA) Philip Tan, Jonathan Glapion       
SRP: $2.99

Ninja Turtles Cereal 2016

We have been hit with an embarrassment of riches in respect to retro foods recently. With Ecto Cooler, Ghostbusters Twinkies, Crystal Pepsi making a comeback and now the return of Ninja Turtles Cereal!

Now, if you were looking for Ninja Turtle shaped marshmallows with crunchy Ninja Nets, this is not the cereal for you. The 2016 version of Ninja Turtles cereal has four fruity flavors shaped like Turtle heads. I am in favor of this change. Even though I enjoyed the original cereal back in the 90s, I like this version even more. It has a sort of muted Trix taste to it, but the real prize is the box. You can follow the instructions on the back to figure out what kind of mutant you would be if you ever had an encounter with mutagen ooze! This is what cereal is supposed to be. Fun shapes, good flavor and puzzles on the box to keep you entertained at the breakfast table.

M.A.S.K: The Puzzle Adventure!

 

While driving home from a day at the park with the kids one day, we spotted a yard sale at a local church. Of course I made the wife stop the car and pull over. The only thing I was able to procure from this sale was this beautiful M.A.S.K puzzle produced by Golden in 1986. It cost me a whopping $0.50.

Recently, I decided to put this bad boy together and see if all 200 pieces were still in the box or did I get ripped off by a 6 year old girl? The box was dumped out on the living room floor and a little over an hour later, this masterpiece of accomplishment appeared!

ALL THE PIECES WERE STILL THERE! After 30 years every piece was there. I hadn't done a puzzle with so many pieces in a long time and when I started working on it, I had thoughts of giving up. But it became a personal goal and challenge to finish this puzzle. When I put the last piece in, I can't describe the feeling of proud accomplishment I felt. It was like I was on my own personal M.A.S.K mission and now was able to feel the relief of a job well done. This is what I spent my evening doing. Is that sad?

Click the video below and enjoy the pilot episode of the M.A.S.K cartoon from 1985. Now try and get the theme song out of your head. You're welcome!

Comic Book Pick: 7/27/16

This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...

HARLEY QUINN #30

As Harley's monthly series comes to an end, the world prepares for twice as much Harley when her new series debuts in August! And you'd better believe Harley's burning the place down on the way out the door...

(W) Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti (A) Elsa Charretier (CA) Amanda Conner   

   SRP: $3.99             

8-Bit Jason Voorhees

Some genius at NECA had the brilliant idea to make 8-bit versions of horror icons Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees back in 2013. Like most toys I drool over, the Jason version was a SDCC exclusive. I gave in to the thought that I would never own this guy. Then there was a ray of hope, they re-issued Jason recently and I found him in the wild!

Of course there are some slight changes to the packaging from the SDCC version, but the one outstanding change that was made was...the inclusion of a sound chip in the box that plays the Friday The 13th video game theme! HOLY CRAP! You can hear it below in all it's 8-Bit glory!

Also the box mimics the look of the vintage NES box beautifully, Here is what the NES box looks like. Compare it to the above images of the toy box. Awesome, huh?

The toy itself is just a re-paint of a previously released NECA Jason figure, but my gosh is it glorious. The sculpting is nice.The colors are so annoying and nowhere near movie accurate, but that's how the game was. My only complaint is that I would have liked to see his trademark machete included as an accessory. Who can forget receiving a beat down from Jason in his purple jumpsuit and baby blue mask? Why did LJN choose these colors? I don't know, but I love it!

Below is a closer look at this ugly fella. I am so glad I was able to grab this 80s icon for around $20! He now owns a prominent space on my wall of fame.

For any of us who played the Friday The 13th game back in the 80s, we all know what a pain in the ass it is and how much frustration went into finding Jason's mom's head and the lighter and saving your friends! UGH! Enjoy a walk through of the game and relive those memories today.

Dairy Queen MLB Helmets

Growing up one of the best things about a hot summer night in NJ was the anticipation of going to Dairy Queen at night to cool down with a Dilly Bar, Blizzard or hot fudge Sunday. Most of the time whenever you ordered something from DQ in the 80s it would be served up in a sweet disposable Dennis The Menace cup like this one:

Other times if you were lucky it was that special time of the year where they served up frozen treats in an AWESOME mini Major League Baseball Helmet! I was lucky enough to find a few of these at a local thrift store for $.25 each!

I grabbed some of my faves based on retro appeal. Here they are!

Montreal Expos

I picked up the Montreal Expos helmet because this team is no longer around. They moved to Washington and became the Nationals in 2004. I also love the old school logo. They don't make them like this anymore!

Philadelphia Phillies

Living close to Philadelphia the Phillies were always in the papers and on TV. This logo has not been used in years, but reminds me of the days of Mike Schmidt, Darren Daulton & Lenny Dykstra. Plus this logo kinda looks like the top of a DQ sundae?

New York Mets

This was the one I always coveted as a kid. I had this and never used it for eating once the sundae was gone. It sat on my shelf of sports collectables for years. My original helmet from the 80s, like many other amazing treasures, is packed away in my mother's attic. Man, I gotta make a trip and get all that stuff someday!

I hope you enjoyed this delicious trip down summer memory lane, I know I did! Gotta take the kids to DQ now! Enjoy Dick Clark talkin bout Blizzards in this ad below!