Why did the original Silver Surfer run fail? #1-18

A little more than two years after the first book hit the stands it was part of a Marvel wave of cancellations due to poor sales (Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, and The Silver Surfer) and suspensions (X-Men & Captain Marvel) and it was gone. I can’t say I was that sorry to see him go. What happened? There are a gazillion reasons and theories why the Surfer failed in his first solo effort. I will list some of my own reasons I thought the book failed and then we will take a look at the high’s and lows of the run itself. For anybody who thinks this run is not a failure I say this – when you are cancelled and the Sub-Mariner continues you have done something wrong.
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Bus Griffiths

  On the front cover of Canada’s first comic book, Better Comics No. 1 (March, 1941), Vancouver’s Maple Leaf Publications chooses a stylized maple leaf containing the words “Canada’s Own” to be its logo. These words broadcast the mission mandate…

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Undervalued Spotlight #203

Daredevil #53, Marvel Comics, (June 1969). When I think of Daredevil comics to invest in I usually don’t go back to the sixties in my search. The Daredevil we know now was really born, like the X-Men in the bronze age of comics. The Black Widow team-ups, Death Stalker (formerly, The Exterminator), Bullseye, Elektra, and the Kingpin weren’t part of his life back then. Neither was Frank Miller...
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X-Men Days of Future Past

One of the benefits of discussing movies after their release date is that you can actually talk about things. So, as is custom, here is your spoiler warning: do not read any further if you haven't seen X-Men Days of Future Past yet and would like to be surprised when you get a Bluray in your stocking at Christmas. For everyone else I thought I'd share some thoughts on the flick, the franchise, and comic book movies in general.
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Clayton Dexter

Few people know, however, that Clayton Dexter is a pseudonym for Howard Buchanan Cowan; thanks to Howard’s son Glen for this information and other biographical details. He was born in 1918 in Toronto to a well-known Dentist Father, William A. Cowan, who practiced on Bloor Street. Howard received some art training at Humberside College and after graduating in 1939 wanted to pursue further art studies but received no support from his father who seemed not to see much of a future in this and ideally wanted his son to become a dentist.
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Conan The Rogue

One of the best examples of Big John Buscema's Conan is probably the one that has been seen by fewer fans than any other. In 1991 Marvel released the graphic novel "Conan the Rogue" which was a story that was plotted, penciled, inked and coloured by Big John Buscema. He got his long time collaborator Roy Thomas to script the story, which he had plotted and oh what a job these two did on this book! It had a relatively low print run and was never really promoted from what I understand.
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Burlington Toy Show – June 1, 2014

Yesterday I attended the summer edition of the Burlington Toy Show (presented by RPG Events). This edition of the BTS featured a wide variety vendors selling all sorts of toys and collectibles from new to vintage classic toys. Actually... a lot of vintage and classic toys. There seems to be a trend at the local toy show circuit of late 80's/early 90's toys making an appearance. I have been finding more and more C.O.P.S., Dick Tracy and MASK toys. Dick Tracy wasn't as popular as expected in the 90's, but the toys are very stylistic and cool. Plus you can collect the complete series of figures right now at various shows, for as little as $5 each.
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