The Nerdy Dozen: Shopping Tips for the DC Fan on your list

Sadly the holiday season is upon us and that means gatherings, shopping and gift giving for a variety of friends, co-workers and family. If you are lucky, you have some nerds on your list so you can buy some fun stuff and not just suffer in stores you don’t like all season. With that in mind, here is a helpful list of some fun items featuring or inspired by DC Comics characters for the bat-fanatic on your list in escalating price order.

12) Who doesn’t love Legos?

And who doesn’t wish they had their own Batmobile? You can combine these two ideas into one very cheap gift this holiday season since Target is selling these special little build-a-Batmobile kits for just a couple of bucks! Batmobiles for everybody!!!

11) Who doesn’t love Pez?

Well not everybody, but I’m sure you have someone on your list that likes it. Everyone also has people on their list they want or need to get something for but on the cheap. Something like character based Pez dispensers are inexpensive and even somewhat thoughtful if you pick an appropriate character. It says “hey I like you enough to know you love Batman but not enough to spend more than $5”, and there is nothing wrong with saying those things.

10) Everybody drinks something right?

Not everyone drinks coffee but everyone seems to have coffee mugs. Or perhaps a beer mug, shot glass or for the healthier types a fancy water bottle is more their speed. Which ever beverage direction you choose to travel, the point is you can be geeky about it. If they love Batman you could probably fill their entire cabinet with various bat-drinking vessels.

9) Want to give that special someone something really creepy?

The Joker is going to be all over the bat-books this winter and is usually pretty popular anyway, so for someone you like but want to torment, how about this super creepy Joker plush doll? Seriously is this thing not one of the creepiest looking toys you’ve ever seen? “Merry Christmas and good luck sleeping with this thing in your bedroom!”

8) The Dark Knight Rises! Available now on Blu-Ray & DVD!

If you have someone on your list that liked this movie and does not own it, and your price range for them is $20-30, just go ahead and buy this. Not everyone loved the movie to pieces, at least as much as The Dark Knight, but if they’ve got the other 2 Nolan bat-flicks I’m sure they’ll want the full set.

7) Support their favorite comic shop!

Gift certificates are not bad gifts, because even gift certificates can be thoughtful. Giving someone a gift card to their favorite restaurant or in this case their favorite comic shop means you want to treat them to something you know they’d really enjoy. Plus it can be really difficult to buy a comic fan a book or trade that they don’t have, so giving them the funds to do that themselves is a good present.

6) Do the people on your list have walls?

So as you may or may not know, DC has launched a fancy new webstore filled with goodies. To me the best thing on this site is this selection and I am sure you can find something for the DCU fan on your list!

5) Send them to Oa!

Not really, but you could sorta bring Oa to them thanks to this awesome Fisher Price Imaginext Oa playset from their DC Super Friends line of toys. You and your pals (or some kids I guess) could have all sort of awesome battles defending Oa from deadly enemies like Sinestro or executives from Warner Brothers.

4) Buy them a pair of Converse!

If you know their shoe size and like them enough to spend the money, you could buy one of your pals their very own DC hero or villain themed kicks. These certainly aren’t for everyone but they are pretty cool and very geeky. Just remember, no one likes returning things, so make sure you get the right size.

3) Who didn’t love that Mortal Kombat vs DCU game?

A lot of people actually. But that still didn’t stop the folks at Warner Brothers from green lighting another DCU fighting game produced by NeatherRealm Studios called Injustice: Gods Among Us. Thankfully they did not included the kids from Mortal Kombat again, however it does seems to be the same styled game. So if you’ve got a gamer who is a DC fan on your list you could give them this, but only if they already have both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.

2) Help them join the Green Lantern Corps! 

DC likes characters to have rings. Rings to keep their uniforms in, rings to help them fly, secret decoder rings and most of all “power” rings of various colors. This Christmas you could give someone on your list the power to be a colored lantern person of their choice! DC has and continues to release various replicas of Green (and other color) Lantern power rings and batteries so you will have numerous to decide from or hunt for of various prices even the movie prop pictured for around $150.

1) Buy them a “real” Batmobile!

Sort of, at least more real than the Lego version on this list. Kia has announced a series of DCU themed Kias starting with a Batmobile themed 2013 Kia Optima SX Limited. Eventually the other members of the new 52 Justice League will get their own Kias as well, but since Batman is the only one who actually uses a car I guess it made since his would be released first. This would have to be for someone very special on your Christmas list because from what I hear one of these is likely to cost you between $35,000 and $40,000.

So there you have it, a holiday and DC themed edition of the Dollar Bin’s Nerdy Dozen. Remember that during this celebrated season it is a time of sharing so please share this article or anything on our site with others. Also try to remember that it is better to give than to receive, so if possible when you’re out buying toys for your favorite geeks, remember to donate to organizations like Toys for Tots!

Episode 287: Remembering Spider-Man

The Dollar Bin is bringing you a packed house tonight.  It looks like everyone has something to say about you friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.  Join us as we discuss comics’ very own web head and help us celebrate the coming of Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man 700.

Runtime 47 minutes 11 seconds

Episode 287: Remembering Spider-Man

Episode 286: It's a Geek Knock Life

This week on the Dollar Bin Adam, Brian, and Danny talk geek.  What does that mean?  Well, that’s exactly what we plan to find out.  Join us as we discuss the term geek and its connotations.  Who the biggest geek of all?  You will just have to listen and find out.  Hint:  It’s you.

Runtime 38 minutes 12 seconds

Episode 286: It's a Geek Knock Life

Ranting Out A Review: Bedlam

The Price:

I don’t normally buy the floppies anymore but decided to give this debut issue a look. The $3.50 cover price might give you a moment of pause, but that price is a steal considering that you get 48 pages of story and Marvel and DC routinely charge $3.99 for 20 something pages. Not to mention that all 48 pages are story with zero ads!

The Format:

I don’t consider myself any sort of expert in paper quality, but this seemed like better quality than your standard DC or Marvel release as well. But after consulting with myself, I seem to be of the opinion that most of the Image books I read could also make that claim. The exterior and interior pages are of the slick finish variety with the cover being just a bit thicker than the pages. Bonus points for no ink smudges on the book or my fingers when I was finished reading.

The Story:

Bedlam is the place in which the book’s story takes place and I’m sure a description of some of the moments as well. The tag-line on the cover reads: “Is evil just something you are or something you do?” and seems to set the table pretty well. The main focus of the issue is establishing the character Madder Red, a serial killer or super villain depending on how you’d like to label him. Things seem to be happening to him in a few different time frames and the order in which these happened confused me a bit but this feels like it will be his story one way or another.

The Art:

The interior art was provided by Riley Rossmo with colors by Jean-Paul Csuka. I really enjoyed the look and style of this issue’s art work. The coloring is mostly black and white with a lot of red mixed in for dramatic effect. This is certainly not something I’d appreciate in a lot of books but in this case I think it is a great choice and it really helps to set the tone for the story. I think that most of the current top books with Image have a certain artistic style that help them stand out from other titles and perhaps this will be “the look” for this series as well.

The Writing:

Nick Spencer is handling the writing for this series and I think a good bit of the buzz surrounding this issue’s release is because of his successes with titles like Morning Glories and Thief of Thieves. Having recently been announced as the writer for the soon to be relaunched (again) Ultimate X-Men series, my guess is that the buzz surrounding his books will continue to grow. Even with the art style standing out in this issue, the writing does not take a back seat, in fact at times it seems pretty dialogue heavy. But I don’t mean that in a negative way, because for me the best moments in the book are in these word balloon heavy dramatic monologue scenes. And I think those scenes make me want to continue the story more than anything else this issue had to offer.

The Rant:

As the pieces to the lead character’s puzzle become clearer (hopefully) in the issues to come, I might even look back on some of my confusion as a better set-up than I do right now. This is not a perfect first issue, but it is a very nice start of what could be a very interesting series given the advertised premise. The subject matter does interest me, especially since you are not likely to see them covered by a name brand with a name villain. No big complaints from me here and major kudos for the page count and lack of ads in the book. I wish more titles from any company would go this big for their debut issues.

The Verdict:

I give this first issue a thumbs up with the idea to check back in with it after the first trade is released. It didn’t knock me off my feet enough to drive me to the shop every month to gather it in single issue form, but then again not much does these days. If you dig the art style and have interest in the concept of evil or the subject of serial killers, I recommend you give this series a look.

Ranting Out A Review: Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe

The Price:

As usual I used store credit at my local comic shop (and former employer) to purchase this book so the cover price of $14.99 wasn’t a big issue for me. However, considering that the cover price on the original issues was $2.99, this collection of a 4 issue mini-series is actually more expensive than the single issues. So much for waiting for the trade to save a few bucks…

The Format:

This is just the standard Marvel series trade release. There are no frills and only a few pages of covers, layouts and scripts to pass for special features. And did I mention that it is actually more expensive than the single issues?

The Story:

If you are familiar with the character Deadpool, you are probably aware that he is known to “break the fourth wall” in his comic book and video game travels. This story is essentially about that, except not for a moment of comedy, but instead for the basis of the plot itself. The basics are that Deadpool either goes sane or even crazier depending on how you look at it, and tries to rebel against his controllers by killing his way out of the Marvel Universe.

The Art:

The art work provided by Dalibor Talajic is probably right in line with the tone set for the story. I guess I’d describe the look as more edgy or indy super hero than cartoony or standard super hero. For me the art is neither a selling point nor a detraction from the series. It fits the story but it isn’t going to find its way onto my favorites list.

The Writing:

I am not super familiar with Cullen Bunn’s work and can’t say that this trade will lead me to seek out more of it. He obviously gets the basic dynamic of the character but that is used very little as the story quickly goes off the rails and into the “what if” mode that changes the character. That change is the story and it wasn’t something I found all that compelling.

The Rant:

This is not really a standard Deadpool story built around comedy, his failures with trying to kill himself or even his path to better himself in his own unique way. This is basically an attempt to take a comedy plot device (his breaking of the fourth wall) and turn it into a different take on the character’s issues. The blurb on the back of the trade labels the tale as disturbing and even calls it a horror comic. I’m not sure I would go that far because it all seems sort of deadpan to me. There is no suspense built into the completion of his mission and other than a few “Saw-esque” traps, not really disturbing moments given the title of the book. I don’t think the story gives you a reason to really care about what is going on or any swerves or surprises to keep you interested. I hate to be this harsh, but if you’ve read the title, you’ve already read the book.

The Verdict:

I picked this up specifically to write this review because I like Deadpool and it seemed to get a lot of buzz when it was released. It has a few panels that are sure to be favorites on Tumblr filled with smart/snarky comic book references, but I would not label this as a funny book. In fact, I wouldn’t even say it is a fun book. More or less this is just a book about Deadpool killing a bunch of other characters while alluding to the fact that he knows you’re reading him do this. I honestly wouldn’t recommend buying this unless you are just a die-hard Deadpool fan. But if you must seek out this series, do yourself a favor and save a couple of bucks by getting the floppies instead of the trade.

HeroesCon 2012: The Interviews

While Adam, Devin, Shawn, and Ted were up in the panel rooms managing the sound for 73 panels Brian was holding down the fort at home base as well as hitting the isles hard with true journalism.  Listen here as he grills Jackie Lewis and Yale Stewart.

Runtime 19 minutes 49 seconds

HeroesCon 2012: The Interviews