You may have caught a little news blurb in the past few days about a small plane crash in Rhode Island.  On board that plane, was my best friend, Robert Zoglio.

I’ll put a few links in here to the various stories run locally, but they only tell of his end.  Not how he lived.  Bob worked with me for a major insurance company for the past 8 or so years.  When he joined our IT team back in 2000, I had the utmost pleasure of working with him every day, teaching him how our systems worked.  It is to him that I owe knowing how much I enjoy teaching.  Over the years our friendship grew.  Proximity might have helped, but I think it was more personality.  We just clicked.  Our jobs moved in different directions a few years ago, but we never did.  We still saw each other and talked every day.

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WizKidsGames is no more.  You’ve seen the press release from Topps.  It was on our front news page.  It might even still be here.  The press release says that HeroClix and the other games - Pirates and Star Wars - will continue, just be run out of Topps headquarters in New York.  But just in case…

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This past Saturday my little brother and I hit the Phoenix Toy Show. Before going he asked if it was going to be like Comic-Con. "Well . . . in a mini sort of way," I replied. I had been to this semi-annual show, which is held in a high school gymnasium, before. I try not to miss events like this partly because I want to support the local scene and partly because I think these things are really fun!

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I found myself and my family in Western Connecticut earlier today.  We had planned on visiting a train museum, but it was closed on Tuesdays.  So I asked the guy at the hotel desk for suggestions.  The casino was out because of my kids ages.  Then he mentioned something I had not thought of.  We were only a few miles from New York state.  What about visiting West Point Academy?  I love history.  And so does my wife.  Considering today is Veterans Day, it just made too much sense.

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Please take a few moments today, tonight, this week, to remember and appreciate our veterans. We all know someone is has served, or is currently serving. Maybe a family member, or an acquaintance, a coworker, or a friend. Please make sure you recognize and acknowledge the sacrifices made by these heroes and their families.

 It’s easily my most anticipated line for 2008, so let’s see how MOTUC measures up in this advance review!

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This time it is Mattel which shows its love of the Legion of Doom.

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"Lock the doors and board the windows, Lars Ümlaüt is coming for you. An intimidating presence, the Norwegian-born Ümlaüt describes himself as a force for you to be doing the reckoning with!"

And hence we were introduced to Guitar Hero’s stereotype of the Extreme/Black Metal genre. We’re not talking Hair Bands and Glam Metal. Nor does he represent the punk or alternative scene. We’re narrowing our focus to the blackest of Scandinavian Viking Death Metal! Fans rejoice, you’ve got an action figure.

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Deep in their dark and treacherous swamp, the Legion of Doom plans its next attack…

On your collection!  Ever since the creators of the SuperFriends put together 13 of the galaxy’s vilest villains, this group has been etched in our minds.  Sure, I admit to having difficulty naming all 13 at once, but that does not diminish the overwhelming feeling of awesomeness when I realize that the group has come together once again.  This time, it is WizKids HeroClix game into which the Legion of Doom invades. 

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If you have a Target within driving distance I’m betting you’ve waited outside its doors for the 8 a.m. opening. Its just one of those things we do. Since JLU became a Target "exclusive" I’ve been thinking more about the Big Red Bulls Eye. Here are some random observations and recollections.

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One of the things you notice fairly quickly when you collect this stuff - and take it out of the package -  is how much packaging there really is.  It doesn’t matter the toy or the company, there is still packaging that has to be dealt with.   What do we do with it? 

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One of my current favorite books is  Superman/Batman. The concept seems like a no brainer.  Put DCs top 2 characters in the same book.  Its been done before.  When I was younger, the same concept was called "Worlds Finest."  Sometimes an idea is so good it strikes gold twice.

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For some reason, they won’t let me forget.  I hate the story, "Identity Crisis", in so many ways.  But that is not my issue today.  My issue today is that DC won’t just let me forget it and move on.  This once declared "stand alone story", has become almost a cornerstone of the DCU at this point.  It is referenced almost as often as the founding of the JLA.

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www.NewsArama.com has some reports from the Baltimore Comic Con which was this past weekend.  One of them is from the DC Comics DC Nation panel.  I found one of the comments in there to be very telling.  "Everyone is a Black Lantern."  That’s right, anyone who has died, literally at any time in the DCU could be coming back into the current timeline as a Black Lantern.  I started thinking about this and came up with this list off the top of my head.

GL
Abin Sur - this just makes too much sense.
Alex - Kyle Rayner’s first girlfriend
Jade

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Even though I was resistant at first to leave behind my beloved TNBA figures as a customizing base - finding parts was becoming harder and more expensive - I eventually made the logical transition to JLU figures.

I’ve come to appreciate the JLU figures not just for their simplicity, but also for the very wide selection in head, limb and body parts available.

Partially fuelled by the need to catalog parts for the upcoming AFI repaint contest, I’ve put together this visual guide to help stimulate ideas.

This first part of the guides showcases heads.

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