We here at ONCE UPON A GEEK wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas and a happy holidays! To help celebrate, please enjoy the DC Comics snowball extravaganza below. Click the image to enlarge.
We here at ONCE UPON A GEEK wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas Eve! To help celebrate, please enjoy these holiday-themed comic book covers. Last year I posted 25 Santa-themed covers which you can see by clicking here. You can also find another 23 holiday related covers I posted last year by clicking here. Below you’ll find a few more I’ve come across within the past year.
The ones below are from this year. You’ll notice they don’t have the typical logos because I pulled the artwork directly from the publisher’s web sites.
DC Holiday Special 2009
Fall of the Hulks Gamma & Hulk #18 variant covers combined. Click the image below to enlarge.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12
Super Friends #22
Just thought I would share some of the geeky Christmas ornaments that adorn our tree.
I love the Spider-Man ornament below. It’s got great detailing and the webs in each hand are cool!
Below is a cute Santa-Spidey!
You can find a nice Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine below, complete with rolling wheels, Christmas tree on top, and Scooby in bas-relief.
Scooby-Doo the reindeer.
Scooby baking Christmas cookies in the shape of himself and Shaggy!
Below is a miniaturized replica of a Scooby-Doo metal lunchbox. Unfortunately, my three year old daughter has pilfered the thermos that went with it.
Below is an interesting Batman and Robin pairing. Robin is clearly the Tim Drake Robin, but Batman isn’t wearing blue trunks. That suggests this is the Batman from shortly after the Troika storyline in 1995. … Wow, it’s scary I know things like that.
Here is a genuine E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial ornament from 1982. Somehow I’ve managed to hang on to it all this time.
Here is another E.T. ornament from 1982 I’ve somehow managed not to lose. This one is handmade. I believe my mother bought it at a craft show in 1982.
Below is another miniaturized replica metal lunchbox. This time it’s from the Super Friends, including images of Flash, Batgirl, Green Arrow, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Hawkman, and Green Lantern. The thermos features Catwoman, the Joker, and the Riddler. Oddly enough I don’t believe Batgirl or Green Arrow ever appeared on the Super Friends show, and yet they made the lunch box. Weird.
Below the likeness of Barry Allen, The Flash, is captured between the seconds as he races to beat 20 years of continuity and come back from the dead.
Superman from the Animated Series is delivering Christmas toys in this cool ornament below.
Another miniature replica metal lunchbox below. This time it’s a Superman lunchbox paying homage to the cover of Action Comics #1.
Below is a clever Clark Kent ornament. Notice the detail of the coat hanger and the jacket. Nicely done!
Finally, my favorite geek ornament… Super Santa! Another gift from my mother from my childhood. I like the crossover between Superman and Santa Claus.
Happy Holidays!
I’m a big believer that Christmas decorations should not be put out until at least December 1. Not the day after Thanksgiving, and definitely not right after Halloween. Call me old fashioned, but for me December 1st marks the beginning of Christmas season. That means starting today LET THE TINSEL FLY!
This Christmas us geeks have some new decorations to consider: the Yoda Tree Topper, and the Yoda Holiday Light Set! I mean, c’mon, nothing says Christmas like a 900 year old Jedi Master with a light-up lightsaber. The tree topper measures 12″H x 6″W x 6″D, but remember size matters not. You can find these items through online retailers and at your local Target.
Thanks to my friend Jon from The Unique Geek for sending me these pics!
All in all, it was a good Christmas. The kids woke up to a nice haul on Christmas morning and everyone seemed to enjoy the day. We also visited with some in-laws that came by, and that seemed to go well. On the whole, it was an enjoyable day with less stress than expected.
I got lots of various gifts (clothes, pajamas, tools, etc). In the geek gift department I did pretty good. As I’ve mentioned before, I got myself a new Netbook for Christmas. My wife got me the new Dark Knight DVD, as well as a USB handheld massager. I can’t wait to try out the massager! My step-son got me Iron Man and Thor toys from the Marvel Super-Hero Squad line. Really cute toys.
My good friend Ed got me the Doctor Who t-shirt below for Christmas. It’s freakin’ awesome! Even my wife completely understood the statement the moment she read it. It’s really true! When you become a fan of the show, you become somewhat attached to the lead actor. When they leave the show and are replaced, most people have a really hard time adjusting to the new actor. I know I had a really hard time adjusting from Tom Baker to Peter Davison. Unfortunately, I can guarantee I’ll have a hard time adjusting from David Tennant to anyone else. I’m not looking forward to that. 
Oh yeah, I got Moes and Firehouse gift cards too! Yummy!
I hope you had a fantastically geeky holiday too!
Merry Christmas! To help keep you in the spirit of things, please enjoy these Christmas-related comic book covers. To see yesterday’s Santa Claus comic book covers click here. Merry Geekmas!
We here at ONCE UPON A GEEK wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas Eve! To help celebrate, please enjoy these comic book covers featuring Santa Claus. Come back tomorrow for even more Christmas-related covers.
Crazy! Who knew the Kryptonian and the Kringle were so tight?!?!?
“Don’t worry, Batman, I got this end. Seriously, no worries. You go ahead and take it easy. I’m almost twelve now – I don’t mind helping this reclusive old man who sneaks into children’s homes at night.”
Giddy Up, Big Red Cheese!
“We’re sorry, Mr. Kringle. It appears your dry cleaning got mixed up with Mr. Wayne’s. If you can come back after Christmas, I’m sure we can get this sorted out.”
“Umm… Shazam, that suit isn’t really working for you. Sorry to be the one to tell you. I mean, I’m sure Santa appreciates the help and all. I’m just saying a couple hours on the Ab-Rocket might do you some good.”
What exactly ARE they feeding Santa up at the North Pole?!?!?! Miracle-Gro?
Every year it’s the same thing… the rest of the Justice League help Santa make the toys, while Superman gets smashed on Eggnog with the creepy looking elf. Real nice, Kal.
Remember when special edition comics were expensively priced at $1?
Some comics think it’s funny to depict Santa as the victim of some horrible crime. Dude, that’s not cool. You don’t mess with the Claus.
And of course there are the Santa-as-a-villain stories…
And finally, my personal favorite. A Rockwell-inspired JSA cover. Gorgeous!
This year I decided the whole family should watch It’s a Wonderful Life together. I was the only one in the family that had seen the movie before. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the greatest holiday and “feel good” movies ever made. If you’ve never seen it, be sure to watch it this holiday season. It’s not short and it seems slow the first time through, but all the events in the early portion of the movie really pay off at the end. I tell ya, I shed some man-tears at the film’s climax every time when the town comes together to help George Bailey.
How did my family enjoy it? Well… my two and a half year old daughter was asleep within 20 minutes, my wife lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but my nine year old step-son made it the whole way though. Overall I think he really enjoyed the movie. I had to explain/recap some as we went along because kids at that age don’t really listen to dialogue for major plot points. However, the acting and direction of the movie was clear enough that he understood most of what was going on. When the film first started, he sort of freaked out that it was in black-and-white. To him that format equals instant boredom. However, I think the opening scenes kept his interest because they started out with George Bailey as a kid (it was easier for my step-son to relate to another kid).
Years ago I picked up an unedited black-and-white copy of the movie upon the recommendation of my old friend Serv. He said forget all that colorized nonsense and watch it in the original form. He was right. You really get so much more out of the black-and-white version.
Watching the film again, I was really impressed with what a good job Frank Capra did directing this film. The direction really shines when everything goes wrong for George. The changes in the music, lighting, motion, and acting really stand out. It’s almost as if it’s a completely different movie. This movie was released in 1947 and 41 years later it’s still captivating!
Jimmy Stewart is an amazing actor. He was absolutely brilliant. He’s such a likable character in the beginning, and then his intensity later was enough to scare my step-son. Some of those shots of his wild eyes are just awesome.
When the movie was over, the first thing my step-son said was, “What about Mr. Potter? He got away with the money and he still owns everything.” I thought that was pretty perceptive of him. They never really address the issue that Mr. Potter caused all this havoc in George’s life and got away scott-free. Several years ago, Saturday Night Live realized the same thing and performed the “Lost Ending” to It’s a Wonderful Life…
Click here if you can’t view the embedded video
I love that skit. Everything is funnier with violence. 
And if you’re wondering how this movie qualifies to be featured on a geek-related blog… The policeman and the cab driver are named “Bert” and “Ernie”. There were rumors that supposedly Jim Henson got the names for those famous Sesame Street Muppets from this movie. However, nowadays the party line is that it was a coincidence. My opinion? Henson got the names from It’s a Wonderful Life, but the current Henson Company doesn’t want to risk a lawsuit. There’s your Six Degrees of Geek Separation.
If that’s not enough geek for you then check out these Star Trek Bloopers. Watch for Brent Spiner’s Jimmy Stewart impersonation around the 1 minute mark.
Click here if you can’t view the embedded video
Merry Geekmas!
Only three days until the Doctor Who Christmas Special, “The Next Doctor”! I can’t wait! Here are the first couple minutes of the episode.
And here is a fun holiday-related image I found at HeroPress.net. It comes from SFX Magazine.
Merry Geekmas!
Okay, I’ve shared my thoughts on the Sentry here before. You can read them by clicking here. However, hope was renewed when I saw the cover of the upcoming Punisher #1.
While I don’t truly believe they’ll kill the Sentry, you can’t fault a guy for hoping.
A place for all things geek... ONCE UPON A GEEK is a Monday-Friday blog that focuses on a variety of geeky topics, including: comic books, Doctor Who, Star Wars (classic and legacy characters), role-playing, 80’s TV shows, and science fiction in general. However, any topic is really fair game. Don't forget to share your thoughts by adding comments!
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