True Hideaway the Store and the Studio

Well Here we go. As you know from my previous post this blog will be about recording and the new studio True Hideaway studios.  Well first we have to get our store running...that's right STORE.  My friend Shawn has started a Nerd Store...TrueHideaway Family & Gaming.  The store centers around Magic; the Trading Card Game.  We also sell comics and collectibles.  Books, games, and all things Nerdy

These pics show my side of the store where I'm liquidating my collection of comics, action figures and various other nerdy items.

These last two pics are of the service counter and up above you'll see some of my rare and high value comics.  Some of the high value comics include: The "KISS, Marvel Super Specials" from the '70s.  The first one has blood from each member of the band mixed with the red ink.  These were my prize possessions but now I want to build the studio so they must go.  I also have several signed issues of Spider-man, some limited prints and even some old issues of "Howard the Duck."

So If you happen to be near Robinson, Il stop in.  We are located @ 105 N. Court, on the west side of the square.

"Marvel Zombies" Writer - Robert Kirkman Artist - Sean Phillips

"Marvel Zombies"
Writer - Robert Kirkman
Artist - Sean Phillips
Hardcover collection published by Marvel (2006)
136 pages

About 9 years ago I stopped buying comic monthly.  Not any fault of the comic book publishers, but I just had other priorities and I moved to an area where there were no comic book stores (have you noticed it is nearly impossible to find a comic book in any store other than a comic book store, anymore?).   I kept my ear to the ground though so I could keep up with what was going on in my favorite heroes life and some of the other things going on. 

I had heard about the comic book "The Walking Dead" by Robert Kirkman and even read a couple of issues, and loved the story and artwork.  Then when the TV series was announced I immediately commandeered the couch every Sunday night to watch this awesome series.  After all it had zombies, and I LOVE zombies.  The series continues to be great, although this second season had a couple of episodes without seeing a single zombie, so they have me worried.

Anyway this got me intrigued about Robert Kirkman and I looked into what else he had done.  To my surprise he was asked by Ralph Macchio to write a series based on Marvel heroes being zombies, how cool is that?  Well let me tell you pretty darn cool, oh and gory and brutal.   This series was 5 issues long and was hugely popular among the comics crowd.  I of course purchased the hardcover collection which not only features the entire story run, but also includes artwork for all the covers, which are based on classic Marvel comics covers.

The story begins with the heroes in a different dimension having turned to zombies and seeking out flesh to eat for survival.  The problem is, no one is left on earth that has not turned.  Magneto is left behind to fix the situation and he (not a zombie) soon falls prey to the heroes.  With this being their only meal for awhile the heroes fight amongst themselves to get a slice of Magneto meat for sustenance.  The comic then takes a bit of a crossover turn and the Silver Surfer comes to earth as the Herald of Galactus.  With a world of zombies the Surfer decides the world is good for Galactus to devour.  The zombie heroes have other plans, after all eating Galactus would make a great meal. 

The great battle with Galactus and the zombie heroes and even a few zombie villains ensues and well let's just say it gets pretty gory.  Iron Man is only an upper torso, Colonel America (not Captain in this dimension) gets half his head sliced off, but still functions, and the Hulk eats so much that when he shrinks back down to Bruce Banner he bursts his abdomen. 

Fun book and a some good gore for you Marvel and Zombie fans.

Spiderman: The Amazing Spiderman (BBC Radio Collection) Story Adaptation by Dirk Maggs

Spiderman: The Amazing Spiderman (BBC Radio Collection)
Story Adaptation by Dirk Maggs
Multi-cast performance
Produced by BBC Audiobooks Ltd (2002)
Approx 2 hours


I have always been a Spider-Man fan, I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb reading the comics, so when I found this gem I had to give it a listen. In 1995, BBC Radio commissioned a Spider-Man audio book which aired on BBC Radio 1 over 50 episodes on week days between January 15, 1996 and March 24, 1996. The performance was co-produced by Brian May who also contributed to the musical arrangement and wrote and performed the theme tune. Yes, the same Brian May that plays lead guitar for Queen. BBC Audiobooks has taken this production and no made it available as a CD audiobook, I haven't looked yet for any download versions.

The run of the production includes a number of familiar characters from the Spider-Man comic books as well as key figures from the Marvel "Heroes" universe such as Fantastic Four, Namor the Submariner, and Doctor Doom. This is a re-telling of the origin of Spider-Man, not exactly as Stan Lee originally wrote it, but pretty darn close. In this version rather than Peter Parker going to a demonstration of Atomic energy (pretty dated sounding, right), he is conducting an experiment at the high school using low level radiation, but a spider gets in the mix and bites our hero. Very similar to the origin the story continues with Peter Parker calling Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, of the Fantastic 4 to ask for help, after all he thinks he's turning into a spider.

After finding out the Fantastic 4 are out of office he decides he needs to make some money and goes on the TV circuit performing feats of spider-like ability. After a criminal kills his Uncle Ben, Peter then takes up the crime-fighting mantle. The play then brings on such villains as; the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, the Sandman, Prince Namor (hero/villain) and Dr. Doom.

My only complaint is that not once in the performance does Peter Parker/Spider-Man's line that is his raison d'etre come out. You know the one, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Stan Lee has been known to say that when he first came up with the phrase for Spidey, it sounded cheesy, but, it is a great life-lesson. But the Brits decided to leave it out of the production. I won't fault them too much because this was fun to hear.

The role of Spider-Man was performed by William Dufries. Also included in the cast list was EastEnders star Anita Dobson. The entire cast and the production meld to make a great comic book to audio book adaptation.

Howard The Duck (Trade Paperback) by Steve Gerber Published 2002 by Marvel Comics

Howard The Duck (Trade Paperback)
by Steve Gerber
Published 2002 by Marvel Comics


When I first started "seriously" collecting comics I was collecting Spider-Man and anything by Todd McFarlane, including his Spider-Man stuff. I then realized that the rock band KISS had some comics, so I sought out the 2 Marvel Kiss comics and then Marvel's Kissnation. I did some further research and found that the very first appearance of KISS in comics was in issue 13 of the original "Howard the Duck." This issue also featured Spider-Man so it was a win-win. I soon found out that it was a win-win-win, because the issue revealed the subtleties of Howard the Duck and his troubled life. When I was younger I remember seeing my dad read a couple issues of the comic, I tried but being a kid, I just didn't get it then. Howard was a political-social commentary comic book, and at the time was a bit over my head. But then reading those back issues in my adult life, I found some very creative writing and some funny stuff.

Fast forward to the late 90s and I'm struggling to keep up with all the comics I want to collect. Spider-Man has about 7 different titles, Todd Mcfarlane has branched out and KISS launches another comic book under the Vertigo comics label. I'm starting to get tired of collecting, keeping up seems to be work and the fun has gone out of the reading because of this. In 2002 I learn that Marvel is relaunching the "Howard the Duck" series and this time they'll do it some extra justice because they are releasing it under the Max list of titles. The Max sub branch are a bit darker and definitely more adult themed. For starters the characters can use the "F-word." But alas at this time the comics industry has burned me out and I just quit buying comics.

Now this series only lasted 6 issues and I never gave it a chance, so when I see the trade paperback compiling all 6 issues into one I had to pick it up and see what I missed. I'm glad I did. No, it didn't get me back into collecting again but it did provide a great time reading a funny social satire in the form of a comic book. I thought it very weird that the cover had a picture of a mouse in a Howard costume (including the inevitable cigar) but that was soon explained.

Before I talk about the storyline in this one I should maybe give a little background on Howard. Years ago Howard was down in the dumps and about to commit suicide when he was sucked into some sort of space time vortex that transported him from his alternative planet where the dominant sentient life form was evolved from ducks, not apes. He finds himself crash landed in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Here he is befriended by Beverly Switzer. Through many adventures he and Beverly become pretty close but a human and a duck in love? That's just wrong. During one of these adventures Beverly is tricked into marrying Dr. Bong ( a bell headed evil villain).

So life continues for Howard & Beverly in the year 2002 and they find themselves living in a shack in a junkyard, because they can't find jobs. Beverly is then offered a job paying $125,000 a year. It all sounds too good to be true, well, that's because it is. The job is weird in that they are testing the appeal of boy bands on gay men. Well if a member of a new boy band doesn't test high enough, his body is thrown back into the DNA tank and an new band member is manufactured. Oh yeah and the C.E.O. of this company, Howard's arch-nemesis, Dr. Bong. Dr. Bong basically only hired Beverly to try to win her back.

Things get even weirder when Howard confronts Dr. Bong at the testing labs/DNA labs and Howard is thrown into one of the DNA tanks. Howard is turned into a Rat, er..uh, a mouse. Howard's DNA becomes unstable and soon Dr. Bong makes one final attempt at getting Beverly back by calling homeland security and telling them Osama el-Braka is hiding in the junkyard. After the army and girl scouts destroy the shack they find that there is no Osama or a duck (remember, Howard's a mouse now) so they apologize and leave. But this leaves the pair homeless.

Beverly and Howard end up staying at a metaphysical halfway house full of strange beings and then making an appearance on the Iprah show with guest Dr. Phlip. Iprah becomes posessed by Deuteronomy a heavenly experiment gone wrong, that was supposed to replace God because he's on a bender on Earth. Howard then learns the truth of existence and is told the secrets of God, Earth and Life.

Very entertaining stuff here, great social commentary and very unique looks at religion and government. Another aspect to remember is that this is a comic book so there are some pictures to look at as well. And as is tradition with any Howard the Duck comic, look closely at all the frames in the comics and you'll see many hidden pictures and further commentary. Oh yeah KISS makes an appearance in this collection as well.

The Fantastic Four Radio Series

The Fantastic Four Radio Series
Originally broadcast in 1975
13 Episodes.


Okay I have been listening to the Graphic Audio productions of DC comics' Justice League novels. I was never really a fan of DC comics but these audio book productions are out of this world and I fell in love with the unique story telling combined with the production work. Being a fan of Marvel comics I wanted to look and see if there were any Marvel audio book productions that could equal these DC stories done by Graphic Audio. My first place to look the internets (sic ... inside joke).
I have come to find that the Internet contains the sum total of human knowledge, organized like the bottom of a teenager's closet, and with that knowledge I ran into some information that I couldn't believe; in 1975 Marvel comics had a weekly radio show featuring the Fantastic 4.

Now in discovering this I had to find the audio and one of the places that had mp3 files of the the actual radio broadcasts was the Internet Archive site http://www.archive.org/details/FantasticFour-10Episodes the problem with this was that this site only had 10 episodes and there were 13. I finally tracked all 13 episodes downloaded them on my iPod and had myself a Retro-Blast.

I've said before that Americans need more radio theatre and in doing my research it seems as though the 80s was the last radio theatre we had here in the U.S. of A. But maybe I can find ways to get that going again. Any investors out there? I think the comics world would be the perfect place to start.

Okay let's talk about this radio series. In listening to the series there are two great treats/surprises. These surprises are 2 of the voices in the series. First is none other than Smilin' Stan Lee as the host / narrator of the program. It is so great to hear Stan telling these stories, his voice really pushes the excitement along with the sound effects and dialogue. The other surprise is a very young Bill Murray as the Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Yes the same Bill Murray from Saturday Night Live (the talented years), Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Rushmore. Before SNL Murray was performing with the National Lampoon Radio so the voice talent was already known. There is one scene in which the the Fantastic 4 are returning from an adventure on the moon and what seems like some ad-libbing by Human Torch and The Thing, some very funny things are said, but you have to listen close because it is in the background.

The rest of the cast consists of:
Bob Maxwell....Mr.. Fantastic
Cynthia Adler...The Invisible Woman
Jim Pappas...The Thing
Jerry Terheyden...Doctor Doom

Many of the heroes and villains met in this series are:
Nick Fury, Ant-Man, Namor, The Hulk, The Puppet Master, The Watcher, Skrulls & the Super Skrull, The Moleman, the Hatemonger, The Red Ghost, and the Miracle man.

Here's the link once again for the internet archive site with the episodes:
http://www.archive.org/details/FantasticFour-10Episodes

Do yourself a favor and download these fun stories...most are based on actual Fantastic Four comic issues from the Silver age of comics.