] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Sunday, December 31, 2006

From the Gates of Hell - mid 90s

sgBecause you demanded it!

I thought why not end 2006 with a bang by posting this, easily the most disturbing piece of Aquaman merch, ever. This...thing was discovered by me at a dealer's table at the San Diego Comic Con either in 1998 or 1999. I don't remember how much it cost. Whatever it was, I underpaid.

I remember showing this to my pal Sean Tiffany right after I got it, and he found it repulsive yet compelling. I left it on the dresser back in our hotel room (there were several of us all piled in there) and every morning, there it was, with Aquaman's unsettlingly-feminine mouth agape dominating the proceedings.

We had a real blast going to those SD cons (in fact, the one year Sean didn't make it was decidedly less fun), and this piece, as weird as it is, always takes me back to those fun times, reading/talking/searching for comics all day, and then drinking/carousing/laughing all night in the warm San Diego environs.

I probably couldn't get this onto the plane home nowadays.

...see you all in 2007!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha-ZAAAAA! My favorite piece of Aquaman merchandise FINALLY makes it into the blog!

Man, that piece still repulses and compels me. I want to look away but I just can't help staring at it!

I think I would attach it to the front of my car. That way, if I was ever to mow down some innocent pedestrian, the last thing they would see is a frightened Aquaman, with an apt look on his face, before they died. That alone would be a funny image to take to the great beyond with you.

And, if you ever ever kick the bucket, this is the one piece of Aquaman you own that I would want. Not so much to remember the king of the seas, but you remember my friend, Rob Kelly.

I miss those San Diego days too. Those were so much fun and I never realized how much I missed them until recently. But, maybe when I get OilCan Drive rolling again we can go do some more cons!

Oh, and to let you know, I was so moved and awe struck by the Justice League New Frontier books by Darwyn Cooke that I got the complete set of DC Direct figures on EBay tonight. I haven't purchased an action figure in years and now look what you've started.

And, after I bought them, I went to the DC Direct website (because, man they have a lot of cool figures) and saw some of the upcoming Aquaman sculpts due out next year. That Kingdom Come Aquaman has your name written all over it! In fact, I think you should buy two, and convert one into a Rob Kelly action figure. Because, to me, if you somehow someday figure out a way to grow your hair like Arthur's, I think you'll look like that when you grow up :)

rob! said...

your welcome. :)

happy '07!

Plaidstallions said...

I was wondering when you'd get to these things, there is another one as i recall. I used to see these in China town, I have the Captain America.

rob! said...

i would not want to see the Sentinel of Liberty portrayed with a big sensuous mouth. :(

Doug Slack said...

That was the year I hitched along, '98. That thing still haunts my dreams. Someday scientists will decipher the mystery of the crab bib. Someday.