Aquaman Greeting Card

F.O.A.M.er Chris Bern sent shots of this nifty Aquaman greeting card his super-cool wife picked up for him. You get a whole slice o'Aqua-history right here, what with stock art poses by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (PBHN), Dick Giordano, Jerry Ordway, even Curt Swan! Plus some nifty pins!

Outrageous, thanks Chris!

Mego WGSH Ruler

F.O.A.M.er Brian Heiler was kind enough to feature the Aquaman Pencil Sharpener over on his world-famous Plaid Stallions blog earlier in the month. Right after I sent him the pic of the item, Brian returned the favor by showing me this, a Mego WGSH-style ruler!

As Brian surmises over on PS, this is most likely a foreign knock-off, not an actual licensed product. Too bad, I would have happily drawn my straight lines with the help of the Sea King and his pals. Thanks Brian!

DC Super Friends Easter Card

F.O.A.M.er Brent Almond sent in these scans of a DC Super Friends Easter card, which does double-duty as a mini-activity book!

Here's what Brent said about finding it: "I was at CVS shopping with my son and he saw this card and demanded I buy it for him. :) I was able to get a few photos of it before he colored it in (on the back) and mangled it completely, but not before he smushed the cover a little (hence the slightly off-kilter appearance). Anyhoo, this is the first Super Friends card I've seen that featured Aquaman, and it's got all kinds of fun actives and you can color in the entire back."

Very fun, and I hope Li'l Almond enjoyed it! Thanks Brent!

Aquaman for $1.99 at Target

This is F.O.A.M.er Nick Allen, who just nabbed this cool-o JLA-style notebook at Target for only $1.99!

The Shrine has posted others in this series before, but this one's new to me. Nice get, Nick, and thanks for sharing!

JLA #217 Spiral Notebook

Courtesy our newest F.O.A.M.er Mike Lynn is this shot of the spiral notebook featuring the awesome George Perez cover to Justice League of America #217, which is getting a lot of use on DC Originals stuff lately. I love the addition of the Happy Meal Aquaman figure, and what looks like the backside of a dog or cat in the upper right (given its seeming indifference to what's going on, I'd say cat).

F.O.A.M.er Shag Matthews sent me and other character-specific bloggers pics of these DC Originals products a week or so ago, but I hadn't gotten the chance to post them yet. Since Shag is a F.O.A.M.er several times over, I thought it'd be more fun to induct another member into F.O.A.M.'s hallowed halls with the JLA notebook.

Thanks Mike, and welcome to FOAM!

DC Originals Book Cover

Now here's a weird item which apparently started hitting shelves a few weeks ago--a DC Originals book cover, featuring the cover to Justice League of America #217 on the front!

A bunch of F.O.A.M.ers sent me emails about it, but Christopher Chance was the first one to send an image (thanks to Chris and to everyone else who clued me in). I was going to wait until I bought one of these for myself to do a post on it, but the only store in my area that carries this stuff is Target, and I'm a little peeved at them right now...

Anyway, apparently the back cover is of Justice League of America #137, an odd choice (and since Aquaman isn't on that one, we can of course completely dismiss it). The front cover, by George Perez, is a great image to use, though I bet non-comics fans see this and think "Where's Batman?"

Brave and the Bold Greeting Card

F.O.A.M.er John Lijewksi III sent me scans of this awesome (thought I was going to say outrageous, didn't you?) Brave and the Bold-themed greeting card featuring Batman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman!

At top you see what the card looks like folded, and then as it opens it turns into three connected panels, one hero on each:

The back of the card features a group shot of most of the Brave and the Bold "regulars"--all in all, a really handsome, fun card. I'd love it if someone sent me this for my birthday. Ideally with money inside!

Very cool, thanks John!

Spiral Notebook - 2008

During my round-up of "DC Originals" notebooks a few months ago, I somehow forgot to post this one, probably my favorite of all of them--a very exciting collage of Aquaman, Batman, Flash, and Superman stock art poses by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez!

I especially like the white halftone effect behind all the heroes, it gives the whole piece an extra bit of oomph which I think looks really good.

And, of course, Aquaman is quite prominent, and that's always a good thing around here!

Spiral Notebook - 1975

I always like to post something school-related when the school year ends, and I'd say this relic definitely qualifies!

This spiral notebook was a companion piece to a portfolio that used the same piece of artwork. For whatever reason, I've never been able to find one for sale on eBay or at a con, but thankfully F.O.A.M. member Jon Helfenstein sent me these pics of his. As you can see, its in, um, near-mint condition.

Here's what Jon had to say about it:

"Unfortunately its not in the greatest shape as it got a lot of use, but its still in one piece. The back has got a number of Wacky Package stickers I stuck (as Wackys were the fad at the time), but fortunately I didn't put any on the front, and didn't put any on the head shots on the back."

Yeah, I'd have to say this piece is a veritable time capsule of what certain kinds of kids were like in 1975--superheroes, drawing on stuff, Wacky Packages...it's all there, except maybe a Whip Inflation Now button.

Thanks Jon!

Spiral Notebook - 2008

...and the Aquaman stationary flood continues!

After posting several different Aqua-related stationary items in the last two weeks, I got an unexpected package from F.O.A.M. member Mark Sauter (creator of my custom Mego Black Manta doll), containing two different spiral notebooks featuring the Sea King! Wow, thanks Mark!

I have to say, I really am shocked how front and center Aquaman is on this stuff. Usually, he's relegated to the background, if he appears at all, but here he's front and center, getting just as much space as big-time movie-star Batman.

(If anyone reading this actually works on these "DC Originals" items, please drop me a line--the Shrine would love to talk to you!)

JLU Portfolio - 2008

Here's the other JLU portfolio sent to me by F.O.A.M.er Russell Burbage, featuring the JLU partaking in some assuredly life-saving mission. Thanks Russell, x2!

Once again, I'm surprised to see Aquaman included, at least over Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl, who were more of the core team. Even more surprising is the inclusion of Dr. Fate and the Red Tornado, who is somehow flying even though he's not currently engaging his tornado powers.

With the use of nothing but stock art poses, these things have a real Colorforms feel, and I mean that as a compliment.

JLU Portfolio - 2008

There's lots of Aquaman in Target's stationary aisle, apparently! After posting this portfolio, featuring Aquaman and three other JLAers by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, F.O.A.M.er Russell Burbage sent me two other portfolios, both of them part of the Justice League Unlimited merchandising juggernaut. Thanks Russell!

This one features a nice wraparound image, with Aquaman (surprisingly) on the front, facing off against the Ultra-Humanite!

I realize that probably has more to do with the stock art poses designers have as their disposal, but they could've used Flash (or a flipped Batman, for that matter), so the fact that Aquaman is front and center pleases me to no end.

Ultra-Humanite is so going to lose...

JLA Portfolio - 2008

After posting a spiral notebook featuring Aquaman and Batman, F.O.A.M.er Russell Burbage sent me a bunch of scans of other Aqua-related portfolios he found in his local Target, seeing if I wanted them.

Of course I did, but before I asked Russell to send them to me, I went to my nearest Target to see if I could find them myself. This was the only one I could find, but wow, what a handsome item it is! Four beautiful stock poses by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, organized into one (relatively) coherent image, in front of a sky blue background! Nice!

On the back of the portfolio, oddly, is a Super Powers logo, the same one from the classic Kenner toyline. Why is that still appearing on merchandise, more than twenty years after the line ceased production?

Spiral Notebook - 2008

This handsome spiral notebook (made up of three separate pieces of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez stock art) was sent to me F.O.A.M. member John Lijewski III. Thanks John!

John said he picked it up at Target--my local store must get different stuff, because I never see any of these "DC Originals" products around. (I'd love to know the sales figures for stuff like this, and how well the Aquaman items sell in relation to the others)

Interesting to note--on the background image, it kinda looks like Batman is riding on Aquaman's back. Maybe they're under water.

DC Superhero Checks - 2008

Last week, F.O.A.M. member Russell Burbage sent me a box filled to the walls with Aqua Stuff, an act of generosity unwatched since...he did it the last time, a few months ago!

I'll be posting all the cool doo-dads he sent me (including the Warner Bros. store picture frame I posted here, but admitted not owning, a few weeks ago), and I thought I'd start with these awesome checks, featuring Superman, Batman, Flash, and, of course, Aquaman!

They feature Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (Superman and Batman) and Eduardo Barretto (Aquaman and Flash) stock art--always a good move. They differ from a previous set that were released a few years ago, which featured Wonder Woman instead of Aquaman. Why the change, I wonder, though I'm grateful for it just the same.

Thanks Russell!

DC Comics Watermark - 1986

This is the, er, watermark that appeared on the back of 1986-era letter DC Comics sent to Mike Sterling, of the awesomely entertaining blog Progressive Ruin.

During my misspent youth, I would occasionally send a letter to DC and always got a reply, and they would contain some stock art watermark, usually featuring Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, or some combo thereof. I never got one like this, which I would've cherished.

Thankfully Mike was generous enough to let me use this for the Shrine, which makes him the newest member of F.O.A.M.! Thanks Mike!

Aquaman Notepad - 2005

This is a nifty little item I somehow missed the first time around but found on eBay a few months ago.

The cover is made of a puffy foam(hey!)-like material, as is the bonus little key fob it comes with.

In fact, it's a little too nice to use as a notepad, so despite owning this I still use my old business cards for such a purpose. I can't bear to write a grocery list over Jose Luis Garcia Lopez art.
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Shameless Plug Department: I finally got around to creating the Treasury Comics Blog, something I wanted to get to for a long time. Now via the blog I will be able to update the site more, and of course finally get to hear(?) comments about what I'm doing over there. So please go check it out!

Super Friends Fold & Mail Stationary - 2004

Aquaman Portfolio - 1975

I would've loved to have had this as a kid, though I don't know if I would've had the requisite guts to parade around school with it. Shy kids like me were pretty easy pickins' for bullies, so carrying around a big orange-and-green "kick me" sign would not have helped.

Luckily, I'm all over that now (hollow laugh), and I can not only own one of these things, I can put it on a website and be proud! The times, as a great man once said, are a-changin'.

This was part of a Super Friends line of school supplies--according to the graphics on the inside, there were also Shazam!, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and Joker ones (FBI take note: track down any kid who had a Joker portfolio). There were also matching spiral notebooks, too--I have yet to come across one of those (dammit).

Nice art on the front--not sure by who, but the drawing and the abstract "ocean" are sweet.