Elfsar Comics & Toys Blog

Disney has released online the first official look at “Tron: Legacy,” the sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic.  A Disney film that was waaaaay ahead of it’s time.

I admit,  I have been waiting for a sequel since I was 7 years old.  Tron Legacy stars man-of-the-moment Jeff Bridges who reprises his role as Kevin Flynn, the computer hacker trapped in a digital death match.

The new trailer reveals the new-look and feel to the Tron computer world.  It seems that although remaining true to it’s predecessor the world has grown and evolved over the years along with its trademark light cycle races and flying disc fights.  It will be interesting to see how our video game culture responds to this visual experience.  The entire soundtrack has been designed by Daft Punk! And yes this film will be in 3D.

Check out a larger version here: http://program-glitch-esc.net/

GO CANADA GO!!!

Due to the Gold Medal Hockey game followed by the closing ceremonies, Elfsar will be closed on Sunday February 28th.  Our hours will resume as normal on Monday.

-Big Elf

CLOUDSCAPE COMICS CREATOR SIGNING AT ELFSAR MARCH 10th!
Self-Publishing Comics is a hard business and we at Elfsar want to support Cloudscape with their new book. On Wednesday March 10th we invite you to be a part of our NEW COMIC WEDNESDAY BONANZA!

Meet and greet artist(s) from the book who will sign autographs and maybe even do some sketches! The new book is called “EXPLODED VIEW” with a cover by Camilla D’Errico! 

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UPDATE: Toren Atkinson and Paul Soeiro will be in attendance at Elfsar and Kevin Forbes will also be on hand in the evening!
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 Also check out the creators at the Ayden gallery March 6th at 7pm, there will be original art pieces on hand, live drawing, mini comics and much much more!

Okay, on Wednesday I made a big deal about Action Comics #1 selling at a record breaking dollar amount.   $1 million paid for Action Comics #1 (see “ELFBYTES/FCBD/BACK-ISSUES/CREATOR SIGNING/COMIC-CON”).  Now another key auction has just closed and a second record sale of a high grade quality Golden Age book is recorded this week.  A CGC 8.0 copy of Detective #27, the first appearance of Batman, just sold for $1,075,500 (including Buyer’s Premium) in a Heritage auction.   The Detective #27 was bought by a collector for $100 around 40 years ago, and kept, and preserved, until its sale this week.That price gives Batman a slight lead over Superman in the 8.0 copy first appearance price derby.  Both prices were roughly triple the previous record price paid for a comic.  Wow!

APRIL ORDERS ARE DUE TODAY WEDNESDAY the 24th!
Wow, this month went fast.  I know February is the shortest month but with the added excitement of the Olympics it seemed to accelerate even more! Orders are due, so if you have not done so already, please send us your order changes ASAP.  Check out our handwritten Elfbytes to help you make that final decision: http://www.elfsar.com/Elfbytes Articles/Elfbytes.htm 

This edition of Elfbytes still contains info information about the new Free Comic Book day books as it is still not too late to order them.  Remember if you want to pre-order the books, you have to be an elfsar saver file customer http://www.elfsar.com/SaverFileMemebership.htm

Also the New Previews shipped today!

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OUR BACK ISSUE BIN SALE CONTINUES!
Through March, we will continue the deep discount savings on issues of the past.  We are entering newly acquired stock each and everyday and constantly adding some juicy hard to get comics to our bins.  This past month we added another 3,000 more in our bins and if you have not been to the store lately, you will notice a big difference as we have added a central location for all of our back issues.  Feel free to send us your want lists and we will even do the work for you.

Speaking of back issues, did you know that a CGC 8.0 copy of Action Comics #1 has been sold for $1 million to an unidentified buyer in an auction that closed this past Monday on ComicConnect.com?  This more than triples the previous record for a vintage comic, the $317,200 paid for a 6.0 copy of the same title last year!  Now granted, Only 100 copies of Action Comics #1 exist, and only two copies have been graded at 8.0 or higher. the 1938 comic was the first appearance of Superman and the beginning of the superhero genre. 

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CLOUDSCAPE COMICS CREATOR SIGNING AT ELFSAR MARCH 10th!
Self-Publishing Comics is a hard business and we at Elfsar want to support Cloudscape with their new book.  On Wednesday March 10th we invite you to be a part of our NEW COMIC WEDNESDAY BONANZA!  Meet and greet artist(s) from the book who will sign autographs and maybe even do some sketches!  The new book is called “EXPLODED VIEW” with a cover by Camilla D’Errico!  More news will be made available as to who will be joining us as we finalize the details.  Also check out the creators at the Ayden gallery March 6th at 7pm, there will be original art pieces on hand, live drawing, mini comics and much much more!

NEW COMIC CON IN VANCOUVER!
Do you crave something different?  Check out the Hollywood North Entertainment Expo in Burnaby.  I have not confirmed this, but it looks like the date has been changed to June 27-28th.  This will be the first (planned to be an Annual) multifaceted convention for Anime, Comics, Gaming, and Sci-Fi.

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GEEK NATION TOUR TO SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!
Want to go to the San Diego Comic Con?  Need a 4-Day Pass even though they are sold out? Want someone else to take care of all your traveling plans?  Join these guys for a six day tour!  http://www.geeknationtours.com/

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There be changes happening at the DCU folks!  CEO Diane Nelson named her new executive team yesterday at the recently created DC Entertainment (see “DC & Warner Brothers create “DC Entertainment”,) including her choices for replacement of long-time publisher Paul Levitz. 

Editorial Director in charge of Wildstorm and Executive Creative Director for the DCU MMOG, and Dan DiDio, currently SVP and Executive Editor of the DC Universe, will serve as Co-Publishers of DC Comics.  That’s right, these guys are now “Co-Publishers”.  Nelson was apparently looking for guys with both a history of, and a passion for publishing for her replacement for Levitz. (DiDio and Lee certainly have that, along with a deep knowledge of DC’s characters and history.)  for all those Jim Lee fan’s (myself included) I think it is safe to say that there will be no hope of All Star Batman finishing, which I am sad to say.  Jim will probably still do covers but his days of doing interior pages will be sadly rare. 

Not only that, writer Geoff Johns has been named Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment!  Johns was one of three writers sent to work with Warner Pictures on developing DC films in late 2008 and he has certainly paid his dues to earn his well deserved spot. Congrats to all these guys getting a $$$ bump.

DC newcomer John Rood has been named Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing, and Business Development.  Rood comes to DC from Disney ABC Television Group, where he was SVP of Marketing for ABC Family.  Prior to his ten year stint at Disney, Rood worked for six years at Warner Bros. Consumer Products. 

Longtime DC finance executive Pat Caldon has been named Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration.

The appointments end a long period of uncertainty following the quick announcement of the formation of DC Entertainment in early September, shortly after Disney announced that it was acquiring Marvel. 

A message from the YBIA:  On February 11th and 12th, 2010, the Olympic Flame will travel throughout Vancouver on the Olympic Torch Relay Route, including the Downtown area. There will be rolling road closures of 10-20 minutes as the Olympic Torch travels through Vancouver so be sure to expect some delays- vehicle travel to or within Downtown Vancouver will be VERY challenging. However, don’t be discouraged to come out and celebrate as the flame makes its way through the city.  Just don’t bring your car – take transit, walk or cycle, and plan ahead for extra travel time. Tens of thousands are expected to gather every day at the LiveCity sites to watch live performances showcasing Vancouver’s creative excellence and cultural diversity.  We at Elfsar will continue to run our Olympic inspired sale thru the games, so if you are in the area, please drop by the store to say hi.  Come and check out our extra goodies and take advantage of our sale that is breaking records. 

 Okay, back on subject – To mark the flame’s historic arrival in Vancouver, an Olympic Torch Relay Celebration is being planned by the City for the evening of February 11th, 2010. The celebration will take place at 6:30pm at LiveCity Yaletown David Lam Park (only a few blocks away from Elfsar) and will feature live entertainment, athlete appearances, and much more. To support the Olympic Torch Relay Celebration, and to ensure the safe movement of pedestrians throughout the area, the following streets and sidewalks will be temporarily closed:

·         12pm – Pacific Blvd – east-side sidewalk closed between Homer St and Drake St

·         3pm – Pacific Blvd closed – east-bound lane between Homer St and Drake St

·         3pm – Pacific Blvd – west-bound parking (curbside) lane fenced off

No residential or business driveway access will be impacted during this period. More information is available on the Host City website at the link below:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Wow, check out Vancouver's "Blackest Night" Rings...lol.

MARCH ORDERS ARE DUE TODAY WEDNESDAY the 27th!
Yep that time is upon us.  Orders are due, so if you have not done so already, please send us your order changes ASAP, Please and Thank you.  As usual we have our handwritten Elfbytes to help you make that final decision: http://www.elfsar.com/Elfbytes Articles/Elfbytes.htm This edition of Elfbytes is a bit special as it contains the information about what the new Free comic Book day book are and how much it will cost if you want to pre-order the books. 

Also the New Previews shipped today!

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THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET INTERESTING
Due to the Olympics we will be opening a little later than normal.  We don’t want to give an exact time as we are still unsure how much the traffic and people situation will affect us in Yaletown. We remain hopeful but have our reservations.  It is best to play it by ear and see how it goes.  This means if the street is busy we will stay open.  If it is a ghost town then we will close at our regular store hours.  If you want to be sure just give us a call we can certainly let you know.  In any case, there seems to be a lot going on in the downtown core.  One of which is the LiveCity Yaletown event at the David Lam park which is providing nightly entertainment until 11pm every night.  The best part is …it’s FREE!  Check out more info: HERE

OUR SALE CONTINUES THROUGH FEBRUARY!
Yes our January boxing month sale is now technically over today on the 27th.  However after careful consideration we have decided to carry our sale over the Olympics in February.  If you don’t know what I am talking about yet, our sale is a Buy 2 get 1 Free on all Graphic Novels, Magazines and Comic Book Sets and 20% off all non reading material.  Items on the ‘New This Week’ racks and all special orders, audio/video, supplies and stuff on consignment are not included.   But there is so much on sale it will be difficult to miss a deal.  So in a way, we are taking on the spirit of the Olympics as we are breaking all previous records for longest awesome sale!

BACK ISSUE BIN SALE at 55% OFF!
The best part of our sale is our massive discount on back issues!  What is a back issue?  They are issues that are located in our back issue bins of course.  After about 4 or 5 months or sometimes even up to a year we put our unsold copies of comics in protective bags and boards and store them alphabetically in our long boxes.  We follow the comic book alphabet which means it is as normal except when there are logical groups to be made.  For example: The Batman, Superman, Spider-man & X-men books are grouped all together.  i.e. Amazing Spider-man, Spectacular Spider-man, Web of Spider-man …. are all under “S” for Spider-man.  Looking for something specific?  Or do you have a list of books you need?  Send it to us via email and we will do the work for you and let you know what we have.

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Sony/Columbia has decided to pull the plug on the drain and wash the Spider out on Spider-Man 4.  Signs of trouble appeared last week when the studio announced that the production was put on hiatus.  Now the studio has decided to fire director Sam Raimi who was responsible for all three of the highly successful Spider-Man films and ditch Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and any of the other high priced talent as well.  In a successful series such as Spider-Man all the key players generally get raises for each subsequent film, which naturally drives up production costs.

The studio is under the ‘use it or loose it’ license agreement, which means they could risk losing the rights to the Spider-Man character if it doesn’t produce a new film.  The rights would fall back to Marvel/Disney.  But they have a contingency plan just in case there were problems with the Raimi-helmed Spider-Man 4.  The plan involves a “reboot” script by James Vanderbilt that takes Spidey back to high school in a version that will feature all new younger actors and cost the studio far less to produce thus giving them a hight profit margin.  Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, who have been involved in the production of all 3 Spider-Man movies, will be producing the new Spider-Man film.  The new teenage Spider-Man movie, which has no stars or director attached at present, is slated to debut in the summer of the end of the world…er… I mean… 2012. 

Spider-Man 4 had originally been scheduled for early May of 2011, thus it was a very bad sign for the film when, in the wake of stories about delays in the production of the next Spider-Man film, Marvel Studios moved the debut of its Thor movie into the Spidey 4 slot, which just happens to coincide with Free Comic Book Day .  Reports indicate that the studio was unhappy with the script for Spider-Man 4 and the villain (The Vulture) that Raimi had chosen for the film.  Raimi, who obviously could have been a diplomat if he had wanted to, told Variety: “While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job.”

Though the studio will save a potentially huge amount of money in production costs by rebooting the series, Sony/Columbia is messing with a billion dollar franchise.  Let’s hope the studio is not jettisoning the character-driven approach that made the first two films in the series so compelling.

Okay, some of you may know that I am a Pro Wrestling fan.  Although it is getting harder and harder for me to watch wrestling on TV week after week, I still try to keep updated with the ‘goings on’ in the business. Back in the day it was the WWF vs WCW (and a helping of ECW on the side). Long gone are the days where two companies struggle for ratings, each trying to outdo the other.

Or has it?

It’s the first time in nine years that two Pro Wrestling companies have gone head to head.  On Monday night Jan 4th, the underdog TNA IMPACT will feature Hulk Hogan  who (among others) will be getting involved both in front and behind the scenes of their product against the giant WWE who is featuring Bret “The Hitman” Hart as there guest host this week on RAW. (note: Bret has signed a 3 month contract leading to this years Wrestlemaina.)

Is this the first of a  long run to make WWE increase the quality of their product and get out of their comfort zone while TNA pull out all the stops to get viewers? How much of a difference will Hogan make behind the scenes and how will the on air product change? Where does this leave Vince Russo? Will Bret Hart be able to connect with the modern day audience?

All things considered it’s an exciting time to be a Pro Wrestling fan and January 4th should be very, very interesting.

The most important question though is, which show will you be watching