First up we have the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn. He may not be the most powerful of all the villains in marvel comics, but he’s definitely one of the vilest. Terrorizing Spider-Man until Osborn’s death, and then terrorizing him again when he came back from the dead, Osborn is vicious, depraved and unpredictable. And now that he sits in a seat of power over the entire marvel universe that unpredictability and his psychopathic tendencies just shot him up to the top of the list of the greatest villains in marvel comics.

Next we have the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. All the man boasts is enormous girth, intense strength and a ton of money, which adds many minions to his call. A thorn in the sides of the likes of Spider-Man and Daredevil, the Kingpin was at one time one of the most ruthless villains in marvel comics. He had no regard for life and didn’t care who he hurt. He was on top of the world and had the world fooled for a long time while he acted as the head of the criminal underworld. Had Daredevil not finally taken the big man down he’d still be sitting on his empire, an empire worthy of one of the greatest villains in marvel comics.

Then there’s Ultron, the creation of Henry Pym that went on to terrorize and nearly destroy the Avengers on more than one occasion. This super-intelligent and possibly sentient robot is one of the greatest villains in marvel comics simply because he’s not human. He doesn’t have a heart or a mind, and thus everything he does is cold, calculated and despicable. His sole goal is to rid the world of the Avengers and anyone else who stands in his way.

Of all the villains in marvel comics, Apocalypse is potentially the greatest threat. He’s a seemingly immortal mutant that in every possible future of the marvel universe thus far he has ruled and reigned eventually. If the Age of Apocalypse story line showed us anything it showed us just how bad this mutant supremacist is.

And finally there’s Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, and no list of the greatest villains in marvel comics would be complete without him. What makes Magneto so deadly isn’t just his ability to control any kind of metal in existence, including the iron in our blood. But it’s the cause that he fights for. He truly believes he is doing the right thing, and when a being with that much power is convinced that he’s the savior of his people there’s no limit to the lengths of destruction he might go to.

There are other great villains in marvel comics as this is just a few notable standouts. And each and every one of these listed have done much to deserve their place in such a list.

It all starts with your local comic shop. Most comics shops get their books shipped by UPS every Tuesday. Comics can get damaged and dinged in transportation, or even damaged when being handled and placed on the sales rack. When you buy your comics, take a look through and select the issue in the best condition. Try to resist carrying them through the shop as your browse. The oils from your fingers and stain the back covers of whatever books you’re holding.

Once you get your comics home to read, you can take some measures to make sure you protect your books as well. My preferred place to read a book is laying on the couch, but with comics, I make sure my desk is clean and dry and lie the comic flat on the desk and read that way. I make sure my hands are nice and clean. To cut down on oils in your skin, wash your hands with dish soap without any extra moisturizers in it. Turn the pages gently, and as soon as you’re finished, place the comic in a poly bag with an acid-free backing board.

Tape your poly bags shut with a single piece of adhesive tape and store them in a dry, cool, and dark place, like a well ventilated closet. Store them standing up in an acid-free cardboard box specifically made for comics storage. You can find these at your local comic shop, and if they don’t have them, ask them to order for you.

If you follow these steps, you should be able to keep your comics in as impeccable condition as possible!

Slapstick and mischief may be questionable as “family friendly” to some. Let’s carry this over into the animated cartoons. Remember Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, The Flintstones, and the like? There was a lot of slapstick and characters getting injured at the hands of another. Fred and Barney lied a lot to their wives. Are those behaviors to be condoned? Of course not. My kids, who have watched lots of cartoons and read comics from my era, know better than to think that these things are correct behavior. My kids, by the way, enjoy these old cartoons more than the new ones. They say that the older ones are better. There’s a reason why the old ones are available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

About human behavior and mischief. Let’s take a look at the Bible. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.” 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.”

These verses are saying that children behave somewhat differently from adults. We understand that kids will behave like kids. For kids to behave like adults would be, well, weird. You might say, “Oh, what a well-behaved, adult-like child you have.” But you might think, “What’s wrong with that kid? Why doesn’t she go and play in the playground and act like all the other children?” While we might think we want kids to behave like adults, deep inside we know that something’s not quite right if they don’t behave like children. I think most of us want our kids to live out their kid-hood and gradually emerge and grow to become proper-behaving adults. For a kid to not behave like a kid, well, that’s just…not normal. Mischief is part of being kid-like.

So, if the slapstick and mischief are merely that, slapstick and mischief, and are not born of malicious intent and do not promote evil or ill will, then my conscience tells me it’s just funny stuff. Believe it or not, God gave humans (and especially kids) those tendencies. Otherwise, we would not find the words of Proverbs 22:15 or 1 Corinthians 13:11 and babies would be born acting like proper adults. Furthermore, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that a lot of mischief is downright funny.

Where to find family-friendly comics

To conclude on this topic, I think it’s a great idea to give our kids the funny comics created way-back-when, comics from your and my childhood. In this day of “I want the newest and latest,” we actually find that some of the real treasures are things of old. That’s what makes them classics and that’s why you can still buy them. Think about it. Value does not always lie in the newest and latest. Why are old coins worth more than today’s coins?

Although he may not be as famous as Superman or Batman, Hawkman has been a major DC Comics superhero since the Golden Age of comics. Not only is he a great character visually, he sports an interesting origin, too. And while there have been more than one Hawkman, the Golden Age Hawkman is the best.

I am not going to spend hours explaining Hawkman’s past. A great place to read about it is at Wikipedia. However, I need to sum up Hawkman a little. Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics in 1940. He was Carter Hall and, later in the series, his fiancee Shiera became Hawkgirl. They flew using wings and a metal-called ninth metal in the Golden Age and Nth metal in the Silver Age-harness that defies gravity. This was all courtesy of ancient Egyptian secrets. They were reincarnated Egyptians.

In the 1960s, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were reintroduced as Katar Hol and Shayera Hol (Thal was her maiden name). They were alien police officers who came to Earth from the planet Thanagar. Although they have a different history, their costumes look almost exactly the same as the original hawks. There are twists and turns to the history of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, but, basically, these are the four main hawk characters.

Growing up in the 1980s, I was most familiar with the alien hawks. It was Katar and Shayera who were on the SuperFriends and featured in DC Comics at the time. Carter and Shiera Hall were still around in DC Comics, too, but not as prominently in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the entire Hawkman franchise was revamped, in a way, through the Hawkworld miniseries and the Hawkworld ongoing series. Although fans were split on some decisions made with the Hawkworld stories, I loved them. The Hawkworld ongoing series was excellent. Some issues featured all four hawks, which made for some great tales.

Hawkman was once again reintroduced in the early 2000s. Carter Hall was back as the main Hawkman and Kendra Saunders (grandniece of the first Hawkgirl) was Hawkgirl. But, it was not really Kendra. It was Shiera’s soul in Kendra’s body, using Kendra’s memories. Thankfully, Shiera is back completely now, memories and all! She returned in DC Comic’s Blackest Night No. 8 in early 2010.

Carter is my number one choice for Hawkman. The reincarnation angle of his character makes for some good stories. His adventures are a mix of Indiana Jones and Mummy movies with science fiction thrown in. Plus, he’s the first Hawkman. He gets kudos for that!

Haters who say Hawkman is pointless because all he does is fly are missing the point. Sure, he flies. And while Superman can fly and do a hundred other things, Hawkman is unique. Hawkman is about adventures in ancient worlds, lost civilizations, and even on other planets. Also, unlike other heroes who fly, Hawkman embodies the idea of flight. His wings are a symbol of man’s dream of flight. And they just look darn cool!

Another important aspect of Hawkman has also been the equality and partnership between Hawkman and Hawkgirl (sometimes called Hawkwoman). The first Hawkgirl, Shiera, appeared in Flash Comics (1940) No. 1 as an non-costumed supporting character in the Hawkman story. She becomes Hawkgirl later in the run. But, that is a subject for another article.

Are you overwhelmed with statistics and treatment options and crucial decisions that need to be made?

Take control of your health and your life with A Cancer Journey Workbook.

Being a cancer survivor myself and someone that has had friends and family suffer from cancer, I know that sometimes the worst part about having cancer is the overwhelming amount of information that goes along with it. You are inundated with suggestions everywhere you turn from your doctors to your mother in law to the internet. They all seem to have the answers for you but just as you are completely unique, so is the cancer. It is your own exclusive brand just for you and how you react to the cancer, the treatments and the medications are also yours alone. NO ONE can know how you will feel, how your body will react or what the future holds. They can only give you predictions, not guarantees.

A Cancer Journey Workbook can help you deal with all the options and decisions you face and keep you organized through it all so you are free to fight with all you have.

http://acancerjourney.info/blog/?page_id=2

Old comic books have traditionally been a hot collectible item. As with any item with historic value comic books may hold their value because of memories associated with them. Others may be valuable strictly because of their scarcity. In addition their value is probably associated with the current economy. When the economy is good and people have more money to spend on their collections, they are usually prone to spend more for these items. An important aspect of the value of comic books as with other items is that “old” does not necessarily equal valuable. Many old items such as books and magazines that have been around for a hundred years or more may not have any monetary value to collectors.

To enter the field of collectible or rare comics as a business venture with the goal of making a profit, it is necessary to devote lots of time to research. An item that is hotly searched for today may fall out of favor next week. One of the best indicators of their potential value especially for the novice is the number of items for sale on eBay. As this article is written in the winter of 2010, there appears to be a lot of activity in the old and collectible comic book niches on eBay.

In the collectible niche there are 310 listed items. To gain a more accurate indication of their current value it is always a good idea to do an advanced search which will show all the items that have recently sold and their final prices. Of the 310 listings about 20% have sold with final prices from $3.00 to over $300.00. Obviously there is still interest in this field if the proper research is done to make sure to buy and list items that collectors are searching for.

Searching under “Old Comic Books”, there are 969 active listings with prices from under a dollar to over $150.00. An advanced search indicates that about 40% of these items have been selling. Based on these listing it would seem to indicate that there is still life in the “Old Comic Book” field. However as indicated earlier it would seem that this particular field will require a good deal of research followed with lots of leg work to acquire the comic books that are in demand.