The Penguin

The Penguin: I received this on DVD for Christmas.  I enjoyed it.  It's not even close to a superhero - villain tale.  This is all about The Penguin and what he does in Gotham's underworld which pits him against the Falcone family.  In the same vane as The Batman, it's very gritty and dark though with a different take.  If you are at all interested, give it watch.

Random Wax: 2023 Kayou DC Glory of the Universe Collection

DC Glory of the Universe: The first Shazam movie was really good.  I wish we'd been able to see him in the greater DC movie universe with other heroes.  Yesterday I posted about the Crisis on Infinite Earths animated movies, so this felt like a good post to do in tandem.

I'm a big fan of these cards.  They are thick stock with really good-looking art.  Lots to like here.

Storyboard cards which I like.

More Storyboard cards as well as a Wonder Woman Rally card.  Rally cards have Justice League members and the words in the bottom right spell out "You Can't Save The World Alone" when you have all six cards.  I like 'em.

A Plot card which gives us cards from across the DC movies.

Super Cute are just that.

I haven't gotten all the insert cards.  These aren't cheap so it can be tough finishing them out.

This is the Group Portrait oversized card which come one per box.  I like seeing the team cards like this.

 There are multiple "sets within the set".  Information on Kayou, a licensed Chinese product, is so hard to find but I did find a decent checklist here.  I've also seen there are new Kayou DC cards I may try out. Ali Express is the spot to check out for these types of sets and I've had good success with them.

The Cinephile cards are favorites of mine too.  Great looking art, colors and design.

I probably enjoy the DC movies more than most and it's fun looking back at them.

I really do like this set and can see me buying more of these.  These three above are some of my favorite DC characters.

BREAKDOWN:
31 – Total Cards
10 – Plot
10 – Character
3 - Cinephile
3 – Super Cute
3 – Storyboard
1 – Rally
1 – Group Portrait

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One Part Two Part Three

 I received this trilogy on blu-ray for Christmas last year.  Part one, part two and part three details are at those links.  The 1985 comic story arc was huge back in the day with 12 issues in the main storyline and crossed over in many other comics.  There's a lot going on in this trilogy.  I haven't read any of this story since '85 so I really had no real memory of the details.  I like that there are so many characters from the DC universe.  Always fun to see those heroes you enjoyed.  It also means there is only so much screen time for many of them.  As it expected the big three, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, all have ample screen time but there are many other characters who actually star here.

The BLUF is heroes meet a cosmic threat that poses a risk to all the different earths that exists.  And there are a lot.  That's cool too.  We get to see different takes on our heroes and some of our favorite takes from DC are shown on their own earths - Super Friends, Animated Batman and more.  I loved that.  

In the end there are some surprises, fun interactions, and serious moments.  I don't think young fans would enjoy this one as much as I'd want.  It's a complicated story and they might not get what's going on and be confused by multiples of heroes.  I know I was confused at times.  Overall, it's a good trilogy.  I enjoyed some parts more than others but that's not surprise.  Not sure if I should have gone back to read the Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi series before watching this take.  Might have helped.  Next up on my watch list is The Penguin season 1.

1989 Topps Batman Movie Trading Cards Series 2

Topps Batman S2:  Batman took a beating in the 1989 Batman movie much like he does in today's movies.

Scenes like this really hit well.  Bruce Wayne, the only one not cowering while watching the Joker walk away after causing chaos.  Series 2 is identical to series 1 except for a yellow border.  I like the addition of color.

In this series we get some cards that show off inspiration and movie designs.  Nice photo of the batmobile coming down the alley.

Vicki Vale and Batman hanging on for dear life!

A blockbuster in its day, it delivered with plenty of great visuals and affects in an era when hero movies weren't a thing yet.

The stickers (below) were full page stickers.  Not die cut which was the norm for Topps sets during that era.  These are lots of fun and I'll have to do a rewatch sometime soon.  Or maybe in 2029.

BREAKDOWN:
10 Total Cards
1 – Sticker

1989 Topps Batman Movie Trading Cards Series I

 1989 Batman Trading Cards:  The Batman movie will always hold a special place in my heart.  It was the first great hero movie for me.  It was different from anything we'd ever seen before and while it's not what we expect in today's hero movies, it really hit the mark in 1989.  It was released on today's date that year.

Jack Nicholson's Joker was mean, fun, and a big reason the movie played so well.  His intensity served the character well.  I like the basic design of the set and the nice Batman logo.  Lots of room for the photos.  I would have liked some color on the borders.  Series 2 did give us that, but I'll share a pack of those later this week.

Michael Gough played a really good Alfred.  We didn't have the special effects we get today but they did a really good job giving us plenty of cool set designs and visuals.  The bicentennial parade led us to the climax/ending of the film.

I liked Kim Basinger as the love interest Vicki Vale.

The final fight scene (right) was good.  I don't think of Nicholson as a physical actor, but he and Michael Keaton did a great job.

Again, I really like these cards, and the movie brings back plenty of memories of a movie I still regard highly today.  Below is my sticker from the pack.  I do wish the art matched the Joker movie version.  But still cool.

BREAKDOWN:
10 – Total Cards
1 – Sticker

Random Wax: 2023 Kayou DC Glory of the Universe Collection

Glory of the Universe:   This Storyboard card has Green Lantern, one of my favorite comic characters.  I like these cards which show highlights from the comics and it's appropriate to have Sinestro share the card as his biggest villain.

More favorites of mine.  I've always liked Green Arrow (this one is Connor Hawke I think), Hawkman and Hal Jordan (GL).  Green Arrow and Green Lantern teamed up for one of the best stories of the 70s in the storyline Hard-Travelling Heroes. I've read it and it was a great read.  I may have to reread it at some point to see if it has passed the test of time.

Plot cards in the set highlight movie scenes from Justice League, Suicide Squad, Black Adam or Shazam.

I really like the Super Cute inserts.  Plenty of variety in the set.

Cinephile cards are colorful and I like the look.  I had a double of Darla Dudley, a member of the Shazam family, and showed off the back which isn't much to look at.

No real information on these cards.  In fact, information on this set is really hard to come by.  Kayou is a licensed Chinese brand and it's almost impossible to find out much about these cards.  They are available on AliExpress.  I purchased two boxes back in 2025.  Each has 10 packs with three cards in each pack.  The boxes they come in are pretty nice.

Here we have a Storyboard, Fate and back of the storyboard card.

These cards are pretty thick which is okay and I'm a big fan of the set.

This is the Oversized Group Portrait in my box.  Each box comes with one and I like them.  They are around 6" X 8".  Always been a fan of the JSA and this is some classic art from an iteration of the team I really like.

About the best webpage for set information is on Kandor Archives here.

We get the Supergirl movie next month.  I'm excited.  I really like these cards and have more to post which I'll do over time.

BREAKDOWN:

31 – Total Cards

10 – Plot

10 – Character

3 - Cinephile

3 – Super Cute

3 – Storyboard

1 - Fate

1 – Group Portrait

2025 Christmas Goodies

 The family really outdid themselves this year.  I'm truly blessed.  I added a new Star Wars steelbook to the collection - Rise of Skywalker.  I almost have all the Star Wars steelbook movie releases.  The Penguin will be a fun watch.  I don't have an HBO Max subscription so I need it in physical form.  The animated Crisis on Infinite Earths trilogy rounded out my movies.  Three books - The Boys (Ron and Clint Howard), Can You Dig It? and the Dr. J autobiography - are all books I'm excited to read. A Mould King Firebird model.  A Hot Topic gift card which will probably that into a The Lost Boys shirt.   Speaking of, I also got cool AC/DC shirt.  And some baseball and basketball cards.  Again, I'm so blessed and thankful. Santa was good to me.

Superman (NO SPOILERS)

Superman was really good.  A friend describes it as a comic book movie, and I think that's a great way to describe it.  So much fun.  I enjoyed all the characters and Lex Luthor was a good villain.  The other DC characters were great including Guy Gardner (Green Lantern) and Mr. Terrific.  The movie didn't bog us down with an origin story though it's touched on throughout the movie.  You jump right into the action, and they do a good job of letting the plot and characters explain where things stand.  Just very few qualms.  It's very enjoyable and it feels like it can setup so much more.

And Krypto is done really well and a fun character.