Marvel Masterworks

For several years now Marvel Comics has been releasing color compilations of their older comics in hardcover called Marvel Masterworks. The high cost of these hardcovers ($50 each) makes them quite expensive to collect if all you want to do is read the stories. Fortunately, they've finally  wised up and are also releasing the Marvel Masterworks line in trade paperback form at a much more reasonable price point. Out of the 153 hardcover volumes they've released so far, 25 are available in paperback, with a new one being released every month. The titles are links to the respective amazon.com page for each volume.

Vol		Amazing Spider-Man 01 !TITLE	ISSUES						Release Date

1		Amazing Spider-Man 01 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 1	Amazing Fantasy #15, The Amazing Spider-Man #1-10						2009-02-04
2		Fantastic Four 01 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 1	The Fantastic Four #1-10						2009-02-25
3		X-Men 01 !The X-Men: Vol. 1	The X-Men #1-10						2009-04-22
4		Avengers 01 !The Avengers: Vol. 1	The Avengers #1-10						2009-05-27
5		Amazing Spider-Man 02 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 2	The Amazing Spider-Man #11-19, Annual #1						2009-06-24
6		Fantastic Four 02 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 2	The Fantastic Four #11-20, Annual #1						2009-07-22
7		X-Men 02 !The X-Men: Vol. 2	The X-Men #11-21						2009-08-26
8		Incredible Hulk 01 !The Incredible Hulk: Vol. 1	The Incredible Hulk #1-6						2009-09-23
9		Avengers 02 !The Avengers: Vol. 2	The Avengers #11-20						2009-10-28
10		Amazing Spider-Man 03 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 3	The Amazing Spider-Man #20-30, Annual #2						2009-11-25
11		Uncanny X-Men 01 !The Uncanny X-Men: Vol. 1	Giant-Size X-Men #1, The X-Men #94-100						2009-12-23
12		Uncanny X-Men 02 !The Uncanny X-Men: Vol. 2	The X-Men #101-110						2010-01-20
13		Fantastic Four 03 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 3	The Fantastic Four #21-30						2010-02-24
14		Captain America: Vol. 1	Tales of Suspense #59-81						2010-03-24
15		Silver Surfer 01 !The Silver Surfer: Vol. 1	The Silver Surfer #1-6, The Fantastic Four Annual #5						2010-05-26
16		Amazing Spider-Man 04 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 4	The Amazing Spider-Man #31-40, Annual #3						2010-06-23
17		Daredevil: Vol. 1	Daredevil #1-11						2010-07-28
18		Mighty Thor 01 !The Mighty Thor: Vol. 1	Journey Into Mystery #83-100						2010-08-25
19		Silver Surfer 02 !The Silver Surfer: Vol. 2	The Silver Surfer #7-18						2010-09-22
20		Invincible Iron Man 01 !The Invincible Iron Man: Vol. 1	Tales of Suspense #39-50						2010-04-21
21		Fantastic Four 04 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 4	The Fantastic Four #31-40, Annual #2						2010-10
22		Amazing Spider-Man 05 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 5	The Amazing Spider-Man #41-50, Annual #3						2010-11
23		Doctor Strange: Vol. 1	Strange Tales #110-111, 114-141						2010-12
24		Uncanny X-Men 03 !The Uncanny X-Men: Vol. 3	The X-Men #111-121 (First printing omitted issue 121.)						2011-01
25		Fantastic Four 05 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 5	The Fantastic Four #41-50, Annual #3						2011-02
26		Mighty Thor 02 !The Mighty Thor: Vol. 2	Journey Into Mystery #101-110						2011-03-09
27		Avengers 03 !The Avengers: Vol. 3	The Avengers #21-30						2011-04-06
28		Fantastic Four 06 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 6	The Fantastic Four #51-60, Annual #4						2011-05
29		Daredevil: Vol. 2	Daredevil #12-21						2011-06
30		Mighty Thor 03 !The Mighty Thor: Vol. 3	Journey Into Mystery #111-120, Annual #1						2011-07
31		X-Men 03 !The X-Men: Vol. 3	The X-Men #22-31						2011-08

Free Game - King's Quest III: To Heir is Human Redux

AGD Interactive has done it again. After releasing upgraded remakes of both King's Quest I and King's Quest II, they've now released an upgraded remake of King's Quest III! Help Gwydion, a young boy raised by the evil wizard Manannan escape from his clutches and find out his true heritage in "King's Quest III: To Heir is Human Redux". Go here to download it. It's available for both PC/Windows and Apple Macintosh. Enjoy!

Checkin' in with Goofy

Disney Cruise Lines has a new animated commercial that mimics the classic "How to" goofy theatrical shorts from the forties and fifties. While I personally don't like cruises, I felt like sharing this as I really enjoy the old goofy cartoons and they did a really good job emulating them. Enjoy!

Free Game - The Silver Lining Episode 3

I've mentioned "The Silver Lining" before, but "The Silver Lining Episode 3: My only Love From My Only Hate" is now available for free download. This licensed sequel to the King's Quest franchise has been getting rave reviews.  There are three episodes available for free download, with more on the way. Go here to download them.

Turkish Delight Recipe

If you've ever read or seen "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, they you will remember the scene where Edmund first meets the White Witch and she asks him what he would like to eat and he says he would like Turkish Delight. As a child, I had no idea what Turkish Delight was, it not being a very common type of candy where I grew up. When I purchased the DVD set of the BBC adaptation of "The Chronicles of Narnia" it included a recipe for Turkish Delight. I've scanned both sides of the recipe card in and you can find them above. Click on the images to make them larger. If anybody makes a batch, please let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!

Crystalis

One of my favorite games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (N.E.S.) was the action role-playing game "Crystalis". It was similar to "The Legend of Zelda" but with experience points. 

The music in the game was amazing. It had a cool science fiction/fantasy plot. The controls were also really good. My original copy was either misplaced or stolen as I haven't seen it in over 15 years. So when I found a copy at a used video game store for $5.99 I had to pick it up. Even after all these years it's still a fun game. If you get a chance, give it a try and maybe you'll like it too.

Dan McDougall and the Bulldozer

I picked up this cool book at a thrift store, "Dan McDougall and the Bulldozer" by Lydia Pender with pictures by Gerald Rose. It's the story of a man who lives in the Australian Outback and wants to visit the city by the sea and decides to drive his bulldozer all the way there.

The story is really good, but the quality of the illustrations really bring the book up a couple of notches. I'm really glad I picked it up.

Superman Classic

Animator Robb Pratt produced this fun little animated film showcasing his retro take on "The Man of Steel".

Free MP3 - A pirate I was meant to be

Lucasarts classic adventure game "Curse of Monkey Island" has a funny song sung by the ships crew called "A pirate I was meant to be".   An MP3 of this song is available for download on the World of Monkey Island web site. Go here to check out the lyrics, download the MP3 and sing along!

Costume Quest

After ending up with an X-Box 360 (you can read about that here), I decided to try some of the neat downloadable titles available for it. One of the first games I purchased and downloaded was Double Fine's amazingly fun "Costume Quest". It's an exploration and adventure game with mild role-playing features. After I beat the game, I liked it so much I also downloaded the additional chapter they have available as downloadable content (DLC). "Grubbins on Ice" is the name of the additional chapter and it was just as fun as the main game. Now let's hope they release more chapters or a "Costume Quest 2" in the future.