It's Captain Amer... no, wait, it's US Agent!

Back again, as promised.
So you know that item I mentioned I would be receiving later this week? Well, it came in a few days early. I don't know what I've done to have the postage and delivery gods shine down on me at the moment, but I hope it sustains itself.
Anyway, here's the item that came in the mail today-

Where's the toy, you say? Well, the toy in question isn't actually one of the ones designed by Bart at Sears Studios. This is an unusual item in that it is the only figure from this particular series that Bart produced the packaging art for. This is unusual because the subsequent Toy Biz series' that Bart was involved with, he not only produced a large amount of packaging art for, but also designed many of the actual figures too. It is probably worthwhile stating that this is the first Marvel action figure, chronologically by release date, that Bart or Sears Studios had anything to do with. It has a copyright date of 1994 on the back of the above card, but I believe it actually came out in 1993.

The artwork for this particular piece is currently in the hands of a Mr. Ronald Hillman. The artwork actually comes in two pieces, the figure and the shield are on separate pieces of paper. But here is a slightly low-res image of said artwork-

So there you are, yet another cool item to tick off the list. I'm hoping to have something a little different for this blog soon, maybe in the next few weeks, so stick around, my dear Searsians!

Team Javerts #1 Variant and goodies

Firstlight Comixx. Remember them? Don't be ashamed if you don't. Firstlight Comixx was one of those companies from the first half of the 1990's that had a handful of comics released, then folded, due to the state of the market at the time. Firstlight Comixx was also one of those companies that used ridiculously nice paper for their comics, and supposedly produced a slew of merchandisable items that it's a safe bet few people bought.

Bart Sears provided two covers for Firstlight Comixx through his company Sears Studios, one pencilled by him and inked by Andy Smith, the other was pencilled by Andy, inked by Bart. Here they are-

And as far as I knew, that was it. That was the extent of the business arrangement between the two companies. But, oh, how wrong I was! Whilst doing one of my customary random searches last weekend, I typed the word 'Javerts' into eBay, as I had once seen a Press Kit for Firstlight Comixx, but had never been able to get my hands on it, even to this day. But, wouldn't you know, although the Press Kit remained nowhere to be seen, this little number did pop up-

So, naturally, I bought it. And in record time, it got here this morning. As you can see, the title is 'Team Javerts,' and the image is taken directly from the Javerts #1 cover, the image may look a little blurry, but that's what the actual cover looks like. I guess it's the result of zooming in on the original cover.
This is the Variant cover for the comic, and you can see that it calls it the 'Special Edition Cover' in the bottom right corner.
Interestingly, on the credits page on the inside cover, Bart is not mentioned at all. It is also interesting that the publication date is not listed at all, it only gives the year of 1994, no month is listed anywhere.
So anyway, that in itself is a pretty nice find. But the other reason I was so quick to snap this item up is because this particular comic came with a set of Firstlight Comixx Pogs!

A total of three of these Pogs have the hand of Bart Sears on them, the first one is again that same character from the cover, and Pogs 10 & 11 are from the Thresherz cover, with Bart's inks. Here they are, lined up together-

But then, as I was opening the bag the comic and Pogs sheet came in, this piece of paper was also included-

The first T-Shirt is of Bart's cover for Javerts #1, but I have absolutely no idea if the T-Shirt was actually made. I've never seen it for sale anywhere, but I'll be doing my darndest to see if I can find it, that's for sure!

And there you have it, yet another cool Bart Sears item for the library. And I can add Pogs to the list of items that Bart has produced work for.
I have another item on the way as I write this, which I should hopefully receive late next week, of which I will naturally write about here.
So, see you soon!

YO JOE!

Hello again, my dear fellow Searsians! As is becoming far too customary at the beginning of each of my posts on this blog, I must say that it has been far too long between drinks. I've been buried under a few rather important projects for the last few months, but have now managed to tunnel to the surface, so to speak, to bring you a new acquisition of mine from the hallowed halls that are the Bart Sears library.

About a month ago, Bart informed me of an item that was hitherto unbeknownst to me (geez, I'm wordy today!). Bart often drops these little nuggets of information on me and I then madly dash about to get my hands on the item in question, although I do not always manage to do so, I'm afraid. But this particular occasion, after Bart informed me of this item, I was fortunate enough to find the item at an exceptionally undervalued price, and, a mere two days ago, this arrived on my doorstep... (Apologies for the scan, it's a big box and this was the best my little scanner could achieve.)

Some of you who are more advanced in age might recall that in the 80's and early 90's, Trace Plates were a common enough toy on the shelves. I personally recall owning a few sets myself. But not these particular ones.

When Bart informed me of this item, he also, rather kindly, included the artwork files for the majority of them. So, for you, dear friends, I will now reveal the G.I. Joe Trace Plates and the Bart Sears drawings they are based on.

First up is the Cobra Commander-

Next is Destro-

Stromshadow, with the original orientation and flipped plate-

Cesspool, one of my favourites from the set-

Overkill-

Stalker-

Hawk-

Duke-

and Flint-

There are also three plates that Bart no longer has copies of the artwork for-

And here's the Instruction Manual for the Trace Plates, which I was surprised lasted the near 20 years of its existence-

Now for a bit of information. The G.I. Joe Trace Plates have a copyright dated 1991, released by Hasbro. The original set came with crayons, 5 coloured pencils, drawing paper, crayon holder, instructions and a nifty storage case/drawing board. My set is missing the pencils, crayons and crayon holder, but all of the 6 double-sided plates are present and in excellent condition.

I'm sure you'll agree that it is a fantastic item, especially for a Bart Sears fan like me, who thoroughly enjoys the more unusual items of his. I mentioned to Bart the other day that these are the sorts of things that I really like, because they stand out so much next to the usual comic and printed matter fare.

Unfortunately, Bart also informed me that there is a WWF (the wrestlers, not the wildlife fund) set as well. But I've not managed to locate them as of yet.

So there you have it anywho. As an aside to the G.I. Joe set, I also managed to pick up this item last week-

It's the Valiant Bionisaurus pin, who's image is taken from a panel on page 15 of X-O Manowar #15. The badge measures a mere 30 x 15mm, and the card that it came attached too, both sides of which are shown below, side by side, is only slightly larger at 35 x 37mm.

This is only the second Bart Sears badge/pin that I've owned. About 10 years ago, I owned the Judge Dredd badge featuring Bart's Dredd from Judge Dredd #13, published by SQP. But I lost it on a plane going from Melbourne to Edinburgh. I've never seen it for sale since, and it is perhaps the lowest point in my Bart Sears collecting history.

For those who want to know, there are only three Bart Sears badges in existence- The Judge Dredd one, the Bionisaurus one, and the accompanying Turok one.

Anyway, I'll be doing another post in a couple of days, hopefully, so pop back soon!