I was just re-reading those great Tales of Suspense Captain America stories in one of the latest Marvel Masterworks collections that Marvel has been energetically publishing in the last year or so. This volume collects Tales of Suspense numbers 82 thru 99, and Captain America #1. Man, they don’t make ’em like that anymore! This is Cap at his greatest with the legendary team of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee at the height of their storytelling powers. Cap leaps off the page with Kirby’s dynamic rendering and Stan keeps the drama and action plowing ahead with his great storylines.

And what storylines! This volume contains an awesome four-part Red Skull storyline with appearances by Power Man, the Swordsman, and even Bucky, Cap’s 1940’s teen partner, in a surprising twist! There is also a cool storyline where Cap gets together with the mysterious Agent Thirteen, only to…but I won’t spill the beans! Read it yourself to find out! And one of the killer stories in this series introduces the villain known as Modok. Read it to believe it! When I get the time, I’ll devote a more detailed review of this Cap volume with lots of images!

If you have never read this series from the late 1960’s, (Now DON’T give me any of that “old guy” stuff!) do yourself a favor and take a look at Marvel Masterworks Captain America Vol. 2. Tales of Wonder is one of the best places I’ve found to buy them…great prices…great customer service. What more could you want?

For all things “Marvel Masterwork”, check out this terrific website. Truly excellent!

In the spirit of the season, here is a favorite Christmas composition of mine from years gone by. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

I took this photo (sans lights!) on a cross–country motorcycle trip during the summer of 1999. I got really lucky, photography–wise, when I hit a thunderstorm in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I was able to take a series of about eight shots of the Grand Tetons that I am really proud of. This shot is a natural for a bit of Christmas cheer!

Wishing you and yours a very, Merry Christmas!

In the spirit of the season, I decided to update a favorite Christmas post of mine. I wrote this when my son Mikey, now 3 1/2, was about 8 months old. I hope you enjoy it and that it “takes you back!”

Now this is Christmas! Take a look at these golden–oldie toys, some of which are still as popular today as they were decades ago. I remember many of these as a kid growing up in the 60’s, a few of which were actually fads at the time.

I spent many days and nights building countless magical and colorful (and rickety!) contraptions with Tinkertoys. A true classic, popular to this day. Too bad they’re now made of plastic. The old wooden ones were the way to go. Wood just is so much warmer and has such a nice tactile feel. I sure broke a lot of them though! Lincoln Logs were great too, just a little more limited to building…err…buildings!

While I’m on the subject of “building” types of toys, I loved Erector Sets, which I had no idea were no longer produced. Boy did my fingers get sore from all the wrenching and screwing the pieces together into yet another wild contraption. (Hey, I’ve used the word “contraption” twice in this post. Cool!) This was a terrific toy. Probably too much work for kids nowadays, though. Too bad.

For some reason, I missed out on the Lego phenomenon when I was a kid, but they’re an awesome building toy, definitely the best all around. My son Mikey (now age 3 1/2) loves his Legos. We’ve built countless planes, ships, tanks, and buildings together. (Actually, I think he’s going to be a manager. I usually end up working for him!) Even so, what a terrific way to spend time with your kid(s)!

Hula hoops were a fad in elementary school. Everyone had one. Even parents got into the act (and still do)! But the hula hoops “thing” burned out fast. Within a year or two, they were gone, to be resurrected in other decades.

What young boy of the 60’s didn’t have a Tonka truck? Mine was a dumptruck. Awesome! I have since bought my son a Tonka or two and he loves them. Bash! Crash! “They take a licking and keep on ticking,” to quote an old Timex commercial. I am a little sad that they are now plastic, though. Granted they are safer, (less “bashing the other kid” danger), but to a car guy, what is better than a nice, shiny paintjob on your cool truck?

For young kids, Mister Potato Head is a must. A potato…with goofy re–arrangeable facial features–what’s not to like? Mikey got the “Spider-Man” version last year and he still pulls it out and plays with it every now and then.

Frisbees. Everyone had one then. Everybody has ’em now!

Marbles were really popular in grade school. But we played by trying to hit the other guy’s marble by throwing yours at it, not by shooting ’em out of a circle, like they did in the “olden” days. And “steelies” (ball bearings in real life) were awesome. If you had a regular marble, it required multiple “hits” to get the other guy’s “steely”. But even then, the coolest marbles that I ever saw were from my dad’s old collection. Such intricate designs and swirls! They had really changed, for the worse, even by the 60’s.

Viewmasters were very popular as a kid. With these, you could take a tour of a faraway place, without even going there. Pretty tame stuff now, but it was all we had then. We had no video games, computers, or internet, just pictures. And I don’t think we missed much! (We did have to walk to school in the snow, barefoot, backwards, uphill both ways though! I kid you not!)

Etch–A–Sketch, a classic. I’ve seen some fantastic things drawn with them. I never figured out how they did it, since you have to re–trace your lines all the time. And really, one shake and it’s gone. Why would you want to draw a super picture on an Etch–A–Sketch?

Every boy (and many girls) had a red wagon, great for hauling your “stuff”. (I never called them “Radio Flyers”, though. Maybe I had a knock–off?) And every kid had a bike, just like now. They were just cheaper (and a lot heavier) then. They did have very cool, and comfortable, “banana” seats, though. I am really looking forward to this Christmas. This year Mikey gets his first bicycle, and it will be a “Cars-themed” beauty. He’ll be thrilled. I can’t wait!

Ah, Yo-Yo’s. What a fad they were in grade school. There were tons of different types, shapes, and colors. I had a blue “Duncan Imperial” that I loved. Everyone tried to do tricks. I became quite good at “Around–the–World”, but not much else!

Slinky’s always seemed to be a “one–trick pony” to me. You see one slinky go down stairs, you’ve seen ’em all, IMHO.

Play–Doh…what kid doesn’t like playing with it? I mean, I don’t think you can graduate from elementary school without playing with it, can you? Mikey loves making ’Nakes (snakes) and turtles, among many other things with Play–Doh. Or at least having Mom and Dad make things for/with him!

Wow…Silly Putty. Awesome stuff, but really, about a “two–trick pony”. You could bounce it, you could pound it down onto newpaper comics and copy the resulting mirror image onto other things (note paper, walls, etc. The walls bit didn’t go well with Mom, as I remember. Heh!) But really, once you did that, what else could you do with it? (Okay, you could do some of the same things as Play–Doh could, but it was far inferior to Play–Doh for those.) But it was still indispensible stuff as a kid.

One of my fondest memories as a kid, even into high school, was doing jigsaw puzzles with my mom, on rainy days, in front of the TV. Especially if you were watching “The Wizard of Oz”, with a fire in the fireplace. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Man, I was a coloring fiend when I was a kid. Crayola Crayons…bless ’em. Probably the most imaginative “toy” (although not really a toy) for kids of all ages. Indispensible for learning your colors, drawing stuff for the folks to put on the ’fridge, you name it. I took pride in my coloring and filled up huge numbers of coloring books, especially Batman coloring books. Everybody! Da–da Da–da Da–da Da–da BATMAN! Uh, sorry. I got a little carried away, there.

Hmmmm, Candy Land. Not my favorite. Kind of insipid, if you ask me. My son enjoys throwing the color cards around, which are big fun to pick up. But Monopoly, now we’re talking. Great, classic game. But it has to be the original, none of those weird new versions. If I’m going to jail, I want to “Go directly to jail. Do not collect $200!” I want all the original street names, the “community chest” cards, the whole deal, okay?

And finally, the ultimate young kid’s toys…wood blocks and teddy bears. A kid wouldn’t be a kid without these! My son has a variety of bears and other stuffed animals, which I think he likes the best when he’s throwing them at me during our pillow fights. Ahem… probably not my best parental moments, but big fun! And blocks are a huge hit with him, on the order of Legos. And like Legos, they allow you to create, they make you think. And isn’t that what the best toys do?

What are your favorites?

Welcome to my new website! It’s primary focus will be on landscape and nature photography and will feature my portfolio of images. I also want to discuss current topics in the photographic world, both digital and film–based, as well as graphic design, the web, cars and racing, comics, any other thing that comes into my mind or interests me! In that spirit, I am also, little–by–little, re–posting some of my posts from my now–retired mattrussellgraphics.com website. I hope you enjoy the old, as well as the new!