Bob Kane signed Batman comic book

What a find! I visited one of my favorite out the way comic shops today and spent an hour digging though the back issue bins. I ended up coming home with some great old Batman, Detective, Daredevil and Amazing Spider-man issues, including one very special Batman issue. I picked up Batman issue #254 from February 1974 for just $8. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up to read it tonight and found that right there on the first page, it was signed "Bob Kane". And later on in the issue it was again signed with a note "to my friend." How lucky is that!? You don't think it could be a fake do you?

Little Golden Book Monday #122

Today's Little Golden Book is Casper and Friends, BOO-O-S On First from 1992. I have been wanting to pick up a copy of this book for a while, but never seem to find a decent copy. This one was in fair shape and at just 69 cents I could not pass it up. I happen to be a fan of Casper the Ghost, and I love the title of the book (gotta love Abbott & Costello). It also gives me an excuse to do a post about the Casper Ghosts minor league baseball team and their awesome logo... I do love logos you know!
I first heard of this team (and their logo on The Clink Room web site.
The Casper Ghosts are a Minor League Baseball team in the Pioneer League based in Casper, Wyoming, where they play at Mike Lansing Field. They are the Rookie-level affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, established in 1978.
Unveiled in 2007, the Casper Ghosts are the only team in Minor League Baseball to wear glow-in-the-dark caps. The Ghosts official colors are orange and black.
In addition, they use as an alternate logo the image of Casper the Friendly Ghost with permission from the Harvey Entertainment division of Classic Media.
And hey, notice this book, features Casper playing baseball!

Little Golden Book Monday #121

With the upcoming release of Toy Story 3 later this month, I went hunting for a new Little Golden Book based on the film. I managed to find it listed on Amazon, but when I visited my local book seller, they did not have any copies of this book. They did however have a large display of other Toy Story 3 story books, coloring books, sticker books etc. Looks like I will have to order this one via Amazon if I want a copy. Back in 2008, I had to order the Little Golden Book version of Presto which I never found at my local book sellers. Seems that many stores no longer carry the Little Golden Books and the ones that do, seem to carry a rather strange selection of Little Golden Book titles.

[UPDATE July 7, 2010 - I found a copy at a local Walmart today and on the front cover was a sticker that read "Only at Walmart", so it would seem to explain why I could not find this book at any of my usual book sellers.]

iCade - iPad Arcade Cabinet

Didn't think you needed an iPad? Think again! When the iPad was announced, we all crammed into a conference room to watch live and drool over every shiny corner and reflecty icon. After the glow of the initial announcement wore off, many of us came to the conclusion that the iPad was actually pretty useless. "It's a giant iPhone!" some said. Others exclaimed, "WTF, no Flash!?". Still, we knew that most Apple fanbots (us included) would have to have one anyway.
Knowing that many of our loyal geeky customers would eventually get their retractable claws on an iPad at some point, we knew we needed to take it to the next level. What cool things could we do with the iPad that you, our lovely geek customers, would squee over? A few brainstorming sessions later, the idea of a MAME cabinet came up and we knew we'd struck gold. How cool would it be to slide your iPad into a desktop-sized arcade cabinet and rock it old school with some Pac-Man or Space Invaders?
Enter the iCade iPad Arcade Cabinet! To use the iCade, gently slide the iPad into the docking cradle. The docking cradle uses a standard 30 pin connector to link the iPad to the professional-grade arcade controls. Once the iPad is in place, launch the iCade App (available free in the App Store April 3rd) and it's game on! We didn't want to take any chances you'd run out of juice during your favorite game, so we included a 10w USB power adapter so you can charge the iPad through any electrical outlet. Now you're all set to make an uninterrupted run on the Dig Dug World Record!
This article was on Think Geek back when the Apple iPad was released and I am sure many a video game geek ran to their local electronics store looking to pick one up. Problem is this item does not actually exist - it was just a tongue in cheek hoax, which is too bad because I really, really want one!