According to a recent Radiolab Podcast, in order to get a 5.2-percent tax cut on Marvel’s imported action figures, the company’s lawyers successfully argued the toys represent “animals or other non-human creatures (for example, robots and monsters)” as defined by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, a tome that determines tariff classifications for all goods imported into the United States.

Confused? There’s a lot of legalese involved, so here’s the way it breaks down: There’s a distinction between two categories of products imported into the U.S. “Dolls” are toys representing humans, whereas “toys” represent non-humans. While dolls are taxed at 12.8 percent, toys are taxed at just 6.8 percent. Two shrewd trade attorneys noticed the distinction and successfully argued to U.S. Customs officials that Marvel’s licensed products don’t represent human beings.

“We actually went down there. We had a meeting and brought samples of all the figures,” trade lawyer Sherry Singer told Radiolab. “We had 60 or 80 figures. We tried to convince them that these figures [did not represent human beings].”

The court cases, which began in 1993, went on for 10 years. Apparently a large part of the legal argument had to do with the X-Men not being, strictly by tariff classification, human. Oddly, the fictional governments of the Marvel Universe are usually the ones to claim mutants aren’t human — but in the real world, the government was the one defending the humanity of mutants while Marvel was opposed to the idea.

Even X-Men director Bryan Singer weighed in on the mutants versus humans issue during the podcast. “In the X-Men universe, humans are very often out to get the mutants, dismissive of mutants, fearful of the mutants, liquidating them, experimenting on them,” he said.

The judge’s ruling actually stated that all Marvel heroes were actually classified as non-human, not just the X-Men. I guess that means Super-Soldiers, gamma-irradiated scientists, billionaire philanthropists/playboys and thunder gods will all get a tax break when the bulk of The Avengers merchandise hits the U.S.

Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn! It’s been awhile since we had someone’s shelves to feature, and what a great way to end 2011 by posting someone’s collection.

Today’s shelves come to us from, simply, “The Dork,” who blogs regularly over at The Dork Review. “This is a collection of my stuff (minus the Yoda stuff; which is my wife’s) that I have been collecting since I was a kid,” he told me via email. He had previously posted it on his own site, and you can see that post right here.

If you would like to contribute some shelves, it’s easy — just send pictures and a brief description to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now, onto the shelves!

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Action Comics

Publishing | DC Comics joins the Kia Soul, Goldfish, My Little Pony and several others on Advertising Age’s annual list of America’s Hottest Brands: “With decades of stories under their capes and utility belts, Superman — and other DC characters, including Aquaman and the Flash — had ossified. Though relaunching its entire cast and making their adventures available to print and electronic audiences might alienate some hard-core DC fans, it might also gain plenty of new ones. Making DC characters more popular is crucial for its parent company. While the comic-book business is way down from its heyday, its characters fuel big-ticket Hollywood movies that can generate millions of dollars in revenue and licensing. The pressure may be on DC because rival Marvel, now owned by Disney, has churned out superhero film properties on a regular basis for years.” [Advertising Age]

Broadway | Producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have changed their tune on the $75 million musical; previously they predicted they wouldn’t make back the money invested in the show without franchising it in other cities and countries, but now they predict they’ll make it back entirely from the Broadway run. They also are considering adding in new scenes and a new musical number to the production every year, “making it akin to a new comic book edition, and then urging the show’s fans to buy tickets again.” [The New York Times]

V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask

Creators | V for Vendetta writer Alan Moore comments on the use of the book’s notorious Guy Fawkes masks by various protest groups, including the Occupy movement. “I suppose when I was writing V for Vendetta I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: wouldn’t it be great if these ideas actually made an impact? So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world… It’s peculiar. It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction.” [The Guardian]

Creators | Tony Millionaire comments on 10 of the musician portraits that are included in his upcoming 500 Portraits book from Fantagraphics: “I’ve always loved David Byrne. When the Talking Heads started, that’s when music totally changed for me. I had been lost with music. I was cutting my hair shorter and shorter. I was like, ‘I don’t want to be a hippie anymore.’ Music was just getting prettier and more refined – Crosby, Stills and Nash, and all that – and suddenly, it was wild again. And then the girls in the bars had big hair, and leather jackets and fishnet stockings. And I was like, ‘Wow!’ So then the Talking Heads came around and there was not only punk rock, but there was also art music – which, I felt like I could some how get more involved with it. The punk rock bouncing around and smashing in to each other thing wasn’t my idea of a good time. But art music, forget about it, I loved it.” [Rolling Stone]

Creators | ICE writer Doug Wagner discusses writing one of the Justice League comics available in various General Mills cereal boxes. [Park Record]

Chew, Vol. 3

Creators | Marc Oliver-Frisch posts an interview with Chew artist Rob Guillory conducted last year that will appear in a German collection of the popular Image series. [Comiks Debris]

Creators | Former Captain America artist Alan Bellman still gets fan mail—and still draws on commission—at the age of 87. [The Miami Herald]

Retailers | In a story on Small Business Saturday, Christopher Brady, owner of 4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., discusses how his shop took advantage of the American Express-sponsored event. [Contra Costa Times]

Commentary | Lauren Davis looks at one of Robot 6′s perennial favorite webcomics Max Overacts, by Caanan Grall. [ComicsAlliance]

Awards | The Quebec Writers Federation’s young adult novel prize went to a graphic novel, Alan Silberberg’s Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze. [CBC News]

Fandom | IndyStar.com profiles Kevin Silva, a Batman collector who has nearly 1,600 pieces of Batman memorabilia, including a Gotham City phone book used in the 1960s television show and a Batman lunchbox he took to school as a kid. [IndyStar.com]

History | J.L. Bell chronicles the evolution of the Tin Woodman’s head. [Oz and Ends]

Cosplay | Toy enthusiasts in Jakarta, Indonesia are using the city’s many malls to host Nerf gun battles. Participants dress as movie, comic book and other pop culture characters and battle amongst the shops and food courts, with some malls even setting up designated areas for these “Mall Wars.” [Jakarta Globe]

Blackest Friday

ComiXology has a bunch of digital comics for 99 cents today. DC Comics is holding a Blackest Friday sale, allowing you to buy each issue of the Blackest Night crossover for 99 cents each. Marvel has Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four issues on sale for 99 cents, while IDW has their Star Trek comics on sale.

Dark Horse is running a pretty amazing digital comics sale for Black Friday only: A megabundle of all the single-issue Star Wars comics available in their digital comics store, over 130 issues altogether, for $100. That’s 3,274 pages of Star Wars comics, in case you’re counting, and it’s $166 less than you would pay if you bought them all separately.

They have also figured out how to run a doorbuster special digitally: On Cyber Monday (Nov. 28), the first 500 customers through their checkout will get a 50% discount. There’s a $20 minimum, and the deal runs for 24 hours beginning at midnight PST on Nov. 28; you’ll also need a coupon code, which is provided at the link.

Khepri Comics is putting comics on sale and helping to save the cheetahs, with different sales all weekend and into Cyber Monday:

Fri 25 Nov – Black Friday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF HARDCOVERS with coupon CHEETAH40FRI
Sat 26 Nov – Small Biz Saturday – Enjoy 50% OFF SELF-PUBLISHED with coupon CHEETAH50SAT
Sun 27 Nov – Adjectiveless Sunday – Enjoy 40% OFF CREATOR-OWNED with coupon CHEETAH40SUN
Mon 28 Nov – Cyber Monday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF EVERYTHING with coupon CHEETAH40MON

Midtown Comics has comics, graphic novels and statues on sale.

Things from Another World has steep discounts going right now for selected items, plus $10, $5 and $1 doorbusters.

Chuck BB is holding a Black Metal Black Friday Super Brutal Blind Art Sale, where you can buy pages from Black Metal and get a sketch for $50.

Top Cow will have stuff in their online store discounted all weekend …

…as will Aspen Comics.

Jeff Smith’s Boneville site is holding a signature sale through mid-December, where every book ordered will be signed by Smith.

Fantagraphics minicomics

Don’t forget about Fantagraphics special mini-comics offer through their online store.

Mimoco has all their designer flash drives for 25 percent off, which include drives based on Batman, Green Lantern, Star Wars and more.

Threadless is holding a $10 T-shirt sale this weekend, so you can get those cool robot shirts by Ethan Nicolle, Becky Cloonan, JR Goldberg and Jhonen Vasquez for cheap.

MattyCollector has a ton of action figures on sale, including some of their past San Diego Comic Con exclusives and several Justice League Unlimited packs. Plus, the Rockers!

For more deals and bargains, check out the lists at The Beat and ComicsAlliance. And if you’ve seen any that I’ve missed, please post them in our comments section. Happy shopping!

Batman Blox

Funko, the company whose Pop Vinyl figure line includes everyone from Mickey Mouse to Yoda to Spider-Man to the Ramones, has a new line called BLOX that features “2D-image ‘thickened’ into a boxy 3D-figure.” The figures stand seven inches tall and feature Batman, Joker, Gene Simmons and several cereal mascots.

You can see all of them in all their glory over on the Funko site, or head to Entertainment Earth to pre-order them.

Jim Lee's Spy vs. Spy custom toy

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Mad Magazine feature “Spy vs. Spy,” and to celebrate, the magazine created a blank “Spy vs. Spy” toy and asked various artists to customize it. They’ve been sharing them over on their blog since around the time of the San Diego Comic Con, and in New York this weekend they’re unveiling one by DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee.

You can find more of them on the Mad blog The Idiotical, or in person at the New York Comic Con.

Miles Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man Minimate

His costume is already set to appear next month in the Spider-Man: Edge of Time video game, but Miles Morales will follow that with a Minimate of his very own.

The new Ultimate Spider-Man will join Diamond Select Toys’ line of Marvel Minimates next summer with a 2-inch figure that comes with two heads a removable mask, so you can showcase the character with or without his identity concealed. There’s also a “webline accessory.” The figure will be available exclusively at Toys “R” Us in a two-pack with a classic Spider-Man villain that will be revealed later.

Miles Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man Minimate

Superheroes are coming to the world of LEGO, as the Danish toy company signed deals with DC Comics and Marvel Entertainment this month that will allow their characters to be used in a LEGO Super Heroes line. Lego already has a Batman line, but the deal with DC gives them access to every character in the DC canon, including Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The Marvel line will focus on the Avengers, the X-Men and Spider-Man, and it will launch in May 2012, at the same time The Avengers movie opens. Both the Marvel and the DC line will include both minifigures and buildable figures.

Update: JK Parkin returns from Comic-Con with pictures from the LEGO booth! Check’em out after the jump.

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Kids love LEGOS!

Spy vs. Spy by Peter Kuper

It’s the 50th anniversary of the Mad Magazine feature “Spy vs. Spy,” and to celebrate, the magazine created a blank “Spy vs. Spy” toy and asked various artists to customize it. They’ve been sharing them over on their blog, with plans to display them in the DC Comics booth this week at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Peter Kuper designed the one shown above; check out the rest on the Mad blog, the Idiotical.

Via Super Punch

Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn. Today’s submission comes from Neal Bishop from North Carolina, who shares his collection of toys, comics and more.

If you’d like to see your shelves featured here, just drop me an email at jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now here’s Neal …

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Hi, my name is Neal Bishop. I’ve been collecting comics since 1991, and toys since around 1998. The thing that really got me into toys was Marvel Legends; as you can see, that’s my primary collection. This is a bit of a bittersweet thing; I’ve been meaning to put my comic room on Shelf Porn for a while, and I took the pictures a few months ago; since then, I got a new job, and moved from Atlanta, GA to Charlotte, NC. So the room as it’s pictured doesn’t even exist any more. Still, I wanted to share my collection, as it was best displayed.

I have a ton of pictures that I took of the room, close ups of just about everything, if you’re interested, you can see them here:

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn62/gl3600/Comic%20Book%20Room/

First of all, I’ve noticed a lot of people on here either have a huge trade and hardcover collection, or just say their collection is stuffed away in a closet somewhere. I’m a bagger and boarder, always have been, and I’m lucky enough to have the room to display my collection out in the room. I love putting my new comics in their place in the collection. You’ll also see some posters, signed by artists I’ve met at various cons.

Moving on to the shelves, you see the Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics. I love the 6” scale; it’s by far my favorite.

One of my favorite things has to be my Captain America and the Avengers arcade game. I played this every time I went to the arcade when I was younger, and I searched ebay for years looking for a reasonably priced machine. I finally found it about two years ago, and I think it really brings that extra bit into the room.

More drawer boxes, with odds and ends, my Mighty Muggs collection, and some DC packaged figures.

I’m primarily a Marvel guy in my collecting, X-Men in particular, but I’m also a Green Lantern fan. I’ve built myself a little collection of various Green Lantern toys.

I do have a few trades & hardcovers in addition to the regular issues; I also have a weakness for the kid’s toys, the Spider-Man and Friends and DC Superfriends. They’re just too adorable!

The last bit of my collection is the smaller figures, particularly Superhero Squad and Minimates. I love the way they capture the essence of the characters in the small and cutesy versions.

And sadly, as I was saying earlier, I did have a move recently. Right now, this is how my collection looks, in a 4×14 storage unit……

But I’m sure the next place, it’ll be back, bigger than ever.

Skullkickers

The San Diego Comic-Con runs kicks off with a preview night on July 20, then runs July 21-24. If you are a comics creator or publisher, and you’re planning to bring something new to the con — a sketchbook, a print, a graphic novel debut, anything! — then we want to hear from you. Drop me an email and let me know if you’ll have something cool on hand that attendees should know about. Feel free to send any artwork as well.

This time around we have panties from Pantheon (seriously), more Mimoco, word of an announcement by Dark Horse, plans for Viz and Arcana, several Hasbro exclusives and more. So let’s get to it …

Skullkickers creators Jim Zubkavich and Edwin Huang will be at the Image Comics booth #2729, selling hardcovers of the first volume of Skullkickers with an SDCC-exclusive cover. You can find more details here.

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by Craig Thompson

Pantheon Books will be at booth #1515, giving away MetaMaus buttons and … panties? They’ll also have the above poster by Craig Thompson, which he’ll be signing at the booth:

Pantheon Books will be at this year’s San Diego ComicCon (July 20-24), and we would love to see you there. We will be at Booth #1515.

We have two Pantheon authors joining us at ComicCon this year: Craig Thompson/HABIBI (onsale 9/20) and Chip Kidd/BAT MANGA!. Both will be appearing at our booth and on author panels.

Also, just a note that this year marks the 25th anniversary of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Maus, and in the fall Pantheon is publishing Spiegelman’s METAMAUS (onsale 10/4), a studied look at the genesis of Maus, accompanied by a DVD with never-before-seen panels, a home movie, and other objects relating to the original publication of Spiegelman’s groundbreaking original comic book. We will have METAMAUS buttons on hand for giveaway throughout the convention.

Finally, next spring, Pantheon’s sister imprint Schocken Books is publishing its first ever graphic novel: UNTERZAKHN (onsale 3/20/2012) by Leela Corman, a mesmerizing, heartbreaking story of immigrant life on New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the 20th century. In anticipation of this exciting release, we will be giving away women’s panties at the Pantheon booth, since, as some of you may know, the word “unterzakhn” is Yiddish for “underthings.”

Unterzakhn

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Previously I highlighted the Harley Quinn USB flash drive that Mimoco will have at the show. They’ve released more details about their plans, which also include SDCC-exclusive Flash Drives featuring Bossk, the reptilian bounty hunter from The Empire Strikes Back, and Emily the Strange:

They’ll also be hosting Emily the Strange creator Rob Reger, Harley Quinn voice actress Tara Strong and Billy Dee Williams, aka Lando Calrissian, at various times during the show. You can find all the details here.

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Viz sent out information on their booth activities, which include:

VIZ Media’s Booth (#2813) will be a hub of continual activity on the main show floor. The VIZ MANGA APP is the latest technological innovation for digital manga comics for the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Fans that drop by the booth and show the App installed on their Apple device will receive a special free tchotchkie as a ‘thank you’ from VIZ Media while supplies last.

Video game fans will also want to be sure to check out playable demos for Namco Bandai’s NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM GENERATIONS, which will be released in Spring 2012, and NIS America’s new BLEACH: SOUL RESSURRECCIÓN, launching in August 2011.

Sunday July 24th is Kid’s Day at the VIZ Media booth. Young and older fans alike are invited to pose for pictures with Kon from BLEACH, NARUTO (Classic Version), Edamame from MAMESHIBA, and more. Visitors can also attend screenings of Episode 1 of the new VOLTRON FORCE anime series and stay for special free VIZ Kids samplers and product giveaways.

Don’t miss other exclusive VIZ Media product giveaways during special times throughout the show (attendees should check the booth for a daily schedule). There will be free NARUTO ninja headbands and whisker tattoos, as well as MAMESHIBA headbands and the ever-popular VIZ Media convention tote bag. This year the tote commemorates VIZ Media’s 25th Anniversary. Don’t miss the chance to score this special convention exclusive!

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Dark Horse, meanwhile, is promoting an announcement that will be made at 7:30 p.m. on Preview Night, July 20::

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Arcana has two new books they’ll have at the show:

SideShows

Kade Art Book. Limited to 250 copies, Arcana’s seminal character, Kade, created by owner Sean Patrick O’Reilly is celebrated in style in a limited edition art book. Featuring an original cover by Tim Bradstreet (HELLRAISER, IRON MAN: THE RAPTURE) and including brand new artwork from talented artists such as Tim Seeley (HACK/SLASH), Brent Schoonover (HORRORWOOD), Greg Horn (THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD), Kevin Mellon (GEARHEAD), Ashley Wood (MYSTERY SOCIETY), Liam Sharp (GOD KILLERS), Ben Templesmith (30 DAYS OF NIGHT), Greg Titus (VAMPIRE HUNTRESS), and Whilce Portacio (UNCANNY X-MEN, WETWORKS). Don’t miss out on this limited title and your chance to see some of the industry’s top talent’s take on Kade, Arcana’s enigmatic warrior.

Sean Patrick O’Reilly says of the art book, “Kade is Arcana’s first comic and graphic novel, and we now have seven graphic novels in the library for the series. This comic book artbook looks back at some of the great talents that have worked on the series, and also showcases some never before seen artwork. Just some of the artists are Tim Bradstreet, Greg Horn, Bob Hall, Whilce Portacio and many of the talented artist at Cadence Comics.”

SideShows Launch Edition. Written by Erik Hendrix with art from
Michael David Nelsen, SideShows is an action-packed story of crime and powers set in 1950′s Las Vegas. It makes its debut at SDCC this year in an extremely limited “launch edition” of 100 copies. In addition to the story, it contains some behind the scenes of the concept as well as pin-ups from some amazing artists.

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And finally, Hasbro will have a whole bunch of exclusive toys for sale at the show, from Marvel, Transformers, G.I. Joe and Star Wars. Check them out:

In our last edition of Shelf Porn, Eric Jaskolka shared his massive collection of X-Men merchandise — action figures, jackets, Hot Wheels, cups, statues, toys — this guy has it all. But several folks in the comments section asked about his comics.

“Many have asked to see the comic book collection,” he said over email. “I have attached pictures of the boxes as most people, like myself, keep the comics bagged and board and put away.” He also included more shots of some of his merchandise, including hats, toys and even a Wolverine pizza box. Initially he asked if I could add these to the original post, but hey, we’re talking about the X-Men here — how could I not do a spinoff? If the first post was Uncanny X-Men, consider this one New Mutants or X-Factor.

If you’d like to see your collection here, it’s easy, and it doesn’t even have to be mutant-related. Just send a brief write-up on your collection and some pictures to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now take a look at more of Eric’s collection …

Hello and welcome to Shelf Porn Saturday, where fans share their collections with us. Today’s adamantium-laced submission come from Eric Jaskolka, who shares a Juggernaut-sized collection of X-Men toys and merchandise. Seriously, it’s gotta be seen to be believed.

If you’d like to see your collection here, it’s easy — just send a brief write-up on your collection and some pictures to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now here’s Eric …

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My name is Eric Jaskolka and I have been collecting comics since 1989 and then started collecting X-Men toys in 1991. As you can see I have a HUGE X-Men collection, unfortunately I don’t have enough room to display everything (I have variant figures, multi-packs, trading cards, posters, etc. packed away), but I think the pics are a great representation. I also have thousands of X-Men comics.

Items range from licensed, boot leg, prototypes, unreleased prototypes, items from many different countries. Categories include toys, food, food premiums, jewelry, sporting goods, costumes, statues.

I have been featured on local news stations and wrote an article for Tomart several years ago.

Enjoy the pics and let me know what you think.

Welcome to Shelf Porn, where fans show us their stuff. Today’s collection of statues, toys and other stuff comes courtesy of Ian Walker from Poole, England.

If you’d like to see your collection featured here, just send a brief write-ups and some jpgs to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now here’s Ian …

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My name is Ian Walker and I live in Poole, England and I’ve been collecting comics since 1975 with a little break in between to get to know girls.

As you can see I have quite a few toys and statues and a ever growing comic collection that is unstoppable as I collect 81 ongoing titles and that doesn’t even bring into account how many mini series and one shots I buy every month as well plus all the other stuff I pick up from time to time.

I’d like to give a shout out to Andy who owns the comic shop I go to,it’s mostly his fault I have all this stuff [he has a good sales pitch and I always fall for it]. And as you can see it’s all housed in my comic room that my very understanding wife Lara let me have.

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And via Art Asylum comes word that the Future Foundation, or FF, will get the minimate treatment, and while this box set can be found in San Diego, it won’t be at the SDCC … you’ll have to go to the Disney Store at the Fashion Valley Mall, 7007 Friar Road, to purchase it. After that, it’ll be available at Disney Stores nationwide.

There’s more minimate action set for San Diego; in addition to the Marvel vs. Capcom set I posted earlier today, Art Asylum will also have an Alice: Madness Returns minimate at the Diamond Select Toys booth, and a set of Thor minimates at the Action Figure Xpress booth.

DOLLHOUSE EPITAPHS #1 2011 SDCC VERSION
Exclusive original cover! Retailer Bonus: 1 in every 5 copy that is picked up at the SDCC will be signed by the creators Jed Whedon, Andrew Chambliss, & Maurissa Tancharoen! Overwhelmed by multiple personalities after mind-altering technology, Alpha must save mankind from itself as the viral technology turns everyone into murderous automatons. The fate of the world rests in the hands of Psychotic Alpha.
LIMITED TO 2,500 COPIES
Comic SRP: $3.50

ULTIMATE COMICS FALLOUT #1 2011 SDCC VERSION
Exclusive white variant cover! The end before the beginning: After the death of Spider-Man, the Ultimate Universe will be re-born with the appearance of a new Spider-Man. This exclusive is the ultimate in SDCC Marvel exclusives!
LIMITED TO 3,000 COPIES
Comic SRP: $3.99

GODZILLA GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS #1 2011 SDCC VERSION
Exclusive original cover with Godzilla attacking the San Diego Convention Center! Join Detective Makoto Sato as he travels to Monster Island and faces extinction from both gangsters and goliaths. His survival depends on his wit and the help of some unusual friends.
LIMITED TO 5,000 COPIES
Comic SRP: $3.99

WALKING DEAD #87 2011 SDCC VERSION
Exclusive AMC TV Series zombie photo cover! We learn to carry on without them…Relive the undead in this latest installment of Walking Dead. This exclusive features a Zombie photo cover from the hit AMC TV Series. Revel in the horror as County Sheriff Rick Grimes awakes from a coma to see that the world has been ravaged by a zombie epidemic and he must fight to survive.
LIMITED TO 5,000 COPIES
Comic SRP: $2.99

GREEN LANTERN MOVIE LIGHT-UP BEARBRICK 2011 SDCC VERSION
As Green Lantern takes to the big screen this Summer, be sure to grab this exclusive Bearbrick equipped with a light-up lantern!
LIMITED TO 1,500 COPIES
Figure SRP: $16.99

EMMA FROST BISHOUJO STATUE 2011 SDCC VERSION
Exclusive clear form! Grab this exclusive Kotobukiya Bishoujo statue of Emma Frost as The White Queen! Standing eight-inches tall atop an environmental display base, the X-men mutant is highlighted by a bishoujo-styled face along with Frost’s flowing hair and cape. Be sure to add The White Queen to your Marvel X Bishoujo Collection of iconic superheroines and villains!
LIMITED TO 1,500 COPIES
Statue SRP: $59.99

MARVEL VS CAPCOM MINIMATES BOX SET 2011 SDCC VERSION
This exclusive four-pack of minimates features the greatest heroes of “Marvel vs. Capcom 3”! Dante, Phoenix, Arthur and Deadpool are displayed in their “Player 2” colors and stand 2.5 inches tall. Sculpted exclusively by Diamond Select Toys, these mini-figures are a must for your collection!
LIMITED TO 3,000 COPIES
Minimates Box Set SRP: $17.99

Welcome to another edition of our weekly Shelf Porn column! Today’s submission comes from Reverend Wallace Ryan, who shares his library or graphic novels, toys and more with us — including the above Captain America jack-in-the-box. You can check out a video of his set-up on Facebook.

If you’d like to see your pictures here one Saturday, we’d love to feature them — just send me an email with a few images and a write-up.

And now let’s hear from Wallace …

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I’m from Newfoundland & Labrador, off the east coast of Canada. I’m a cartoonist and comic book instructor(for over 10 years) at the Anna Templeton Centre. I even owned my own comic book store in the early 90′s called “The Daily Planet.” I’m assembling this library to be donated in the future to some worthy institution. I’m a big believer in paper comics as digital just can’t deliver the same experience as a real comic book. Oh and co-founder with Paul Tucker of the Breakdown Comic Jam held every month here in St. John’s…the oldest town in North America.

This library is comprised almost entirely of hardcover collections, archives and graphic novels. I’ve been working on it for almost 17 years. I do allow local comic artists to use it for research only and I use it for my Cartooning & Comics course and for our comic jams.

Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, where comic fans show off their comic-filled shelves. Today’s Shelf Porn comes from Ian Wells from England, who shows us his comics, toys and more.

If you’d like to submit your own shelves for the whole world — or at least our viewing audience — to see, then send me pictures and write up: jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now here’s Ian …

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Hi I’m Ian Wells 24 from England. You can catch me on www.twitter.com/IanWells87. Shelf Porn on Robot 6 was one of the greatest discoveries I made on the internet. I’ve been collecting comics and comic related memorabilia for bout 10 years. My 3 main stays are Wolverine, Daredevil and Iron Fist. For some reason I decided to do this first pic in black and white. A homage if you like to the noir comics,books and films I enjoy.

So this is the view you get upon entering my room. On the left ‘The tried and trusted Jim Lee’ as it was refered to by the guy I brought it from. On the right like it needs an introduction, it’s one of the most iconic images in Daredevil, Marvel and Frank Miller history. Also in view are my Quadrophenia and Dirty Harry canvas’s.

More wall art here. Brilliant Bullitt poster one of the best movie posters of all time. If your a Wolverine fan like me you gotta have a Wolverine vs Sabertooth image somewhere on display. Beneath that we have super Frankie Lampard proudly wearing the blue of Chelsea FC.

(04) Here is the unit containing my comic storage and my TV. As you can see im cramped for space. There are 3 boxes on the floor, 3 on the middle level and two on the top. Also on the top are my trading card binders, my Daredevil Omnibus and volster case containing my most prized issues.

More visual evidence of my cramped space. These 3 boxes contain the main bulk of my collection. At the time of writing I am only 16 issues off of completing Wolverine Vol 1.

Ah the contents of my voslter case. They kinda make me proud. When I first started collecting I was just a student so first appearance issues and milestones were just a pipe dream. Still missing a Daredevil #168 and The Holy Grail for Wolverine fans a Incredible Hulk #181.

What I like to call my refererance books and a bottle of Duff, they were all out of Flaming Moe’s.

My desk where many a time I have tried to jump start a career in comics to no avail. Funny story about the Wolverine statue. I paid absolutely nothing for it. It was meant to be the limited edition one with the variant painting, but they sent the regular one by mistake. They said it was a mistake on their behalf and that I could keep it, with my money in the post back to me.

My trades and DVD boxsets. Looking at previous Shelf Porns I realised I have way fewer trades than everyone. But I m not one for picking up a monthly title then months later the same story in trade. I find some titles read better in trade format though.

Some of the aforementioned titles that read better in Trade. Bendis’ Daredevil, Secret Warriors and The Ultimates.

These are the latest additions to my collection at the time of writing. I grew upon the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and will always have room for them somewhere.

Now time for the most pornographic part of my collection. (See what I did there)? It’s my top shelf full of statues, busts and action figures. My all time favourite being the John Byrne inspired Wolverine.

More Daredevil orientated end of the shelf. I need a Daredevil Yellow or Elektra to really complete this end I think.

More assorted figures. Love the Marvel Origin range they did a few years back. In the last 3 pictures I done a rought calculation and came to this conclusion; On display there are the following: Wolverines-44, Daredevils-12, Iron Fists-7, Sabertooths-8, Elektras-3, Kingpins-2, Deadpools-2, Sentrys-2, Luke Cages-2 and a few others. Sad that I counted I know.

Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, where fans show off their collections of comics, graphic novels, toys and other items. Today’s Shelf Porn was submitted by Tim Barklay, who shows us his great collection and kick ass room from Australia. If you’d like to submit your own Shelf Porn, we could certainly use it — just send a write-ups and jpgs to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now here’s Tim.

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Hi, my name is Tim Barklay and I’m a High School Chaplain from Moree, NSW, Australia. I’ve been collecting comics for about 6 years and have been working on my Games room/library for about a year now. My collections aren’t huge or impressive, but I’m pretty stoked on the room, including the many self-built elements. as you will see, I really dig building things, and I’m a total nerd. onto the photos!

my games room/library is a converted garage, and would have been the perfect pool room if it weren’t for the two beams in the middle.

my library wall. my next project will be building uniform, modular bookshelves to cover the wall. note the start trek bean bag.

my comics unit. this was the first build for the room, and is basically an old bookcase and an old entertainment unit recycled. my single issue collection is dominated by x-men books – Uncanny, x-men, x-force, x-factor, etc.

title dividers. the agent X issue in the background was purchased purely for the cover – its explicitly implicit.

PVCs on top of my art drawers. front row are marvel superhero squad, then Homestar runner figurines and finally the simpsons.

soft toys, including the set of Star Wars pancakes. also note the lightsaber chopsticks, which are pretty well awesome.

mostly marvel trades. I scored the full set of Asterix comics at a garage sale for $20.

graphic novels. the bottom shelf contains a bunch of 2000ads, art books and games workshop books. some standouts that you may not have read are Street angel by Jim Rugg and Brian Mancura, terry Moore’s Echo, anything by michael Allen Nelson, groom lake, phonogram by Kerion Gillen, Jeff Parker’s underground, Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw, daytripper by Moon and Ba and Jeff Smith’s RASL.

my Cubees from cubeecraft.com. I love these toys. they look great, you get the satisfaction of making them and they’re free.

I don’t have a huge action figure collection, because i mainly just by them when they’re on sale, which isn’t very often. the black and white sin city figures are the exception, just because they are ridiculously good looking.

some of my Games workshop miniatures. I don’t really play, except for the skirmish game Mordheim, but I dig the hobby. I’ve won some local awards, but don’t have the time to paint anything up to national competing standard.

I’m a huge Ramones fan and when I came across this Joey Ramone figure I had to have it.

various posters.

this is the artwork that’s on my corkboard – its a small version of a large, poster I did for my brother-in-Law’s wedding. it’s a portrait of the bride and groom. they say artists are their own worst critics, but I’m actually pretty proud of this piece.

as you’ll see over the rest of the photos, i like to make stuff. often I’ll see something cool in a shop or online and think “I could build that”. in this instance, it’s a TARDIS USB hub.

Hand painted Worf standup and Scratch built R2-D2 rubbish bin. the hardest part was getting his head a perfectly smooth dome. total build cost: $15.

portrait of Joey Ramone. i’d been wanting to play around with charcoals for a while, and Joey was quite a black and white person, both physically and in his personality, so it made sense. I got his neck wrong and tried to fix it, but to no avail.

scratch built NES controller coffee table. this was actually a pretty simple build. total build cost: $24

my latest build and I think my coolest – a digital pinball machine. the playfield monitor is 24″, with a 19″ backglass. the arcade buttons are wired to a kenboard encoder, and the whole thing is run by a computer running pinball emulation software called Visual Pinball and a front end called HyperPin.

Thanks for checking out my collection and please feel free to leave feedback and ask me any questions you may have.

Really, it was always just a matter of time before these two great products of the 1980s, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen and Hasbro’s My Little Pony, met. Even if it is The Hub’s strange new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon — seriously, that’s the name — mashed up with Zack Snyder’s 2009 comic-book adaptation.  “From the visionary director of 300 Ponies,” it’s … Ponymen. Stay gold, Ponymen. Stay gold.

(via Colleen Doran)