News

Toluca Lake, CA — December 11, 2003 — Astonish Comics is pleased to announce a brand new story arc in the continuing adventures of Herobear and the kid. When the first chapter wrapped up, there were exciting secrets revealed in the life of the young hero Tyler and his magical toy, Herobear. Now Mike Kunkel’s two-time Eisner Award winning comic book returns with a new story offering even more surprises and adventure.

Herobear and the kid: Saving Time #1 (Astonish Comics, February 2003, $3.50, 48 pages, black and white with spot color) is the first in a brand new three-issue story that features Tyler attempting to protect his butler, Henry, from the mysterious and maniacal Von Klon and his collection of strange toys. Being a normal kid is hard enough — worrying about the annoying Bullio Brothers, dealing with substitute teachers who give you detention, being nervous around the beautiful Vanessa — but now Tyler has to save his trusted butler on top of everything else. Good thing Tyler has the best friend in the world, Herobear.

Four of the Five Blood Splattered Living Dead Doll Black and White Variants from series 5 have been found and their certificates officially received at Mezco. So, just one more to go. If you're holding onto yours, still vacuum sealed then open it up now!

Several toy lines are vying for the title of hot toy for Christmas 2003, including Mighty Beanz, oblong-shaped creatures that roll unevenly down tracks. The toy's distributor says it expect sales of the "Beanz" to hit 60 million across North America, but also that it may not have enough to meet the demand.

The US engineering giant "Caterpillar" is attempting to block the release of George of the Jungle 2, claiming the film will damage its reputation.

The company claims the straight-to-video slapstick comedy portrays Caterpillar earthmovers as part of an "evil attacking army" bent on destroying the jungle.

But Disney - which has vowed to fight Caterpillar's trademark infringement law suit - claims the offending scenes are harmless fun.

Toys"R"Us has released a list of what it considers will be the hottest Stocking Fillers (or stocking stuffers) for 2003. It includes Marvel Mighty Beanz that, as far as I'm aware, aren't even out yet. Check out our shop at www.stockingfillers.com for Mighty Beanz stuff.

Hasbro owners of the rights to the original Monopoly game have issued a press statement in which they claim "Mr. Chang's game violates our MONOPOLY game intellectual property rights and Hasbro plans to bring suit against Mr. Chang if he does not immediately stop selling the game." The game was advertised as Sold out on Ghettopoly.com since last weekend after intense media interest. However the games were still available Wholesale in cases of 6 when PLMK issued the original News item below.

"Ghettopoly" the idea of a Pennsylvania man is causing outrage in the U.S. Ghettopoly Game Not for kids !

A list of this Seasons Top 10 Toys were released by ToysRus? in New York’s Times Square on Thursday, they were chosen after testing by more than 1,000 kids. More than 470 toys were initially submitted for testing. Of this group, 66 were chosen as finalists and tested for more than 2 weeks at 14 KinderCare? Learning Centers in the United States.

“We may not get every hot toy, but every toy that we have recommended is one that kids have said ‘This is a great toy,’ ” said Jon Adolph, executive editor of FamilyFun?.