Building My Own Christmas Present List

 

As a kid, my favorite thing about MAD was “Spy vs Spy.” (I didn’t know that “vs” stood for “versus” so I pronounced the comic “spyvisspy.”) The strips were excellently drawn and plotted, and were the most appealing part of the magazine to me. It was a wordless one-page comic about two oddly pointy faced spies, one dressed in black and the other dressed in white. Other than their different colored outfits, they behaved identically. They hated each other and created elaborate Rube Goldberg type machines to try to kill each other. Sometimes their machines worked, often, they’d backfire. They were tricky but usually too clever for their own good.
 
This anthology colorizes 150 “Spy vs Spy” comics drawn by Antonio Prohías from 1961 until his death in 1987. The book also includes a collection of “Spy vs Spy” comics by the talented cartoonist Peter Kuper, who took over the strip when Prohías died. The anthology features a section of wonderful “Spy vs Spy” tribute drawings by noted cartoonists such as Peter Bagge, Bob Staake, Darwyn Cooke, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and Bill Sienkiewicz. There’s also a biography of the Cuban-born Prohíasm and a new 4-page color strip by MAD luminary Sergio Aragones about his friendship with Prohías. With all the new material here, this book is a must for anyone who loves “Spy vs Spy.”  Spy Vs Spy: An Explosive Celebration
by Antonio Prohías and Peter Kuper
Liberty Street
2015, 224 pages, 8.8 x 0.8 x 11.2 inches

 

I am adding this to my Amazon.ca cart today and saving my stuff and let it accumulate it until I reach some special mythical unicorn like status that allows me FREE shipping. Then I will pay for what I want the most to make my lonely Christmas the least bit tolerable. It's how I will shop for my own Christmas gifts this year. That was I am not shut out or disappointed. I already have enough issues with the holiday and need all the happiness I can get.

 

I already have this fantastic Raven statue from Kotobukiya on reserve and it will be shipped to me and I will pay RETAIL for it only when it's released December 15. That is the civilized way to shop online. Thank SOMEONE for finally getting it right. Now it could all descend into a cluster fuck that will make me cry and rant and roam my streets in a murderous rage but lets hope for the best. Let's give the Santas at Amazon.ca a chance to work their magic in me and restore that lost Christmas spirit to a little boy that needs it so. She is an amazing piece for my collection of Kotobukiya girls. These are the priciest figures I purchase and am proud of my little collection which is nearing 20.

 

 

This is an excellent second choice to add to my cart. I agree with everything great ever said about SPY vs SPY. It was the very coolest part of the already cool Mad Magazine, the really most subversive magazine for teens that was ever created. I loved Mad and especially all those cheap little paperback books that collected their artist and creator's best stuff in one place. You know the paperback collections I mean. I once saw an entire box of them for five dollars at a garage sale and passed them by. Broke my damn heart to go back later in the day and that box of treasure was gone to some other University punk who gave the genius the respect it deserved and won the prize for himself.

 

 

In a way these were the first graphic novels. They were very collectible and begged to be read and reread, especially in the bathroom. I think that was their purpose all along. I am sure my mother even flipped through one or two while having a poop at some point in the 1970s.

 

 

I am going to ask if anyone has a box of these that they would want to gift me in exchange for some nice packaged action figures in trade. Ones that I am okay with parting with. I don't want to deal with selling them but would like to get some cool things in exchange. I would especially like to trade with a Cave of Cool follower.

 

 I will give you a selection of stuff you can choose from in exchange for a selection of these paperbacks that maybe you have no problem with parting with. I would just love to have a bunch of these to read through and would rather not get started with EBay collections with outrageous shipping to deal with. You know that stuff just puckers my butthole. Amazon.ca doesn't deal with gently used.

 

If you are looking for Christmas gifts for me. I do love Bubble Gum Cigars. El Bubble are the best of course. Come in two different boxes with six different flavors. These are also going on my Amazon list. I like having a complete box of the candy and chocolate bars that I love. Sure I can get TWIX at the Costco but not these are the favorites I can't find around here in the Tundra.

 

 

And of course no Holiday related to excess is complete without my favorite chocolate bar of all time. That of course is Rocky Road, Chocolate covered marshmallow with cashews. They are SO good out of the freezer and the chocolate is thick and tastes like actual chocolate. Can't find them around here either.

 

 

I love to buy them by the box because you get 18 bars for around 20 dollars and without the shipping cost that is a good deal at anytime. Love them by the box. You can have one a day for a month. That to me is fine living. I just realized I live like a convict. It's takes very little to make me happy. They are best left in the fridge and eaten cold, like all chocolate bars and girl scout cookies.

 

 

Tell me that doesn't look yummy.

 

 

Oh and they also come with dark chocolate and mint.