National Coin Week Celebrates Pop Culture and Money

Above, a proposed design for the Superman coin.

Other nations have featured pop culture characters in coins over the years.

A couple of years ago, I picked up Godzilla and King Kong silver coins issued from the island nation of Niue. 

This year, several DC Comics super-heroes will be featured on coins to be issued by the U.S. Mint.

According to EIN Presswire:

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, UNITED STATES, April 7, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- What do Homer Simpson, the Olympic games, Elvis Presley, and Superman have in common? They've all been featured or will soon be featured on coins. This year’s annual National Coin Week, April 20-26, 2025, explores the fascinating ways pop culture influences money.

The nonprofit American Numismatic Association (www.money.org), based in Colorado Springs, Colo., has sponsored National Coin Week since 1924. This year’s theme is “Iconic Change: Pop Culture & Coins Unite!”

“Coins are not just money,” explained Thomas J. Uram of Pennsylvania, president of the American Numismatic Association. “They're pop culture time capsules. From superheroes to sci-fi, sports legends to blockbuster movies, coins have captured the icons we love. National Coin Week 2025 celebrates the surprising ways money and pop culture come together.”

This year, the United States Mint will begin producing collectible coins and medals featuring three iconic DC superheroes “who reflect American values and culture,” according to the Mint. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman will be the first characters featured.

To read more, go here. 

Two Countries Ban Gal Gadot's Newest Film

Above, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

Nothing like a little stupidity for a Saturday night.

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot's newest film, Death On The Nile, is being banned by two Middle Eastern countries due to Gadot's past service in the Israeli military. 

The Blaze reported:

Two countries have banned "Death on the Nile," the latest film from Hollywood actress Gal Gadot over her previous service in the Israeli military.

Lebanon and Kuwait, both Muslim majority Middle East countries, cited Gadot's military service as the reason they were banning the movie from being shown.

Gadot once served in the Israel Defense Forces, as do most Israeli citizens since the country has a 2-year military mandate.

Her latest film is being released in the rest of the Middle East this weekend.

To read more, go here. 

Wonder Woman Star Gal Gadot Under Attack For Tweet

Above, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has come under fire for Tweeting her support for Israel in the current fight with Hamas. Actually, she came out for peace between the two sides.

Hamas has been indiscriminately firing rockets into Israel over the past several days.

From the BBC:

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has received a backlash online over her tweet about the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza.

The Israeli actress and former Miss Israel posted: "Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation," adding: "Our neighbours deserve the same."

The comments attracted thousands of replies - now switched off - leading to her name trending on Twitter.

In her youth, Gadot completed two years of mandatory military service.

"My heart breaks," the 36-year-old posted online.

"My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long.

"I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we could live side by side in peace. I pray for better days."

While some high-profile people, including US politician Ted Cruz, praised Gadot for her remarks, many others reacted angrily.

She was criticised by supporters of the Palestinian cause, who pointed to her service in the Israeli military.

I, for one, am a supporter of Israel and a fan of Gal Gadot.

To read more, go here.

Adam West Lives On As A Slot Machine

During our trip to Las Vegas, we visited several casinos. They included Wynn's, Binion's, Excalibur, and Golden Nugget.

Most of the slot machines were the same, no matter which casino we were at. I noticed that there were some with movie or television show themes such as The Godfather, The Walking Dead, Batman (Adam West version), Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter version), Big Bang Theory and others.

I managed to take photos of a couple of super-hero themed ones:

Above, the Adam West Batman slot machines at Binion's Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Lynda Carter Wonder Woman slot machines at Excalibur. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Wonder Woman Stamps

Finally, I ran out of postage stamps. They were the Charlton Heston U.S. Postage "Forever" stamps.

So, I took a walk to mail a couple of bills and buy some stamps. Fortunately, the Tarzana Post Office is only a couple of blocks away, so I took a little walk.

The two most interesting postage stamps (at least to me) were sheets of Star Trek and DC Comics's Wonder Woman stamps.

I was not too impressed with the 20-sheet of Star Trek stamps. I liked the Wonder Woman stamps a lot better. The clerk agreed that they were better-looking stamps.

The Wonder Woman sheet of 20 stamps featured the Amazon in four incarnations: Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age and Modern Age. I scanned the sheet of stamps and posted it above.

According to the advertising at the post office, the Wonder Woman stamps are a new release.

"Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice"

For the past few days, I've been reading reviews of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice from critics and friends. Most of what I've read were negative.

Tonight, I went to go see it. 

Since the reviews I've read were mostly negative, I went into the theater with low expectations. The last time I went into a theater with low expectations was for Van Helsing. It met my low expectations.

However in the case of Batman v. Superman, I found myself enjoying it more than expected, even more so than Superman Returns.

Was it the best Superman movie ever? No. Was it the best Batman movie ever? No. Was it the best super-hero movie ever? No. But it was enjoyable. It also wasn't the worst in any of these categories either.

Granted, a lot of it was long and too drawn out. I detested the costumes for Superman and Wonder Woman. Batman looked okay, except he looked too bulky.

Henry Cavill is good as Superman and Clark Kent, if only he had a better costume (the design is based on DC Comics' current one) and a lot less cape. He reminds me a lot of George Reeves, which is a plus in my book. Ben Affleck was good as Bruce Wayne and Batman. One quibble on Affleck: if he's supposed to be a millionaire playboy, can't he afford to buy a razor?

Above, the Silver Age Batman and Superman.

Gal Gadot was good as Diana Prince and Wonder Woman. Jesse Eisenberg was fair as Lex Luthor. I was not impressed with Amy Adams as Lois Lane. To me, Lois should be a dark brunette and very hot-looking. Adams wasn't unattractive, but she was not a striking beauty to me that a Lois Lane should be.

I won't go into the story, but it wasn't as bad as some are saying. The special effects were pretty good.

My grade: B.

MeTV's Super Sci-Fi Saturday Night

Now that I got my television antenna properly set-up, I can now get MeTV and watch some vintage shows before heading off to work on Saturday nights:

Wonder Woman At Comikaze Expo

I received a couple of emails from people who read my report on Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo.  They asked if  I had a better photo of "Wonder Woman" in the L.A. Convention Center lobby.

Actually, I don't. But I did crop the original photo so that the young lady (Kit Quinn) in the Wonder Woman costume would be better showcased.

Here it is:

Hope this helps!

Going Nuts At DC Comics

DC Comics has gone nuts!

It has been reported that the comic book company is totally revamping its entire super-hero line of comic books.

According to National Post.com:

DC, the comic-book arm of Warner Bros., is rebooting its entire line of comics this fall, and is restarting all their series with a new issue No. 1.

Going forward, all new issues of DC comics will be released the same day in digital form via apps (on devices such as the iPad) and on the DC website.

The DC Universe includes characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Green Lantern among others.

The new issues will attempt to update the heroes for the 21st century, and will notably play with their ages in several cases.

According to the Toronto Star:

DC’s revamped collection will start with “Justice League” No. 1, which will reunite the classic (albeit freshly minted) lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern. It will be written by DC's chief creative officer Geoff Johns and illustrated by co-publisher Jim Lee, the first time the acclaimed comic book duo have collaborated together.

I've never been a fan of Jim Lee's artwork. His 2006 Wonder Woman costume design is horrible (see picture at top). Looking at his artwork over the years gives me the impression that he flunked anatomy art classes or just skipped them altogether.

Accompanying the article is a picture of Superman with a caption stating that Superman may become younger or get a whole new costume. From the picture above by Jim Lee and Scott Williams, Superman does look younger (looks like SuperBOY) and his costume has changed. He still has his red cape, but he appears to have a collar(!) and lost his red trunks (will they show up in a new Anthony Weiner photo?). This is crazy! The costume is iconic and is embedded in American folklore. Looks like Jim Lee messed that up big time! To put it bluntly, Superman's new costume looks like crap!

All this is complicated, especially in the case of Superman. The heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Jerome Shuster have regained some ownership of the Superman character, but a recent article in Variety indicates that Superman may be legally split in two. Certain aspects may be owned by the heirs, while others would be retained by DC Comics if this comes to pass. It would be tragic if it came to this (two Supermen). Why can't DC and the heirs sit down and hammer out an agreement/partnership? This is getting weirder and weirder!

Some have speculated that these changes were made with their litigation involving the Siegel/Shuster heirs in mind.

Thank goodness I've given up reading comic books long ago. But these changes seem unnecessary and radical.

A thumb's down from here!

Wonder Woman: New Look and Direction

Source: DC Comics' The Source

My mom is probably spinning in her grave.

DC Comics has announced that Wonder Woman has a new look and a new direction:

Starting today, Wonder Woman will appear like you’ve never seen her before.

As you may have seen in THE NEW YORK TIMES, bestselling artist and DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee has redesigned her costume for the modern era, just in time for BABYLON 5 creator and critically acclaimed writer J. Michael Straczynski and artists Don Kramer and Michael Babinski to launch the Amazon Princess into an exciting and epic new era of adventure.

Starting with their story in WONDER WOMAN #600, which is in comic shops today, JMS and Kramer will begin a run that is both forward-looking and true to the legendary character, planting her firmly in the modern era. But enough about what I have to say. Mr. Straczynski took some time out of his schedule to lay out some of his plans for WONDER WOMAN right here on The Source.

My mom was an avid Wonder Woman reader in the 1940s and she occasionally read the comic in the 1960s (the Ross Andru & Mike Esposito years) whenever I bought one.

The general consensus is that this "costume" looks too 1990s. What do you think?

To read the entire article, go here.