According to an early critic quoted in the latest trailer, “The Avengers” is the best superhero movie of all time.

My first thought was that saying anything is the “best of all time” is ridiculous. But then I thought about superhero movies as a genre- they have a spotty and flawed record at best. For every “Batman Begins” and “X-Men,” there’s a “Batman Forever” (also known as the Nippled Batman) or any version of the Hulk not involving Lou Ferrigno. Walking the delicate line between pleasing the masses, most of whom have never picked up a comic book in their lives, while trying not to incur the internet wrath of the fan-boys and girls is not something easily attained. As a result, the genre as a whole winds up having a split-personality: the movies are either candy-colored popcorn fare, flamboyant and silly, or high-brow noir films that end up seeming preachy and on-the-nose.

The more you think about it, the more you realize the bar isn’t all that high. And I say this as a fan.

I don’t know is “The Avengers” is the best superhero movie of all time, if only for the simple fact that I haven’t seen every superhero movie. But God help me if it isn’t the most fun, intricate and expertly executed blockbuster I’ve seen in a long, long time.

For the uninitiated: the Avengers are a selection of superheros from the Marvel canon, designed as a team, led by a spy named Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, being very Samuel L. Jackson-y). This film is the climax of a series of individual superhero movies, including “Iron Man,” (Downey) “Thor” (Chris Hemsworth) and “Captain America,” (Chris Evans) in an oddly endearing parallel to comic book narrative strategies. The movie follows the previously-named heroes, along with Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and former assassins Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), as they try to rid the world of demigod and megalomaniac with daddy issues Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

Let me count the ways that this could have been a complete disaster. It threatened to simply be a showcase of Robert Downey, Jr.’s considerable talents backed up with…well a bunch of good-looking guys with talents less considerable. It was in 3-D. It’s two-and-a-half hours long. It’s about aliens with giant robot-dragons.

But under the steady hand of Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed this movie with obvious passion and care, everything works together like a well-oiled machine. No, that’s not right. Because unlike a machine, there’s also feeling, and that exclusively Whedon sense of soul. Maybe it runs like a well-oiled machine with a newly discovered sense of humanity and free will. Whedon deftly sidesteps all the pitfalls that would sink others. A major weakness lies with Thor and his nemesis, who according to canon need to speak in stodgy, renaissance fair dialogue. Solution? Tony Stark just makes fun of it every time he speaks. Captain America is kind of old-fashioned; Whedon centers a beautiful speech about how old-fashioned heroism is something everyone could use.

The movie is character-driven, yet lavishes unbelievable detail on major action scenes, as beautiful as they are exhilarating. My personal favorite were the aforementioned robot-dragons, gorgeous masterpieces of steampunk-influenced effect.

Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner are the two newcomers to this party- Renner has a small but well-played role as archer Hawkeye, but Ruffalo pretty much steals the show as Banner. True to what I know of the original character, Banner is a soft-spoken nerd, confident only when he’s in a lab, and even then deferential. And in the most devastating moment in the movie, Banner changes into “the other guy,” and the last thing to leave before the monster takes over is the horrified, heartbroken look in his eyes.

There was perhaps no one better to tread that fine line between mainstream popularity and acolyte pandering than Whedon, an accomplished comic-book writer and fan-boy as well as a cinematic craftsman and master of genre storytelling. As in all his work, there is a beating heart in the middle of what could have been a soulless tent-pole movie, made for an easy buck and the extra two dollars for 3-D glasses. Does that make this the greatest superhero movie of all time? I’m not qualified to answer, but you can be sure I’ll be going to see it again. Maybe that will help me decide.

One of the most highly anticipated games to be released this fall, is Fallout: New Vegas. Well, the game’s publisher, Bethesda Softworks has announced that “All Roads”, the hardcover graphic novel which tells the story of some of the characters and events that lead up to the game, will feature cover art created by legendary illustrator and comic book artist Geof Darrow with colors by Peter Doherty. The graphic novel also features art by Jean Diaz (Incorruptible) and Wellinton Alves (Marvel’s Shadowland: Blood on the Streets, Nova) What you’re looking at above, is a sneak peek of the cover.

Exclusively available in the Fallout: New Vegas collector’s edition, “All Roads” was written by Chris Avellone, the game’s creative director, and created in conjunction with Dark Horse Comics. The game can be pre-ordered now through participating retailers, and will be released on October 19, 2010.

For more information on Fallout: New Vegas, visit www.falloutnewvegas.com

If Sex In the City fans were confused over their see-saw love affair with Chris Noth’s Mr. Big, comics fans will endure an equal amount of trepidation over Noth’s latest performance as the voice of a "good" Lex Luthor in “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,” a new DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movie coming February 23 from Warner.

In “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,” a "good" Lex Luthor arrives from an alternate universe to recruit the Justice League to help save his Earth from the Crime Syndicate, a gang of villains with virtually identical super powers to the Justice League. What ensues is the ultimate battle of good versus evil in a war that threatens both planets and, through a diabolical plan launched by Owlman, puts the balance of all existence in peril.

“Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” is an original story from Dwayne McDuffie (Justice League). Bruce Timm (Superman Doomsday) is executive producer, and Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Sam Liu (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies) are co-directors. The full-length animated film will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Special Edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray Hi-Def, as well as single disc DVD, and On Demand and Download.

Noth is best known as Mr. Big in “Sex and the City” and as Mike Logan in “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” He can currently be seen starring opposite Julianna Margulies in the CBS drama “The Good Wife.” “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” is his first animated role.

He took some time to discuss the role:

QUESTION: You’ve had an extensive career in a number of acting mediums — is this really your first animation voiceover experience?

CHRIS NOTH: I think I did about three lines of Mike Logan on Family Guy. That was a quick little gig. The character (Stewie) on the show carries a picture of Mike Logan in his wallet, so I was very flattered by that. But that was just a few lines — so Lex is pretty much my first real animated role.

QUESTION: In that case, can you describe what your first "actual" animation voiceover experience was like?

CN: I felt I had an instinct for it, and it was a lot of fun. It’s an interesting technique and, like any medium, whether you’re doing radio or certain kinds of narrative voiceovers for stage or movies, it has its own sort of rules and performance values. I think the choices had to be bold and succinct and clear. To me, it appears that super heroes have to be powerful, but it also has to be real. You have to make bold choices and go all the way through with them. That’s true with a lot
of acting anyway. But with animation, it seems to me there’s nothing coy about it. The acting has its own subtleties. So you have to find that balance. And as long as you go with that instinct, it’s a blast.

QUESTION: Did you take a different approach to this Lex Luthor -a good guy Lex — than you would’ve taken with a typically villainous Lex?

CN: I was extremely excited to be playing the ultimate villain from my youth. I remember how Gene Hackman portayed Lex Luthor with such great delight in the films, and I thought I’d be getting that Lex. So I was surprised to see that in this script, Lex is actually on the right side of the law. It required a whole new thinking on my part on how to approach him. I mean, he’s a super hero who’s in this very complex, parallel universe. He’s actually trying to save all of reality from being destroyed. So I just took that adjustment and said, "Wow, I need to get up to date on my super heroes." I’m guess I’m a little bit retro. (he laughs)

QUESTION: Do you feel any special significance to be joining the canon of actors — Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Michael Rosenbaum, Clancy Brown — to have brought Lex Luthor to life?

CN: Initially when I heard about the role, I thought about that great tradition of actors associated with Lex. And I really feel honored to be a part of that group. But this is a complete departure from those performances. This time, Lex is on the right side of the law. He’s worlds away from the old Lex.

QUESTION: You’ve done your share of Shakespeare. Can you characterize Lex within the context of some of the great literary or stage heroes/villains?

CN: Not this Lex. I find super heroes to be more archetypes of values of courage and fortitude and things like that. It’s interesting to me that the new world of animation, compared to when I was growing up, is so much more diverse in its characters. There’s so many more of them, and it’s a much more complicated world. The old comic books that I grew up on had these characters that were in many ways Shakespearean.

They were very big with their evilness in the same vein as Richard III in Shakespeare. Those characters relished being bad, and that’s always fun to play.

QUESTION: How did you find working alone in a sound booth versus playing off other actors?

CN: It presented a different challenge in the same way that a radio play is different from being on stage, and being on stage is different than being in the movies, and the movies are different than being on a TV series. They all have different values that are fun to explore and to take a crack at. So I found it challenging and interesting to jump into that world.

QUESTION: Did it get easier when Bruce Davison joined you at the microphone?

CN: That was even more fun because I know Bruce and it’s always more fun to work off another person. Sandy Meisner, the great acting teacher, used to say that what you do doesn’t depend on you. It depends on the other fellow. In other words, they make you respond. So when Bruce came in, there was a new kind of energy that I sort of relished. I didn’t have that many scenes with him, but he was a lot of fun and I think he made a great President.

QUESTION: As you are new to animation voiceovers, you’re also new to the direction involved. How did you find Andrea Romano’s direction?

CN: (Animation) is very quick, it’s to the point, and very on message, and you have to just go with it. Andrea was extremely helpful to me to get some of the tone and in knowing what you have to keep in mind with what’s happening to the character in the scene. Whether it’s an intimate scene or there’s a lot of action, she keeps you on point. So she’s a very good field marshal.

For more information, images and updates, please visit the film’s official website.

Comic book fans all over the world are looking forward to September 16 when they will get to read the next issue of Archie comics in which, after a 50-year courtship, Archie and Veronica get married.

“When I first pitched this project to Archie Comics,” said Michael E. Uslan, executive producer of the Batman film franchise and writer of the Archie comic book wedding,”I wanted to write a story that updated the characters somewhat, but still retained the sense of fun that has always embodied Archie comics.”

The long-awaited engagement caused some controversy in the comic book world last year. Some would have preferred to see Archie marry fan favorite and the girl next door, Betty.

Alas, Uslan is confident that the fans will be satisfied.

“I’m sure that people have a lot of questions about the choice that Archie made,” Uslan said, “and all I can do is tell them to pick up the comic. I guarantee that this story is not finished, and there are still some surprises left in the story to come.”

Archie comic #601 arrives in comic book stores September 16 and hits newsstands and bookstores a week later.

NEW YORK — From commercial cover artist to rogue to video game director, Jim Lee’s signature is synonymous with modern comics’ culture.

Lee is the executive creative director for Sony’s upcoming DC Universe Online, a massive multiplayer online role playing game. In an interview with Blast, Lee said he hopes to bring his art and the stories of the DC universe into houses that would never have heard them.

With a hat shielding his face from the bright florescent lights lining the room, it was almost hard to see the bags under his eyes. Clearly tired, he still managed to put on his game face. Over this long New York Comic Con weekend, he had done a couple panels, several interviews, and now, a party for a game he is a very big part of.

DC Universe online brought out a completely new challenge for Lee.

Talking about his role in DC Universe Online, Lee laughs as he remembers his official title of “Executive Creative Director.” Sounds a bit on the bland side, but he explains that his job is to effectively make the skeleton in which this game will rest upon.

“I’m involved with a lot of the concept art, and it’s my job to report back to DC if the game looks right or not,” said Lee describing the multiple facets of his new job.

Lee did most of the conceptual artwork for not only the heroes and villains, but also the cityscape and landmarks throughout the game. Sony explained that more than 300 city blocks were designed just for a game demo and that’s only a very small fraction of the game. “Metropolis is huge,” Lee said, “There is just so much going on there that it really takes a while to grasp it all. You have S.T.A.R. Labs, Centennial Park with the big Superman statue and of course the Daily Planet.”

Lee said he was very excited about the game and the concept of it being a MMORPG. He says he’s a gamer, and it’s clear he means it, making mention of macros and zones, both familiar aspects to those who have played games of this genre, to pad his cred. “I’ve been playing MMO’s for a while now: EverQuest, EverQuest 2, Warcraft. But I like shooters too”

DC Universe online brought out a completely new challenge for Lee. He had to do something that had never been done before: design all of Gotham City and Metropolis. In all the years of Batman and Superman comics, no one has ever had to make a layout of their iconic cities. Sure, comic fans know what landmarks are in each city but not how they are placed on the map. Lee explained that comic tradition is to use the location to aid the story, rather than the story to be defined by the location.

“If in one book, the Daily Planet was 50 stories tall and next time it was 75, no one blinked an eye, because it was for the story to progress.” Now suddenly, Lee needed to define everything, and that was a problem. It was a new issue to someone who had spent 20 years drawing books, and that isn’t something you see every day in the world of comics.

Getting things like arms and shoulders to render just right took patience

To compound the problem, he needed to add in landmarks to make every area unique so that players can tell the difference and assign meeting places. “I needed to go through and add in all these little nooks and landmarks. Everyone knows the Daily Planet and Centennial Park, but we didn’t want everyone gathering at only those places,” Lee said.

Things that were just background in the past, suddenly needed to be the focus.

“Sure, it was challenging, but I think we got it right,” Lee said. “Sometimes stuff just falls right into place.”

The whole basis of the game is that you get to design and in essence, be your own superhero in the DC universe. Jim talked for a bit about the challenges of making interchangeable designs, to allow for maximum uniqueness, and then explained another overlooked part of the design process: character silhouette.

“We spent a lot of time creating iconic silhouettes,” Lee said, noting that it was one of the most important aspects to him. “It’s important that from far away, you could see someone like Superman, and still knows its Superman because his shape is unique. Not many characters in the DC Universe have weird or awkward shapes, so we made a few standard bodies to pick from.”

His eyes perk up when talking about the transition from being a comic artist to a concept designer. He explained that his biggest personal problem. “I need to clean up my lines,” Lee said. He was referring to the anatomy of the characters he draws day in and day out.

“When I draw for comics, things are more stylized. I tend to draw females with longer legs and guys with sloped shoulders,” Lee said. Those may look right in place in the 2D world, but when put in the third dimension, they make them look awkward and sometimes “downright monstrous”, as he put it.

“Functionally, my biggest problem was the shoulders. They didn’t articulate well,” Lee said.

There is a social black cloud surrounding the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a type of plastic used to make everyday products. When produced or burned, PVC releases several toxins into the air, which can potentially harm our immune and reproductive systems.

PVC is used in the construction of everything from pipes to pool toys, and is easy to spot (check any plastic product for a recycling symbol with the number the three in it). Companies like Microsoft and Mattel have abolished the use of PVC in their packaging for years now, but it’s still one of the most widely used plastics in North America.

The presence of PVC in toys has been of high concern for parents over the past several years. Parents very rarely check to see if toys they purchase for their children contain PVC, and therefore many children are unknowingly exposed to phthalates, which are used to soften PVC to make it more durable, when chewing on a toy. Though the exact effect is unknown, young people would be more prone to any sort of health issue caused by phthalates.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently begun cracking down on companies that irresponsibly handle PVC. In early December, the EPA and the Justice Department came to a $12 million settlement with Shintech Inc., the largest manufacturer of PVC in the U.S., and it’s subsidiary K-Bin Inc., demanding they clean up their facilities in Freeport, Texas after determining they violated the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act.

“It is imperative that business and industry do their part to minimize the possible harm their operations may cause to our environment,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene in the DOJ report. “This agreement will ensure corrective action is taken and provide added benefits to the environment through supplemental projects.”

The companies were fined $2.6 million and ordered to spend $4.8 million to decrease chlorofluorocarbon emissions and better hazardous waste management at their Texas plants. The remaining $4.7 million will be spent on supplemental environmental projects as well as renovations to ensure PVC emissions are reduced by 10,000 pounds, the DOJ reports.

The supplemental projects include funding the addition of at least 300 acres of wetlands and forest to the Austin Woods preserve, as well as aiding a new Houston recycling program that will help to ensure the proper disposal of appliances containing ozone-depleting refrigerant.

The EPA is committed to help reduce PVC emissions, while many companies are committed to lowering the usage of PVC in their products.

“It’s not something you want in a product,” said Greenpeace member Jack Desena. “In small doses the phthalates aren’t a big deal, we all come in contact with them on a regular basis. But the manufacturing, processing and disposal of polyvinyl chlorides is the real problem. When you process them they release so many toxins into the air. ‚ It really rips apart the environment.”

The girl-volution of a tween can be a trying time-for both ‚ parents and the tween. You know that period between the ages of 9-12 when girls try to act like they are 30? Parents often wonder what is happening to their little girls as they slowly start to change into women, while the tween’s are finding out firsthand what it’s like to start developing a little responsibility and of course self-expression.

It wasn’t too long ago I was a tween who dealt with self esteem issues, insecurities, started noticing boys and most importantly finding a style that proclaimed the inner qualities I was needing to share with the world. Of course for me it was done with caution at first, when you’re a tween it’s about testing the waters … not jumping in. Ha! That’s for the teen years!

But, I remembered the feeling of wanting to empower myself. There were so many things that I saw other tweens do or say or wear that made me wonder if I was not a normal tween.‚  They would dress in ways that would seem like they were competing for attention, the not so good kind, and surged jealousy in us girls whose parents weren’t so liberal in giving us everything we wanted.

The tween years are filled with competition, jealousy and insecurities. So how can we help our tweens feel a little empowered while promoting good values, sub-consciously of course. I spoke with FAO Schwartz Tween expert on hot products that are specifically designed to inspire tweens that parents will willingly want to invest on.

Depending on your little tween’s personality or inner wild child,‚ Rebelle‚ has created handbags that any girl would brag about.‚ Rebelle‚ is the only handbag collection available exclusively to the tween market. The detachable handbags come with a zipper down the middle so you can share them with a friend, thus teaching girls to share and the value of friendship. You can also join the‚ Rebelle‚ Friendship Club and become pen pals with girls from across the world. How distinguished, even for a tween, to say they have a friend in a foreign land.

If you have a very creative and eclectic tween, that you don’t mind spending a little money on to help develop their creative side,‚ Imagine This‚ has just the gift.‚ Imagine This‚ has created custom handbags for that fashionista who is a little finicky. With this special design opportunity, your tween will first receive her Designer’s Portfolio, which has everything she will need to design a bag she can call her own. The kit includes templates and fabric swatches that she can hand pick. Once her design has been completed, you can submit it to the talented designers at‚ Imagine This,‚ who will turn the original design into an actual handbag.

Handbags not your tweens forte? Jump-start their passion to become a fashion designer with this Project Runway Fashion and Figure Drawing Set. The Kit comes with a 12-inch wooden mannequin model, pencils, sketchbook, and more. Sketch your inspired design ideas to create a complete fashion portfolio.

Last but certainly not least, a gift any tween would feel creative with is Silk Scarf Painting by ALEX. Create a brilliant rainbow of freely flowing vibrant colors on pure, shimmery 100% silk. Kit comes with one 45″ long scarf and one 28″ bandana. Decorating supplies include 3 real bamboo brushes, mixing palette, eye dropper, rubber gloves, chunky salt, and easy step-by-step instructions.

Tweens can be a challenge to raise but it can be even worse around the holidays, figuring out what to buy them. Don’t leave the shopping up to your imagination or try to determine what your tween is thinking. The experts know best, and your tween will be pleased with your ability to find their inner spirit they thought you never understood. You can find all of these great gift ideas at FAO Schwartz stores.

Dear EarthTalk: I saw a cover line on a magazine that said, “The next world war will be over water.” Tell me we’re not really running out of water!‚ – Nell Fox, Seattle, WA‚ 

Today fully one-sixth of the world’s human population lacks access to clean drinking water, and more than two million people-mostly kids-die each year from water-borne diseases. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent organization that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States, predicts that by 2025, one-third of all humans will face severe and chronic water shortages.‚ 

Needless to say, water is of primary importance to our survival, and protecting access to and the quality of fresh water supplies will likely become more and more of a challenge in the coming years. According to the non-profit World Water Council, the 20th century saw a tripling of the world’s population while freshwater use grew by a factor of six. With world population expected to increase as much as 50 percent over the next half century, analysts are indeed worried that increasing demand for water, coupled with industrialization and urbanization, will have serious consequences both for human health and the environment. Access to freshwater is also likely to cause conflicts between governments as well as within national borders around the world.‚ 

According to USAID, the world’s “water crisis” is not so much an issue of scarcity as it is of poor management and inequitable distribution. The hardest hit regions have been countries in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide demand for water is presently doubling every 21 years.‚ 

Water-related problems are not the sole purview of the developing world though. We here in North America have polluted and diverted our fresh water supplies far beyond nature’s capacity to restore the flows, notably in the West where sprawling, thirsty metropolises have grown up in deserts where the only way water can be provided is to siphon it from other regions.‚ 

So how do we fix the world’s water woes? The key lies in using water more efficiently-especially in agriculture and industry, which together account for over 90 percent of the world’s total freshwater use. But changing the practices of millions of farmers and businesses around the world is a Herculean task.‚ 

Irena Salina, director of the award-winning documentary film, FLOW, about the world’s dwindling water supplies, thinks it can be done if world leaders, international banks, the United Nations and other governmental organizations establish cooperative agreements for the use of bodies of water, including groundwater, and economic mechanisms to make sure those who need access to water can get it.‚ 

As for the developed world-where we use 10 times the water as do developing countries-Salina remains pessimistic. “If our own leaders were serious about solving problems, we would not allow corporations to discharge pollutants into our water sources,” she says. “Instead of spending billions on technologies that clean up pollution, we would be using resources to prevent water pollution in the first place.”‚ 

CONTACTS: World Water Council, www.worldwatercouncil.org; USAID, www.usaid.gov; Flow the Film, www.flowthefilm.com.‚ 

Dear EarthTalk: There has been a lot of news about lead-tainted children’s toys being recalled. Where are these toys ending up and are they creating pollution problems there?‚ – Michael O’Laughlin, Tigard, OR‚ 

The biggest problem with the recall of millions of lead-tainted toys over the last few years has been getting shops and consumers to comply. According to Mattel-which has issued dozens‚ of recalls in recent years, including some 2.2 million Chinese-made toys contaminated with lead paint-historically only about six percent‚ of recalled toys are‚ returned. For those that do come home to roost, Mattel sells or reuses the zinc and‚ some of the resins they contain, and then recycles as many of the other components as possible, off-loading the lead to companies that specialize in the safe disposal of hazardous materials.‚ 

But what becomes of the 94 percent or so of the recalled lead-tainted toys that don’t make it back to Mattel? Many of them no doubt have found a comfortable home with a child somewhere long before word of the recall-ignored or missed by parents-got out. Of the remaining toys, some of those that were recalled in the summer of 2007 ended up on auction website like eBay and business-to-business sites like Made-in-China.com-and then eventually into the hands of unwitting consumers, many of them overseas. ‚ 

Unfortunately, there is still no federal law or regulation against reselling recalled toys, although some members of Congress are trying to change that. For its part, eBay has agreed to try to keep recalled products off its auction website, but enforcement can be a challenge.‚ 

The fact that these toys got out there for sale in the first place is the real shame, as research has shown that kids who have been exposed regularly to lead or lead paint have lower IQs and may experience learning disabilities as well as behavioral problems.‚ 

The good news might be that recalls are getting more exposure than ever, with better results. Illinois-based RC2 Corporation has already gotten back upwards of 70 percent of the 1.5 million lead-tainted Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys it recalled just last year. While there is still no nationally accepted procedure governing the disposal or recycling of such items, individual companies are bound by the laws of their respective states regarding disposal of the harmful materials. Those who worry about lead leaching out of landfills and into groundwater and soils would like the see the federal government mandate strict safety rules for dealing with lead and other hazardous materials.‚ 

Consumers unsure about whether a particular toy or other item has been part of a recall should check online at the “Recalls and Product Safety” section of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website. If a given product has been recalled, you can probably return it to the store where you bought it and let them deal with the hassle of getting it to the manufacturer. Or if you know an item was recalled for hazardous materials, you can drop it off at your local municipal hazardous waste collection facility. The website Earth911 provides a comprehensive national database of such facilities coast-to-coast.‚ 

CONTACTS: Mattel Product Recalls, service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp; RC2 Recall Information, recalls.rc2.com; U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, www.cpsc.gov; Earth911, www.earth911.org.‚ 

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

(ARA) — Parents looking to fill their children’s holiday wish lists have more on their minds this year than whether Johnny was naughty or Susie was nice. This year, parents are plagued by recalls of some of the season’s most-sought-after toys by big-name manufacturers.

The recent recalls of Chinese-manufactured toys have given a whole new life to the concept “buy American.”

“Buying toys and other goods made in America has always been a patriotic thing to do, something that supported the domestic economy,” said Glenda Lehman-Ervin, mother of two and a principal of Lehman’s, an old-time general store located in Kidron, Ohio. “Now, it feels like a question of safety, as well.”

But the good news is, there are American-made alternatives, toys that offer imagination-building activity and old-fashioned fun — without the contamination risks that have come to be associated with some foreign-made toys. “A lot of these toys are low-tech, interactive toys that really engage a child’s imagination,” Lehman-Ervin said. “And they are manufactured domestically, many by hand, making them not just toys but a piece of American heritage as well.”

Looking to fill your child’s Christmas dreams with American-made products this year? Here are some options:

• Classic rag dolls — "What toy is more American than a hand-made rag doll?" Lehman-Ervin says. Illustrator and author Johnny Gruelle created the most famous rag doll, Raggedy Ann, for his daughter in 1915, and Raggedy Ann’s brother, Andy, came along in 1918. Mothers have handstitched the dolls for decades, and mass marketing of the characters hasn’t changed the fact that the most popular versions are still handmade. Lehman’s offers Ann and Andy rag dolls that are still handmade by a real mother, who stitches them the old-fashioned way.
• Wood is welcome — From yo-yos to train whistles, some of the best-loved American-made toys are made from wood. It’s possible to find wooden toys at virtually every price point that are appropriate for different age groups. Pick-up sticks, a simple, classic puzzle game can be had in an American-made version for just $9.95. Wooden whistles cost even less, while Amish-made toy trains and wood and metal wagons range higher.
• Moving American-style — The bicycle may have been invented abroad, but American kids cemented the bike’s position as a classic toy in the 1950s and ‘60s. Bikes today are a multi-million-dollar industry, with some top line names being designed and built overseas. But it is still possible to find bikes and tricycles made domestically. Check out www.lehmans.com for “The Best Tricycle Ever.”
• Metal means fun — From Slinkies to devilishly simple-seeming puzzle games, metal toys have a long tradition as favorites in Christmas stockings. While modern Slinkies are made from plastic, a limited collectors’ edition metal Slinky is still made. And, ironically, many so-called Chinese puzzles – in which a child has to unlock intricately interwoven metal pieces — are actually made in the Unites States.

Courtesy of ARAcontent