[News] News of July

 Another month is over so here are some belated News:

• San Marino issued on 12th July a sheet of four stamps about the 60th anniversary of the Italian comic character Diabolik.
• During the French Japan Expo on 15th July it was revealed that the theme of this year's French Jeunesse issue will be Naruto. A few day earlier it was revealed on Twitter that it will be an anime-themed stamp. The issue date of the single stamp will be the 10th October. It seems like this year there will not be an additional booklet. On another note it was already announced that in 2024 there will be an issue about the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême.
• The image of the Austrian Lego stamp can now be seen on the Internet. It shows the Ferriswheel of Vienna as Lego model. Switzerland has now also announced a Lego issue for November consisting of two stamps. 
• On WOPA you can now buy Armenia's latest cartoon stamp. It was issued on 29th July and shows Vin the Penguin.
• Still no news about the Lord of the Rings issue from New Zealand, but as was recently made public New Zealand Post had to withdraw an issue about the Maori Language Petition before the release (see Commonwealth Stamp Opinion #2128). I doubt that there is a similar reason for the LOTR issue. As a reminder last year's set was also postponed. I guess that someone at New Zealand Post decided that it would be better to coincide the issue with the upcoming Amazon series The Rings of Powers just like Portugal's issue.

The New Issues of the month were Vin the Penguin from Armenia, Spider-Man from Germany, Toy Story from Japan, Diabolik from San Marino and by now also Buzz Lightyear from the USA was already issued.

To my own collection I added this month the new Mascots from Singapore, the two Polish issues of this year, Spider-Man (only the mint stamp is yet uploaded), a new Pokemon stamp from Japan and one of the Japanese Toy Story stamps.

Germany: Sleeping Beauty Special Postmark (2022)

Japan: Toy Story (2022)

Nothing else needed.

Used on a Card with Special Postmark:

Germany: Spider-Man (2022)

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks:

Maxicard:

[News] News of June

June brought some interesting News and I could not wait to write about them, so here they are:

• I have seen the Polish stamp programme for 2023 and it includes a stamp about Koziołek Matołek in June. This popular Polish comic was first published in 1933, so it celebrates its 90th anniversary next year.
• This year's Dutch Kinderpostzegels can be seen online. They feature Donald Duck together with other popular characters from the franchise like Scrooge McDuck, Chip, Dale, Huey, Dewey and Louie.
• The issue date of the US Peanuts stamps was announced to be the 30th September. In addition also a set of four Buzz Lightyear stamps was revealed with a release date on 3rd August.
• The Lego stamp returned to the Austrian stamp programme. Issue date is now the 16th September and it will be a single national letter rate stamp.
• The Lord of the Rings stamps that were supposed to be released by New Zealand Post on 1st June were not issued yet. Last year the set was announced for 2nd June and released on 1st September, so we might expect the same again, but there are no official news yet.

The only thematic issue of June were the Singapore Mascots.

I have not added much to my collection this month, but I finally uploaded most of the additions of the last months.

Singapore: Mascots (2022)

FDC:

Used on a Card:

Poland: Kajko and Kokosz (2022)

[News] News of April and May

Well, once again I have not posted in late April, so I guess every other month will be the new rhythm for my updates. These are the News I have collected since the last update:

• The Portuguese Lord of the Rings now has an issue date. It will be released on 2nd September. I guess like usual there will not be shown anything before the issue date.
• The Lego stamp that appeared in the Austrian stamp programme has now disappeared again.
• USPS will issue a sheet about the Birth Centenary of Charles M. Schulz later this year. The issue consists of a sheet of twenty stamps with ten designs of popular Peanuts characters and a big vignette of Schulz himself. No issue date is known yet.
• The second World Tales stamp from Latvia was not issued as planned on 16th May, but was already issued on 29th April. After the Rundale Castle Rose Ghost in 2021, this one shows Alice in Wonderland. A wonderful issue!
• The French stamp programme for 2023 includes a stamp about Pief le Chien, the programme for 2022 includes another Jeunesse issue, but without further details. 
• Two sheets with ten stamps each about Toy Story will be issued in Japan on 13th July.
• After changing the rhythm from odd to even years the Finnish Post announced a new Moomin set for the 7th September. There will be six stamps like usual and the theme is Moomin ABC to promote reading and writing. 
• The Post of the Isle of Man issued a set about the BBC Centenary of 19th May. There are twelve stamps in total of which Blue Peter and BBC Bitsize can be counted among the children's stamps. Nothing I will add to my collection.
• On 6th December a set of six stamps about the comic character Miss 13 Dots will a issued in Hong Kong.
• An image of the German Spider Man stamp appeared online. It shows the comic character, which actually celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and not one of the recent movie versions.
• The Polish Kajko and Kokosz issue was released today as planned and is indeed a souvenir sheet.

As mentioned above April and May saw the stamps from Isle of Man, Latvia and Poland, but also Klára Jarunková from Slovakia and Shel Silverstein from the USA.

To my own collection I added a Lotte from Gadgetville stamp from Estonia, Shel Silverstein from the USA and Alice from Latvia. The latter two are however not yet scanned and added to the blog.

Austria: Frog King Special Postmark (2022)

On matching Cards with related Personalised Stamps:

Switzerland: Wilhelm Tell (2022)

FDC:

Germany: EUROPA 2022 (2022)

Used on Covers:

Latvia: World Tales - Alice in Wonderland (2022)

FDC:

Poland: Wawel Dragon (2022)

USA: Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree (2022)

Not needed in mint condition, but a FDC would be nice.

Used on a Card:

[News] News of February and March

After a two-month absence I am back with some News. February and March were busy for me, but also there was not much new information, so I decided not to post last month. Without further ado here however the few news I got:

• The issue date for the US Shel Silverstein stamp was announced to be the 8th April, so next Friday. I read that this stamp sparked a small controversy, as people said that a different book should have been chosen, because it is not said to be his best and apparently can be read as a story of selfish exploitation. I can not judge, as I do not know the book, but I like the stamp and hope to add it to my collection, although I am not very active in philately these days.
• Australian Post issued on 15th March a set of five about Australian Legends of Filmmaking. Among them is George Miller, who is best known for the Mad Max movies, but who has also directed, produced and co-written one of my favourite movies as a child, Happy Feet. 
• The German stamp about Benjamin Blümchen issued in March surprisingly includes the link to the TV show's intro if a scan the dreadful matrix code. Thus the code at least has one positive side effect beside ruining great designs and a useless tracking function.
• An updated version of the Polish stamp programme includes in October a stamp about Thorgal, a Belgian comic series co-created by Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński that celebrates its 45th anniversary this year.
• In time for the release of Fantastic Beasts 3 a thematic postmark is used in Portugal's capital Lisbon.
• Just this morning I saw that the Austrian stamp programme now includes a stamp about the 90th anniversary of Lego on 2nd September. More information is awaited.

The New Issues of February and March were George Miller from Australia, Nero and Marc Sleen from Belgium and Rumpelstiltskin and Benjamin Blümchen from Germany.

To my own collection I have added a few older stamps on cards and covers, but mainly the new issues from Germany.

Australia: Legends of Filmmaking (2022)

George Miller is the creator of Happy Feet and Mad Max, the rest in the set is not needed.

Maxicard:

Germany: Benjamin Blümchen (2022)

If you scan the matrix code you can listen to the intro of the TV show.

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks (one is a self-made Maxicard):

First Day Sheet:

"Erinnerungsblatt":

"Gedenkset" (inside you can see a big image of Benjamin's home zoo, a mint version of the stamp and an old East German stamp set about zoo animals):

Used on Covers:

Germany: Welfare - Rumpelstiltskin (2022)

Booklet:

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks (unfortunately the fourth card got lost in the mail):