Good Ol' Fashioned Randomness

I've realized that it isn't where my brain goes that scares me, it's how it gets there. The path from watching two old men fight on The Boondocks to looking up whether it was Alfredo Griffith or Alfredo Griffin that played for the Blue Jays in 1987 is surely an odd one. For the record, Alfredo Griffin actually played for Oakland that year. He did play for Toronto in 1984.

Anyway, in addition to my weekly pull, I've been buying some older comics this year, what with Ken having been given a few thousand to sell off by a customer. Plus, I brought back a few of mine that I'd loaned to a friend years ago. Well, I technically gave them to him, but he had them buried under his clothing, so I don't think he'll miss them. So what have I learned from them?

- I like Spider-Man comics where he teams up with the Black Cat (The Powerless Saga, and the Invasion of the Spider-Slayers stories). The exception is when Kevin Smith decides to retcon rape into her origin. Thanks Kev, hope Clerks 2 is a big success for you.

- Ultron Unlimited (Avengers #19-22, Vol. 3(?)) is freaking awesome. So much so that, as pointed out by Len and Jack, no Marvel writer has dared to use Ultron since, probably out of fear that the story wouldn't measure up. That's probably a valid concern.

- Of course, that's no reason not to use Alkhema, Ultron's second "wife" (also pointed out by Len and Jack).

- Or Count Nefaria for that matter. Marvel suffers from a severe lack of villains that make you go "Oh, shit! The good guys are in trouble!" when you see them in the book. In theory there's: Kingpin (Daredevil), Green Goblin (Spider-Man), Thanos, Apocalypse, Ultron, Dr. Doom, The Sentry (well, he makes me go "Oh shit!" when I see him in a book). . . that's about it. But they've got some who could be that way, if they'd bother to use them. Of course, why make scary villains, when you can just have the heroes slap each other around?

- There are few things at DC that make me happier than seeing Batman losing it and slapping the Joker bloody and senseless, especially when it's because the Joker brainwashed Catwoman back into being a villain, which means the Bat is sleeping alone tonight(Detective Comics #570, Mike Barr, Alan Davis, and Paul Neary).

- Batman killed an Eclipso manifestation with a toy sword (Detective Comics Annual #5)? Why does this guy give the JSA trouble again?

- I collected The Order, which is a six part arc/mini-series in Busiek and Larsen's Defenders that explains why Hulk, Namor, Surfer, and Dr. Strange had been acting as they had until then. Busiek did that part fine (I think health issues had taken Larsen out of it by then), but how the day was saved makes no sense to me, no matter how many times a I read it. The Big Four's female counterparts get hit by energy which passes through them and hits said Big Four, and then they aren't so angry anymore? Buh?

- The first 18 issues of John Byrne's Namor are as kickass as Mallet said they were, which is good since I took that as a recommendation, which is why I bought them when I saw them at the store. Namor's a jerk, but a cool jerk, who loves to beat people up while talking about how awesome he is. Clearly, he idolizes Thor. And hey, frequent appearances by Namorita in her pre-blue, pre-blown up days are always welcome here at Reporting on Marvels & Legends.

I've got some other books, but I'll hold those in reserve for another day.