What I Bought 6/6/07

Big week this week. Two whole comics. Hoo boy, that's my best haul since, um, give me a sec here, May 16th. Oh well, we'll just have to make do, and make sure not to stumble into too many spoilers as we go, eh?

Warbird #16 - That's actually a pretty nice cover. The more Greg Horn moves away from pin-up covers, the more I can appreciate his skill. I'll have to mention that to Ken, he likes Greg Horn's work. Or was that Greg Land? Maybe it was both. As advertised by the cover, Carol must fight mind-controlled Wonder Man (well, the cover doesn't advertise that he's mind-controlled, but you get my point). Because fighting never solves anything, Carol breaks MODOK's hold on Simon in a way that I'm sure will have absolutely no lasting consequences beyond this issue.

That settled, it's back to the A.I.M. battle royal, with two poor SHIELD agents stuck in the middle. By the time the actual superheroes make it back to the fight it's already over, thanks to SHIELD's technology that simulates telepathic abilities. How does that work? Still, MODOK's escaped, and the DNA bomb's gone too. They did catch the Scientist Supreme, so I suppose it's Wonder Man's turn to compliment her ass. I wonder, how did MODOK manage to have a son?

Couple of other points. On the whole, I enjoy Lopresti's art, though there are times when the fight scenes look awkward, such as page 4, where Carol seems oddly positioned for having just been left crossed. Still, most of the rest of the fights were well done, and there's some nice facial expression throughout, and that's about what I want, so props. The other thing,is that Carol seems to be bantering in a style I'd associate with Buffy. My only issue with that is, if Carol is in her late 20s, early 30s like I figure, she seems a bit old for that style of chatter. Just something about her saying 'All my awesomeness aside'. . . Not a big deal, I guess. 3.7 out of 5.

The Punisher #48 - How odd. This is the 6th issue of the arc, and it didn't conclude. Is Garth Ennis deviating from pattern? It's fine, he can if he wants, it was a nice enough issue, especially considering Frank Castle does nothing. He sits on a bed, says a few words, and spends most of his time looking at Jenny with something approaching compassion. No wonder I was so confused by his expression, who expects Castle to show compassion? Maybe it's respect?

Be that as it may, this issue is focused on the widows dealing with the fallout from the botched hit on Mr. Castle, and the detective who's investigating their involvement in the shootout. He makes a pretty accurate guess as to what the ladies were up to, but he's got to prove it. Shauna Toomey still goes and jumps the gun, and now they've got three different people gunning for them. Based on Budiansky's display of excessive force in this issue, I'm not sure who they should be more scared of, him, Jenny, or the Punisher. It's sad in a way, the widows' revenge scheme started out so well, they seemed so prepared, but now they're falling apart, pointing fingers, overreacting, and doing things in the sloppy manner of most of the people Frank's planted over the years. 4.1 out of 5.

Is Vic Mackey Going Honest?

The Shield season finale is tonight, so I want to rush and get this post up before it airs, and shows me to be a fool. Hopefully, the finals will be better than House was last week. I'm sorry House creative staff, but I liked Foreman, and your seeming attempts to make him a bigger jerk than House do not please me. In fact, it makes me sad. I already had a cast member designated as "do not like". She was called Cameron. But enough talk of crappy season finales, this is supposed to be about The Shield.

I've been trying to understand Vic's determination to crack the San Marcos murders. Technically, it's solved. One of the murderers is in custody, the other two were found dead, case closed. Yet Vic sees that there's something funny about all this. A Mexican government official was in the same room as a dozen illegal immigrants. The immigrants were slaughtered, and the official had an arm chopped off. Yet the Mexican government shows no interest in investigating this case. Likewise with the American government. The only thing either side seems to care about is that bag full of money the now one-armed Mexican official was found with, which he very dearly wants returned. And this disinterest seems fine with a lot of people. Even Captain Wyms, usually not one for looking the other way, is fine with just being happy that the people who did all the hacking to death are caught (or dead), and doesn't want more time being spent looking into the motivations. Yet here's Vic Mackey, no stranger to dirty dealings, with a full plate of problems of his own to deal with (not the least of which is Shane once again proving he's too stupid to pull off the same stuff Vic can), vowing that he's going to spend his last few days on the force figuring out what's going on. So what's the deal?

Part of me wants to believe that Vic has come to grips with his forced retirement, and wants to go out on a high note, exposing some massive conspiracy of drug peddling that involves people in the governments on both sides of the border. That would be a pretty nice last hurrah, probably whitewash a lot of the crap he's done, at least in the public eye. And if that were the case, I would love it. But this is Vic Mackey, and he's pretty much always working an angle, so I think there has to be more.

Like I said, if Vic could blow this thing wide open, for whatever reason, it'd be a nice feather in his cap (How many similes can I use? Am I using similes? High school English was long ago.), the sort of thing a guy could use as leverage to save his job. Added to that scene of him tossing aside those lists of employment opportunities Corrine brought him (though he was nice enough to wait until she left), plus all his machinations to stick around, and it's clear Vic isn't ready to give up on his badge just yet. I guess the thing I'm really wondering about is how Vic will play it, clean or dirty?

What I mean is, if Vic were to discover the truth, would he bring it to his superiors' attention, take it through proper channels, and then hope his bosses look favorably upon him for it (or that the public outcry is too great for them to send this "crusader cop" out into the streets), or would he try to use his knowledge against the people responsible, as extortion? With Vic, the latter is more likely, but a worse decision I think. He tried it with the city official, getting the guilty party to change the truth of what happened to the officials daughter, in exchange for help in retaining his job. When that fell through, he threatened to blackmail the father, only to be reminded that would reveal that he falsified a police report in an attempt to curry favor. I think it would turn out much the same in this case, where the people he'd be up against would be able to use all of Vic's past deeds to bring him down (assuming the Armenians don't do that first). Vic's threats and intimidation just won't work as well against people of money or power.

Of course, there is Aceveda, who has power, but never seems comfortable with it (because he's always trying to trade up, I think), and Vic has some incriminating evidence on him. But it was provided by the guy Vic is sure is involved in this whole mess. I'm curious to see just how Vic handles this situation. If he plays it dirty, as he has historically, Aceveda might just save his job. Of course, if Aceveda doesn't have enough clout, or refuses to bow to extortion, then Vic's wasted his time, and gone out like a punk. If he plays it honest, he might just get Aceveda on his side (by giving him the picture, no strings), and that would give him a politician, one that's always looking for some good press, to help Vic with his push for the truth.

I'm a little worried that storyline is going to get derailed by the whole "Armenians will kill your family" stuff, though. Oh Shane, you monstrous dimwit. You've been begging for a bullet in the head since you got the Strike Team mixed up with Antwan Mitchell.

Amnesia And Superpowers Rock!

What can I say about Phantom Dust for the XBox? I could tell you that I didn't go to the store intending to buy it. I don't remember what I did intend to buy, but it either wasn't there, or it was too expensive. And there was Phantom Dust, with this weird looking cover, a $20 price tag, the back of the box talking of over 300 powers, and I said "What the hell." I know that Phantom Dust is one of my favorite XBox games, locked in a struggle for superiority with Max Payne, and Thief: Deadly Shadows, with the edge going to whichever one I happen to be playing that day.

So, what to say of Phantom Dust? It's set in a post-apocalyptic future. Nothing new there. The world is wrecked, a strange dust covers the surface. Exposure to this dust causes a loss of memories; nobody on the planet remembers anything from before all this, except a vague memory of some 'Ruins'. Everyone remembers the Ruins though. Having moved underground to be safe from the dust, humanity learned that certain people were granted strange powers in this new world, and with horrific creatures roaming the surface, these "Espers" were sent on missions to try and find the Ruins, in the hopes they would discover what happened to the world. Of course, they aren't immune to the amnesiac effects of the dust, so excursions to the surface are for limited times (15 minutes per mission).

Your character was found in a strange metal tube, on a precipice overlooking a crater. On the opposite precipice was another tube, containing a guy named Edgar. At least, that was the name in the locket he carried. You don't know your name, and so like most, you choose your name. For example, your colleagues in the game sport names ranging from Tsubataki, to Cuff Button, to JD. I chose "Key". It seemed apt.

Your name is largely irrelevant (there's probably a point to that), because no one ever calls you by your name out loud. Even in unspoken dialogue boxes, your name rarely appears. In fact, your character doesn't speak once the entire game. Oh, the way the other characters speak at times tells us your character must have said something, but you never see a dialogue box, or hear one word spoken. Your character responds through body language and facial expressions, mostly shock, determination, and sadness, though he always starts with a faint smile on his lips. That lends a sort of nonchalance, him walking with his hands set lightly on his hips, as if just enjoying the sunshine while strolling out to get his morning paper. It's a nice snapshot of the character, that he can stride into even highly dangerous situations that way, seemingly without concern for the risks he's facing.

What should I say about the gameplay itself? There are all sorts of reasons to go to the surface - protect a supply route, train a robot to help out, try out new skills, rescue a child that wandered on the surface, even to provide a young writer with inspiration for his book. Really though, it all boils down to you fighting monsters, and sometimes the other Espers. The monsters range from floating bean pods with eyes, to humanoids, to a giant bird-thing, to weird mechanical looking creatures several stories tall. They employ all sorts of different strategies, taking as much advantage from the 300 skills available (more with Xbox Live, but I'm too cheap to shell out for that) as you do. In the battles you have your Level and your Aura, Level being the maximum amount of Aura you can have, Aura dropping as you use skills, then replenishing if given time. Environments are destructible, and can thus be used against your enemies, either blasting their footing out from under them, sending them falling off the screen (though they return to their start point, minus some health, just the same as you), by destroying overhanging ledges, causing them to rain down on foes, or blasting nearby objects, and letting the shrapnel do the work. Of course, they can do all that as well.

What to say about the skills? There are 300, 60 for each of the five schools: Psycho, Optical, Nature, Ki, and Faith. There are differences, with the Optical focusing primarily on long-range attacks, the Ki on short-range, and Faith having several attacks that cost health to use. There's also defenses, some which simply block, others which erase the skill they block, still others that give you the Aura cost of the attack as a gift. There are skills to enhance or degrade abilities, meaning they can speed you up for brief times, or increase the damage your attacks inflict, or lower the homing ability of an enemy's attacks. There are Environmental skills that affect everyone out there, and Erase skills to, well, erase the enemies' skills, or erase the effects enemies' skills have had on you.

After the first couple hours of gameplay, things have changed in the world, and skills no longer appear randomly in the battlegrounds. Now you have to bring an arsenal of skills with you, remembering to leave some room for Aura particles, or you won't have any Aura to use your skills! You get money for completing missions, so you can buy skills you don't have, multiple copies of skills you like, and as many arsenals as you wish. The arsenals can house skills from 1, 2, or 3 different schools, depending on which you buy. For some reason, 1-School Arsenals cost twice as much as 2-School, so I just buy 2-School and use them as 1. I've currently got 15 different arsenals, three for each school. My preference is to go for a nice mix of attacks, defenses, erases, and so on, and to group skills that compliment each other. For example, there's a Psycho School attack called "Rain of Rocks". It causes rocks to rain down on your opponent, but it's kind of slow and can be outrun, unless you use the skill "Entangle" (or is it "Lift Up"? "Pressure"? There are several skills in different schools that have similar effects. I don't consider that a bad thing.) to hold your enemy in place for a few seconds, while you drop the hammer, so to speak. Since the game is set up where running out of skills in your arsenal causes your health to begin dropping, I've also got a Faith Arsenal with few attacks, but an Erase skill that can erase skill capsules. So I just use that to delete their arsenal, and let their health fall on its own. It's a cheap tactic, but it works if you can stay alive long enough.

What to say to conclude? Well, I don't know why I've been discussing the game like I'm giving a eulogy. It still works just fine, I was playing it earlier this afternoon. It feels like a combination of two animes that I enjoyed the first halves of: Scryed, for the superpowers as a result of strange calamity, and Big O (it's not hentai, it's the name of the giant robot, don't ask me why), for the world where no one has memories side of it. There's a sense to the game I get, not only that events are repeating themselves for some of these people, but that certain Espers are related to certain monsters you encounter. It's more obvious in some cases than others (Tsubataki and the Gyne Sisters), and if I'm right, it's definitely related to the big reveal of Phantom Dust, which gets parceled out in chunks as you go, so that things weren't quite as I expected.

Ah, I know how to wrap up. If you have an XBox, and you still want some use from it, get this game. I think that works.

Games, Games, Games!

Once again, I have braved the trip from my humble stomping grounds, to the big, scary suburbs, that are home to friends Papafred and Tomato. And, once again, I have returned safely from said trip, feeling quite mellow thank you, and with new gaming experiences that are fun for the whole family*.

No Thanks: Last time I returned from this sojurn, I talked about For Sale. No Thanks is essentially For Sale in reverse. Or reversed. Something like that. There are 33 cards, numbered 3-35. You remove 9, without looking at them, and set them aside. Then one at a time, a card is flipped over. You can either take the card, or pay a token to not take the card. People can keep paying for as long as they've got tokens (provided they don't want the card), but once you're out of tokens, you have to pick up the card. The mitigating factor is that you keep all the tokens that were paid on that card up to that point.

At the end, you add up the total numbers of all your cards, and subtract how ever many tokens you have. Also, if you have a consecutive sequence of numbers (say 11, 12, 13), you would only count the 11, so there's a bit of strategy to it, and it's 20 minute game, roughly.

Wits and Wagers: Like Trivial Pursuit, with gambling. Or Price is Right, with actual knowledge. Sorry, I don't consider knowing prices of applainces knowledge. But I do consider knowing how many turkeys Americans consume at Thanksgiving (45 million?!) to be knowledge. Odd.

A question is asked, everyone takes their marker and dry eraseboard, and writes down what they think the answer is in 30 seconds. Then the cards are arranged on what looks like a betting table from smallest to largest. See, it's always some numerical question, like "What year did Columbus reach South America?", or "How many times more volume does the Sun have than Earth?" Then you have 30 seconds to bet on which answer you think is closest (without going over, and you can also bet that the true answer is lower than all the guesses). You can bet a max of ten, betting all of it on one answer, dividing it between two, betting just five, or even bet none. Whichever person had the closest guess (without going over) gets ten monetary units, and whoever bet on that answer gets the labeled payoff as well. The way it's set up, the answers on the extremes pay higher than the answers in the middle (up to 4 to 1).

For the record, I won the first game on the strength of being one year off on the first year sound was in a movie (I guessed 1922, it was 1923), and I also got that Sun's volume question (I guessed a million, it was 1.3 million, nobody else guessed higher than 200. I love being a childhood astronomy nerd.) The most amusing part was watching Papafred's sister consistently write "1700" for any question about years, including the Columbus one. I weep at the American educational system. OK, I guessed wrong too, but I was only off by like five years (it was 1498, remember, it said "South America", not "the Americas", or "the New World").

Bohnanza - You're a bean farmer!? It's more fun than it sounds. There are different beans. You plant them, but you can only plant two types at a time, three if you purchase the 3rd field with the money you make harvesting. You can trade bean cards you have, for bean types you want during your turn with anyone, which can lead to some interesting haggling, and lines like 'What will you give me for my Stink (Bean)?' Up to a certain point, you can keep planting more of a bean in a field, and make more gold when you harvest, but you also have to look at the cards in your hand - which you can't shuffle, you have to use them in the order they were received - to see if you're going to be better off harvesting now, and starting anew. One with the most gold after three turns through the deck wins.

Pitch Car - This was probably the oddest, which given what I just described above is saying something. You build a race track, like it was Hot Wheels, and each person takes a turn flicking (with their fingers) a little wooden disc with a car painted on it around the track. This determines "pole position" with fewest flicks getting first, and so on. Then you start the actual race, with first to finish three laps being the winner. There's turns and guard rails, though they don't do much if you flick too hard (a common issue for me and Papafred's other sister). If you go off the track, you go back to where you flicked from. That also applies if your flick knocks someone else off the track, so no Tony Stewart antics (that's me appealing to the NASCAR fans among us)! After playing that, I concluded I lack fine motor control.

Citadel - This was kind of fun, not too hard to pick up, but it lacks interaction between the players. You want to build eight districts within your city. These can range from things like taverns and markets, manors, cathedrals, haunted cities, prisons, etc. There are 8 roles to play, and each round one of those cards is removed, then the other seven are passed around, starting with whomver picked the King last round. Each person selects a role, and then you go through one at a time, with each role getting a chance to go starting with the one numbered 1 (Assassin), up to 8 (Warlord, not "Warlock" as certain people kept saying). Each role has certain powers, with the Assassin being able to kill one of the other characters during their turn turn (thus making that character miss their turn), the Warlord being able to pay to destroy another player's district each turn, the Bishop being safe from the Warlord, plus receiving money for each district with a blue (holy) symbol on it. Once someone gets eight districts built, that'll be the last round, tally up the cost of the things you built, plus points if you have districts of all five colors, plus points for being the first done, and so on.

To get to eight districts, you'll have to either draw district cards, so as to have things to build, or borrow gold, so as to have the money to build them. I think you can play it either by focusing on what you need, or by trying to figure out what your opponents will do, and working against that. For example, I had the six districts, and only one other player had even five. I figured someone would try to slow me down by using the Warlord to smash one of my districts, so I chose the Bishop (fortunately he was still available). The Assassin wasn't drawn that round (or didn't target me, I forget), and so my city was safe from reprisals while I collected money from my church, and built a cheap little tavern for district #7. The next round, the Bishop and Warlords were gone, so I chose the Assassin, then used him to kill the Warlord, took two more gold from the bank, and built my eighth district. And I pulled out the narrow victory (26 points to Tomato's 22).

Still, more interplay with the other characters would have been nice, probably why I like Arkham Horror more.

*May not result in fun for the whole family, if, you know, you're family of jerks who don't like fun.

Weird How Things Work Out

It really is. As an example, I present this:

- Tuesday, I asked you about what makes a death in comics work. In the comments, Gabesummers mentioned that one of his problems with DC is that most of their deaths seem to be so they can remove an old version of a character, and put in a hip, new one. I'd argue that these days most deaths at DC are Geoff Johns (and other writers) trying to show us how eeevil the bad guys are (Geoff, we get it. They're Nazis. You don't need to have them slaughter a family picnic.), but that's neither here nor there.

- I responded that it'd be nice to see new versions of heroes (or villains now that I think of it) arise in different ways, for example, the current version and the newbie slugging it out for the title (non-lethal combat, naturally), with the new kid proving themselves better (though you'd have to be careful not to do it in a way that humiliates the current version, or you'd really honk off their fans, and the new character is dead in the water before you begin) and claiming the title.

- Nothing Stops the Blob then wondered whether there had ever been such a situation.

- I remembered it happening in reverse, when Hal Jordan pummeled Guy Gardner and took his ring because, well, Hal Jordan is a dick (he's just sneakier about it than Guy, which is why he doesn't get called on it as much). Storm took down the more experienced Cyclops to claim leadership of the X-Men (without powers!), but she had prior experience running the team, and Cyke was distracted by thoughts of his wife and their kid (which is a way of making his loss more palatable to his fans I'd imagine.

- This morning I remembered that T'Challa lost the Black Panther title at one point during Priest's book, but I question how much that counts. I was reading the book, but I doubt that T'Challa suddenly became a background character, with the new guy getting all the focus and interacting with Reed Richards and the Avengers. T'Challa was still the star, just in a different identity (I think. Correct me if I'm wrong). Then, as I was reading the blogs this morning, Ragnell provided another possibility, when she mentioned that the third Star Sapphire defeated Carol Ferris to take the title (and her boyfriend). It does sound a bit like T'Challa's situation though, where Carol was still more of the focus than the person replacing her, but it's worth considering. And that brings us to now.

So I ask those of you who know the story better, do you think the Star Sapphire situation would meet the criteria? What about the Black Panther story? Are there any other examples you can think of? As for me, I'm leaving town to visit my board game playing friends again. Later.

A Constant Struggle For Cuteness

Hey, only one comic again? {I told you last week that was gonna happen. Don't try and act surprised.} I know, I just wanted to make you feel bad, so you'd buy me ice cream. {What?! Of all the manipulative. . . If you aren't careful, you'll wind up like that panda in Aquaman.} The dead one? {Well, uh, no. It wasn't dead, just resting. Yes, that's it, resting.}

Applause - Excalibur. There isn't much to choose from, but they did stop the Bad X-Men from freeing Shadow King. {Actually, Lionheart took care of that when she killed Shadow King last issue.} Oh. Well, they stopped the Bad X-Men from hurting Lionheart or getting away, that's good.

Covert Hug - Sage. I have to be careful, since she's undercover. I don't want Albion to know she's a good guy, but she's hurt and in enemy territory, so I think she could use some love.

Bonk - Lionheart. {Hey now, you're on dangerous ground here.} Excalibur was outnumbered and she ran away, instead of staying to help. {She's not part of Excalibur, and besides she already did her part by taking care of the Shadow King.} He was taken care of already, he was in prison! And that still doesn't excuse running away from a fight, and she hurt Sage. {Fine, whatever, it's your bonk. Waste it on her if you want.} Don't call my bonks wasted! {I'm sorry. Let's go for ice cream!} Hooray!

What I Bought 5/31/07

And once again, I get one comic. That's weak, but it's not all bad. It means this post will go fast, and I can get to work on that huge post I have planned for another blog, where I complain about how Dave Duncan screwed up Anthony Reyes. Which means nothing to you if you don't follow the Cardinals, so I'll just remind you that spoilers can be found most anywhere these days, maybe even in this post.

New Excalibur #20 - So Sage has infiltrated Albion's little group. I'm still not sure why she felt dressing in Power Girl's top, Supergirl's skirt, and a coat that looks like it belonged to Santa was necessary, but it worked, so good for her. Nocturne is still making progress in recovering from her stroke, having gotten her left side back to its previous level of mobility, though the right is still sorely lacking.

Meanwhile, Excalibur fights the Dark X-Men, and Lionheart takes off, which seems pretty smart. The teams want to whomp on each other, why get in the way? The battle is pretty enjoyable because both teams show cooperation and teamwork to try and gain an advantage. It's a lot more fun than a bunch of one-on-one fights. Still, it turns out this was all to ensure Excalibur wouldn't interefere with Albion's real plan, which was to attack a really secret base, and steal something that returned England to the Dark Ages. I'm not sure how he would know about that thing, seeing as Sage didn't know about it, and she seems to know damn near everything. Oh, and something happened to Sage when she tried to stop Albion from using the thingamajig. I don't know what. Guess I find that out next month. Hmm, what to say? I enjoyed the battle between Excalibur and the Dark X-Men. The rest fell flat. I think I need to see the Evil Plot progress a little further. 2.8 out of 5.

So, yeah, I'm done. Later.

So It's What You Do With It, Not What You're Given

I said today's post would relate to yesterday's, and it does, because today we're talking about Spider-Man versus Wolverine #1, and that book is riddled with death. I'm going to spoil a lot of the book, so if that's a problem, you might want to take your leave.

I will admit I'm not sure how much I like this comic (it was part of that box of comics my dad's friend gave me, so not complaining too much), as Spidey looks like kind of like a chump, when he isn't looking kind of creepy. The book kicks off with Pete feeling bad because he uses his exploits as Spidey to make money (by taking photos), moves to Pete freaking out because he couldn't stop a sniper, which leads MJ to try and calm him down, which leads to Peter grabbing her kissing her (they were just friends at this point), then freaking out again and bailing. Given MJ was a little spooked by it as well, probably the right idea. Oh, and it ends with him killing someone (accidentally). Not his finest issue.

There's a lot of unnamed spies killed in this thing, mostly done off-panel (as the title characters storm the location, only to find everyone already dead). Given the only thing we know about them is they tried to kill Logan's friend, and she's looking for revenge, I'm not going to worry too much about them. They are (for better or worse) nameless cannon fodder. The two I'm most interested in are Charlie (that'd be Logan's friend), and Ned Leeds.

To my knowledge, Charlie did not exist prior to this comic. She's a friend and partner retconned into Wolverine's past as an agent. She took a job for the KGB, they tried to eliminate her after, Logan bailed her out, now some time later (it's been long enough that Wolverine went from the yellow-and-blue outfit to the orange-and-brown look) she's going to get all the people that came after her. It's oft stated throughout the book that she's gonna die, with Charlie being the one saying it most often, while Logan keeps protesting that he's going to protect her. At the end though, Charlie asks him to put her down, because he'll do it quickly.

Except Logan flinches. About that time, Spidey - who has spent his entire time in Germany being scared out of his wits because of all the professional killers - shows up to stop Wolverine. He can't understand why Logan would try to kill someone he cares about, and swore to protect. Wolvie's explanation is he can kill her quick and painless, but the KGB will make her suffer. Things start to get real ugly, when someone comes up behind Spidey and he turns and unloads a fist in their face. Oops, sorry Charlie. Spider-Fist winds up being the instrument of her demise.

So, let's look at this. The death involves a character created (I think) specifically for this story, apparently to introduce Peter to the world of international espionage, mostly so he can keep freezing up in the face of men with guns trying to kill him (yeah, I don't buy it either). We get to know Charlie a little, and see that's she's fairly accepting of her fate, moreso than the two costumed guys trying to protect her. She dies quickly as she wanted, and Spidey is left with the angst over the fact he did it. I guess my major question here would be, did her death have a lasting effect on Spidey, reflected by words and events in her titles? Spider-Man has never killed someone (OK, fine Gwen, but he was acting to save her, it just backfired), not even his worst enemies. Now he has. Did that affect him? I remember a story in Spectacular Spider-Man, where he couldn't bring himself to fight his enemies, but that was because he saw what his full strength did to the Sin Eater, so it's kind of similar, but not dealing with the death directly. So, it's kind of cheap in that respect, mitigated by the fact Owsley (that's Christopher Priest right?) took the time to give Charlie some character, and made us understand her motives.

Then there's Ned Leeds. Ned, for those not in the know, was the character long tapped as the original Hobgoblin (until Roger Stern came back and told us it was Roderick Kingsley all along, brainwashing Ned into being his puppet). But as far as this issue goes, there's no Hobgoblin. Ned's in West Berlin with Peter, tracking down Charlie. Ned got a list that confirms that the dead people popping up a KGB, and that Charlie was behind it. Ned provides a hint at how dangerous this info is, when he tells Jonah he sold his soul to get this list. So it probably shouldn't be a huge surprise he winds up deceased. As far as this comic goes (because Amazing Spider-Man #289 apparently fills in several details) Peter enters Ned's room to tell Ned he's leaving, and finds Ned tied to a chair, throat slit. Pete's also surrounded by KGB guys, and we get the first instance of Peter freezing up in the face of men with guns. After that, Ned doesn't get much mention the rest of the issue. Jonah does ask about him when Pete gets back to the states, but Peter just hangs up.

Ned's death is a little trickier for me. He's an established character, killed essentially to make room for a new version of Hobgoblin (namely, that tool Macendale). And maybe to drive Betty nuts (and into a weird cult). And to make Peter feel great rage, which ought to mix oddly with his feelings of guilt over Charlie. All joking aside, Ned's death did have repercussions for the people around him, it wasn't graphically depicted, though it was a little abrupt (Ned had been acting oddly, but not in a way that suggested imminent demise). I'm just not sure whether it was a "good" death or not.

Your thoughts?

What Gives It Meaning?

Here's the question for the day: What are the characteristics of a comic book death that make it mean something? What I mean is, some deaths are described as "cheap" or "gratuitous", so what, in your opinion, would make a death something more than that?

Does there have to be some sort of foreshadowing, either within the issue, or in previous issues, or can it happen almost out of the blue (this ties in to my post for tomorrow)? Does a death with lots of gore necessarily have less meaning than one that's implied, or happens off-panel? What I mean here is that we know it happens, we just aren't shown it directly, maybe just blood splattering on the wall, plus a gunshot sort of thing.

Should the death have lasting consequences for the title it happens in, or can a death not having any consequences, or seemingly affecting characters within the book be meaningful in its own way?

Are deaths in big events cheaper than those in regular, ongoing titles?

Is there any particular blueprint, or is it a matter of how well the creative team does selling the death?

Guhhhhroooovy!

For this week's gaming selection, we travel once again into the 1990s, this time to discuss Earthworm Jim for the Sega Game Gear. For those not in the know, Game Gear was Sega's competition for the Game Boy, featuring better graphics and colors. As the Game Boy still exists (as the Game Boy Advance), I think you can guess which handheld won the war. Probably because the Game Gear ate up batteries by crazy. But that's why you buy the wall plug-in. And the car plug-in! Come on people, get with the program here!

So yeah, Earthworm Jim. Story of an earthworm that has an experimental super-suit fall from space and land on him, mutating him into a giant, somewhat more intelligent earthworm. The suit comes with a rocket for travel, a nifty blaster, and Jim can use himself as a whip to either attack or swing around, just like Indiana Jones. With only these skills, and his courage, he embarks on a quest to rescue Princess What's-Her-Name from her evil sister, *deep breath* Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed, Slug-for-a-Butt. Wow, I'm not going to say that anymore.

The game takes you through junkyards, lawyer-infested Heck, undersea labs, and don't forget the bungee-jumping battles against Major Mucus! Man I loved those battles, I just hated trying to get to them. The undersea level right before it required you to navigate a submersible through a bunch of narrow reefs. You only had a limited air supply, so you couldn't dawdle, but if you bumped the pod against the reefs too many times it broke and you died anyway, so it was a real pain, leading to several occasions of me banging my head against the screen (which is probably why my first Game Gear broke, though I prefer to blame NBA Jam Tournament Edition. That game cheated so hard!).

I never beat the game. Never really got close, in fact. I could never get past Peter's Puppy World, where you have to guide this cute little puppy past all these dangers, while staying alive yourself. The problem comes in the fact that if Peter gets hurt, he transforms into a giant purple beast and attacks you, causing injury and dragging you back to wherever it happened. So frustrating.

Despite my failures, and the pain the game caused, it was a pretty cool concept, and the levels and bosses were so odd that I couldn't help but to like it, at least whenever it wasn't driving me insane.

Know What I love?

Hmm, I forgot to mention, Friday's post was Reporting on Marvels and Legends 500th post. Good for me.

*savors moment*

That's enough of that. I admit, I was a little worried about having enough material the next few weeks. One book this week, one book next week, two the first week of June, just not a good stretch. Then people started talking about what they love about comics, and I've got myself a Sunday post. Huzzah comicsblogowhatchamafloogle! So, without further ado, here's 50 Things I Love About Comics (in no particular order, emphasis on characters and stories):

1. Sgt. Rock. Of my dad's Silver Age DC, there's stuff I hate (Superman), stuff I like (Atom, The Losers), but only one title I loved, and that's the stories of Easy Co.

2. "The Child Within" (Spectacular Spider-Man #178-183). When I was younger I didn't think much of this story, because they spent an entire issue with Peter under the effects of hallucinogenic drugs, freaking out over abandonment issues. Lame, right? Looking, back it's an awesome story, because it deals with Peter's inner turmoil, as well as setting up the opposing character arcs of Vermin and Harry Osborn.

3. Anderson Gabrych's Batgirl run.

4. Rurouni Kenshin creator's Nobuhiro Watsuki's art. because if you're going to have kickass fights, I want to be able to follow what's going on (a serious problem I had with Trigun Maximum).

5. In the same vein as #4, Mark Bagley's art.

6. Spider-Girl.

7. That Spider-Man can fight the Juggernaut or the Firerlord and win, but also fight Juggy or the Silver Surfer and get trounced. There's a thin line between victory and defeat.

8. John Gaunt, aka GrimJack.

9. The "Munden's Bar" back-up stories in GrimJack that were often an absurdly hilarious counterpoint to the awesome violence of the main story.

10. How Cable and Deadpool play off each other.

11. That Squirrel Girl may be the most fearsome force of good in any universe.

12. Annihilation. All of it.

13. Simonson and Buscema's Balder the Brave mini-series.

14. Thor's armor from the Simonson run. Giving a character an armored costume so rarely works, but this one totally did.

15. Magneto's stint as leader of the X-Men/headmaster of the Xavier Institute. Not that I don't like archfoe Magneto, but it was interesting to read.

16. Obsidian Age. I couldn't make sense of it until the very end, but I was sure it was cool even when I was confused as hell by all the time switching back and forth.

17. The first 25 issues of the original New Warriors series.

18. NextWave.

19. The Cosmic-Powered Spider-Man stories during Acts of Vengeance. C'mon, Spidey punched Mr. Fixit into orbit!

20. Amazing Spider-Man #350, where the first ten pages are basically Doom kicking the crap out of Spidey. It taught me that you should never mess with something related to Doom's mama.

21. Nighthawk. The guy takes a lot of crap, but he was pretty cool in the Busiek/Larsen Defenders series. He was the one holding all the volatile personalities together. Well, him and Hellcat. So let's make this "Nighthawk and Hellcat"

22. Dr. Strange beating people with his bare hands.

23. Ben Grimm.

24. Engelhart's West Coast Avengers, especially that crazy arc from #18-24 that was running in about five different time periods at once.

25. Thor #381, God of Thunder vs. the Midgard Serpent.

26. The fact that if there's something happening I don't like, to a character that I do like, there's always plenty of back issues to read to help me ignore it.

27. The original Armor Wars.

28. Iron Man's red-and-silver armor. It was just so different from every other armor he's had (which is probably why the went back to the red-and-gold in about 30 issues).

29. That Geoff Johns didn't feel the need to kill Kyle Rayner when he brought Hal Jordan back to life.

30. That Power Girl enjoys kicking ass.

31. Jim Aparo drawing Batman punching people (and Chris Sims' reaction to it).

32. Busiek and Perez' "Ultron Unlimited" story.

33. Starfire, animated or comic version. Both have their strong points (one's a little more cutesy and sweet, one's a little more firey and independent).

34. Alucard crashing a specially modified SR-71 into the deck of a vmpire controlled British aircraft carrier, then emerging from the flames, 13mm handgun spitting death (Hellsing).

35. From the pages of Immortal Iron Fist: 'Oh! My name is Daniel Rand. I am Iron Fist and I know kung-fu. Hi-Yahh.'

36. Nova letting Tony Stark in on how a real superhero spends his time, while other people quibble over legislation.

37. The Prankster after that issue of Action Comics Busiek wrote a few months back. He struck me as a delightfully clever fellow, who really just wants to entertain, and be entertained.

38. How Jessica Drew's phermones went from making people not like her, to making people really like her.

39. Spawn's seemingly constant attmepts to be free of the forces trying to control him. It never seemed to work in the end, but he never quit trying (from about #99-130 anyway, which is all I owned).

40. Mary Jane and Felicia Hardy trying to get along for Peter's sake, but not quite able to quit sniping at each other.

41. Night Nurse.

42. Superheroes that have non-superheroic friends.

43. The Ray (Ray Terrill) fighting Doctor Polaris all half-assed, because he thinks it's just another trick of his father's. A valuable lesson to parents about not lying to your kids too often.

44. That weird, smelly cat Howard Mackie introduced at the tail end of his run on Amazing Spider-Man. I always wanted to know why those techno-goons were after it.

45. The Russian.

46. Spidey eating hot dogs on a rooftop with Loki.

47. That the Sinister Syndicate (five mostly second-tier Spidey villains) teamed up, not out of some desire to get revenge on Spider-Man, but because they agreed it would be better for their criminal careers if they worked together. They could take bigger jobs, less chance of getting captured in a group. I miss super-criminals out for financial gain, rather than revenge.

48. Storm leading the X-Men, even though she had lost her mutant powers. That takes a real badass.

49. Stephanie Brown's stubborn insistence to keep fighting crime no matter how many times Batman or the Birds of Prey told her to stop.

50. Thor (with Odin's power) on one side. Iron Man (with armored powered by an energy source created by Thor) on the other. Americans and Russians on the edges watching nervously, with Dr. Doom pushing the whole thing forward. And in the middle? Captain America, keeping the whole thing from blowing up, even if it means fighting Thor himself.

Like Puppets On A String

Is that a Neil Diamond song where they sing about 'puppets on a string', and if so, why the hell am I quoting Neil Diamond? Whatever., I'm gonna spend a little time today talking about Shadowpact #13 today. I find it weird that for two weeks straight a book I didn't give a good grade to provided interesting fodder for a post. Well, interesting to me, anyway. Maybe I need to retroactively boost scores, based on how many post ideas I get from a single issue.

So Heaven has commissioned Zauriel to SPOILER! kill Blue Devil. First off, I think it's kind of a crap move to dump that job on someone who knows the guy you want dead, and who isn't technically one of you anymore. What, the rest of the angels are too busy? It's molting season? It just gives me that vibe I got from Ennis' Ghost Rider mini, that Heaven and Hell only care about their big war, and mortals are either in the way, or tools to be used and discarded.

But setting aside what is probably a personal hang-up, Zauriel and Blue Devil are mirrors of each other in a way. Zauriel was an angel that gave up that life for love, and became a mortal. If what poets tell us about love is true, that a really good reason to give up on the perks of being an immortal warrior of Heaven. In his own way, Zauriel's presence on Earth helps to spread the word of God, helps build faith by demonstrating that yes, there are in fact angels, and they serve God, and so yes, there is a God. And since Zauriel spends his time saving lives, that tends to bolster the idea of a loving God, because he's sent one of his agents here to protect his flock. While this probably isn't why Zauriel does the things he does, I'd imagine he's aware of it, and glad to be of service to his boss.

Conversely, Dan Cassiday sold his soul for fame, and wound up as a demon. While he's also seeking something for himself, it's somewhat less pure than what Zauriel desired. Dan didn't want to love and be loved by one person, he wanted the love, adulation, respect, whatever of lots of people. People he didn't know, or would ever know. Seems greedy (and kind of dumb) by comparison. Dan's spreading the word of his benefactor, unwillingly, but he's doing it all the same. He tries to do good, but all it ends up doing is (if you can believe demons) convincing more people that selling their soul to the Devil is cool, because you can get superpowers and help save the world, and be loved by many.

So in some ways they're the opposite of each other, in other ways they're strikingly similar. Which is probably why Zauriel is the one going after Blue Devil, rather than some other ass-kicker who's still a full angel (ignoring things like Willingham preferring to go with an established character, and potential ulterior motives not yet revealed).

Humans Are Lazy; Pandas Aren't

I wanted to do the post early this morning, but Calvin wanted to wait. {I had errands to run.} So? I can do these posts myself. {Yes, but with you paws, all the words look like "dsfokrfjhgklm". Besides, I wanted to make my usual commentary. The fans expect it.} Fooey. Then you should buy more comics, so you could talk more.

Applause - Phantom Stranger. I didn't like him much at first, because all he does is stand around and talk about what's going on, and that seems kind of lame. He should do stuff. But, he does wear a cool hat and a medallion, and he hangs out with a groovy girl, and plays Candy Land with little kids. Do you think he'd play Scrabble with me? {Probably, but I think his vocabulary might be a little too much for you.}

Hug - Zauriel doesn't really want to attack a member of the Shadowpact (Calvin says I can't say which one), but he wants to serve God, and that other angel did make a good point, I guess. {Don't sweat it, I'm sure nobody will actually die in the fight.}

Bonk - To that guard at the Black Tower, for getting too friendly with Kid Karnevil. Just because he's little and acts nice, doesn't mean you should forget why he was there in the first place. {Sadly, he's not gonna get a chance to learn from his mistake.} And how do they rehabilitate someone at the Black tower, anyway? {No clue. Teach them the value of an honest day's work?}

I'm kind of sad, because Calvin told me that the next two weeks aren't gonna be much better than this one. You should tell him to buy more comics. {Hey! I told you, I'm trying to save money for Annihilation: Conquest! You'll thank me when you're reading more space actiony goodness!}

It Is The American Way, After All

Sallyp already discussed a little of the legal hellstorm heading Tony Stark way (probably a little of that'll be pointed at ole' Uncle Sam as well). Plus the Howling Curmudgeons have been hotly debating the legality of the entire Superhuman Registration Act/Initiative for awhile (that's only the most recent post on it I could find).

I find it amusing that Captain America and his Secret Avengers (now Luke Cage's Secret Avengers) couldn't stop Generalissimo Stark, but a bunch of lawyers just might. Given that you can sue anyone for just about anything these days in America, it would actually sort of be in keeping with Quesada's assertions that he wants the Marvel Unvierse to really be like it's happening in our world.

But I've been wondering what exactly Jennifer Walters, or Danny Rand's attorneys can accomplish. Rand's apparently going to contend with the Registration Act over the definition of "superpower", which given Danny's situation is probably a good idea. After all, is Iron Fist superpowered, or just a really well-trained everyday human? Having watched lots of anime leads me to believe anyone could have a sort of Iron Fist, if they just learn to focus their chi. . . stuff. Silliness aside, by the definition of "superhuman" the Act has no hold over Frank Castle, even though he's supposedly exactly the kind of person they're trying to rein in, but it forces a teenager who just wants to fly, with no real desire to do the vigilante thing, to sign up. That'll cut down on those costumed types acts of destruction.

For the sake of argument, let's says Rand (or Jen, though I'm not sure what angle she's taking) gets the Act repealed. What happens to all the secret identities that were already registered? Do those get deleted? If so, how would anyone know for sure it actually happened, or that there weren't backup copies? Stark is the one who supposedly has all of them, and given his Tech God state, I'm sure they're stored as a zip file in his brain somewhere. How does one deal with that? (Answer: Total lobotomy! Dr. Banner, would you care to do the honors? Here's your axe.)

Would repealing the Registration Act end the Intiative, with the teams in every state, and the training camp where stupid Gauntlet guy uses "New Warriors" as an insult, and God, I hate stupid Gauntlet guy! Grrr! I'd imagine if people still wanted training, and wanted to serve as government sponsored superheroes, then Gyrich would be happy to have them dissected, I mean, happy to have them.

Would the heroes refusing to play ball get amnesty, since they're technically fugitives, or would they still have to answer for that even after the Act was repealed? On the off chance it can ever be proven that Danny Rand is the Iron Fist running with the New Avengers, this would be a good thing to have his legal staff investigate.

If the Act was repealed, would Tony Stark be bounced as Director? I doubt he'd willingly resign, I'm sure his "futurist instincts" tell him that only he has the vision to lead such an important organization of good guy cannon fodder as SHIELD. But, if the whole thing falls apart because he couldn't keep all his friends in line, then I could see the Powers That Be (whoever that is) giving him his walking papers. Maybe they could ruin Stark Enterprises as a finally "Thanks for nothing, loser" gift?

So many questions, so little chance they'll ever actually be answered.

What I Bought 5/23/07

Man, what a lousy week. One comic. Hardly seems worth the trouble. Ah well, might as well get on with it, with the reviews, and the snark, and the spoilers, blah, blah, blah.

Shadowpact #13 - This issue is entirely set-up for future issues. It's nothing but the Phantom Stranger floating and commenting on what all these people Shadowpact will eventually have to deal with are up to. I know, floating around and commenting on stuff is what the Phantom Stranger does, and yes, he looks damn good doing it, but still.

So let's take a look at upcoming concerns for the good guys. A crazy teen name Kid Karnevil (I think he's from the first story arc) escapes the realm that served as his prison. He's nuts. The Sun King has arrived, though he's currently a little less imposing than you'd expect. There's mention of a plague, Holy Magi, and a world-destroying old man with a banjo(?!) Zauriel, shown on the cover, has been tasked to kill a member of the Shadowpact. It sounds like the stories on the way will be pretty good. This however, was not very good. 2.3 out of 5.

And this is why I hate months with 5 Wednesdays.

Little Big Events

I've been thinking about all these sorts of "events" Marvel either has going right now (Back in Black, World War Hulk), or is getting ready to kick off (Annihilation: Conquest, Mystic Arcana, Endangered Species). In the short term, the bigger ones (WWH, ES) will probably provide a nice boost to involved titles, but those aren't really the ones I'm interested in. My main concern is those are going to screw up books I like (I'm concerned X-Factor is gonna get messed up by Endangered Species, for example).

The ones I'm actually interested in are the events dealing with parts of the Marvel U. that don't get too much use. I think that was part of the appeal of Annihilation last year, was that these characters were mostly ignored by the larger MU, and someone (His Holiness, Keith Giffen) decided to put them to use in a little event focusing on what goes on outside Earth. It did its own thing, told its own story, changed a few of the characters place in the universe, and was in general a lot of fun. Annihilation: Conquest is another attempt to do something like that, utilizing characters from last year that were on the edges of the story, and bringing in some other Outer Space Marvel characters who would like a little love. Mystic Arcana looks to be similar, only focused on the mystical/supernatural corner of the Marvel Universe. Given the fact the guys who seem to have the power at Marvel don't seem fond of magic stuff, that area doesn't feel like it's gotten much play the last few years (JMS' Spidey stories being a notable exception I suppose). Now it will, even if just for a little while, and there's no telling which character might be this year's Nova, which is an idea I find kind of exciting (though I don't know if I'll actually get into Mystic Arcana).

While there's certainly the threat of diminishing returns, I think it's a good thing for Marvel to use all the different parts of its library of characters, for more than just fodder for their Big Event. Letting those characters get a little play in a story that fits them actually seems like a good strategy.

Cuteness Battered, Vanishes

For this week's game post, I move out of the dim early '90s, and into the less dim early 2000s, to look at a game from my Gamecube collection. I have to admit, the Gamecube kind of disappointed me, all things considered. Maybe it was the games I bought (I'm sure that was part of it), or that I rarely had anybody around to take advantage of the party game abilities of the system. Who knows. Either way, this is one of my older games, and I still enjoy it. Or a part of it at least. The game in question? Sonic Adventure 2: Battle! That title seems like it's worded out of order. Not my fault though.

It's a pretty standard Sonic game: deals with Chaos Emeralds (of course), has Robotnik as the bad guy (when the hell did they start calling him "Eggman"? He uses robots for his plans of conquest, that's why "Robotnik" worked! Eggman is some twit Hank Pym outsmarted!), you run around collecting rings, yadda yadda. Nothing at all Internet-shattering about it. The part that actually caught my interest was the Chao world.

During the game, you can break open certain blue boxes and find a key. At the end of the level (provided you found the key), you're transported to the Chao World. Initially, you enter a peaceful field, with a couple of fruit trees, set next to a waterfall. There are two eggs there. The eggs will eventually hatch, and those are the Chao. You can name them, send them to kindergarten, have them compete in races and karate tournaments, where they can win toys as prizes. To help them get stronger, you collect things in the levels of the game, either different-colored vials from robots you destroy, or cute little animals scattered throughout the levels. Depending on what you get, you can increase their ability to swim, fly, run, or climb. The only way to increase stamina is through them eating fruit. They can be leveled all the way up to 99th.

Additionally, the Chao can be Hero, Dark, or Neutral. I had a Dark Chao once, I've forgotten it's name, but it was a great way for me to relieve stress. See, one of the ways to make a Chao Dark is to mistreat them (conversely, treating a Chao well will tend to make it a Hero. At some point, I came back from class angry, and sent Knuckles into the Chao World, selected one of the Chao, and bopped it around for about fifteen minutes, while roommate Papafred looked on in horror and amusement. Pretty soon, that little fellow turned Dark. I grant you it was a pretty crappy move on my part, but I felt a lot better afterwards. See, reactionary authority figures, video games prevent real-world violence, rather than promote it, because they serve as a safe outlet for one's frustrations!

That's about the only time I relished sending a Chao to the Dark side, because really, they look so pitful when they get up after you punched them, it's almost impossible not to feel horribly bad about it. I mean, they win races and karate championships, bringing greater glory to you, their owner/older friend/whatever the hell the relationship is, hurting them shouldn't be fun. And it's always sad to lose one.

Oh yes, the Chao can die. I had one, possibly the second one that ever hatched, by the name of Cheng (the name was given by a Chao Fortune Teller, but you can also choose your own names). Cheng had won every race, every tournament,been leveled up to 99 on everything, except Stamina. Since he had to eat fruit to gain stamina, and had to be hungry for that, you had to stay in the Chao World long enough for them to get hungry. So I started turning the game on, entering the Chao World, then letting the game run while I went to class. Except one day, Cheng wasn't there when I got back. I looked all over, even checked the other Chao Gardens on the off chance the game had glitched and moved him there, but nothing. Cheng was gone. All the potential for future good times, lost. All I had left were the memories of how good a swimmer he was, even with no legs and wearing an eggshell over his head.

Sniff, I'm sorry, it's getting a little dusty in here, I've got to go. Good night.

Random Movie-Post-Thought For Time-Day

*looks up at title* Yeah, I don't know what that's about either.

Seeing as there was absolute jack-all on TV, I popped an old favorite of mine into the Xbox (Which also serves nicely as my DVD player): High Plains Drifter. I love that movie. The eerie music (especially during the opening and ending credits), the miserable cowards who inhabit Lago, the way the blood is as bright red as the paint they use on the town, the way the drifter will appear suddenly behind a character, as if being off camera makes him as invisible to the other characters as he is to us. Plus, there's the exchange between "The Stranger" (Clint Eastwood) and the preacher after Clint has everyone else thrown out of the hotel:

Preach: You cannot do this, it is inhuman brother, inhuman.
Stranger: I'm not your brother.
P: We are all brothers in the eyes of "Gaw-d".
S: You mean all these people are your brothers and sisters?
P: They most certainly are.
S: Then you won't mind if they come over and stay at your place, will you? *settles back into chair, pulls brim of hat down over his eyes*
Preach *turning to the crowd*: Brothers, sisters, have no fears. We will find shelter for you in our own homes (pause) and it won't cost you one cent more than regular hotel rates.

The part that really makes it work is how after that, Eastwood abruptly jerks his head up, with a look on his face like "What the hell is with these people?" I laugh at that every time.

Anyway, in all the times I've watched the movie, this particular question had never occured to me before: What happened to the people of Lago after the movie ended? We know Sara Belding (by then the estranged wife of hotel owner Lewis Belding) is leaving town. But what of the others? SPOILERS from here on out!!!! The whole thing started because the marshall found out the mine that was supporting the town was on federally-owned land, and he was going to spread the word. Thus he was whipped to death in the streets by hired gunmen. Ouch.

But the town is still there and the people don't seem to be impoverished, so I figure the mine is still active, seeing as no one ever told the Feds. So did the people give up and leave? Having been confronted with all the crap they did to enhance their prosperity, did they ultimately flee the town and try and start over? The guys who were reps of the mining company, Morg Allen and Dave Drake, are both deceased, but if the mine is still profitable the company will send more. And the miners will need some place they can get supplies readily, which is probably the whole reason the town is there in the first place (thank you, History of the American West!). So I could see new people moving in, to fill the vacancies left by those who can't stay.

I guess the person I'm really interested in is Mordecai, who I doubt was allowed to retain his titles of sheriff and mayor after The Stranger departed. He'd been throwing his weight around pretty good while Eastwood had his back, and given the kind of people that seem to live in this town, I don't doubt they'd amp up their cruelty towards him, just to repay him for that. So I'm really hoping he got out of Lago somehow, or at least kept that shiny revolver he had, so he could cap anyone who tried to give him trouble. Not like that fat lump of a sheriff would be able to do anything about it.

Sadly, I'll never know. So I guess it's up to my imagination! *tries real hard to imagine Mordecai in a better place* Shoot, I can't really think of a place in the 1870s that would treat him any better. *imagines Mordecai stowing away on Doc Brown's steam-driven train time machine* That's much better!

It's So Obvious When I Think About

In my reviews of April 25 comics, I was surprised that Psylocke could use her telekinesis to make herself invisible. I'd never seen her do that before, so it caught me a little off-guard. At the time, I pretty much accepted Kelvin's reasoning behind the feat (because Claremont says so), but it was recently, quite out of the blue, I realized how it could be argued Psylocke makes it work. 

Invisible Woman can do more than just make herself invisible. She can also project energy in various ways. As shields, platforms, bolts of force designed to injure an opponent, as a way to catch something, etc. In short, telekinesis. She's not as refined with it as the TKers on the X-teams, but that's probably because a) she doesn't think of her powers that way, and b) she's already pretty kickass as it is. Giving her even finer control over those powers would make her nigh-unstoppable.

Psylocke's a telekinetic as well, she can do all those other things Sue can to certain extents, why couldn't she use telekinesis to make herself invisible as well? So that's that. Another mystery solved! I'm always on duty!

A&W Root Beer Tastes Like Gum

Why is that? {I don't know. Maybe it's the vanilla, or the sugar or something. Or my sense of taste is messed up.} Oh. {You read Agents of Atlas?} Some of it. The big robot is kind of scary, and the guy with the bowl on his head sticks his stomach outside his body to eat. {Cool, huh?} It's kind of gross. I like the talking gorilla; he's funny. But why can't there be a talking panda. {Because part of the character's backstory is that he's tried to reverse being a gorilla, and if he were a panda he'd never want to be human again, so it wouldn't work as well.} That makes sense. {Really?} Yeah, let's talk about comics!

Applause, Bonk: Cable, gets applause for deciding he's going to save the world, but he gets a bonk for taking so long to do it, and for helping Wade cheat at strip poker. {Oh, come on, it was for a good cause!} No cheating!

Hug: Rogue. She looked like she was really badly beat up, and Cable thinks he might kill her by using her to save the world. Be careful!

Applause: Reed Richards, because he saved his world. {And the rest of the universe. Somehow.} Yeah, how did that work? {You're asking me? I don't know! Go find Claremont and ask him!} OK, I will! {Get back here! You haven't finished the post yet!}

Hug: Psylocke, because she got stabbed a bunch by Evil Wolverine. He looks really stupid when he wears green. {Yeah, he really does.} Still, Psylocke shouldn't have cried when she saw Slaymaster. Heroes aren't supposed to cry during fights. {She's had a rough couple days, cut her a little slack.} Well, I'm still gonna hug her, I just thought it was kind of wimpy to start crying.

Bonk: Sue Storm, for taking over the world, and planning to attack other universes. Is this Reed's fault? {Given how much Sue seems to hate him, I kind of think so, but I don't know what exactly he could have done to mess things up this badly.} Well, even if it is, Sue hurt him and kindapped their daughter, so it doesn't matter. Bonks for her.

Applause: Ultimate Dr. Strange. I want to learn magic! Then I can learn how to teleport, and see what people were doing in a room earlier and where they went, and it'll be cool! {Last week you wanted Danny Rand to teach you martial arts. This week it's magic. I think you're gonna have to pick one, at least to start.} Um, magic. No, martial arts! Can I have more time? {Sure, think about it while you finish the post.}

Hug: Peter Parker, because he's having a normal day. He's captured, teased, the Kingpin makes money off him, threatened his school, and tricked him into fighting Daredevil. {So yeah, pretty much an average day in his life. No hug for Moon Knight after that beating Fisk gave him?} No, he shot up a school! No hug!

Bonk: Kingpin, for being a big, mean, ugly, criminal jerkface. {My, such language.} He is, he should give Spider-Man his trademark rights. {What's Peter going to do with them? I'm not sure he can register without giving his actual name, and that wouldn't stay secret for long.} Then he should get Nick Fury to do it for him. {Yeah, owe Nick Fury favors, that's always the right way to go.}

Applause: Monet, for caring enough to keep pressure on Siryn's injury, and for being the only member of X-Factor that actually did any good in their fights.

Hug: Nicole, for having to spend time alone with Layla. That girl is creepy, and she shouldn't talk about electrocuting people around young children. {Well, Layla wanted to scare Nicole a little, and that's a pretty good way to do it, agreed?} Yeah, it was pretty scary. She could have turned off the lights, it would have been even spookier. {I think it was daytime.} Darn.

Bonk: Pietro. He was lying about letting Rictor leave. I saw all those ex-mutants on the other side of the door, they were gonna hurt Rictor! {Only if he tried to leave.} But he didn't, and now Pietro is gonna hurt him. {Maybe not, if Pietro can successfully pull off this conduit trick that he's, you know, never tried before. Yeah, Rictor's doomed.} See? I'm gonna Bonk Quicksilver silly! {Well, he's a time traveler, so you better be careful.} Fooey. I'll get him.