Thursday: Coda
Today has been not only a good NBN Thursday, but a good Thanksgiving, as well. I talked with the various factions of my family. I spent the day with SaraRules and her family. Food. Football. A tryptophan-induced nap. Pie. Serenity. The pies turned out well. I don’t know how often I’ll be making them, but I know how to now.

Four-Color Coverage
Yesterday’s haul was light – only four books – but there were items of note:

  • Action Comics #859 – This issue continues the Superman and the LSH story. We find out who has subverted the name “Superman” in the 31st Century, as well as “how” and “why.” We also learn what happened to turn Sol into a red star. There was even a look at the BatCave of the 31st Century… long-since unused, but with many familiar objects that seem to have withstood the passage of the years. This was a solid issue and would have had me sold, even if it hadn’t included the Legion.
  • The Brave and the Bold #8 – The Flash, his wife and children are invited to meet with Dr. Niles Caulder and the Doom Patrol to see if Dr. Caulder can help stabilize the younger Wests’ accelerated metabolisms and aging processes. While the tone of this issue was – on the whole – fairly light, the pay-off on the second-to-last page made the whole story worthwhile… and a little chilling.
  • Countdown: 23 – Most of this issue was spent watching SuperBrat-Prime torture Mxyzptlk (with the help of the Earth-3 version of Zatanna). Among the best scenes in the book was Mxy telling Prime off:

    Mxyzptlk: Wise up, Clark Bent. I’d never give a rube like you anything except the finger. Shame you broke alla mine. Y’see, Junior, there’s an art to the battle of wits I fight with the real Superman everyone knows and loves. And actually, if you had approached me with one iota of the maturity he has, I might have cut ya a deal and played along — if the punchline to your little plan was funnier.
    Superman-Prime: This is a joke to you?!?
    Mxyzptlk: Oh, Margaret! They don’t come any richer! See, most beings in the Fifth Dimension are content to stay there and endlessly reshape their own individual realities — they want to be something, POOF! They become it, sometimes for eons. You know my girlfriend once spent thirty years as a female version of me? Flattering, but not very pretty. Now me, I’m something of a showoff. Matter of fact, I’ve perfected mischief to a form of Zen. I’m an imp that loves an audience, and I found a great one in the Third Dimension. I’m sure you’ve heard some of the names I’ve answered to over the centuries… Loki, Coyote, Anasazi…
    Superman-Prime: You expect me to believe this garbage?
    Mxyzptlk: You still don’t get the joke, do ya, Prime Rib? I’m the damn Trickster God! I couldn’t be square with you if I tried. Ha, ha! That’s what we in the comedy business call a topper, son!

    Quite the interesting twist, casting Mxyzptlk as the DCU’s incarnation of the Trickster God.

  • Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Annual #1 – I picked this up, more or less, on a whim. I wanted to see how someone would write Tony Stark as the billionaire playboy who just happens to run an international intelligence agency. And without his powers or his armor. With just his wits and intellect (and a trio of secret agents at his side) to rely on. Turns out, this was a fun read. And it looks as though there may be a (or “yet another”) shake-up in the MU’s criminal underworld.

Stray Toasters

  • I just ordered memory for Defiant. pointed out that Crucial is offering 10% off, so I checked it out. I was able to get 4GB (two sticks of 2GB) – with tax and express shipping – for only 42¢ more than their offered 4GB kit.
  • Chicken butt.
  • Watching Serenity reminded me of this comic:

  • Pringles… Ice cream sandwich… Pringles… Ice cream sandwich…
  • Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day…
  • Most people know that as far as I’m concerned, there are only three (3) Superman movies: Superman: The Movie, Superman II and Superman Returns. In some parallel universe, someone had the bright idea of making Superman III and Superman IV. I think that I must have journeyed to that alterna-verse as a kid, because I have memories of seeing Superman III. But, that’s silly. I mean… don’t you think that I’d remember a travesty of a Superman movie that didn’t feature Lex Luthor, but had Robert Vaughn as a Luthor stand-in villain… and Richard Pryor as a computer genius!? C’mon. I have a good imagination, but damn! Anyway… it appears as though the original outline for Superman III has landed on the Interweb. It chills the blood. It’s even worse than the Superman III that was released. Y’know… in that alternate universe.

It’s early Friday morning now. “Black Friday.” In some parts of the country, people are already lining up for first crack at super shopping bargains… against the hordes and teeming masses of monkeys. Screw that. I’m staying in my warm apartment. And (eventually) sleeping. Besides, I can get equally good – if not better – deals shopping online. So there.

Namaste.