To Continue Some of My Previous Train of Thought, But in a Completely Different Direction...

WARNING: Looking at anything on the TV Tropes Wiki runs the high risk of something like this happening, but somehow worse. Here's hoping you roll a natural 20 on your Will Save.

It amused me greatly to find J2 mentioned in the examples of this trope. And they are, of course completely right. In fact, somewhere around the middle of the run, there was a letter that basically went something like "Wait, how does this even work?" and the reply was basically, "We have no idea! :D Anybody got some good suggestions?"

Y'know when the last time I got such amusement from a letters page was?

This.



Unfortunately, only about two suggestions regarding J2's power source made it to future letter pages, and neither of them were anywhere near as gloriously cracky as Booster Gold: Descendant of Braniac. Which is a crying shame. But I do suppose that's setting the bar a bit high.

But it's stuff like that that makes me miss letter pages. I mean, sure, we have message boards all over the place now 'n' all, but message boards don't get preserved for posterity in the pages of the comic themselves. I get to cherish forever the many, many theories people had about Booster's origin (remember, his origin was never told until the sixth issue of his series, giving the readers ample time to come up with workable ideas that were completely wrong. I <3 all of the misleading clues that Jurgens dropped. That that, Identity Crisis!), despite the fact that I wasn't even born until years after the series ended, but the many, many theories that people had about Supernova will be lost to the ravages of the Internet in time.

Which Supernova am I referring to there? Wouldn't you like to know? (OK, yeah, both. Hush.)

To bring this entry full circle, Booster appears as an example in a number of tropes, including one named after his JLU episode.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to waste the entire rest of my day trawling TV Tropes.

Thinking of All the Money I Could've Saved Hurts Me a Little Inside

So, after a bit over two months here, I finally bothered to set up a pull list at my LCS. Turns out I get a 15% discount for that. Saving money: Always a good thing!

My Real Life Pull List, as it turns out, is a bit longer than my Theoretical Pull List, if we discount the multiple copies of Booster Gold on the Theoretical List.

My Pull List:
Booster Gold
Blue Beetle
Teen Titans
JSA
Brave and the Bold
Atomic Robo

Also managed to guilt myself into buying the latest issue of Brave & the Bold, and managed to resist the urge to buy a T-Shirt. We'll see how long that lasts.

BatB was, for the record, rather enjoyable. I like that Peej and Diana have different facial features. Good show, Perez! And I think, though I'm not entirely sure, that Peej's facial features match with Supergirl's. If they do, then even better show, Perez! I love the little button nose, too. S'cute.

Anyway, I read J2 yesterday, and it was enjoyable enough, as far as series go. I wouldn't recommend running down to your LCS and ravaging the back issues in search of it, or anything, but it's not a purchase I regret making. It's corny and cute. And I must say, Wild Thing is what X-23 should look like, with her short, stubby head 'n' all. But X-23 just plain mystifies me, anyway.

But, ummm, highlights! Because these bits amused me and I feel like sharing! \o/


(My favorite part might be that he's trying to thread the needle on the wrong end. Hah!)


(OK, so I'm secretly 12 and I find toilets automatically hilarious. Nyeeeeer.)

As you may have noticed, it's a very wordy book. Very wordy. I'm not sure there's a single panel in all 12 issues without words of some sort in it, even discounting sound effects as words. And that'd be annoying with a lot of other characters, but it kind of works for li'l Juggie. Zane there definitely strikes me as the type to mentally narrate his own life.

It's also worth noting that every issue has at least two stories in it. It's an interesting way of doing things, I suppose. It also has the side effect of making me think that things happened later in the series than they did, so imagine my surprise when something I had thought happened in the 4th issue or so actually happened in the 2nd. Aheh.

Biggest surprise: Random, bizarre appearance of Deadpool. OK, what? (And he wasn't even talking in yellow. For shame, whoever had that responsibility!)

All in all, I'm not really surprised that this only lasted for 12 issues.

Can't Blog Today, Busy Reading

Personal history story time! I might be a DC reader, but I've got something of a family history of Marvel. Sitting around and reading my cousin's comics was pretty much the highlight of family get-togethers for me for a while there. Except for the part when I didn't really entirely understand what was going on, because this was Marvel in the '90's.

And then I discovered the MC2 titles, and they were a Godsend to me. I didn't need to know who this guy that the Avengers had fought once was, or what on Earth was up with the Scarlet Witch and her being crazy, or anything. I could start with #1s in something new and shiny!

And I loved it. I'm not ashamed to admit that. (And even if I was, I have the convenient out of being less than 10 years old at the time, anyway.) All 3 of them: Spider-Girl, A-Next, and J2.

J2 was my favorite. No particular reason I can recall, I just really liked the guy. But I never got to finish the series, much to my chagrin for quite some time.

And, well, you remember me mentioning yesterday that I do random eBay searches, right?

I found this and couldn't resist. It arrived today. Please excuse me while I revisit my childhood.

(I'm halfway into the second issue as I type this. So far, it's not a bad read, I guess. Not super duper excellent, and a lot of it's pretty corny, but, hey, I like it.)

Also, any comic that features a skinny, awkward nerd turning into a huge beefy guy is pretty alright by me, I'm just saying.



The fact that he's stark naked the first time it happens doesn't exactly hurt, either, of course.