Sleepy Saturday
(Mostly a comics & clix post. High Geek/Shut-In Index.)
Our sleep schedules are, perhaps, even more backwards today than they were over the holidays. Ari's been sick, and I think all of us have been in need of a quiet, restful day or two. Up all night, I largely slept the day away (back in the grayness and rain, the day hardly ever seemed to actually arrive anyway) and will be heading out sometime in the next hour to do some shopping -- among other things the cats have nearly run out of food again.
Oh, I was up earlier, of course, several times, but those were for basic needs and to read, among other things, some comics. My Westfield pack arrived this morning via Fed Ex. The only thing out of that bunch I read (I have a stack of others already in progress) was the second issue of The New Avengers - the follow-up series to the recently-collapsed Avengers series. It's amusing to me -- me being someone who is so bothered by anything that would screw around with characters -- that I am among the ones who ultimately didn't mind what was done in the team-collapsing "Avenger Disassembled" arc. I believe that despite it being an obviously marketing-driven move to visit seeming death and destruction on the team, writer Brian Bendis actually did a creditable job. There's little in the mix that can't be undone -- that's a given in any situation any where the menace is of a magical nature -- and the event can be folded neatly into Avengers' history. (I may do a piece just on this topic later because someone has been asking me to contribute some thoughts to the matter and the rest of you will have an excuse to skip it and relax.) I will say that I see The New Avengers as an interim title - officially there is no team, and this is something whose function within the continuity is to remphasize to the characters that there needs to be such a team, and in the world of comics marketing it's to create an event buzz because Marvel is savvy enough to know that getting some fans to over-react to sneak peeks of covers showing Spider-man and Wolverine under an Avengers logo is ultimately good for business. In time, New Avengers will give way to Avengers. At the moment (as of the second issue) it's really just a comic where Captain America gets to team up with a few heroes in a tight situation.
Anyway, all of that's for later --- tonight, tomorrow... sometime.
The mail today contained a small white box, maybe juuust large enough to contain a baseball - which would have been a decided disappointment. I was still bleary-eyed from the latest long winter's nap (yeah, yeah. Poor baby...) but rather than being the clear, green Hulk clix I'd been waiting for (the one over there, which I suppose will arrive next week instead) from Wizard, it was a participation prize from WizKids. Still groggy, I saw it was a Peter Parker LE, and at first I thought it was the Mutant Mayhem one -- which I already have in Super Rare form. (Essentially the same piece.) Okay, that's still cool, as the LEs come in their own special boxes, have different printing on the dial, and I could decide later whether I wanted to keep both or sell one variety. Then I took a second look and saw it was the Ultimates one. Hey, cool!
They switched the Incapacitate up front on this one and gave him Perplex for his first three clicks -- a power that enables him to push a stat number up or down on his or someone else's dial if they're within 10 squares of him and he can see them. The arrangement ends up expensive, causing this one to be 71 pts (vs the 58 pt for the veteran) despite the LE only having 6 clicks of life (vs the vet's 7) and aside from an opening Damage of 2 having 1s for the other 5, while the vet has 2 all the way down his dial. The Perplex makes him an interesting support choice, though. With Pounce he'd be 86 points and able to run up and hit an opponent. The best strategy would seem to be to use him to support at first - getting into position and Perplexing teammates - saving his Pouncing attacks until a few rounds in. Hey, for 5 points more he could have Passenger, too, so he could help get teammates in or out of situations. If one had Rip It Up in play, too (a card that allows anyone on one's team with Super Strength to tear up a piece of the terrain whenever he moves, so he can hit someone with it), then from clicks 3-5 he'd have a light object in his hands, too, so he'd do 1 more click of damage in an attack.
Anyway, a nice suprise and a bonus for going to the Mutant Mayhem marquee tournament that was not only fun but also the one where I won that Ultimates Clint Barton, too.
Despite occasional problems with their decisions, WizKids really is a cool company. Not only do they make a product I enjoy, but they watch to see who goes out to their events and sends little gifts like this out at random to people who attended.
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