Random Happenstance

Your Happenstance panels for today:

From Captain America #376, "Cross Purposes" Written by Mark Gruenwald, art by Ron Lim and Danny Bulanadi. Like I said before, I had a whole Black Widow week planned, that never came through. Luckily, that means I still had this one squirreled away for just such an occasion.

In case you missed earlier Cap posts from the "Streets of Poison" biweekly summer event, by this point a crack-addled Captain America has already beat Daredevil so badly, DD lost his memory and wandered off. (Actually, DD receives a couple of beatings in this one, leading me to wonder if Gruenwald wasn't a fan...no, I'm pretty sure he was setting up a plotline for the regular Daredevil book.) Now a danger to himself and others, it's time to call in earth's mightiest heroes...or just Black Widow and Diamondback. Yeah, they've got it handled.

Right about here is Diamondback's high point as a character: Gruenwald did a great job of portraying her as someone willing to do anything for Cap, including become a better person. It's too bad that later on (this was maybe halfway through his run on Captain America) Gruenwald seemed stuck on how to use Rachel without moving her and Cap's relationship forward, or even backwards. I don't know if he was getting flak from some front for Cap dating a "villain," or if that was too mature for a pretty kid-friendly book. A later storyline where Diamondback's nearly beaten death by a rival, then becomes a scaredy-bear, isn't great; but it's a darn sight better than just about anything else she's been used in. (With the possible exception of her appearance in Cable/Deadpool, I haven't read that one.)

But as far as the Black Widow goes, unloading her Widow's sting in Cap's face is just another day at the office. She disparaged the sting on the last post, but does she wear those currently or not?