A quick one today, so we can all get back to reading SDCC headlines...

I was seriously considering bagging out today, honestly. It's about a hundred degrees here--which I like, but my dog is hot to the touch, so he can't go anywhere. I've got a flat tire I need fixed, my keyboard occasionally refuses to type the letter 'c,' and like I said, everyone still at home is doubtless reading about goings on from San Diego Comic-Con. But, real quickly:

Being cheap, I didn't spring for Mattel's DC subscription, although I had at least a passing interest in the Metron figure. There are reviews out there with some pretty good pictures--Needless Things, It's All True, OAFE.net, a guest review at Poe Ghostal's--and the general consensus is that Metron himself is somewhere between fine and OK, but the chair is all kinds of great. In fact, the Mobius Chair should probably get billing over Metron.

Now, DC Direct also did a Metron figure a year or two back, but without a chair. Which just seems sad: he and his chair are pretty inseparable. You don't see Captain America sold without his shield, or Thor without his hammer, or Professor X without...his chair. (Metron can walk, he's just lazy. And the Mobius Chair can travel the length and breadth of the space-time continuum...) Hastings' website has the DCD Mobius on sale for $4.25 right now, and they also occasionally have sales on shipping as well. I've been wondering if I'm crafty and/or industrious enough to cobble a chair together for him...out of pizza boxes and dog hair, apparently.

This train of thought compelled me to dig up an issue where the Mobius Chair is on panel more than its master: Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Titans #1, "Apokolips...Now" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Walt Simonson, inks by Terry Austin; reprinted in Crossover Classics. Darkseid and Metron make a little tech-swap, so Darkseid can try to harness the power of Dark Phoenix, and Metron can try to breach the Source Wall. Metron seemingly fails immediately, his chair drifting off unattended. But, the chair would be found later by the X-Men and the Titans, who would use it to get back to earth:

I thought I had a different reprint, besides the big trade; I would've also scanned a panel where Cyclops is possessed/inhabited by the Dark Phoenix power, as indicated by the addition of the tasteful emblem and not a red thong. Then again, I also thought the X-Men and the Titans all just piled onto the Mobius Chair for the ride home, all fourteen of them crammed on there like a fat guy on a minibike. Duhr.

What the heck, let's have a quick look at a somewhat different Metron--a lackey of Darkseid, in a dark future--and a different chair; this also features my favorite description of life I've ever heard, and one of my favorite single issues: JLA #14, "Rock of Ages, part five: Twilight of the Gods" Written by Grant Morrison, art by Howard Porter, inks by John Dell. While Wonder Woman gives her life to distract Darkseid, and our timeline's Wally, Kyle, and Aquaman stand around confused; Batman convinces Metron there's something he doesn't know. Metron is intrigued, and is goaded to "narrow the frequencies of my form to an exact simulation of your biology. I can easily become human."

How many splash pages were there in the most recent issue of JLA? This issue just has one, the traditional splash page opening. So good, even if that means there isn't a great big shot of Metron and his chair. Oh, well.