Completely unseasonal Hodge and the Podge.

1. I accidentally turned on my local news--in my defense, I thought a game was on--and learned traffic was clogged by people camping out and lining up for crappy chicken sandwiches that you could probably make at home and not support a homophobic chain. I know times are tough, and maybe I shouldn't begrudge people their fun, but...they don't deserve the support, and it's a massive waste of time. I think I may have to go literally anywhere else tomorrow.

2. Of course, I didn't even notice them putting in that restaurant I won't name when I was in that neighborhood at Target the other day; picking up the new Cyborg Spider-Man and Negative Zone Spider-Man! They're both pretty neat, although the Negative (Dog's Eye-View) Spidey is missing a key accessory: while he comes with multiple hands and a negative slice of pizza, he doesn't get the partially unmasked head to eat it! Cyborg gets a webline, but really needed a donut: in the issue where he gets the metallic cast, it's free donuts that convinces Spidey this is a good government agency.

3. I didn't do any Black Friday-type shopping this year; but I didn't really need to, since a lot of stores have spread it out over the course of the month. At Wal-Mart I was able to pick up a pile of movies on the cheap, and we once again see what I'm willing to pay cash money for if I didn't see it in the theatres. Starting with Joker, and...eh. I may be coming down hard on that one since I managed to avoid spoilers until the day I watched it, when some slackjawed incel posted the scene with De Niro as a reply and completely missed the point that the Joker was the bad guy. De Niro as much as calls him a crybaby drama queen, which admittedly seems to be how he's often portrayed nowadays. I liked Birds of Prey better, even though it's so much Harley Quinn's movie that it didn't really need the others. I would've preferred more of just random Gothamites coming after her to settle their grudges: they did not like her! Also, blowing up Axis Chemicals is a big statement, but probably would've poisoned the eastern seaboard...Along with those, I picked up the first season of Doom Patrol and Watchmen, the last couple Spider-Man movies, Doctor Sleep, a season and change of Doctor Who, Bumblebee...and yet, all I seem to watch is reruns of MST3K and Ultraman. Well, sooner or later.

4. I can't believe I hesitated picking up these guys: Boss Fight Studio's Sam and Max! Because they are smaller runs, they're a bit more expensive than a Marvel Legends, but they're nicely done and come with a satisfying amount of extras. Is it weird that they're sold separately? I simply can't see someone buying one and not the other.

5. Alex Ross has done a ton of Timeless variant portrait covers the last couple of months. The only one I intended to buy was the Nightcrawler one, which was on Excalibur #13, in the middle of the X of Swords event, and...man, that was not for me. Betsy, the former Psylocke and current Captain Britain, is jobbed out by the undefeatable...whoever. The other issues of that I've flipped through have been the Apocalypse Show, and no thanks. Still, I did pick up some other Ross covers, which got me the last couple issues of Avengers with Moon Knight and Khonshu vs. the team; a pretty solid Daredevil; and an okay Fantastic Four. That I picked up with the Thing cover; you would've had to buy the same issue four times to get the whole team! Scam. Othen than that, I got the recent Giant-Size X-Men: Tribute to Wein & Cockrum, with a ton of artists redrawing Giant-Size X-Men #1. Hmm, I got the Cockrum cover; I might have to scan that later.

5. Hopefully he's got it by now: I sent the Master of the Mystic Smarts, PTor, a Doctor Strange themed spinner rack! Let's put the template here:

These are usually a lot of fun to put together; this time with a ton of the good doctor's guest-spots.

6. Between COVID and the weather, I'm not sure if I'm going back to Montana this Christmas. That would kind of suck, but it might free my folks up from having to spend the next month up there. Ah, we'll see.

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Am I still confused on this story? Or did the needle land on 'bad'?

Eight years ago, we blogged the first issue of Bruce Jones and Ariel Olivetti's "Darker Than Death", a Legends of the Dark Knight storyline that left me puzzled. Partly because sometimes, if a comic has a mystery, it may be hard to see if it was executed well until the end. (I've told you Identity Crisis hurt me and left me unable to trust!) I am puzzled why this one needed to be five issues, though: LotDK was pretty bad about that for some time, with more than a few serials that might've been stronger if they had been a issue or two shorter. And now I'm wondering if I should blog this one without having the other four issues handy--or if I've even read the third or fourth chapters--but dude, it's been eight years.

The final chapter begins with Batman examining a woman's body on a dock; something that sounds fun if you're not a detective...hey! Bats is kicking himself for his handling of this case: what clues did he miss? He calls Alfred to pick him up, so Bruce Wayne will have an excuse to find the body, but he does hide some evidence from Commissioner Gordon: the empty briefcase, missing the money he had given Lilith Rutledge to cover the ransom for her kidnapped younger sister, Janie. Bruce had slept with Lilith, so he's more personally involved than usual; but Alfred's done some detective work. (Or had it done.) Lilith wasn't Janie's sister, she was her mother. When Lilith's ex-husband died under suspicious circumstances, he left his money to Janie in a trust; a word that Bruce seems to spit out like it was poison.

The bloated body turns out not to be Janie, but her fiancé's butler's daughter. Well, that clears that up. She had also been pregnant, probably courtesy of said fiancé. Later that night, a coffee-buzzed Bruce is furious at himself for losing both the Rutledge sisters (or 'sisters') but when Alfred scolds him not to spill any on the new DSL, Bruce realizes there were only two DSL companies in Gotham, and could trace the kidnappers' call that way. Really...really seems like he should've caught that earlier; but he traces the call to the fiancé's cabin. Which also seems like a likely place to have checked, too. Before Bruce can take off, Commissioner Gordon pays a visit; having pieced enough of the clues together to know Bruce was involved and had tried to pay the ransom. The fiancé had been brought in; but Bruce asks Gordon to give him until morning to produce the kidnappers and clear the fiancé. Gordon figures that's a job for Batman, but it's up to you if he means get to it, or get him on the phone.

At the cabin, Batman makes short work out of the kidnappers, one of whom is feeling just as burned as Batman was: he had worked with Lilith in offing her husband, but had been left holding the bag this time. The goons had been holding Janie, and the whole thing was Lilith's plot: she convinced Janie it was so she wouldn't have to go through with her wedding, to a broke playboy, but was more interested in either latching onto a playboy with money, or getting him to cover a ransom. The confused and frightened Janie doesn't seem to know Lilith wasn't her sister, but did have her cell number. As she enjoys a drive with the top down in Malibu, she gets a call from Bruce, but Lilith already knew he was Batman. She plays at feeling bad for falling for him, claiming that wasn't part of her plan. Bats gives her two pieces of advice: be careful driving in Malibu, the sun can be blinding. Also, it's doubtful she would get far on three hundred dollars of ransom: she had taken the money, wrapped in plastic, from Bruce's case to her own, but only the top bills were real. Appearing in the middle of the road like a terrifying avenger of the night--no, appearing in the road like he wants to get run over like a sack of laundry--

Batman scares Lilith, who throws up her hands like she just doesn't care, while not paying attention to changing road conditions. She goes over a cliff and dies. It's open to interpretation if Batman feels bad about this, or if he busts on down to the wreck to scrub any evidence from the scene.

Now again, I do think I'm missing a chapter; but the "mother is really her sister" feels like it's cribbed from Chinatown, even if it isn't. I also think, well, Batman's the greatest detective in the world, right? He probably should've seen right through Lilith's sister act. I don't know if this plays fair, but they may actually add to the re-read value: on first reading, Bruce is concerned for Lilith and feels like their involvement blinded him to some clues. Re-read it, though, and Bruce knew the whole time, hence the fake ransom. That kind of feels like trying to have it both ways, though.

No R.Kelly references this time, but we do get one from one of the greatest single issues ever: 1989's Sam & Max Freelance Police Special #1, story and art by Steve Purcell. And we finally get to finish 2006's Legends of the Dark Knight #211, "Darker Than Death, part 5 of 5" Story by Bruce Jones, art by Ariel Olivetti.
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