FYI: don't mess with the Chief

From volume 1 of the collected run of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol.

Honcho? Wolf. There is trouble.

I consider Chris Sims to be my personal online comics guru. Dude hasn't steered me wrong yet. A while back Sims did a three part freak-out on Team America, another toyline comic written by Bill Mantlo. The basic deal with Team America is that they fight crime with the power of awesome motorcycling. When I got a chance to acquire issues 5, 6, & 7 for fifty cents apiece I snatched those puppies up. Here's a panel from number 5:

I always find that sort of laconic understatement to be badass, whether its from a grim loner like Wolf (the dude on the phone here) or a stiff-upper-lip Brit or an intense samurai. The comic mentions that Wolf has never before asked for help from anyone in his entire life. So this is Wolf when things are at their most desperate. And that one panel is everything he says. Conan and the Man With No Name have had longer phone conversations than this. With each other.

Enter the Crippler

Scuttlebut in the wrestling blogoverse is that Total Nonstop Action may see an influx of WWE/ECW talent soon. Of the list of possible emigres from McMahonLand one name stands out among the rest as an old favorite of mine from the heady days of the Monday Night Wars. And that name is Chris Benoit:


Chris Benoit (pronounce ben-WAH) has been called "the Crippler" and "the Rabid Wolverine". Most wrestling fans think of Bret "The Hitman" Hart as the best wrestler to ever come out of Canada. Benoit has always been my pick. His no-nonsense badass persona combined with an incredible high-impact style made for a lot of awesome no-frills wrestling. In an era where 'hardcore' meant you whacked your opponent with a bamboo pole, the Crippler achieved hardcore-itude by leaping off the top turnbuckle and headbutting people laying in the middle of the ring. That's crazy badass.

The 90's could have been Chris Benoit's decade to shine, but backstage politics held him back from true superstar status in World Championship Wrestling. I haven't seen Benoit's work since WCW was bought out by Vince McMahon, but the possibility of seeing him in action is the primary reason I even flip over to a WWE program. The prospect of the chance that maybe Benoit will appear in TNA is totally rocking my world right now.

Leonard McCoy is not putting up with your crap

Space Seed was on this morning. I love this exchange with a newly-awakened Khan.

Bones: Well, either choke me or cut my throat. Make up your mind.

Khan: Where am I?

Bones: You're in bed, holding a knife at your doctor's throat.

Dr. Leonard McCoy has so meditated upon the Tao of the Grumpy Old Man that when confronted by a megalomaniacal ubermensch with a knife he's able to turn his crankiness into an impenetrable shield of badassery. Respect the Bones.