Alan Moore, �Tom Strong: Book 1�
Despite my recent rescue of Joe at the Caravan Lounge, if there is one thing I�ve learned from Halloween it�s that I�m not a superhero.
Oh sure, the night started out well with me showing up to see the Rocket Queens and not only discovering they were playing the Evil Dead movies (and I was dressed as Ash, so even those who may not have seen the movie suddenly knew who I was), but also finding out I was on the guest list! Thanks Craig!
And my super powers helped me out for most of the night because I adapted pretty easily, soon able to pay the bartender, drink a beer, smoke a cigarette and hug the ladies all why having one hand permanently stuck inside a goddamn chainsaw.
But that�s a different kind of superhero � something like Bukowski Man, or Hunter S. Thompson Man. All I proved was that I can drink � and drink a lot � no matter what constraints are put upon me.
But then it was time to go home. Ever tried riding a bike when your right hand is jammed into a chainsaw? It�s not easy. It�s particularly not easy after 50 bucks worth of beer. Luckily, we had the buddy system, and two people rode on either side of me as we went home.
Unfortunately, I think they were as drunk as I was. One guy swerved and I reaacted to avoid him. Suddenly I was in a massive heap, wrapped inexplicably inside my bicycle.
And this is why I know I�m no superhero. I have such extreme road rash on my left hand that it looks like I have leprosy. There is so much flesh missing from my left pinky that it looks like some wild animal took a bite out of it. It�s pretty goddamn swollen too. And it hurts like hell. Despite all the typing I�ve done for this entry I�m trying not to use my pinky for anything, but I keep bumping it with my other finger, wincing every time it happens.
So I�m not a superhero. Though it occurs to me that I was wearing my Daredevil shirt that night at the Caravan, and I wasn�t wearing it on Halloween. Maybe I just need to wear it every day.
And so that brings us to this book by Alan Moore, which is about superheroes. Surprise!
It seems like Moore was trying to recreate the old Flash Gordan/Buck Rodgers/Crash Corrigan serial films with this outing of comics, and I guess it works. But the only exposure I had to these old serials came through Mystery Science Theater, so I have the baffling urge to mock this comic. Oh, it was okay, but it just seemed kinda cheesy.
Or maybe I�m just in a bad mood, �cause I�m in so much pain.
