The Incredible Hulk's Amazon.com Wish List

What do you get for the man who has everything? Why, that's no problem at all. The big question is, what do you get for the man who's mean, green, and on the scene? He can't depend on Santa: not only does he move around too much for St. Nick to deliver, Santa can't even keep track of him on his naughty and nice list because he keeps changing his name: is it Bruce? Or Bob? Or David? Who knows? But you can help make it a Green Christmas by buying something for the Incredible Hulk off of his Amazon.com Wish List?:

Very High Energy Cosmic Gamma Radiation (book)

Our Inner World of Rage: Understanding and Transforming the Power of Anger (book)

Purple Stretch Pants (clothing)

Demolition: The Art of Demolishing, Dismantling, Imploding, Toppling and Razing (book)

Go Away, Big Green Monster! (book)

The Lonely Man (book)

Legends of the American Desert: Sojourns in the Greater Southwest (book)

Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion (book)

Smash Mouth (CD)

Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization (book)

Look Back in Anger (DVD)

The Green Man (book)

Demolition Man (DVD)

The Comics Journal Library: Jack Kirby (book)

Pretty Pretty Princess Dress-Up Board Game

Also available for your holiday shopping convenience:

• Superman's Amazon.com Wishlist
• Batman's Amazon.com Wishlist

The Board Game Bull #1: The London Game

Samuel Johnson once said: "When a little stuffed bull is bored of board games, he is bored of life." Oh, wait a minute, maybe that was Samuel Jackson. No, he said "Get these motherloving snakes off my motherloving plane." Okay then, Samuel L. Johnson.

All comics and no other fun stuff makes a young bull a dull bull, so let's kick off a new occasional feature here at the increasingly-inaccurately named "Comics Oughta Be Fun" by taking a look at my big-ass collection of board games! I love board games and have several dozen. Yes, of course I have many versions of Monopoly, Clue, and Trivial Pursuit, but I'm guessing some of my readers may not be aware of some of my more unique games. So, as we move into this toy-ful season, what better way to celebrate a bit of fun by pulling them off the shelf, one at a time? John insists I am only allowed one out at a time, because otherwise I will accidentally mix the pieces, and where does that lead you? With a Miss Scarlett spelling out a triple-word score at Park Place, that's where! Moral of the story: one game at a time.


I keep my games neatly stacked on shelves, and b'lieve me, this is only some of them—I have about five other shelves packed with games of all sorts and sizes. One of these days I hope to move into a big city house so I can have a walk in closet stuffed absolutely chock-full with board games, just like the Tenenbaums!!



I will also keep my javalina head in there:



But until then, shelves will do just fine.

Today I'm going to play and tell you all about one of my favorites. Or maybe I should say favourites, because like many of my most-loved board games, it's British. You know what a little stuffed Anglophile bull I am, so you can guess how much I enjoy The London Game:



I have a theory about board games (aside from the obvious one that they are fun!): that there's a finite variety of types of board games, and a lot of the most popular fall into categories that are similar to very popular and classic board games. You've got your Monopoly-style games that have a specific pathway to follow and are based on building up a certain increasing monetary or point goal, your Risk-style games that involve strategy and pitting opponent against each other through a combination luck of the dice and skill in movement, your Sorry-style games rooted in the origins of Parcheesi and Chinese Checkers that involve moving your pieces from one point to another while inconveniencing your opponent, your Clue-style games that allow free-roaming play to be the first to reach a specific goal or conclusion, to name a few. The London Game has certain elements of the Clue and Sorry genres, but takes as its premise one of my very favorite things to do in the world: visit London and ride the London Underground.

The board is laid out in a very accurate representation of Harry Beck's very famous and much-copied London Underground map:



I have an older version of the game. How can you tell? It does not include the Jubilee Line that connects Baker Street to Victoria Station. Today's version of the game does include the Jubilee Line, but I rather like playing it without: it adds an element of challenge and makes it more tricky to get from northwest to southeast London by eliminating the modern direct route:



The rules are fairly simple and you might even say it's one of those games that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master:



To be honest, it's not that complicated, and there's a booklet that explains the rules more fully. Each player chooses a colored token and is then dealt six London location cards:



Don't let your opponent see your cards, though! These are the secret locations you must visit on the map—visit all six and return to your home station and you win the game!

Each Location Card features a small description of the tourist attraction you'll find at that location, so it's an excellent game to play if you're about to visit London for the first (or tenth) time:



Again, mine's an older version, and I'm betting newer editions of the London Game might include some more recent British capital tourist attractions.

Choose a BritRail mainline station to start your "guy" off, and roll the die to move around the board. You have to stop and lose a turn when you want to change Tube lines, so just like they tell you in the real Underground, plan your journey carefully!:



At certain points in the game you draw hazard cards which might help you, hinder your opponent, or send you off to far-flung reaches of the board, into outskirts of London you don't need to be. Argh! It's just like riding the Northern Line...you never know where you'll really end up!:



But when you finally reach the destinations on one of your cards, flip it over and read that card aloud to the other players. That way everyone learns about the popular attractions and history of London Town. I'm more of a Chelsea supporter myself (Go Blue!) but here I am at Arsenal FC. One card down, five to go!:


I am playing this game against my kid sister Marshall. (I highly recommend playing most board games with someone else. Solo board games are often tricky and boring. Even though I have developed extensive rules for solitaire Monopoly, nothing beats the feeling of giggling uproariously when you trick your little sister into a corner!



At certain points in the game you can use special tokens to "close" stations so you can not pass through them, to block or box your opponent in and keep them from moving to their goal, or maybe at all! Hmmm, pretty sneaky, sis!:



The first person to turn over all six of their Location Cards and then race back to their original position wins the game! But feel free to invent personal versions and variations on the game. Here I am playing the popular "Mornington Crescent" variation in which the first player to reach Mornington Crescent wins! The rules are very complicated though, even though Mister Brooke-Taylor tried to explain them to me once:



So, to sum up: The London Game: it's a cracking good time! Why, I love this game so much I even bought the travel version:



It's just my size!



If you live in the US, you may find it difficult to purchase The London Game, but specialty board game stores may stock it or be able to order it for you. If you're still having trouble, you can always order it from Amazon.co.uk. Or, you could send me over to London and I'll pick you up a copy! Promise.

Special bonus outtake photo that displays the difficulties of playing board games on the floor in my apartment: Gus the Cat always wants to walk on the board!

Owwwwwww.

Bully's advice for the day: Comics are fun, but dental surgery is not fun. Owwwwwwww.



On the other hand, nitrous oxide ain't half bad. I'm beginning to see why Batman continually faces off against the Joker: to get more of that deliriously dreamy laughing gas. Ha ha ha!

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha...owwwwwwwwwwww.

Ow.

The little things.

Sometimes it's the little things that count.

A clever panel, an arch expression, an unforgettable line...it doesn't make a comic book great by itself, but it's a highlight, a treat, a "way cool" moment that shows off the care and love the creators have for the story and the characters. The comic would work just fine without it...but it just wouldn't be "the same." It's a beautiful little moment that we remember and cherish.

It's not solely restricted to comic books, of course. I've been watching my Superman: The Animated Series DVDs recently, and Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's bright and bombastic follow-up to Batman: The Animated Series will probably never get the same praise and respect the Dark Knight's revolutionary cartoon did, but it's still one of the finest portrayals of the Man of Steel on screen, cartoon or live, and the love and respect the creators have for the character and his tropes shines through in episode after episode...including those fun little moments.

Case in point: the episode "Tools of the Trade" in the first season, one of the "Terrible" Turpin episodes. There's a delightful bit of character portrayal in making Dan Turpin look like Jack Kirby, but that's only one example. My favorite one in the episode—maybe one of my favorites in the whole series—is the smart and cool twist on the usual "Clark becomes Superman" scene we've all watched a million times in movies and on TV. You can usually expect that when there's trouble Clark will dash to a storeroom and, silhouetted against the window, change into his big blue-and-red alter-ego, or maybe the camera will zoom in on that impressively broad chest as he pops open his Arrow shirt to reveal his Kryptonian Underoos.

"Tools of the Trade" does the Superman reveal a little differently.


Clark Kent, chiseled nose buried in today's Daily Planet, strolls through the lobby of the impressively art-deco Planet offices...


...noticing in surprise one of the elevators is out of order.


Lois Lane rushes past, barks out the news of a big train wreck, darts into an open elevator, stabbing repeatedly at the door close button. Dana Delany has a wondering voice-acting moment here, channeling both The Front Page and Margot Kidder as she rapid-fires the news at Clark, her voice raising to a rant against "the guy who built this stupid elevator!" until the door closes behind her.


Clark backs up against the out-of-order open shaft of the central elevator...


...smiles slightly as he removes his glasses...


...steps, without looking back, into the open shaft...


...and disappears falling down the shaft.


Cut to the ground lobby of the Planet, where a blue-and-red streak, too fast to be distinguished, shoots out of the elevator...


...only noticed by passers-by through the cause-and-effect wind it leaves in its wake...


...before continuing, in the blink of an eye, out the revolving doors...


..sending the door spinning and papers whipping through the air.

Superman's on his way, and nobody even saw the quick-change act. Heck, we didn't even see Clark change: the entire sequence, including the funny Lois bit, takes 25 seconds, but even more impressive, the time from Clark dropping down the shaft to the revolving doors spinning is about three seconds. Now that's a little moment.

The beauty of the scene is that it's not necessary. The creators could have used the usual shirt-ripping reveal, or even completely lose the transition sequence and just have Superman showing up at the scene. But the beauty is in the details, and this little moment makes us all coo "Way cool!" Listen to the creator commentary on the DVD and you'll even hear Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett and company turn into fanboys at their own work at this sequence. "That was a cool bit!" "Ah, that's a good transition!" "Really nice."

There's moments a-plenty like that throughout Superman: The Animated Series. Sure, Batman gets the acclaim as the pioneer, and Justice League Unlimited appeals to the inner fanboy in us all by tossing every DC Universe hero we can think into the mix, but for this little stuffed Super-fan, well, I like Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh just fine, thank you, but there's no Superman like the nineties animated Superman. And it's not just because he can bend ink-and-painted steel girders and change the course of mighty animated rivers, oh no siree bob. The big moments are fun. But it's the little moments that make a man a Superman.

Ten of a Kind: How Can I Save My Little Boy from Oppenheimer's Deadly Toy?

(More Ten of a Kind here.)