Interesting. He’s scared of the hot silhouette, but okay to have the old crone hold the door open? Maybe its the silhouette’s puffy shoulder pads. That would do it for me.

Nice to see Superboy Whine way back when. Wuss.

So, they key that this all hinges on, is that Thor is talking at the same time or before the wolf makes his aarrrrrrhh sound and… oh what the hell, its Black Bison crossing over to the Marvel Universe and bringing Wildcat’s son. Hail Geekery!

I have to say, Marvel titles in the 70s were much better. And how about “I spent Midnight with the Monster on Bald Mountain” for a euphemism?

I like the trouser suit. It would have made a nice change to the upskirt shots the Maid of Might has been most synonymous for.

I’d like to clear up a couple of points here before we get into the nitty gritty.

Firstly, I like having a garden. Grass is nice to lie on (but I don’t) and for kids to play on (which, weather wise, they don’t), and a well kept flower enhanced border is aesthetically pleasing, especially of an evening when some meats have been grilled to perfection on the barbecue, my belly is full and I’m sitting back with my chosen alcoholic beverage enjoying the sun (again, weather wise, thats unlikely). However, I like the idea all the same.

Secondly, I hate my hedge. Its a schizophrenic beast which is half soft downiness and half raging, twisted gnarliness. It gets out of control easily and the only way to calm it is to attack it with some electric shears which have seen much better days… about 5 years ago in fact.

It is with these two facts in mind, that I have today come to the conclusion that I don’t hate gardening, I hate destroying.

My jobs in terms of our garden are simple – I never grow; I only cut, trim, rip or churn. Kate does the gardening as she tends to the flowers and weeds (itself a form of garden genocide, but on a much smaller and “greater good” beneficial scale) but I only spring into action when the grass needs to be controlled or the hedges (damn those hedges) need to be taken down a peg or two.

Not like I’d want to swap or anything, because there is no chance that I have the patience or any sort of aptitude or skill to tend to a plant or a bush. The time I spend out in the garden, laying waste to seas of grass and slicing into complex horticultural structures, is growing however and that makes me sad. Exhausted as well (not to mention pained as another twig decides to fight back and scrape a deep trench into my arm) but painfully sad because I have to give up 4 hours or so at a time to do something that I don’t like, and don’t get paid for it.

No wait, that sounds selfish. What I meant to say was that one sixth of my weekend time awake is spent not creating but decimating. Thats not fun on so many levels.

So, I’m not a gardener, I’m a taker of lives in the Green.

I desperately want that to change but the only way I see that happening will involve a chainsaw, bricks and cement.

You may have noticed that As-yet-UntitledThursday has been MIA in the past … oh, months. I certainly know that our myriad fan has expressed some disbelief that we’ll ever be coming back. Yes, I’m talking about you Combination Ladders.

Anyway, fear not. The staff of As-yet-Untitled Thursday have been working dilligently during this time, conducting exclusive and extensive research – often, but not exclusively, on Gulf shrimp – into the global phenomenon that is the comics crossover.

However, in the interest of teasing we’re not going to reveal all today, but rather pad out over the next few weeks. Given the topic, this approach is extremely appropriate.

Stay tooned.

Yeah, this one doesn’t look good Captain Atom.  Sliced across the midrift and … wait, is that water? Could it be that he’s not really made of nuclear waste, but instead is some sort of camel? Captain Paddling Pool may be closer to the mark.

Uh.. sorry. Medication time.

Now here’s a teaser. Why is it that Marvel couldn’t print this story until now (then)? Were there legal shenanigans? Was it because Thor had been healing a new face in Stadt? Had Enchantress’ gravity defying dress fallen in battle?

Yeah. Need to find this one. Seriously, I do.

There’s something neat about this cover. Why is there a cab and not a building being blown to smithereens? Thats not something you see on a day to day basis. Plus, its obviously moving, so is the cabbie toast? Where did the left front wheel go? Come on comics publishers – this is the stuff to get us interested!

To finish a tribute to Paul Levitz from Sept ’87. Good luck in your new endeavours sir.

Another delicious recipe, ideal for those following the South Beach Diet, but fantastic for everyone really. Just add more veggies or some rice on the side for quite a full meal.

Ingredients

• 1 boned, skinned chicken-breast half (4 oz)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach (or a couple of balls of frozen spinach defrosted for 2 minutes in the microwave)
• 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Heat oven to 400°F/200°C/Gas Mark 6.
2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a medium skillet.
3. Add spinach and sauté until wilted.
4. Remove from heat
5. Stir the spinach into the parmesan cheese and add salt and pepper.
6. Cut a lengthwise pocket halfway through center of chicken breast.
7. Stuff the spinach/cheese mixture into the chicken pocket then secure with oiled wooden toothpicks.
8. Brush chicken with remaining 1 tsp oil and sprinkle with pepper.
9. Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
10. Remove toothpicks and serve.