Okay, so it's Saturday night, so does this mean that this post follows an evening in Timbers, drinking Newcastle ale? Indeed it does. And yet, I find myself in that weird state where I'm aware I've been drinking, and yet feel completely focused and sober. Which pretty much belies the point (if belies is the word I want), because I wanted to fuzz out my brain enough that I wouldn't be thinking about The Girl in the Cafe, and yet, there she is. (Earlier today, I had her in my thoughts, because like almost everyone I know, she is named Jen, and another of the Legion of Jens had come up in conversation. However, when I realized I couldn't get her out of my head, she was almost instantly replaced by that Kylie Minogue song. Which isn't necessarily a better thing.)

Best news of the day: Mirrormask the Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean movie, is playing in Las Vegas. So I'll be seeing that tomorrow. Expect a report.

Worst news of the day: Titan Auto Insurance still dicking me around. I'd have my car back at this point if it wasn't for them. Which particularly sucks, since they aren't paying for my rental because they claim that the body shop is taking too long. Wouldn't you think that if someone were making that sort of accusation, they'd be Johnny On the Spot? Dillweeds.

So, anyway, I bought a copy of Marvel Comics Essential Werewolf By Night tonight. And as I've found myself recently fascinated by 70s Marvel's weird comics, I've realized something about my initial childhood impressions about Marvel comics.

As a kid, I first started reading Disney and Archie and Harvey comics, and other humor comics. I knew of super-heroes, of course, mostly from reruns of the old Batman and Superman TV shows, and episodes of the Superfriends cartoon (which just don't hold up today). So I understood that DC did comics about superheroes. But Marvel... Marvel published stuff like Conan the Barbarian, which clearly wasn't aimed at the seven-year-old me. Or Howard the Duck, which looked funny at first, but was way over my head. Even their superheroes scared the crap out of me. I remember waiting in line with my mother at Safeway one day, probably reading Richie Rich or Casper or somesuch, and a teenage boy came and offered me a copy of some Marvel superhero comic or another. And I think the featured superhero was the Thing, from the Fantastic Four. And I told him that I didn't read those kinds of comics.

So, yeah, Marvel scared the crap out of me. And now, when I think of the Marvel of my youth, the Marvel I never read, it's all Tomb of Dracula and Howard the Duck and Werewolf by Night. And I still don't care about their superheroes, because they're not my superheroes. But the idea of an Essential Godzilla, featuring Godzilla vs. the Avengers and SHIELD... That's my Marvel. And the fact that Marvel simply doesn't do stuff like that any more is probably the reason that I don't buy many Marvel comics. (Although there are exceptions... And since I did my new Previews order, you may hear about some of those exceptions tomorrow...)