Well, That Changes the Equation

Today's "Order of the Stick" comic.

This is why we love Belkar Bitterleaf.

Grr, Arrgh

Poor spelling and such has been getting up my nose more than usual lately. I've been adequately suppressing my urge to correct, but I feel the need to point out one thing (which, apparently, I'll be pointing out every time they make a new movie about him) . . .

"Spider-Man" has a hyphen. Superheroes vary widely in their name choices (one word, non-hyphenated: Superman, Batman; two words: Wonder Woman, Iron Man; one word, hyphenated: Giant-Man), and Spidey chose a hyphen.

Speaking of Comics and Hyphens

So, in the old typewriter days, when you wanted to indicate an em dash — like you find around this brief digression — one accepted practice was to hit the hyphen key twice -- like you find to the left of this brief digression.

Until fairly recently, most comics were hand-lettered. And yet, whenever there was an em dash in a comic word balloon, caption, etc., it was indicated by two hyphens (famously, in the title of the old Marvel humor comic WHAT THE--?!). The letterer could have drawn a line of any arbitrary length desired; why use a double-hyphen?

[ponders]

Spider-Sense . . . Cringing . . .

Yeah, somehow I think this mini-statue of Mary Jane is just a bit too, umm, what's the word . . . rampantly sexist?

(I think it's the high-altitude thong that really bugs me. Bugged me on Supergirl, too.)

I want the "Mary Jane and Aunt May in Iron Man's old armor from Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20" action figures.

(Link courtesy superfinemind.)