WONDER WOMAN, Vol. 2, No. 223 (Rucka / Rags, Richards, Bair; DC, 2006)

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Every Wednesday morning, I make a blind pull from Siri's (randomized) choice of one of the 20 alphabetically-organized shortboxes that constitute my comics collection, (re-) read it, write about it, and publish the resultant review/memory/whatever. Earlier installments live here.

(Box19): 2005-06 seems to be the years of years in these Weds Randoms thus far – with few diversions into the 90s – for better or for worse. I swear I have more than a few years of DC Comics in these 18 boxes, though now that I've added the spinner rack fully into the mix, I suppose I should add 19 to my randomizer...

Anyhow: INFINITE CRISIS / Maxwell Lord neck-snapping / Brother Eye-OMAC / Rucka era of Wonder Woman, post-IDENTITY CRISIS (want to revisit sometime) Rags Morales art. Something about this run that grabbed me more than any other effort – Azzarello's New52 series being a close second, though; I suppose that I have an affinity for odd pairings of creator to character that, on the surface, seem unlikely to work but that end up being among the best iterations of both – at Diana: love the collision here of warrior, international intrigue, and the perception of "superhero" that Rucka (unsurprisingly) exploits here – Diana on the world stage, superheroics and doing the right thing up against the perils of international diplomacy and bureaucracy.

And snapping Max Lord's neck.

Also: why am I thinking that Artemis is killed at some point soon after this issue? Didn't she replace Diana as Wonder Woman around the Doomsday / Knightfall / Emerald Twilight era? Vague memories, FTW.

a major test of willpower

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Given that I a.) only freed the final divine beast in BOTW last night (Goron City is my favorite of the divine 'burgs and Link's cut-scene jump into the volcano was a moment of pure badassery) and have yet to go all Master-Sword-wielding-Hylian on Calamity Ganon and b.) like to mix things up in my gaming (and should probably finally get around to ELDEN RING, though I had to stop because it was so similar to BOTW) TOTK will remain shrink-wrapped until I'm ready to partake.

Kaweco Original 250 medium nib

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Wanted to give the new pen a few days before I proclaimed it to be my new beloved, but, within a few hours...

I've loved the Kaweco AL-Sport for awhile, but, because of the very thing that made it so appealing (stature and portability), I couldn't use it on a regular basis; the nib was also too scratchy for my taste.

But I loved the look and the feel and now I'm ecstatic that not only has Kaweco has released the Kaweco Original, a full-sized iteration of the AL-Sport, but that the Original is possessed of a wider (250 or the standard 60; I went with a medium 250) nib that has, – within a few hours of tearing open the box – made it among the smoothest I've experienced. Perfect weight and balance.

Probably should give it a few more days before deciding if it's a simply a shiny new dalliance or the one that brings my long-term Lamy relationship to an end – though I'm reasonably certain I already know where this one is heading.