CHAMPIONS # 44

January Year Five

MV1 feels ambiguously about presenting...

"The Frog War"
(or "Jump Up, Jump Up, and Get Down")

by Russ Anderson, with plot-assist by Barry Reese

In Case You're Just Joining Us: The Champions went out for a night on the town in order to send teammate Diamondback off with style. Things got weird though, as Diamondback spotted a ghost on a flying bicycle that no one else seemed to be able to see, the Black Widow got involved in a brutal fight with someone claiming to be her dead husband, and Batroc picked a fight in the dance club with the Terrible Toad. Meanwhile, the mysterious Plasma is getting closer to Earth, and the Flash and Firebird respond to a general alarm back at the Champions HQ.

"Er... Mr. Hercules?"

"Aye, lad! What ails thee?"

"Well, I was wondering... shouldn't we maybe help Mr. Batroc out?"

Hercules stroked his beard, as if giving the matter serious thought. "Nay," he decided finally. "'Tis a battle of honor our comrade is engaged in. To aid him at this juncture would injure his proud heart most severely."

"'Ave at!" Batroc the Leaper cried across the room. There was a thump, and the Terrible Toad went skating across the club's empty dance floor on his back. The new Champion known as Guinea Pig winced at the impact, and had to close his eyes when the Toad recovered himself and bounded back across the room. Hercules laughed.

"Here lad... imbibe yon potion of ground barley and hops. 'Twill enable thee to enjoy the show."

Guinea Pig took the drink Hercules proffered and looked doubtfully at Johnny Domingo - aka Nightman - who was propped up against the bar at Hercules's other side. The three of them were the only people remaining in the dance club besides the combatants--the rest had evacuated when the fight started, and it was surely only a matter of time before the police arrived. Johnny shrugged at Guinea Pig's silent question and turned to watch the battle... only to duck at the last second as Batroc flew over his head, smashing the mirror behind the bar and hitting the floor with a thud.

"Friend Batroc," Hercules asked, leaning over the bar, "do you require medical assistance?"

"Non! But keep ze medics in rezerve for our English friend!" Batroc pounced off the floor and landed on the bar. "What a worthy opponent! You are magnifizent!"

"Thank you!" Toad shouted from across the floor. "I must confess... you're more formidable than I expected too!" There was the sound of a whip cracking, and a massive tongue snapped across the floor and wrapped around Batroc's torso.

"Ugh," Nightman moaned, putting a hand to his stomach, "I could have lived my whole life without seeing that."

"Zut al-ooooorrrsss!" Batroc exclaimed as he was yanked off the bar and back into the fray.

"So what do you think?" the Flash asked, dust and sand skating off of his protective aura as he ran across the Arizona desert.

"I think I'm not happy about leaving Cassie at home alone," Bonita Juarez - Firebird - responded from above. She was in full costume, the flaming aura that surrounded her when her powers activated lighting the way for her partner.

"Well, she's got Cerberus and the puppies," Barry shrugged. "And that little girl has proven time and again she can take care of herself."

"Do you have children, Barry?"

Barry blinked in surprise at the question, then lowered his head and dropped his voice. "My wife - Iris - was pregnant when the Anti-Monitor kidnapped me. When I destroyed the machine the Monitor was going to use to destroy the universe, I thought I was dying and leaving them behind. Instead, I've just left them behind, while I go on living in a universe that won't allow me to go back where I came from. Iris was going to have twins... I never knew either of them."

"Forgive me, Barry. I didn't mean to cause you pain."

"I know you didn't." There was an uneasy silence between the two as the desert floor continued to slip away beneath them. Finally, Barry asked, "Where did the Captain say this thing hit?"

"It should be just beyond that next mesa," Firebird replied. They had been engaged in a game of Scrabble with the team's ward, Cassie Lang, when Captain America contacted them from Avengers Mansion, asking they check out a mysterious astral body that was falling in the desert near Phoenix. Seeing they were undermanned, he'd offered to contact the West Coast Avengers instead, but the truth was both Flash and Firebird were ready for some action after sitting tensely in each other's presence all night.

"I'll run ahead and check it out."

"Be careful, Barry."

"I'll be in and out before whatever it is has a chance to react, Bonita. See you in a sec."

He flashed away, leaving a trail of lightning behind him. Bonita watched him go, wondering what on Earth she was doing, developing feelings for a man with a family. Granted, he could never return to that family, but even so...

Barry was back before she could finish the thought. "I think you'd better come look at this, Bonita."

"What is it?"

"Something I don't have a word for. Come on."

Firebird poured on the speed, but Barry was at the crash site again before she'd finished accelerating. He was kneeling at the bottom of a massive, smoking crater, next to a silver humanoid... a woman, by the looks of it. As Firebird drew closer, she saw the woman's skin seemed to move and flow over her body like liquid, and as she finally landed beside her teammate, she saw it wasn't the woman's skin moving like that--it was her entire physicality. Her body was composed of a silvery, transparent liquid.

"Do you speak English?" Barry was saying.

The woman, dazed, looked at him blankly with her flowing silver face.

"She was a puddle when I found her," Barry explained. "She started to reform into... this just before I came back to get you. I'm not as familiar with the superhuman beings of your world as I probably should be. Do you recognize her?"

"Not at all." Firebird bent over, placing her hands on her knees and composing her face into as friendly an expression as she could manage. "Who are you?" she asked.

The woman gave her a look just as blank as the one she'd given Barry.

Firebird sighed. "I don't know... should I try--"

Before she could complete the thought, the alien's hand shot out and clamped down on Barry's shoulder. The Flash cried out in alarm, then paused, and finally put a hand to his forehead. "Ooowwww..."

"My apologies, Terran," the liquid woman said in flawless English, "but I have no time for subtlety. I require your assistance--"

"And just who are you?" Firebird asked. "And how do you suddenly speak our language?"

"I absorbed it from him," the woman replied, indicating Barry.

"And your name," Barry started, "I think I got that when you linked our minds... Plasma?"

"Yes, that is as good a name as any. I am one of the four heralds of Galactus..."

"Galactus!" Firebird cried.

"Who's Galactus?" Barry asked.

"I have no time for your questions! You must listen to me..."

"The time for listening is done, herald." There was a flash of light and a warm glow from behind Plamsa, illuminating the desert floor for a half-mile in all directions. All three of them spun to face the voice, and all three found a familiar sight.

"Aeon!" Plasma cried.

"Aeon?" Flash said in disbelief.

But Firebird was the one who finally got it right: "Scott?"

When the police sirens became audible above the sound of the combatants pummeling each other, the Toad had thrown Batroc off of him and ran for the back door. Batroc was on his feet and after him like a shot. Shaking with mirth, Hercules had moved to follow.

"Shouldn't one of us stay here to tell the police what happened?" Guinea Pig asked.

"Nay, friend Guinea Pig. There is much glory in this battle, and better that we witness it than waste time buried in the red tape of mortals. Come, young one!" Hercules wrapped one massive arm around Guinea Pig's shoulders. "I will show you a good time this night if it means my immortal soul!"

Meanwhile, the Toad was bounding down the Phoenix city street, glowering at the crowds who stared after him with a mixture of astonishment and fear. Batroc was eating his dust - the Frenchman was only a homo sapien, after all, though a skilled one. The Toad would have liked to have stayed and finished the battle, but he was a leader now, with responsibilities to his team. He wouldn't allow either bloodlust or admiration for a worthy opponent to get him captured by the police.

"Mr. Toynbee! Mr. Toynbee!"

"The hell--?" the Toad growled, and glanced down in mid-hop to see a kid - late high school or college age - waving excitedly at him. Glancing back to make sure he had a healthy lead on Batroc, he dropped down to the kid's side.

"Mr. Toynbee!" the kid cried, seizing Toad's hand and pumping it. "I can't believe this is happening!"

"Who the hell are you, kid?"

"I'm Steve... your biggest fan!" the kid exclaimed. "This is such an honor! I totally feel like we're soulmates - I mean, your decision to go retro with the name 'Brotherhood of Evil Mutants' while at the same time pulling the team into the 21st Century and making them ruthless as hell... it's ingenious! Evil mutants kick ass! God, I wish I was one..."

Toad was dumbfounded. "Are you mocking me, you little bastard? Did Mastermind put you up to this?"

Steve looked hurt. "Why... no, Mr. Toynbee. I--Mr. Toynbee, look out!"

Steve pointed back over the Toad's shoulder, and the leader of the Brotherhood instinctively ducked... just as Batroc came sailing over his head and planted both feet in Steve's face. Steve flew backward into the crowd.

"Uh... pardonnez-moi, mon ami," Batroc shrugged. "Pleaze don't ztand zo close to ze homizidal mutant terrorizt."

"By dose!" Steve cried. "You broke by dose!"

The Toad turned his head toward his fallen sycophant, hocked, and fired a golden glob of some tacky substance from his throat. The substance hit Steve in the face, and instantly hardened there, cutting off the young man's air.

"I hate fanboys," the Toad said, and kicked Batroc in the side, sending the Frenchman careening through the crowd. Toynbee followed.

"Move away from her, the both of you," Aeon said. "I can't begin to tell you what's at stake if she isn't returned to my lord's custody."

"Try," the Flash replied, moving in-between Aeon and the still-recovering Plasma. "Because nobody's leaving here until we understand what's--"

"Barry," Firebird said softly, her hand on the Flash's shoulder. "Wait a moment." She turned to Aeon, her red cape swooping in the desert wind. "Scott... what can we do to help? Please explain this to us."

Aeon was silent for a moment, eyeing the Hispanic woman thoughtfully, then he gestured toward Plasma. "This being is a refugee from an alternate--an artificial--reality. For the sake of this timeline, she must be returned to her proper place."

"Returned to slavery!" Plasma cried from behind the two Champions. The Flash heard her power explode from her and barely had time to zip himself and Firebird out of the way before a cascade of silver energy ripped across the air separating the alien from Aeon. The timelord frowned, and the energy vanished within a foot of him, shunted 1,000 years into the future.

"Tell them the truth!" Plasma's radiant energy continued to dance around her form, but it was obvious to all present that the herald was on her last legs. "Tell them the nature of my world! Tell them who your master is and what he intends to do with me and mine!"

"Yes, Scott, tell us!" Bonita moved forward, brushing aside the Flash's concerned hand. "We'll help you if we can, but we must know what's happening!"

There was a twinkle in Aeon's eyes that may have been indicative of a silent chuckle. "If there's one thing I've learned in the time since we parted, Bonita, it's that there really are some things man was not meant to know."

Dismissing the two Champions, he began to move toward Plasma.

"Then why confront us at all, Scott?" Bonita demanded. Next to her, Barry remained on guard, willing for the moment to surrender this play to Firebird, but not at all trusting of the man who had been Scott Lang. "Why not just whisk Plasma away from here? Why are you giving us this chance to question you? You don't want to take her, do you? The Scott Lang I know would never deliver another being into slavery. He was too good a man!"

Aeon paused, turned toward Bonita with amused annoyance. Seeing an opening, Firebird played the last card she had.

"If Plasma is telling the truth... what would Cassie think of her father now?"

It was too much. Aeon's face disintegrated into a snarl and a swirling chronal blast exploded from his right hand, tearing toward Bonita. The Champions had seen those very blasts enact a host of changes on their victims... none of them pleasant.

"That's enough," the Flash said, though he was speaking much too fast for anyone to hear. By the time the chronal blast struck, he had moved Bonita a dozen yards away and descended upon Aeon, landing hundreds of blows to his former teammate's head. The timelord staggered under the assault, and the Flash didn't let up. By the time Bonita had realized she hadn't been struck, Aeon was on his knees, the Flash still beating him senseless.

"Barry! Stop!"

"I can't, Bonita! He controls time! If I let up for even a second--"

The Flash--and, indeed, everything around them--paused, then seemed to ratchet backwards as reality clicked backwards step-by-step through the last several seconds. When it was done, Barry was standing several paces back from the suddenly erect Aeon, looking at his clenched fists in astonishment. The next moment, Aeon hit him with a chronal blast that punched him backwards across the desert.

"Barry!" Bonita spun toward Aeon, flames dancing at the edges of her eyes as the timelord swung his arm toward her. Before he could use his power on her, the ground between him and Firebird exploded in flames, as did his red cloak and uniform. Unfazed, he fired anyway. Bonita was ready for him though, and dodged easily.

She was climbing into the air, trying to decide what to do, when Aeon screamed. Plasma had re-entered the fray, and was pounding him with the energy blasts he'd shunted earlier.

"Your power is absolute in Limbo, mortal," Plasma growled as Aeon continued to shriek, "but on this plane, the Power Cosmic holds sway over everything. All I needed was a chance to regain my equilibrium and a shot at your unprotected back. Even you can't combat the might of Galactus!"

"Witch..." Aeon groaned, "... this is not... the end... not even... close..."

He stiffened, then vanished in a burst of light and special effects. A moment later, Plasma collapsed, sliding down the smooth wall of the crater until she was lying unconscious at its floor.

Natasha Romanoff - the Black Widow - and Rachel Leighton - Diamondback - emerged from the alley clinging to each other. Natasha had one arm thrown around Rachel's shoulders, with the other hand pressed to the back of her head.

"I think I can walk on my own," Natasha insisted.

"Are you sure? You took a pretty bad shot to the head."

"No, I'm not sure." Stubbornly, the Widow pulled away from Rachel and stood up tall, if not entirely steady. "But I think we should avoid making a scene if we..."

She stopped in her tracks. Across the street, the warehouse that housed the club her teammates had been dancing at was surrounded by police cars and evacuated partygoers. Police were approaching the front door even as she stood there, their guns drawn.

"Why do I have the feeling Batroc had something to do with this?" The Widow put her aching head in one hand.

"So much for not making a scene," Diamondback sighed.

"Move aside!" Hercules bellowed, shoving through the crowd until he'd found the teenager lying on the sidewalk. The Toad's spitball had hardened over Steve's entire face, leaving him nothing to breathe through, and it was stuck fast to his skin.

Hercules knelt down, gesturing to another young man kneeling beside Steve--apparently a friend of his. "Have you tried to remove it, lad?"

"Yeah... it won't budge!"

Hercules lifted Steve's head as Guinea Pig and Nightman finally caught up to him. Ignoring the sounds of the crowd and his teammates, Hercules gently placed his thumb and forefinger over the part of the shell that covered Steve's mouth. Being careful to squeeze inward rather than downward into the boy's face, he pinched. The shell held for a moment longer, then cracked. Steve sucked in a lungful of air while Hercules peeled what he could away from the boy's mouth. The rest of his face was still encased, but at least he'd survive long enough for an ambulance to get to him.

"Did you... did you see that Will?" Steve crowed breathlessly, clutching the arm of the guy kneeling beside him. "I got my ass kicked by the Toad, man!"

Will nodded solemnly. "You got mad bragging rights now, dude."

"Herc, they're almost out of sight," Nightman said, putting a hand on the bigger man's shoulder. "Do you want us to go on without you?"

"Nay! The Prince of Power must be there to congratulate noble Batroc in his moment of victory. Come!" He dropped Steve's head back onto the pavement. "We must away!"

"All I wanted was to dance with that sweet little trollop your buddy had his hands all over!"

"Zen zis fight is for her honair as much as for ze fact zat you're a reediculouz Englishman."

"Big words for somebody who's been running from me for the last three blocks!"

"Zis iz only a strategic withdrawal, mon ami! Obzerve!"

Batroc turned suddenly and darted down the side of a nearby building. The Toad accidentally leapt past the alleyway, turned, and doubled back. By that time, Batroc had climbed three stories on the building's fire escape.

"You can't escape me by going up, Frenchie, not when I can do this!"

The Toad leapt up and adhered to the wall. Moving straight upward, he caught Batroc just as the Champion was reaching the fifth floor.

"Come on, pal. Be a good Frenchman and surrender! You did it for the Nazis!"

"What!" Batroc cried. "You stoopid English are ztill mad about zat?"

"Nah, we're not mad... we just wonder how croissants taste with sauerkraut is all..."

Batroc stopped moving upward suddenly and vaulted the rail of the fire escape. The Toad was completely unprepared for this, and Batroc's feet caught him in the forehead, sending both of them tumbling toward the pavement. Whether by design or providence though, Batroc had chosen a building with various electrical and cable lines running between it and its closest neighbor, and both men managed to grab one of these wires before they could hit the ground.

"Are you crazy? I'm the one who's supposed to be certifiable, Batroc!"

"I weel not argue with you on zat account, mon ami."

Batroc aimed a kick at the Toad as the two of them hung there, but Toynbee gave a little tug, and suddenly he was standing on top of the cable. Batroc's eyes went wide, and he scrambled to get on top before the Toad could take advantage of his position.

"Hey, good balance," Toad remarked, as Batroc stood atop the line.

"Merci. To you, as well."

"Let's see just how good." The Toad bent slightly at the knees, sprang upward about a foot, and landed on the line again. The cable snapped and waved, and Batroc threw out his arms to maintain balance.

"Not bad," Toad nodded. "But can you multi-task?" He threw his jaws open and that impossibly long, prehensile tongue snapped out again. He hoped the French guy didn't die when he hit the pavement--after all, he really was an impressive opponent... for a flatscan--but he'd better at least break a couple bones.

Batroc moved like lightning, and the Toad realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that his adversary had been exaggerating his efforts to remain balanced. One foot sliced upward and snapped down again, pinning the Toad's tongue to the cable.

"'Ey! 'Ey, 'eggo 'y 'ongue, y' 'assard!"*

(* "Hey! Hey, let go of my tongue, you bastard!"--bilingual Russ)

"Non." Batroc dropped to one knee, his balance impeccable, and with a few twists, knotted the Toad's tongue to the line.

"Zat should hold you till ze police arrive," the Champion said, standing straight and dusting his hands off. "Zilly Anglais... what hope deed you truly hav in zis battle? I hav fought Capitan America..."

"Anth 'ou 'otht!"* the Toad cried, and leapt toward his opponent, retracting his tongue at the same time to gain momentum. Batroc parried the first blow, but before he could return fire, the Toad landed, pivoted, and slammed a foot into the Champion's midsection. The air exploded from Batroc's lungs and he was hurled backwards off of the wire, across the alley, and through a second floor window into someone's livingroom.

(* "And you lost!"--Russ again)

"'Amnit," the Toad hissed, and went about untying his tongue from the cable. He liked a good brawl as much as the next guy, but he was starting to regret coming to Phoenix to settle some old scores after the recent winning streak he'd been on. Next time he would just stay clear of the nightspots unless he was in a killing mood.

By the time Hercules, Nightman, and Guinea Pig arrived, Batroc was just waking up to find himself on a hysterical elderly woman's floor, and the Terrible Toad was long gone.

Cassie Lang was halfheartedly doing homework when the knock came at the front door of the Champions' home. She hesitated before going to answer it... then she looked at the Ant-Man helmet sitting on the desk next to her arm--her dad's spare, which she'd liberated from his basement lab. She put the pencil down and left her room.

Cerberus joined her as she walked down the hall, standing protectively at her back when she reached for the knob. The puppies joined them, yapping and cavorting at their father's heels. Feeling braver and more secure, Cassie opened the door.

A woman was standing on the stoop all alone, in a simple dress and heels. She had red hair and a kind face... and there was something vaguely familiar about her, but Cassie couldn't place it.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Are... are you Cassie?" the woman replied, bending to get a better look at the girl's face. "You must be. There's so much of Peggy in you..."

"Yes, I'm Cassie. Who're you?"

The woman straightened. "Of course you don't remember me, you were only a baby last time I saw you... Cassie, I'm your Aunt Caroline. Your mother's older sister.

"I've come to take you home."

NEXT ISSUE: Diamondback bids farewell to the Champions as the rest of the team deals with a message of doom from Plasma, and the very real possibility that Cassie may not be able to live with them.

Special thanks to Steve Crosby for first suggesting the Toad/Batroc fight, and then letting me use his baby in these pages. (Yeah, I know I thanked Steve last issue too-for the lettercol title... maybe I should let him write this book.) If you haven't yet, I highly recommend you check out Steve's Toad/Brotherhood stories over in Super-Villain Team-Up on the Vigilante branch. It ranks up there with his Kree stories, IMO.

I promised some letters this time, so away we go. First one's from editor extraordinaire of the Avengers and Epic branches, Jason Snyder. Jason also finds time to write WEB OF SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-GIRL, and THE ARCHETYPE for MV1, as well as plotting KA-ZAR for scripting by his arch-nemesis, Sam Everett.

CHAMPIONS #42
by Russ Anderson
Avengers Branch

Who said Cerberus has completely avoided the "snip-snip"? :-)

Another thing is that, for the conclusion to a storyline like this, it is surprisingly quiet and low-key. I like that the focus wasn't that heavy on the Champions getting back since I've never been a big fan of time-lost stories and easily get lost during those times. No offense to Barry's plots, though.

Barry surely would have come up with an explosive ending to "Timelost"... but it was more important to me to get the team back and get the roster sorted out so we could start building toward #50.

Which brings me to the point about Russ scripting over Barry's plots for the last two issues...he does a great job, and I'm not just saying that because Russ is holding a gun to my head =). Very few people have been able to pull off completing the plots of other writers. I know of the difficulty in interpreting another writer's vision, but Russ just spins his magic and scores.

Barry gave me the perfect combo... cool ideas and vague guidelines. It means I can run with his ideas (such as having some guy running around claiming to be Red Guardian), but I've got lots of room to throw in my own stuff (such as the appearance of Plasma).

BAD:
Other than a few awkward phrases, not much. Oh, wait...a couple of things now that I think about it...

• Batroc's French accent...try saying that out loud. It's horrible. =)
• You ratted me out to that Everett freak in your letters' page and made me cry. *Sniff* Bastard. =)

You think Batroc's accent is hard to read... try writing it! :-)

P.S. Oh, and for a letters' page name...how about "Champion Contacts" or "Critiquin' da Champions, yo!" ? =) Okay, so I suck at this. That's why I run the same contest in MY titles.

Thanks for the suggestions, Jason, but as you can see from this issue and last, I've gone with Steve Crosby's suggestion of "Beware of Dog"

Next letter is from Dominic Galliano:

Hello Russ

Well done in continuing a magnificent title. It hasn't lost any of its humour or any of its usual characteristics thanks to your wonderful writing. I loved the puppies, I wonder what will happen to them. But what I actually found funniest was the letter Natasha wrote to Nick Fury. Very much in her character! While the whole Aeon thing is confusing, I know it was created by Barry, so it can be blamed on him. (jk). On the new line up, dissapointed Diamondback didn't stay, but Guinea Pig is there and he does sound interesting. The relationship between Bonita and Barry sounds interesting, keep them together! Anyways, looking forward to 43 (and eventually 50)

Thanks for the kind words, Dominic. Stay tuned to find out what happens to the puppies, and I'm glad you liked the Natasha letter--particularly since that entire scene was thrown in at the last minute, just because I felt there needed to be more of a transition between the two scenes bracketing it. Hopefully I can keep the Aeon matter from getting any more confusing, but I gotta warn you there's going to be some more time-jumping before and during #50 (personally, I think Barry created Aeon just so I would have to go back and re-read his BLACK KNIGHT series to figure out the whole Immortus/Halcyon hierarchy :-). Diamondback is leaving the team, but she won't be leaving the book for the foreseeable future--check out next issue to see what I mean. As for Barry and Bonita... Barry Reese's decision to put them together puzzled and still does puzzle me... but I will be running with that relationship (the Flash wouldn't have it any other way), so never fear.

Lastly, we've got a review from this title's virtual founder, Mark Beaulieau. If you haven't yet, check out Mark's ROAD TRIP mini-series on the Avengers branch, detailing the adventures of Machete and Zaran following Champions #42. If you think this title is funny, Mark continues to show the rest of us how it's done. Hilarious stuff.

Champions #42: This book was great. I can't praise this issue enough. I absolutely loved it. I'm still so involved in these characters that I was thinking of story ideas as I was reading it. And Russ took me in different directions than I would've went and I loved every minute of it. I loved Hercules' reaction to the Cerberus situation. I loved the moments with Cassie. However, would the Champs let a minor stay with the team?

As you can probably figure out by this issue's final scene, we'll be dealing with the question of Cassie staying on as the team's ward very soon.

Overall I liked this issue a lot better than #41 (which I liked) and I hope Russ can keep this up. I also hope Russ has a nice long run on the title. Unlike me, he actually gets to his subplots. :) Btw, I saw a letter by Sam in the issue, and I wonder if he only reads the title because he's a character in the series? :)

On a sidenote: I suspected, but didn't know for sure that Chief Everett was named after our own Sam Everett. Glad to see the MV1 Age of gratuitous guest-appearances is still alive and well. :-)

If you couldn't stand my run on Champions, you may want to try out the Barry and Russ run. It's good stuff. There's still humor, but it's really a different feel for the series. I highly recommend this issue in particular.

I'll take that as a fine compliment, coming from this title's founder.

Send quips, comments, queries, and criticisms to RussLee74@aol.com

- Russ Anderson
March 23, 2001