Things I Kind of Wish Were Still Around: Volume Two

An event I still find myself referring to occurred in June 1996 while I and my eighth grade classmates returned from our "senior" class trip to Montreal, Quebec. The surrounding details remain vague -- I can't remember if the event happened before or after I was given a garlic flavored mint by my friend John in retaliation for dosing him with itching powder we'd acquired on the trip, or which of the five or so films we watched on the bus ride was airing (we'd probably already seen "Waterworld" and "Beaches" by that point, so it's might be "Powder" -- curious choices in hindsight for an audience of 14 year olds), but I'll remember the moment clear as day for as long as I live.

There I was, standing in line at the McDonald's, ready to order an Arch Deluxe meal with a medium diet coke. While hungry for the Arch Deluxe and the coke, I admit I wasn't terribly interested in the fries that came with the combo but thought I may as well get them, what with the savings accompanying the combo purchase. It was then that I overheard a classmate, Andrea Burns, mention that she was hungry, but only a little, perhaps enough for some fries. And so I leapt forward, offering that we pool our resources and get the Arch Deluxe combo, keeping the burger and soft drink for myself and passing along the fries to Andrea, while we both basked in the savings as this development.


In the years to follow, I've found myself recalling this event, pleased at how I took the initiative and used the combo as an opportunity to enjoy the savings and the unique taste of the Arch Deluxe. It's seeing it in the print and going over the details at length that I begin to wonder if the whole thing was really worth... I don't want to say 'bragging' about... but maybe bringing up as often as I have. I only reasonable excuse could be that I did so as a joke at first and my 'funny boasting' developed into sincere braggadocio. Still, whatever the case is, I've yet to have someone tell me the whole thing is dumb in all the years and all the times I've brought it up. And all things considered, I am pleased about the whole thing. About 400s words proud.

But anyway, what was my point? Oh yeah, the Arch Deluxe. I really liked that thing. I was pretty let down when they discontinued it. I mean, they kept the McDonald's pizzas around longer than the Arch Deluxe, and those made no sense. Pizza at a burger place? I guess the crust was pretty good.

I suppose since I'm a vegetarian it doesn't really matter that the Arch Deluxe isn't around anymore, but I really enjoyed it back in the day. Yeah. It was all right.

A Couple of Things...

Hi there. Saw Iron Man Thursday night with Kerr and Edmond. It was great. Didn't quite have the punch of a Spider-Man or X-Men 2, but it was a really solid film that I wouldn't mind seeing a few more times. Might try to catch it at the show again while the big crowds are going to be there. Don't know what else to say -- the cast was great, the direction was sharp, the action was good, the dialog natural and entertaining. All things said elsewhere and in better words. Two moments of nerdishness were the fact they stayed so close to the comic book origin and the cameo at the end of the film. That was just awesome.


Anyway, apparently the whole point of the fifty cent DC Crisis/Countdown book from last week was to bring Barry Allen back. Which is a really bad move on DC's part. I hate all of this need to strip mine the past and rob earlier stories of their impact by bringing back characters creators remembered fondly as children but ultimately failing to provide any real reason for the character's return. Thankfully Marvel's handled Bucky so well and it wasn't really Captain Marvel back from the dead, so I'm not too angry about the whole thing. That said, I totally missed the whole Barry Allen thing. If anything I assumed the weird glowing figure was, like, Darkseid or something since it resembled his appearance just before "dying" in Countdown.

And another thing -- wasn't this supposed to be a wrap-up for Countdown before leading into Final Crisis. Seemed more like an extended ad made up of short, albeit occasionally interesting vignettes. I also could've sworn that the caption box belonged to Zoom once the lightning bolt showed up with the caption boxes, even if they wouldn't have made much sense that way. I don't know. Seems like a really bad idea to bring Barry Allen back. Wally West is a great character and fills the role of the Flash perfectly and entertainingly. Maybe they'll do great things with Barry Allen this time around, but as it stands there's absolutely no reason DC needs to or should bring Barry Allen back. None at all.

Now that that business is off my chest, I'm going to Quebec this weekend. If anything exciting happens I'll probably write about it here, but I'm expecting a fairly uneventful trip.