An Error, Some Hunters, and the Astral Plane
Daily Ramble 237: An Error, Some Hunters, and the Astral Plane
These last 2 games by the Angels have just made me sad. They easily had a shot at sweeping their AL West nemesis but instead they basically gave then 2 games as gifts. Beyond that though, I enjoyed my time in LOTRO, moving towards the end of the tutorial, and reading some 1963 Marvel. Learning more about Doctor Strange is fun but I sure want to see the Angels not giving away games.
Recruiting the Hunters
[LOTRO]
After presenting the letter from Farmer Sprigley to Captain Brackenbrook he finally realizes the seriousness of the situation for Archet. The Blackwolds are coming in force and his top soldier Calder Cob is working with them.
So he sends Katethein and I over to his exiled son to try to recruit the hunters to help out the city. Jon Brackenbrook is once again a lot smarter than his father and agrees to help right away. But not only that, he’s got a plan to grab the Blackwold attack plans from their staging grounds in the Blackwold Roost. Kat and I are eager to help so we head over to the Roost to see what we can find.
After fighting off some brigands and practicing her gambits, Kat and I steal the plans and defeat the Blackwold Leader at the Roost and head back to strategize with hunters.
Just like last time with Catathein Jon suggests we scout the Old East Path into Archet to see if we can use the spiders there to help defeat the attackers. I check with Alti Spider-bane and he agrees – if we can ensure the Blackwold’s can’t approach the city from the East that’ll make defending the town much easier. And as I tried to explain to them, last time there were spiders everywhere and no what through, once again Kat and I found the dead Blackwold Scout who was unable to get back to his compatriots. But the trip was not for nothing since Kat picked up a new hat that looks like it might help keep her head safe in battle.
At this point, Catathein was so excited last time, we raced back to Archet to start putting our plans into place, but Katethein was a bit tired since we kinda ran all over the countryside collecting letters, scouting, and fighting. Since I had previous knowledge of what we were gonna face, we ran quickly and now Kat is tired. So we take a nap at the hunter’s lodge…
And boy did we have a doozie of a dream…
With all that swimming around in our heads it’s no wonder Kat needed to rest. And I certainly don’t recall Cat having a similar dream last time. Perhaps because she was so excited we rushed back to Archet too quickly when we should have taken a bit of downtime. In any case, Galadriel seems to think Katethein and I have a bunch of adventures ahead of us. And most of them look pretty ominous.
With our dreams so disturbed we needed more rest so I made the decision to stay at the hunter’s lodge overnight. The Blackwold attack wasn’t until tomorrow and we certainly could use the rest. Tomorrow was going to be a long day…
Pitchers Duel
[Angels]
Well as expected the final game in this 3 game series turned into a pitchers duel. With the ace of both staffs going it was destined to be a close one. The only problem was the Angels didn’t count on an error from Zack Cozart. Of course both teamS rely on their defense quite a bit and the first team to blink was the Angels.
In the 2nd inning with 2 outs Zack screwed up his throw to 1st and Josh Reddick ended up on base. Of course, the next batter, Evan Gattis, a guy batting .209, hits a home run. Boom…pitcher duel done and the Angels not looking too good facing Verlander down 2–0.
Richards didn’t give up anything further through 7 innings and Verlander was his usual stingy self for 9 full innings. I suppose the good news it the Angels bullpen didn’t screw up this game but that’s not saying much since a simple error gave the game to the Astros. 2–0 is a tough loss and coupled with the bullpen’s gift on Tuesday, Houston leaves Southern California picking up 2 wins and with a 2 game lead over the Angels.
My Player of the Game goes to Albert Pujols since he managed to pick up 2 hits against Verlander and started some excitement with 2 outs in the ninth. But for the most part, no one did much of anything against the Houston pitcher.
First Look at Strange Tales #111
[Marvel 1963]
Fighting to the Death with Asbestos Man (Story A) by Stan Lee, Dick Ayers and Steve Ditko. Published by Marvel Comics in 1963.
This issue contains 2 different stories with different focal heroes. In the first, the Human Torch is challenged and takes on the Asbestos Man and he actually experiences his first real loss. In the story, Professor Olson Kasloff has grown tired of being a brilliant scientist without any respect or financial compensation for his genius. In an attempt to get what he feels he deserves, the professor creates the Asbestos Man suit and challenges the Human Torch to a contest. Since he is impervious to the Torch’s flame, he easily defeats our hero and becomes the champion of the criminal underworld.
Johnny is pretty distraught that he was so throughly defeated but his Fantastic Four teammates encourage him to think about things differently and prepare to take the villain on again. With their suggestions, Johnny is able to use the environment around the Asbestos Man to defeat the bad guy and the Human Torch goes on to victory over the professor and regains the fear of the criminal world that kept crime down in the city.
I rate this story a C.
Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo (Story B) by Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko.
In this second story we see Doctor Strange battling it out with Baron Mordo in the astral plane. Mordo, who trained under the same master as Strange, decides it’s time for him to learn the last secrets of the Ancient One. So he mind controls the Ancient One’s servant to feed the old magician poison. As the Master is weakened, the Baron moves to learn the ultimate secrets from the Master but Doctor Strange shows up in the astral plane to help the Ancient One. The battle is fierce but Doctor Strange is able to use his Amulet of Agamotto to give power back to the Master as he fights Mordo. With the Ancient One recovering, Strange tricks Mordo into returning to his body in the physical realm and upon doing so, the mind control of the servant is severed. Strange and the servant are free to nurse the Ancient One back to health.
This was a pretty good story, particularly compared to the first one in this issue. Baron Mordo seems like a pretty good villain for Doctor Strange and I always feel that good villains make better heroes. The art is interesting since about half of it is in the black and white that represents the astral plane but I think it works.
I rate this issue a B.