This is a feature called "Nothing is Better." I have a feature called "Reason to Get Excited," where I spotlight aspects of current comic books that have particularly impressed me. I had started to expand it to older comics, but it just didn't feel right. I really think "Reason to Get Excited" should be reserved for current comic books. Therefore, this is the equivalent column for older comic books, "Nothing is Better," where I spotlight aspects of classic comic books that have particularly impressed me.

Today, I look at the classic (well, I think it's a classic at least) Firearm issue #5 by James Robinson, Kirk Van Wormer and John Lowe that introduced Alec Swan (the hero of the book) to his future wife.

Firearm was about a former British operative (who was particularly good with a gun) turned Los Angeles private investigator named Alec Swan. He kept getting drawn into situations involving "Ultras" (superpowered beings) whether he wanted to or not and that's just what happened on one night when he was walking home from the store when he saw a couple of Ultras on the top of a roof, with the spider-legged guy pushing a young woman with a tiny pair of wings that she needs to fly to the moon (the moon was the centerpiece of an Ultraverse crossover the previous month). Alec kicked the spider-guy's butt, but the woman seems prepared to still take the flight, even though she knows that her wings won't support her.

Basically, she befriended the spider guy because she can at least "pass" for human, so she would do errands for him and in exchange, he would give her someone to talk to, as she was very lonely...

She planned to end it all, and Alec calmly tries to talk her out of it. He starts by offering her a beer...

The beer exploding on Ellen is adorable...

Ellen notes that she can't remove her wings without being paralyzed...

One of the cool things that Alec does early on is establish that he's attracted to her....

And in the end, he does enough to convince her to live...

By the time the series ended, they were married...

There's a lot of clever dialogue that I had to remove because there wasn't room to cover it all, but note that Robinson did a lot of pop culture discussions that he was famous for doing on Starman. It's a really good issue and Von Wormer and Lowe did a fine job on the art.

Okay, folks, this is a feature that is a BIT less conducive to suggestions (as it really is about stories that spoke to me, ya know?), but hey, feel free to still send suggestions in to brianc@cbr.com! Maybe you and I have the same take on things and I'll use your idea!