Man Of Steal

No!  Not A Dishonest Superman
Although, if he did turn bad, how are you going to stop him?  This is the central conceit of Alfred Bester's "Extro": how do you kill an immortal? 
     Which is getting off track.  Normally it takes a few paragraphs before that happens, but hey ho! Here we are.  No, the title ought to be read in light of my current punning obsession with tea (or coffee, although that offers less scope), rather than Kal-El being a bit light-fingered.

I can almost hear the "bwa-ha-ha!"

     Tea!  The cup that cheers and not inebriates, as someone once quoted.  Ah - William Cowper in 1785, apparently, which goes to prove that the English have loved tea for centuries.  Yes, tea, how very English.
     The English, it has to be said, can be eccentric.  Where else would you have a terrier put on the Army's official ration strength with a number?  ('777' for your information).  Or find a town where an exclamation mark is part of the name? (Westward Ho! in case you were curious).  Or have an elected mayor whose passion was raising newts?  (Ken Livingston if you wondered whether or not you'd wandered into a Wodehouse plot).
     They can also be exceedingly dangerous, to boot.  We bodged together the incredibly toxic VX series of nerve gases, not to mention building that giant flying mallet the Vulcan bomber (hello Russia, goodbye!), and the jury is still out on "Strictly Come Dancing".  So, allow me to introduce you to Colin.  Art?

Words fail me

     This is Colin demonstrating his Thermite Cannon.  Yes, you read that correctly:  Thermite Cannon.  FYI, the Royal Artillery in the First Unpleasantness used thermite shells to set fire to Teuton-occupied woods,to the distress of the Teuton soldiery ensconced therein.

Ready-made matchsticks

     Thermite, I have to say, is terrifying stuff.  It's a combination of iron oxide and powdered aluminium, which requires a high temperature ignition source.  Once it's lit, however, you can't stop it - the stuff burns until consumed.  'Mythbusters' once cut a car in half, lengthways, with thermite.  Put a flowerpot of this on a car bonnet*, set it off and it will burn through the engine block.
     And Colin made a cannon to fire it.  The above Youtube shows him blowing up a jerrycan of petrol and a pile of fireworks with his infernal engine, and I bet he did it on the sly, because NO WAY would the police be happy about someone slinging around flaming metallic fireballs at 4000 0C.
     The question is, how did Colin survive into adulthood?  Given that the video above is over two years old, it's a moot point.
     Then there is his jet-propelled bicycle ...

Hits 50 mph no bother

     The English.  NATO is glad they're on their side, because the alternative is rather worrying.
     Okay, let us move on after that very long Intro.  Onward and upward!

A Note About Comics
Conrad, as you may already know, collects comics, which tend to be the trade-paperback ones that collect together several month's worth of publications into one volume.  My purchases nowadays are a lot more limited than they used to be, because I have a collection of military history books to keep up, you know.  Anyway, here's an example.  Art?

     Those in the top left are French, about the spatiotemporal agents Valerian and Laureline, who work for Galaxity.  And no, I haven't seen the film <makes sad face>.  It is notable for the fact that Val and Lau are the kind of agents who value negotiation and diplomacy over pulling out a gun and shooting someone.  Whereas the comics to the right are nothing but guns and shooting, and Adult Advisory to boot.  "Hard Boiled" sums them up perfectly; the artwork is incredibly detailed, and portrays a decaying future Los Angeles, which is as much as I'll reveal.  South Canadian in origin.
     The hardbacks at bottom are some of the finest British sci-fi ever published.  Jeff Hawke belied his name, being a thoughtful individual involved in the British space program.  The strips were originally published in the Daily Express newspaper, meaning they had to make sense and narrate a story in very few frames.

Thus

     Well, that's us at count, so think yourself lucky that there isn't room to develop more of how to ban the bomb and keep it banned, which is harder than you might think.




*  Known, for reasons obscure to me, in South Canada as the "hood".

No, Art, no!  (facepalms)