Behold, the cover of Daredevil By Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark Ultimate Collection – Book 1, published not so long ago in the late 1990’s. As you can see, Daredevil finds himself in jail, although once again, for some reason, the prison warden has permitted a superhero to remain in costume while incarcerated.  Here’s how Amazon describes the narrative:

For the past few years, Matt Murdock’s life has been teetering on the edge of destruction. Now, pushed beyond the limit, Matt finds himself behind the eight ball with no clear way out, the people he calls friends slowly deserting him, and Hell’s Kitchen gradually slipping out of control. The question is, when his back is against the wall. just how far will Daredevil go to get back what is his? Plus: a special episode focusing on Daredevil’s best friend, Foggy Nelson. Spinning out of the stunning finale of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s ground-breaking run, Brubaker and Lark pick up the billy club and run as hard and as fast as they can to leave their own mark on one of comics’ most enduring legends.

Um, that doesn’t really tell us why he’s in jail.  Or what charges he faces. Maybe we’ll just go back and read our September 2011 interview with Daredevil writer Mark Waid.

Uh-oh.  Bob Dylan is touring again, and he’s playing right here in our backyard in Charlotte, North Carolina. What to do? For our previous thoughts on him, please see here, a brief reference  here, here, and here).

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, I really dig Abnormal Use and would like to know more about its writers!”  If so, you’re in luck.  Today, we’d like to introduce you to Nick Farr, so please read his official attorney biography here.

Above, you’ll find the cover of Simpsons Comics #108, published not so long ago in 2005.   This is yet another comic book cover where a line-up is not exactly constitutional, as the defendants all look so very different.  Sigh.  We would have identified Homer (who predictably, but suspiciously in this context, holding a doughnut).  We’re sure it was him, whatever the offense may have been.

In last week’s edition of Friday Links, we featured the cover of Real Fact Comics #19, which featured a a self styled “Camera Cop” taking photographs of a crime as it happened. One reader emailed to note: “Since the camera sees exactly what the police officer sees, it appears that the photos would be classic illustrative testimony dependent on the testimony of the officer for foundation.”

The other day, when attempting to visit our own website, we accidentally entered the URL address AbnormalSue.com.  We guess that works, too, to describe commentary on unusual lawsuits.

Oh, and beware The Ides of March today.

Don’t forget! You can follow Abnormal Use on Twitter here and on Facebook here! Drop us a line!

Above, you’ll find the cover of Real Fact Comics #19, published way, way back in 1949.  An interesting evidentiary issue is presented on the cover, which proclaims: “Exclusive! I Am A Camera Cop! The True Story Of A Lawman Whose Pictures Sent Criminals To The Chair!” If we were law professors (and woe unto our students if we were), we would simply place this comic book cover within our final examination and ask the students to describe how, under the relevant rules of evidence, the Camera Cop’s photographs would be made admissible. That would be cool.

“Is the Past a Foreign Country,” asks historian Suzannah Lipscomb in a TEDx video. An interesting answer.

Hey, folks, friend of the blog Brian Comer serves on the DRI Products Liability Steering Committee, and he is currently planning the DRI Products Liability annual conference, set to begin on April 3, 2013 in Washington, DC. (We are confident that the talk of that conference will be the genius of our upcoming April Fool’s Day post, which will have been published and received much acclaim two days beforehand.). You may even be able to meet one of us there, as Abnormal Use and our firm, Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A., usually sends a representative or two. For more information, including a link to the registration procedure, head on over to Brian’s blog and check out this entry. And, if you decide to attend, drop us a line, and we’ll look out for you.

Happy 15th anniversary to one of our favorite films, The Big Lebowski.  For anniversary coverage, please see here.

Mark our words: The casting of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher in the new Star Wars sequels is bad, bad news. Trust us on this one.  We’re nostalgic, too, perhaps overly so.  But we sense doom on this one. Check back with us in 2015, and we’ll collect our accolades and vindication.

Okay. Why are comic book superheroes and villains always being tried, and more importantly, why are the covers of the comics featuring those trials always set OUTSIDE the courtroom? What gives?  Above, you’ll find the cover of Spider-Man #60, published not so long ago in 1995. Here’s how Comicvine describes the narrative:

Peter Parker goes on trial for multiple murders in Utah committed by his clone Kaine.

The clone defense?  Must that be pleaded or waived? Sigh.

In this piece, entitled “Suicide as Gender Issue,” The Journal of Gender, Race, & Justice cites our own Stuart Mauney’s blog post on “The Lawyers’ Epidemic: Depression, Suicide, and Substance Abuse.”  Stuart recently served as the chair of the South Carolina Bar’s HELP Task Force, an entity dedicated to educating lawyers and judges about substance abuse and mental health issues in the legal profession.Check it out.  Speaking of Stuart, don’t forget that you can follow him on Twitter  here.

GWB’s own Tom Vanderbloemen recently met with the Sterling School‘s 4th thru 8th grade First Lego League/USFirst Organization team about an invention they have developed. He spoke with students concerning patent law, its history, and the processes involved in patenting a new invention. For more, see here.

Depicted above is the cover of Captain America #615, published not so long ago in 2011.  As you might surmise, this issue is a part of – and indeed the finale to – “The Trial of Captain America” storyline, which we previously mentioned here back in July of that year.  At that time, we noted:

The secret identity of the Captain America we all knew growing up was Steve Rogers.  Apparently, somewhere along the way, that Captain America’s sidekick, Bucky, replaced the original Captain America, but not before moonlighting as a Russian hitman during the Cold War when the original Captain America thought he was dead.  It’s his actions as a Soviet agent that caused him to be on trial.  That’s confusing (although we wonder if there was a motion in limine on whether he could wear his costume at trial).

We’re still a bit confused, but we suppose it makes sense that Captain America is on trial if it is not the real Captain America. Oh, and if you need some background and persuasive authority on him, here you go: “Captain America, a.k.a. Steve Rogers, was an army-reject turned superhero who was charged with protecting America from all enemies, especially Nazi spies.” Marvel Characters, Inc. v. Simon, 310 F.3d 280, 282 (2d Cir. 2002) (previously mentioned by Abnormal Use way back in July of 2010 here).

Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this interesting piece on cameras in the U.S. Supreme Court.  It seems that nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court are much more excited about the possibility than actual members of the U.S. Supreme Court, and those initially curious nominees become far more skeptical of the issues following their confirmation.  Hmmm.

Behold: The Courtroom Video Supercut.  Described by the maker of this video as “Hollywood’s most hackneyed genre,” the courtroom film does, typically, rely on annoying cliches. But if you’ve got four minutes today to watch an amusing YouTube video, this is the one.

And last but not least, this article is not about the law, but it is the most interesting thing we read all week. We promise.

So, apparently, Hollywood made yet another Die Hard film. Really? That prompts us to direct your attention to the cover of Die Hard: Year One #1, published by BOOM Studios! back in 2009. That series shows us the origins of John McClane, the street smart New York Cop played by Bruce Willis in the films.  We wonder how much Supreme Court criminal procedure jurisprudence McClane’s time on the force would have generated were he a real police officer. The narrative, apparently, takes place during the Bicentennial in 1976.  We’d rather see that as a movie than another tired sequel starring Bruce Willis in the role, but hey, that’s just us.  Alas.

Maybe this dispute between Justin Bieber and the drummer for The Black Keys will lead to litigation.  Maybe.

Remember in the days before the Internet when you could safely avoid spoilers of your favorite films and television shows? Well, you’ll be pleased to learn that we were never, ever safe from pop culture spoilers.  Behold: the first Star Wars spoiler, back in 1978!

Don’t forget! You can follow Abnormal Use on Twitter here and on Facebook here! Drop us a line!

Above, you’ll find the cover to the trade paperback The Trial of Yellowjacket, a storyline in featured The Avengers comic series in the early 1980’s published by Marvel Comics. Here’s hwo Comicvine describes the narrative: “The end of an era! They say pride comes before the fall, and this tumultuous tome is proof of that! When longstanding and founding Avenger Hank Pym – in his guise as Yellowjacket – demonstrates reckless behavior in battle, his fellow members schedule a formal court-martial hearing to determine the fate of their emotionally conflicted comrade. Will Yellowjacket triumph over his inner demons – or crumble under the pressure of being an Avenger?” But can the Avengers court martial one of their members? Are they members of the military? Aren’t they private citizens with superhuman talents and powers who have simply banded together to fight the bad guys? Where does a court martial come in? Why wouldn’t Yellowjacket be tried in the traditional civil – or criminal – courts for any reckless behavior in battle?

Well, Yellowjacket, whose real name was Hank Pym, is not the nicest guy.  Here’s how his Wikipedia describes these incidents:

. . . Pym participates in several missions until, after demonstrating hostile behavior towards Janet, he attacks a foe from behind once the opponent had ceased fighting. Captain America suspends Yellowjacket from Avengers duty pending the verdict of a court-martial. Pym suffers a complete mental breakdown and concocts a plan to salvage his credibility by building a robot (named Salvation-1) and programming it to launch an attack on the Avengers at his court-martial. Planning to exploit the robot’s weakness at the critical moment, Pym hopes to regain his good standing with the Avengers. The Wasp discovers the plan and begs Pym to stop, at which point he strikes her. Although the robot does attack the Avengers as planned, Pym is unable to stop it and the Wasp uses the design flaw to defeat it. Pym is subsequently expelled from the Avengers, and Janet divorces him.

Uh, that’s not good.

By the way, last week, in our weekly installment of Friday Links, we apparently misidentified a Marvel Comics alien symbiote.  We thought the symbiote Carnage was, in fact, Venom.  They are both foes of Spider-Man, and they are both really, really bad dudes. Shame on us. (Thanks to eagle-eyed commenter MattS for pointing out the error in our comments).

In a postscript to his recent blog entry “Donald Trump v. Bill Maher,” Walter Olson of Overlawyered includes a link to our McDonald’s hot coffee case coverage.  We’d love to see the depositions in that case, if it ever gets off the ground.

This can’t be good.

Behold, the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #403, published not so long ago in the summer of 1995.  However, as you may know, the 1990’s was not the best time for comics, as the odd nature of the cover art suggests.  Here’s our question:  If it is the trial of Peter Parker that is depicted, why is the defendant clad in his Spider-Man costume? Why would the court system – even the faux court apparently convened by the super villains shown on the cover – permit him to remain hidden beneath his mask? And by the way, why isn’t Venom being more understanding?  Wasn’t he on trial recently himself? What gives?

This tweet might contain the best advice a criminal defendant ever receives.  (Hat Tip:  Kevin Underhill at Lowering The Bar).

We’ve written about driverless cars more than a few times.  Quite frankly, we’re kind of obsessed with the topic. So, check out this recent article in Slate, entitled “Even If Driverless Cars Are Banned In America, They’ll Be Allowed Somewhere.”

How long has it been since you’ve read the official Abnormal Use mission statement, published way, way back on January 4, 2010? Well, that’s too long!

Don’t forget! You can follow Abnormal Use on Twitter here and on Facebook here! Drop us a line!

We’re a bit perplexed by the cover of Venom: On Trial #3, published not so long ago in the halcyon days of 1997. First, there are the bizarre depictions of Spider-Man and Daredevil, both of whom are looking on awkwardly at the execution of Venom, whose trial apparently resulted in a conviction and a death sentence. But here’s the question: Why was Venom on trial in the American courts? Venom, as we all know, is an extraterrestrial life form! Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about him: “the creature is a Symbiote, a sentient alien, with a gooey, almost liquid-like form that requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival, as with real world symbiotes, and to whom it endows enhanced powers.” So why is he being tried in our criminal justice system?

Jay Hornack of Pittsburgh a/k/a The Panic Street Lawyer describes a recent trip to Philadelphia, where he toured the new “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition” exhibit at the National Constitution Center. (Jay was also able to see Morrissey in concert this past week, although that’s another story.).

Friend of the blog James Daily – of the famed and fabled Law and the Multiverse blog – has a guest post over at Wired magazine.  In it, he offers – in great detail – an analysis of the contract Bilbo Baggins – the title character in The Hobbit – enters into with a dwarf adventure party.

Once again, The Black Keys, the fine musical group, are in litigation.

Okay, it’s come to this. We are now featuring not our first – but our second – cover of Simpsons Comics here at Abnormal Use.  So, depicted above is Simpsons Comics #107, published not so long ago in 2005. It prominently features Homer Simpsons, not as himself, but as Lady Justice. Yikes.  (Note this is quite a different take on Lady Justice than Marvel used in a recent Daredevil series.). Comicvine summarizes the plot of this issue as follows: “Homer wins Gil’s law license in a bar bet, and soon becomes Springfield’s newest and hottest lawyer, winning cases with showstopping pyrotechnics. But when Bart is accused of setting Springfield Elementary on fire, Homer’s career may crash and burn.” You know, we might have to check that one out.

Behold: the origin of the phrase “caught red handed.”

You know, of course, that we here at Abnormal Use are huge nerds.  But did you know that, 30 years ago, this was our favorite arcade game?

If did not see this sad, sad cartoon strip from The Oatmeal last week, maybe you should investigate.  It is a tear jerker. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. We have no liability if you get all misty eyed.

Here is a Torts Exam question from Sasha Volokh. Try it, if you will.  (Hat tip: Overlawyered).

And finally: Yikes!