Cute anti-heroes ...

I'm pretty sure by definition, anti-heroes aren't supposed to be cute.

Don't tell Hasbro, whose second wave in their Marvel Super Hero Squad toys includes Marvel's arguably #1 and #2 antiheroes -- Punisher and Ghost Rider (yeah, wave #1 had Wolverine, but Punisher puts the "anti" in "anti-hero", and Ghost Rider's powers are, um, hell-based).

I pick up toys for a bunch of reasons. Toys that are disjoint tend to catch my eye. So does smart marketing. Ghost Rider's got a movie this February, and not only did the Thomas Jane Punisher movie somewhat take the bad taste out of the 1989 Dolph Lundgren version, but (in theory) there's a sequel slated for this year (though it may not happen or go direct to DVD in a year that has Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, Transformers, Shrek the Third, The 300, etc.), and Marvel's recently relaunched the Punisher War Journal comic (in tandem with their Civil War arc).

I likes me toys and funny books ...