At this point, you already know that Midnighter and Apollo is one of the single best comics on the stands right now, if for no other reason than that we will not stop talking about it at every opportunity here at ComicsAlliance. The thing is, the appeal of this book goes far beyond the newly restored relationship of the title characters, the beautiful dream of the '90s that sees Extraño, the Mawzir, and Neron returning to action, and even the high concept adventure of superheroes battling their way into and out of hell.

No, what really makes it great is that is truly an educational amusement, and in next week's issue, it's time to learn all about historical board games. Check out a preview below!

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Click for full size

Incidentally, The Mansion of Happiness is actually a real board game. Designed by George Fox and originally published in 1800 -- with a first edition, probably owned by Neron in the pages above, that was targeted at nobility that was printed with real gold -- it actually stayed in print until 1926, making it the longest-running continually printed board game that has a known designer.

It was, true to the comic above, meant as moral instruction, albeit in the most basic possible terms: You roll the dice and try to get to Heaven (the Mansion of Happiness, a nickname for paradise that for some reason just did not catch on), hoping to land on spaces like "Humility" while avoiding spaces like "Ingratitude." Here are some actual instructions from the game, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"WHOEVER possesses PIETY, HONESTY, TEMPERANCE, GRATITUDE, PRUDENCE, TRUTH, CHASTITY, SINCERITY...is entitled to Advance six numbers toward the Mansion of Happiness. WHOEVER gets into a PASSION must be taken to the water and have a ducking to cool him... WHOEVER posses[ses] AUDACITY, CRUELTY, IMMODESTY, or INGRATITUDE, must return to his former situation till his turn comes to spin again, and not even think of HAPPINESS, much less partake of it."

Please note that if you land on a bad space, you are not even allowed to think about being happy. So, you know. It's basically Candyland as designed by Jonathan Edwards. Anyway, here's the solicitation: