SCH #3: The Arcane Library of Steven Strange! Traditional Cache

Once a wealthy neurosurgeon and narcissistic sleazeball, Steven Strange lost it all when he jacked up his hands driving irresponsibly. Unable to perform surgeries anymore, poor Steve wandered the world seeking some way to get his mitts in working order again. Luckily for him, he met a kooky old monk who introduced him to a bunch of weird Lovecraftian gods who hooked him up with some mystical powers and the most improbable collar in all of comicdom so he could defend Earth from other weird Lovecraftian gods. Riveting stuff.

A rather silly and out-of-place relic from a time when comic book companies were always looking for the next "big thing," Doctor Strange had become a somewhat minor character and mere cult favorite in the modern era. However, it's recently been announced that this mustachioed magician will be returning to prominence by making the jump to the big screen in a movie all his own.

I'm sure that will work out well.

The cache's general location should be fairly obvious if you follow the coordinates. Remaining unobserved may be impossible at times but with a little finesse you should be able to act like you have a good reason to be visiting... It'll all make sense when you get there. These people are used to strangers stopping in front of their house. It is highly unlikely that you'll bother anybody and I doubt you'll have to engage in awkward small talk with a stranger. So quit worrying!

If you were a character in a movie, you'd probably be the love interest's roommate, the henchman who gets unceremoniously shot in the second car chase, or maybe just the out of focus guy buying coffee in the background. A bit player, a cameo appearance, or part of a brief hiccup in the hero's journey. We can't all be the star of the show and there's nothing wrong with that. You need minor characters and extras to tell a story and make a world seem fully realized.

This is just as true in the ridiculously dramatic universe of comic book superheroes as it is in ours. For every Captain America, there's a Captain Britain, a Captain UK, a Captain Ultra, a Captain Universe, and a Captain Marvel. For every Wolverine, there's a Longshot, a Wolfsbane, a Sasquatch, and a Night Thrasher. These fictional worlds have casts of thousands and they can't all be memorable, interesting, plausible, or compelling. Still, they deserve a little recognition, even if it's only in the form of a few geocaches hidden by a weirdo with a little too much time on his hands.

Hence the Second-Class Heroes series, a tribute to some of these "lesser" heroes and heroines. These characters probably aren't your favorites, you may not have even heard of most of them. They probably won't get their own big budget movies and they often disappear from comics altogether for years at a time. But all of these misfits have a little bit of oddball charm that's kept nerds at least mildly entertained for decades.

The series is comprised of nine caches in all, with the first eight giving clues to the location of a secret ninth cache. None of them are insanely difficult, although a few are a bit tricky. I've tried to make each of them entertaining and worthwhile, not just forgettable park and grabs. Grabbing the caches in order will lead you from the Midway neighborhood in St Paul to the Prospect Park area of Minneapolis. All caches in the series are reasonably close to the previous listing but the total distance is probably a bit too far for a casual walk. Still, the whole thing could conceivably be finished in a single afternoon/evening depending on how lucky you get in avoiding passersby.

Godspeed to you and yours, and I sincerely hope you have some fun finding these caches and learning a little bit of completely useless information about obscure comic book characters. I did put a significant amount of effort into all of this and, while my time isn't exactly precious, I definitely could have used it to take some naps or play more video games. You're welcome.