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With Black Widow at Earthworld Comics
(if only my 14-year-old self could see
me now). Photo ©Jeremy Clowe.
All rights reserved. |
Yesterday was a busy day… lots of invitations to different kinds of Cinco de Mayo
celebrations: birthdays, baby showers, house warmings, and a craft show by
Sarah’s talented sister and cousin. Sandwiched in between all this, it was also
Free Comic Book Day—so while Sarah joined the baby shower, I decided to venture
out to Earthworld Comics in Albany, New York, and join in the colorful celebration.
Still giddy from The Avengers movie, I was quite startled when I was greeted by “Black Widow”
upon entering the shop. She offered me a pin and a lollipop—it was useless to resist
her charms. Katie, the girl in the costume, did a great job of portraying the
Avenger played by actress Scarlett Johannson in the film; also on hand was Ms.
Marvel... they certainly were appealing to the stereotypical fanboy, I’d say!
It was absolutely packed in the store—I had never seen such a crowd in a comic shop. They had a few of
those old-school spinning racks filled with free comics, and we were allowed to
take five books each. The crowd was actually pretty diverse: lots of guys, but also girls,
families, and young kids, some dressed up as their favorite hero. I saw one father
pointing out his favorite books to his kids, which made me smile...
I have my own fond memories of heading out to the comic stores with
my father when I was in middle school/early high school. It was something
of a monthly ritual: he would drive me out across town to Empire Comics, the premiere shop in Rochester, where I would select literally dozens of books (talk about feeling like a "kid
in a candy store!"). Dad wasn’t really a comic book fan, but he always came through
with these trips, which meant a lot to me. I looked forward to not only picking up my favorite titles,
but also spending some time my father… I'll always cherish that memory.
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Comic geeks unite! Free Comic Book Day at Earthworld Comics,
Cinco de Mayo, 2012. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. | |
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During yesterday’s trip, I had a clear objective: find early
and recent issues of The Avengers. I
succeeded in finding a reprint of the first two issues of the Marvel comic,
which originally came out in 1963; the movie was loosely based on that origin
story, which included Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk, and bad guy Loki (Thor’s
brother). Also added to the film were Captain America, thawed out from
the 1940s (originally appearing in Avengers
#4), as well as Black Widow and Hawkeye, who joined the team in later
issues as well.
It’s funny to read these early issues—hardly sophisticated by
today’s standards, but the imagination displayed at the very beginning by Marvel founders Stan Lee
and Jack Kirby is certainly on display.
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My "Avengers" collection (just one of several boxes worth!).
Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
One thing I always loved about The Marvel Universe, which
they are now starting to implement in their movies, is the connectivity between
the characters and stories in the books. This made The Avengers, in particular, a fun book to read. There were
constant changes to the lineup, so you never knew what new hero would be
heeding the call to "assemble." I especially got hooked around issue #222, where the team
included Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, She-Hulk(!) and the Wasp
(pretty close, I realize, to what the movie team looks like). I went on to read and collect the
book faithfully (never missing an issue) for five years—possibly longer than any other comic I collected (even Spider-Man)!
So what was it about The
Avengers (and comic books in general) that captivated my young mind? Well, first and foremost, it must have been the artwork. Just like my Dad got introduced
to art through the work of illustrator Norman Rockwell on the covers of The Saturday Evening Post, I had a
lively window each month to a fascinating universe of interesting looking scenes and characters—I actually loved the costumes,
and wonder if that pointed to my designer sensibility? I would try my hand at drawing these characters as well, or even creating my own comic books, which my father would copy at his job at Xerox, and I would distribute to my devoted classmates.
It’s odd to go back to a comic book store these days—I can’t
say I find the artwork all that enticing in most of the standard, monthly books.
Things looked a lot “cleaner” back in my day, and I do see that mirrored in certain
books like Mike Allred’s Madman (almost a retro-style).
Far more interesting to me now
are the graphic novels, which stray from the typical superhero format and art
style. Terry Moore, the artist/creator of Strangers
in Paradise, is a good example—his books are quite a hit with female
audiences… something that seemed rather foreign back in the 1980s. I had the
chance to meet and conduct an interview with Moore back in 2007 during Norman Rockwell
Museum’s LitGraphic exhibition—it took place after I completed the exhibition video, so he is not included... but I should post the interview online at some point, for a look at his modern sensibility to comic book storytelling.
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The Marvel Universe: filled with
movies waiting to happen! |
In truth, I think one reason I liked the old Marvel Comics books so much was that they included complex, personal stories about people trying to do good—in some ways it was more interesting to follow the personal
relationships between these larger-than-life characters than all the wham-bam action scenes. Around the time I was
collecting, The Avengers’ Yellowjacket character suffered a nervous breakdown
and turned on his teammates… it was riveting... intriguing storytelling about how the group had to deal with this issue. The
characters also dealt with romantic relationships, suffered from insecurities… Iron Man even battled alcoholism. Many of the 1980s Avengers books were penned by writer Roger Stern, who also went on
to create The West Coast Avengers, another book I collected (feeding into my fascination with California!). I was pretty
interested in the long-time Avenger, Hawkeye, who formed the group.
Hawkeye is a bit of a loser in the comics world… sort of
matching Spider-Man in terms of never catching a break in his personal life. I guess I root for the
underdog, and found myself drawn (no pun intended) to these characters who keep on trying, in
particular. I was a little nervous at how they were going to portray Hawkeye in
the Avengers movie−the trailers I
had seen didn’t look like I pictured him. But it worked just fine in the
film, with Jeremy Renner doing just fine with his portrayal (even though the character
is controlled by the evil Loki throughout much of the film). I have some thing for
archery, and I think the character’s costume and action potential looks good… we’ll see about the personal problems.
Director Joss Whedon seems to get the appeal of the
books—the way the characters each have their own style of doing things, and
struggle to work together as a team. Some of the best moments in the film are
when the characters are bickering or fighting with each other. I was thrilled
to see Thor fight Iron Man and then the Hulk… Whedon did a good job of bringing
the original tone of the comics to the movie; he also seems to have his own style and sense of humor that must be why he has been such a successful director on projects like Buffy The Vampire Slayer (one of Sarah’s
favorites).
The actors were all great—I liked Mark Ruffalo’s portrayal
as Bruce Banner, in particular—as a kid, I loved the old Hulk TV show with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno… teared up when they
would play that closing theme when David Banner walked on after losing control
to his monstrous alter-ego. Ruffalo does a good job of showing the conflict of
the scientist, trying hard to control his temper. The Hulk in the movie was
fantastic—other reviewers have pointed out they way he used sparingly, which
might just be a good thing. Also, the CGI looks a lot better now… generally,
all the effects looked believable, and fun to watch in 3D.
Of course Robert Downey, Jr. really is Iron Man. His wisecracks
throughout the film are good fun, and he has a good chemistry with all of the other actors. I think Chris Hemsworth was better as Thor in his own movie (which we
saw after The Avengers), but still quite good here—it might have something to do with the
different style of the films' directors. Samuel L. Jackson is also a great presence as Nick Fury,
head of the secret military law-enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D., that is responsible for bringing The Avengers together. I think Jackson is great in any movie he is in… frequently playing a variation on the same bad-ass character. I also really liked Tom Hiddleston as the villain,
Loki. He has sort of a goth-like menace about him, as he tries to control Earth
and the heroes—I think he’s even better here than he was in Thor.
In a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, the movie's actors mention that the defining thing about their
characters is that they are “desperately lonely.” Such characters as Captain
America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow obviously have great potential in this
regard. On its own, I think the Avengers does
seem a little incomplete in terms of character development, but works better
when you have seen the other films. So yes, while it's not on quite the same level of cinematic success as Batman: The Dark Knight, I loved The Avengers; I'm already looking forward to the next film, and wouldn’t mind if they kept that same creative team in place for a while….
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Sorry ladies, I'm taken. But we can still be
superfriends. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
Back in the comic store, I’m sensing that things have
changed a bit since my youth. There doesn’t seem to be as much of a stigma to
collecting comic books anymore. For one thing, popular culture has caught up and realized the potential
of great fantasy storytelling (so welcome in these troubled times). Marvel Comics has such a great
catalogue of fun characters and storytelling to work from, even if they have a
troubled history of their own in terms of treating the creative talent. Artist John Hebert was
on-hand at yesterday’s event, and did not hide his frustrations with the comic
book company he had worked with for several years. Even Avengers co-creator/artist Jack Kirby had issues with Marvel in terms of being recognized and compensated for characters he created
(apparently there was a boycott of the movie by many dedicated fans). It’s a
bit of a shame, because so much great art and storytelling have come out of the
House of Ideas…. I guess now that the comic book industry has become such a big business,
it too can fall prey to corporate greed and bad management—I think even Captain
America would have a hard time sorting out that one.
For me, it’s great to see the continued love for visual storytelling.
I know that comics fueled my imagination as a kid, so it was nice to see all of
the kids on hand at Free Comic Book Day, excited about reading. All the movies
and merchandising are great, but the true satisfaction of losing
yourself in the wild stories and artwork of printed comic books seems to be stronger
than ever.
