Geek Weekend

Because our Cavaliers couldn't finish off the Wizards in Game 5 on Wednesday night, we ended up missing the Cavs' convincing win in Washington on Friday night because we were out with good friends seeing Iron Man. Wow, what a great movie! It lived up to both the hype and my personal expectations. Robert Downey, Jr. was born to play Tony Stark, taking the character seriously while never losing sight of the fact that the source material is a comic book. (And while I never would have pictured Tony Stark of the comics listening to Suicidal Tendencies while working on his armor, it was absolutely appropriate for Downey's Stark to be doing just that at one point.) Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terrence Howard all were fantastic in their respective roles as well. The A.I. Jarvis was a little disconcerting to me until I read a post on the Marvel Noise forum that pointed out that it allowed Paltrow's Pepper Potts to take on a "keeping Stark's life in order" role, which helped make that dynamic even more satisfying. We stayed until after the credits for a scene I didn't much care for. I'm not a fan of Marvel's Ultimate Universe, so the Sam Jackson cameo was more off-putting than exciting for me. In all, a fantastic movie, and based on the weekend's numbers, it looks like we should be treated to at least a sequel, if not a franchise!

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, so my son and I went to the local comic shop to stock up on some of the freebies! I came away with Hellboy, G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, X-Men, and Dan Dare, while my son scored with Sonic the Hedgehog, Little Archie, Donald Duck, and Gyro Gearloose. He also got his picture taken with Batman on the way into the shop, and on the way out Batman came up to the car window and told him to stay in school. Sage advice, indeed, from the Dark Knight.

Sunday I surprised my son with a trip to the Canton Comic & Sci-Fi Convention. These shows that Jeff Harper puts on are a far cry from the mega-super-duper events that have taken over the industry. Jeff's conventions are designed for collectors and fans to fill collection holes and find some real bargains, and are family friendly. For a couple of bucks my son hauled in a Superman Adventures, a Spider-Man/X-Men Team-Up, a Web of Spidey with Venom, a Sensational Spider-Man with Swarm, and a Bone Holiday Special. As a bonus, when he opened the Sensational Spider-Man he found an Iron Man trading card inside. Double prizes! And when he saw the animation style cells Brett Pinson over at Boomtown Press was doing, my son was completely sold. He decided to buy one of Pinson's small animation style cells of Darth Vader. And the weekend was complete!