What I've Been Waiting For

I have never attended a midnight movie premiere before. It’s just not something that’s ever been on my radar. And, frankly, I was hard-pressed to think of a movie I’d want to see a midnight premiere of. It wasn’t until we were leaving the theater after watching Captain America: The First Avenger that I realized it, but Marvel’s The Avengers is that movie for me.

Seeing this movie at the midnight premiere and sharing it with my wife and kiddo is an experience I'll always appreciate. The atmosphere was unbeatable. We arrived at the theater around 8:30 and found our line. It wasn’t bad at all, and they ended up letting us into our theater right around 9pm. We were fortunate to not have to spend the next three hours on the floor, and instead were able to settle into our oversized XD theater seats where Jack read the movie prequel comics, Tracy read The Walking Dead, and I bounced between tweeting, meeting up with friends who were still waiting out in the hallway to get into their theater, and getting pwnd by the kiddo in many rounds of Zombie Dice on the iPad.

There were plenty of folks in costume, and our theater was completely packed by 10:30. When the house lights eventually dimmed, I couldn’t believe I was actually about to see an Avengers movie. And I was rewarded for my decades-long patience.

The crowd made this an event. Cheers for the first 3D trailer we got – Amazing Spider-Man – and for Prometheus. Cheers for the feature presentation’s main titles. Someone yelled, “Cleveland!” during the first on-screen scene shot here in the hometown and the place erupted.

I’m not a fan of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, which birthed the reimagined Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, but I have completely bought into it over the course of the last five movies leading up to this. And I am a huge fan of Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson. Brilliantly conceptualized, he is to the Marvel Movie Universe what Boba Fett could have been to the Star Wars Universe. Where Boba Fett was a background character whose cachet was based solely on the mystery of his presence then squandered with a pandering, sloppy origin and overexposure in the prequels, Coulson was grown organically to provide real weight to the character’s actions and importance to the story. Nothing wasted. Nothing easy.

That consistency carried over to Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark. By far the biggest star in this thing, writer-director Joss Whedon matched the tone of Jon Favreau’s first two solo Iron Man movies seamlessly. Similarly, Chris Evans was surprisingly believable as the man-out-of-time Captain America who ascends to the leadership role over the billionaire Stark and Asgardian God of Thunder by earning their respect. Thor’s entrance elicited cheers from the sold out crowd, and rightly so. It was a brilliant moment that Chris Hemsworth pulled off effortlessly.

As expected, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow really shone under the contradictory hand of Whedon, known for not only his strong female characters, but also his penchant for framing his leading women’s posteriors in shots. I would have liked more screen time for Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill, but it was great to have her on-hand in any capacity (and, again, more ass shots).

Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner was much more thoughtful than Ed Norton’s previous run at the character (and I really enjoy the underrated Norton Incredible Hulk movie). Ruffalo pulls off the tortured scientist in every way. Hawkeye is one of my all-time favorite Avengers. (See my loving look at the character's history in issue #56 of BACK ISSUE magazine.) And the glimpse of him in Thor was great, but I have to say he’s not the standout for me in The Avengers. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to pick any one character as my favorite. This is truly a super-hero ensemble movie.

There was actually only one moment – a split-second gag – in the movie I didn’t care for. It was the only time while watching the film that I was jarringly aware I was viewing a "Joss Whedon film," and the moment was completely unnecessary and didn’t serve the story.

And there was one thing that took some getting used to: The rendering of the Green Goliath. I remember a lot of press about how you would be able to really see Ruffalo’s Banner in the Hulk onscreen. And you could, in the face and upper body, almost to a fault, but it has grown on me the more I think about the movie and the representation. And this was more than balanced by the personality infused into gamma-irradiated giant. Hulk truly shines in battle. Given what was revealed in the eight-issue Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week comic book miniseries about the fate of Dr. Samuel Sterns (Mr. Blue) from the Norton movie, I really hope they pick up that thread and run with it in another solo Hulk movie.

Whedon nailed the character cameos, and Loki – Wow. Tom Hiddleston takes his performance to its scenery chewing limits, then dials it back just enough to keep you grounded. A wonderfully realized villain that builds progressively on the character we saw in Thor.

As far as the stingers go, Avengers comes packed with two of them. One at the beginning of the credits and one before the final fade out. Both are great in their own way. The first for its nod to fans of the comic books, and the second for the way it releases the tension of the previous two hours. Brilliant.

Marvel’s The Avengers is the movie 12-year-old me has waited 30 years for. This is the movie I would wait in line for. This is the movie I would sacrifice sleep to discover unspoiled on the largest screen in the area, in 3D, with my wife and 10-year-old son beside me. If I have ever been gobsmacked, it was during the two hours shortly after midnight on May 4 when I saw The Avengers for the first time. There were so many moments that made me cheer, or my jaw drop, or simply sit there with the biggest damn grin plastered across my face, it was a completely satisfying experience.

Loikamania

I’ve mentioned my friend Pat on the blog before, but it seems worth mentioning again how awesome he is. He recently illustrated Blacklisted, written by Adam Witt. So I reached out to Pat to see about getting a copy directly from him, and he sent me a signed copy of the graphic novel that I’m excited to read. But Pat being Pat, he also included a little extra goodness in the envelope... this fun Cap sketch!

Pat’s also recently relaunched his podcast as Loikamania. It’s available as a part of Derek’s Comic Book Noise family of podcasts and on iTunes. Check it out!

Marvel Unbound - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Color Series

I am a Marvel guy at my core, but since returning to the comic book hobby as an adult, I read most anything that strikes my fancy, regardless of publisher. That includes taking in some Batman stories: Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, Frank Miller’s Absolute Dark Knight, and Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween and Haunted Knight.

I’m not reading the Red Hulk books and am not a fan of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, so those Batman stories and the Fallen Son mini-series after the death of Captain America are really my only exposure to Loeb. I enjoyed what I’ve read well-enough, so I’m not sure where all the Loeb hate comes from. No writer can satisfy every reader, and I have never heard a convincing argument for the extreme dislike. It all strikes me as knee-jerk fanboy posturing.

Regardless, I figured if I enjoyed the Loeb-Sale team-up on Batman so much, I wanted to see what they’d do in the Marvel sandbox. I picked up the first-edition hardcovers of Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-Man: Blue, and Hulk: Gray cheap on eBay late last year and have finally worked my way through all three of them.

The concept here is a creative take on key moments in each titular character’s life. Not reimaging so much as fleshing out events that formerly took place off-page or providing a different point of view of what was originally presented.

I read them in the order in which they were released, which almost proved a misfire because I really didn’t care for Daredevil: Yellow. Sale’s art is a sight to behold, and every page in these six collected issues is a layered, shadowed experience. But the story really left me feeling kinda “meh.” I love Daredevil, but this was very much a Karen Page story. And I’m clearly not as good a student of that particular part of the Daredevil’s history as I needed to be in order to fully enjoy Daredevil: Yellow.

Thematically, I loved the way the series titles each played off Murdock’s father’s boxing career: “The Championship Season”, “The Measure of a Man”, “Stepping Into the Ring”, “Never Lead With Your Left”, “Against the Ropes”, and “The Final Bell”. And the covers of the original single issues reveal the evolution of Matt Murdock, with a larger-than-life Daredevil in the background, watching over his alter-ego. Beautiful work by Sale, but this was the first time a Loeb story fell short of my expectations and had problems holding my interest.

Whereas Daredevil: Yellow’s conceit was a written letter from Matt Murdock to his lost love Karen Page, Spider-Man: Blue is framed by Peter Parker tape-recording a letter to the love of his life, the Green Goblin-murdered Gwen Stacy, on Valentine’s Day.

Like with the first book, Sale’s artwork is striking. His reimaging of Peter, Gwen, and Mary Jane Watson is retro sexy and perfectly stylized. But unlike Daredevil: Yellow, the characterizations Loeb unfolds quietly across these six issues is nuanced and restrained. Loeb and Sale used iconic moments in Peter’s life as touchstones for filling in perspective. We see Spider-Man saving Norman Osborn’s life, we meet Anna Watson’s niece for the first time along with Peter, and we witness the organic beginning of Peter and Gwen’s romance.

I don’t know how true to the characters of Peter and MJ they are, but I really loved the last three pages of Spider-Man: Blue. They capture a soft moment between husband and wife, yet it feels so important, even cinematic. There was a satisfying sense of closure to the book that I really felt was missing with the first one.

Whereas Daredevil: Yellow and Spider-Man: Blue are essentially love stories, Hulk: Gray explores relationships more broadly: the influence of General Ross’ dead wife on his relationship with his daughter Betty, Betty’s love for Bruce Banner, Hulk’s love for Betty, and General Ross’ hatred for Hulk.

The framing device here is Bruce turning to his old friend Doc Sampson in the present day, looking back at those crucial hours immediately after the Hulk was “born” in the gamma bomb accident. I thought Loeb took a lot of liberty (maybe too much?) retconning an encounter with Tony Stark’s Iron Man into this origin expansion, but the story was compelling from start to finish. It’s amazing how much emotion a character like the Hulk can convey.

Until I watched the DVD extras for the 2008 Incredible Hulk film, I had no idea director Louis Leterrier used Hulk: Gray as his primary influence. I don’t think knowing that or having seen the movie first really colored my reading of the Loeb-Sale book in any way, but I can now fully appreciate book and movie’s connection.

There was supposed to be a fourth title in the Loeb and Sale color series, Captain America: White, but it has only gotten as far as an issue #0 book. The prologue story was released back in September 2008, but seems to have been canceled after that. I don’t have that issue, so I can’t say what it’s about or how it would fare against the other three completed series, but it would have been nice to have the creator’s complete vision to judge as a whole.

In all, I enjoyed two-thirds of the color series. As a Daredevil fan and a fan of Loeb and Sale’s Batman collaboration, I’m glad I read Daredevil: Yellow, but it didn’t live up to my expectations. After stepping away from the series for a few months and tempering those expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed Spider-Man: Blue and Hulk: Gray, both of which presented nuanced, emotionally charged stories and gorgeous art.

Marvel Unbound - Captain America Omnibus

With today's Marvel Noise podcast comes a spoiler-filled edition of "Marvel Unbound". Here on Random Thoughts Escaping is a written version of the installment. Feel free to join the conversation about this in the Marvel Noise forum "Marvel Unbound" thread. Enjoy!

Last spring I was going through old comics from the Original Collection and reading trade paperbacks of some of the classic storylines I knew and loved as a kid. I wasn't reading any current runs at the time. My only cause for going to the local comic shop was to pick up copies of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight for my wife. (And she was the one who tracked down the comic shop in the first place.) Then I caught wind of the death of Captain America. I think I read it on CNN.com first, then dug around some more. It was the second wave of publicity around the event -- this time promoting the Director's Cut release of Captain America #25. I picked it up July Forth weekend and never looked back.

Well, that's not altogether true. I did look back... and read the Captain America Omnibus. What an incredible anthology. I have been consistently blown away by the work of Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Mike Perkins. They are a large reason for my being back into the comic book culture. It's likely I would never have pursued things further if I hadn't enjoyed what I found on the pages of Captain America, and my wallet wouldn't be as thin as it is now.

The Captain America Omnibus provided yet another way to lighten my bank account, but it offered a great way to catch up on what I had missed up to the point where I jumped on board. This beast collects the first 25 issues of Brubaker's run on the title in a single hardcover volume.

This title is so much more than just a "super-hero" comic. Brubaker offers up an amazing mystery and spy story set to Epting and Perkin's beautiful visual score. From the very first issue the medium is elevated by the apparent death of Cap's longtime nemesis, the Red Skull (handled with a twist clever enough to stifle a groan when revealed), and the way the introduction of the Winter Soldier is handled, all the way through to the death of Captain America in the last collected issue.

Brubaker's handling of these three very key, highly-charged plot points helped soothe a potentially shattered fan base. The status quo has always been that only Uncle Ben, the Stacys, and Bucky stay dead in the Marvel Universe. Then Brubaker goes and resurrects Bucky... as an assassin! Instead of providing background (both old and new canon) in one helping, Brubaker opts for a slow-burn reveal that unfolds over the course of nearly a year's worth of books, with flashbacks beautifully set off in black and white by Epting and Perkins.

There are stand-alone stories within the larger continuity collected here, like the "Interlude: The Lonesome Death of Jack Monroe" issue (#7) and the "House of M" issue (#10), along with the "65th Anniversary Special" and "Winter Soldier: Winter Kills" one-shots. Good stuff. Not to mention Nick Fury, The Falcon, Agent 13, Iron Man, Union Jack -- they all show up here in just the right doses.

The dark tone of the book is matched panel-for-panel with Epting's tough, gritty visuals. And the world Cap's inhabiting is all the better for it. As much as I love Epting's work here (I mean, his art has me believing in flying cars for Pete's sake!), the one-off artists also do a fantastic job, particularly Lee Weeks on the "Winter Soldier: Winter Kills" story.

The extras in the omnibus are plentiful, as one would expect from a collection like this, and if you're a fan of Marvel Spotlight interviews then you've just hit the mother lode. There are multiple interviews with both Brubaker and Epting reprinted here, along with the full script of issue #25, and some great sketches, design evolution, and covers by Epting. One of the coolest extras is a short, two-page spread on the media frenzy that took place around issue #25.

Collecting the first two-years of the title under one cover, the Captain America Omnibus is a mammoth tome. Almost to the point of being a bit unwieldy. This is the first and only Marvel Omnibus I have, and it's about as far away from a monthly book as you can get -- hardback, dust-jacketed, 700 or so pages. It's a beast, but worth the investment in time, money, and effort.

Steve Epting is a Good Guy (At Least as Far as I Can Tell)

My friend Ivan (who has run in comic circles for years as both a fan and as a one-time toy business insider) has always said that comic book creators and writers and artists are an approachable lot. Part and parcel to getting my writing in front of as wide an audience as possible, I have been sending links to the Deus ex Comica series to various folks in the comic book industry -- people whose work I admire. And this last week, Steve Epting sent me a quick note saying that he is enjoying the essays, especially because he has had similar experiences in his comic reading past.

I've interviewed my share of minor celebrities and musicians, but it's always a thrill when someone whose work you think highly of responds to something you've done. It wasn't a big deal, and we aren't great friends or anything because of it, but I appreciate the time he took to read my stuff and respond. So with that, I can't encourage you enough to go out and get the trade paperbacks of Steve's work on Captain America with Ed Brubaker (or, better yet, the omnibus), and pick up the monthlies currently on the shelves!