As much as my inner dork (which I hate talking about because it’s really not any different from any other type of fandom it’s just been given a pedestal it doesn’t deserve by marketers) wants so badly to part [...]]]> Hey folks. In case you didn’t know, there’s a little movie coming out called “The Avengers.”

As much as my inner dork (which I hate talking about because it’s really not any different from any other type of fandom it’s just been given a pedestal it doesn’t deserve by marketers) wants so badly to part with my hard-earned money to see The Hulk smash things while Iron Man flies around and Cap throws his shield and Thor throws his hammer and Hawkeye shoots arrows and we pretend it’s not ridiculous that he’s a part of this group and ditto for Black Widow, I have a moral conundrum.

Marvel’s poor treatment of Jack Kirby and his family’s estate in light of all he did for the “House of Ideas” is well documented. Really, the only reason Marvel gets as much of a pass as it does is because they’re not as awful as DC Comics has been to Siegel and Shuster and their respective estates. Stan Lee gets all the credit because he made a sweet deal with them and was a good talker. Kirby, on the other hand, was always a bit of a quiet guy. Raised in the inner-city with a hard-nosed work ethic, he shied away from attention and praise. It cost him dearly. Because even though he was probably more responsible for shaping Marvel and superhero comics as a whole than any other creator, Kirby’s name doesn’t appear on anything.

It won’t be anywhere in the credits for “The Avengers.” And that bothers me.

But as Robot 6 reports…

Fortunately, Jon Morris has an awesome solution. “So how about this?” he writes. “You’re probably going to go see The Avengers and, judging by the early reviews, you’ll probably enjoy it. How about — as a thank you to the creators who brought you these characters in the first place, who gave you something to enjoy so much — you match your ticket price as a donation to The Hero Initiative?”

Perfect.

http://www.heroinitiative.org/

The Hero Initiative was created to combat just this sort of injustice. From their website:

The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

So here’s the challenge: make a donation to the Hero Initiative matching the cost of your ticket to “The Avengers”. Or, Hell, double it! While Marvel, Stan Lee, and the others rake in all the money with fake heroic exploits, you can make a real one. While actors play pretend at saving lives, you will be doing the real thing.

So. You in?

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Like almost everybody else this weekend, I felt an obligation to go see the film [...]]]> Thanks to everyone who has donated so far to New York Special Olympics! To get me and my teammates to rappel off the Crown Plaza and have a little fun yourselves while giving to charity, CLICK HERE.

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Like almost everybody else this weekend, I felt an obligation to go see the film adaptation of “Captain America.”

Growing up I was a big fan of the book. What intrigued me about the character wasn’t that he was a man out of time or that he was a symbol of perseverance and American pride. Rather, it was the stories that were written portraying him as a man conflicted, often finding himself at odds with what his government wanted him to do in the name of his country. Most Captain America stories, particularly those written in the 1970s and 1980s, were a far cry from the jingoistic image of Cap slugging Adolf Hitler smack dab in the jaw. In more complicated times with menacing but not unequivocally evil challenges to our nation’s position in the world, the genetically enhanced kid from Brooklyn often put honor before  policy. On more than one occasion when faced with the choice of falling in line or continuing as Captain America he gave up the mantle entirely and “retired.”

The trap for comic writers is that in writing these stories they can potentially isolate part of their audience. More importantly, unless it’s done carefully, what’s intended as a creative statement on what it means to be an American can come across as goofy and contrived. They are, after all, comic books.

Which is why this film focuses on Captain America in simpler times with an evil enemy. And it works. The action scenes are intense, the CGI is very impressive (particularly the seamless trick of creating the illusion of a ninety-pound pre-serum Chris Evans), and as Roger Ebert noted in his review, it includes a love story that you actually want to see and enhances rather than detracts from the narrative. The film also makes an effort to remind us that what makes Steve Rogers as Captain America an effective hero is the former part – Steve Rogers – rather than the latter. That ninety-pound kid has an organically heroic nature even before he meets the man that changes him forever, and while admittedly cheesy at times (a conceit one must make when going into any summer blockbuster let alone a comic book flick), it surprisingly doesn’t come across as melodramatic.

The film does much to set up the story and anticipation for next Summer’s long-awaited “The Avengers,” which will team the revived Captain America with the other franchises established by Marvel: Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk, among others. What will be missing, though, is what makes this the hands down best superhero film since “The Dark Knight” and arguably the equal of Marvel’s other great offering “Iron Man”: a focus on one man, one protagonist, with one journey. The greatest challenge “The Avengers” will face won’t be Loki or Hydra, it’ll be measuring up to the surprisingly high measuring stick of The First Avenger, as the title calls him, “Captain America.”

BONUS: The trailer for the 1990 “Captain America” film, which featured Cap jumping onto the back of many a van.

I know where I’ll be: at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, along with a throng of fellow eager, excited, and pathetic geeks for the Albany Comic Con. It runs 10:00am until 4:00pm and, in addition to all the great talent and swag assembled, it will help raise [...]]]>

Official poster. Click for full image.

Where are you going to be this Sunday?

I know where I’ll be: at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, along with a throng of fellow eager, excited, and pathetic geeks for the Albany Comic Con. It runs 10:00am until 4:00pm and, in addition to all the great talent and swag assembled, it will help raise some much needed funds for Japan. From the website:

Professionals and dealers will donate items to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds will be donated through Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to Caritas Japan, from St Ambrose church to help the people of Japan. 100% of all proceeds from this auction will reach the people of Japan. The massive effort to relocate and house people who have lost everything, in the tsunami disaster, will be ongoing. Please bid generously to help support this effort. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan, in hopes they can recover fully, and quickly from this horrible disaster. Thank you in advance for your support in this effort. (2-3pm). Click here to view the items for the auction.

In addition, writer Ron Marz (who’s actually a local) will be selling an exclusive print for $10, all of which will go to Japan disaster relief.

Not bad for a form so frivolous, no?

All joking aside, I’m a huge fan of the form and excited for this Sunday. The last time I went I walked away with some fantastic stuff from the seventies and early eighties, walking away with stuff ranging from stories involving the Justice League investigating the murder of Santa Claus(!) to one of the more intelligent treatments I’ve ever read in the medium. I also had some fascinating conversations with not only artists and dealers, but also passerbys and fellow enthusiasts at the bins and boxes assembled on the various tables. The real shame is that it only runs six hours, as I could literally spend an entire day talking to people and sifting through the great stuff available withot getting bored.

I’m a bit passionate, if you haven’t caught on yet. I was reared on comic books and, contrary to popular opinion, credit the genre exclusively with cultivating my love of words at an early age. Despite preconceptions that the books are dismissively written for children, comic book writers are known and sometimes notorious for writing above the heads of children to make the books accessible to older folk, much like Pixar does with its animated films. As a result, comic books expanded my vocabulary far more than any other book, newspaper, or magazine could. If some writer used a word or described something that was alien to me, I was likely to either just take a guess using the context provided or just ignore it completely. If those same words or descriptions were used by Captain America, on the other hand, I needed to know exactly what the man in red, white, and blue was saying. After all, the fate of the world literally depended on it.

So I’m going to celebrate and give back to an industry and genre to which I owe a great deal, and to meet – again – those people like Ron Marz with whom I grew up admiring and have since developed a good rapport with and further appreciation for.

So check it out, because you won’t regret. And feel free to come find me. I’ll be the guy with a smile a mile wide.

THE ALBANY COMIC CON
Sunday, April 17th
@ The Holiday Inn on Wolf Road
http://www.albanycomicbookshow.com/