Still jumping for joy at the thought of meeting Stan (THE MAN) Lee! Did I mention that iFanboy was awesome? ‘Cause they are!
Man, I want to draw things that are far more epic than what I can offer right now. That’s how pumped I am. But! We’re going to roll with the few chibi sketches that I could crank out in between observing students and making lesson plans! Heck yeah!
Small offering that it is, it actually does collect most of my loves of Marvel in one place.
Jamie Madrox aka Multiple Man
Man, who isn’t psyched that X-Factor exists? Okay, some people aren’t….especially through those Secret Invasion issues….but I am! My chief love is Mr. Madrox here. Those first couple arcs that centered all around Jamie are the entire reason that I’m in love with this comic (the entire reason I suffered those Secret Invasion issues). Mr. Peter David took a character with a seemingly ineffective power and told us stories about how he was a force to be reckoned with. Best part about that? There was never this presumption of power in the characters. There’s always this jagged humility and jest that just made me want more of Madrox & Co. Mainly I want more of Madrox, but when you pepper in characters like Longshot and Shatterstar you’ve earned my attention for more than one reason.
SPIDER-MAN.
Man, I feel like there are a thousand things to say, but nothing actually needs to be voiced. He’s the king of kings in the Marvel Universe. This bespectacled, nervous teen that turned comics on its head by having money troubles and a NY area code. When I think of my own personal trek towards collecting these floppies weekly, this is the (spider) man to blame. I figure with my love of drawing and storytelling, of weeks of allowances going to Calvin and Hobbes, and a keen interest with a book called City of Light, City of Dark, I was eventually going to find my way towards comics. Though there were many possibilities there was one that solidified it for me. The Spider-Man (2002) movie. There was something about that movie that I found so enchanting that I went from just browsing the comics in stores and libraries to devouring whole collections. A great surprise was that I actually loved the movies title character in his comics as well. From that the world was my comics oyster, and I have not looked back.
Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch
I love Johnny Storm. Anytime you have a character that laughs sarcastically in the face of danger? That’s a character that I want to see more of. I love Johnny because his self-centered, top-of-the-world attitude always separated him from his fantastic family. Everyone else was so glum. Reed is busy solving cosmic troubles, the Thing’s busy being a rock, and Sue is cross because Johnny did something wrong. Johnny lets nothing phase him. He likes to fly and he likes to play pranks, and everything is just so simple for him. As someone that is self-centered and likes to play pranks, I get exactly where he is coming from and I want this character on his own title again.
As with all characters there are multiple incarnations. Out of the ones that I’ve read my least favorite was Marvel Knights Johnny Storm. I like seeing a character that is self-involved because it provides a lot of interest when they finally need to put someone else before them and save lives. There’s a lot of maturity and character building to be had, and I think that makes for good comics. MK Johnny was pathetically self-involved, and was pretty much a snob about it. It’s not the way that I want to read one of my favorite characters, but I think that it did work in the story.
Anyway….yeah, Johnny Storm rocks.
Scott Summers aka Cyclops
Talk about different incarnations of a character! There are so few times that I’ve read Cyclops the way that I want him to be written. Sometimes he stands back and let Xavier call the shots, or Wolverine, or Emma Frost. Sometimes he’s just Emma Frost’s weird emotionally hung-up beau. Sometimes he’s an awkward dad of a baby with a technology-based disease. Sometimes he dies unceremoniously in the first five minute in a major motion film. Sometimes hes…….
Then again, sometimes Cyclops is the leader of the god dang X-Men.
When Cyclops stands up to that roll, really inhabits it, that is my Cyclops finally showing his face. I love it when Cyclops is an exacting tactician. With even the smallest odds he can size up his enemy and take them down. The whole time he implements his X-Men like pawns in a futuristic and explody game of mutant chess. The enemies are usually taken by surprise (that expression is always priceless) all the while there’s some portion of Sun Tzu going through Cyclops’ mind.
Those moments are few and far between, but each one of them is so very epic.
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And those, dear friends, are the highlights of my Marvel loves. There are many more (here’s looking at you Reptil) but these are the tops for me. Of course, I have my across the street loves at DC as well, but we’re celebrating Marvel here!
Despite whatever loves I have at other companies I do want to tip my hat to Marvel. They’re important to me personally, being my first foray into comics, but also to the industry. I live for the comics that I can emotionally bond with and Marvel comics are a big reason for reality in comics today. I will love Wally West until I die (and probably longer) but I don’t give much of a care that he rescues citizens of Keystone City. But when my characters are training in West Chester, or digging up rubble from the World Trade Center? Those are things that I remember, and really help bring the comic story to life.
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I want to write more, but I think my Marveltribe has lasted long enough!
Thanks for stopping!
