My comic book experience is very limited. I vaguely remember reading the Archie and Jughead comics, which is what I read when I was around ten or eleven, maybe even twelve. I remember the characters – Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, and Reggie Mantle. I’ll confess I had to look up the last names to make sure I had them right, but I did remember the first names. I remember Archie was in love with rich girl Veronica, Betty was Veronica’s friend, Jughead was Archie’s best friend, and Reggie managed to cause trouble. That’s about it, though. My memories are probably so scarce because I only read them sporadically, never religiously, and when it comes to comic book superhero knowledge, I’m even more limited.
What I know about superheroes comes from either movies or from someone filling me in, generally my husband, my sons, or my brothers. I’ll watch the movies and ask questions which they patiently answer while unable to contain their amusement at my comic ignorance. At least they are patient with me. And here’s a confession that will confound all comic book enthusiasts in the same way that I would be confounded if they confessed to me they did not know the difference between Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. I know it matters, but I don’t know which characters are Marvel and which are DC. I hope the die-hard comic book fans out there can forgive me.
I take it personally when a book is made into a movie and for whatever reasons the movie-makers feel the need to stray from the original text. I would be willing to bet that comic book aficionados feel the same way about the stories and characters they love. I know for a fact that my husband, sons, and brothers want the movies to stick to the stories.
I have watched all the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, and recently thanks to Cody and his girlfriend Tiffany watching DVDs of Smallville, I’ve been watching those as well. I’m still unsure how accurately the Reeve movies portray the story of Superman, and more than once I’ve had to ask Byron to explain something to me about Smallville. As a result, I’ve learned a little about Clark Kent and Superman and his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. I knew the basics of the storyline – Krypton was going to explode and Superman’s parents sent him to Earth, his real name is Kal-El, he was taken in and raised by the Kent family, he loved first Lana Lang and then Lois Lane, the main bad guy is Lex, and Kryptonite can be his undoing. After watching several seasons’ worth of Smallville, though, I’ll confess that Lana Lang is a character I could have done without and Lex Luthor was really just misunderstood.
My knowledge of Spider-Man revolves around the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, which I enjoyed more than the older Reeve Superman movies, which is probably due to less cheesiness in the acting and better character development. Again, I only knew the basic story for Spider-Man – the teenage Peter Parker who lives with Uncle Ben and Aunt May gets bitten by a radioactive spider giving him superhero abilities, and the love of his life is Mary Jane Watson. I knew nothing about the characters he had to fight in order to save the day. The Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom, and Sandman were all new to me. The movies were good, and I’m working under the presumption that the storylines are close to the original comic book.
Recently, I watched Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, with my husband. This is one of Byron’s favorite comic book characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie; the story and the acting met with my approval. I was pleased when I asked Jimmy and Byron if the movie stuck to the original story of the creation of the character, and they told me it did. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into the theater, no clue about the original story, no clue what Green Lantern’s real name is or who his girlfriend is, no clue who the bad guys were supposed to be, and no clue that there’s actually a whole troop of Green Lanterns. As an English teacher, I’m pretty good at picking up on clues throughout a story, whether in a book or in a movie. While watching the movie, I knew that yellow ring was a bad idea; when they decided not to use the yellow ring, I knew the ring would come back to haunt them, and, of course, it did. When I told Byron this profound thing I had uncovered while watching the movie (this was in a text, by the way), he responds with something like a “no kidding lol”. I asked Jimmy why Byron was laughing at me, and he patiently explained that the whole point is the yellow ring creates the main bad guy, Sinestro. I was clueless.
And now, I’m eagerly awaiting Captain America: The First Avenger. This is another of Byron’s favorites, so I hope they’ve done a good job with it. This is also another story about which I’m completely clueless. I don’t know what will make Chris Evans’s character become Captain America, and I don’t know who he will have to fight to save the day. I don’t know what Captain America’s real name is, who his parents are, or who his girlfriend is. I’m looking forward to finding out, though, and I’m sure that I’ll end up making some comment to Byron, Jimmy, or somebody else who knows what’s going on, that will earn me a “no kidding lol” kind of response.
educatedguesswork 