as a child, i was fed gender appropriate toys and television, and was granted little to no autonomy regarding what i watched, bought or consumed. when i started to pick my own TV shows, i tended towards ABC after school teen shows as a pre-teen, and shows about animals, or ponies. once i hit an age where i had my own TV, well, i was 13. cartoons about superheros did not hit me, as a 13 year old girl, as what i wanted, because i had The X-Files and everything else was shitter than it.
i am, by my nature, an obsessive creature.
when i was 11, i became fixated on The X-Files. to this day, i can still recite some episodes by heart, just because i saw them so many times. i would tape them off the tv, and watch them, over and over and over again. all until the last two seasons, because we all know they were shit. i watched them, but out of loyalty, not because i cared.
prior to that, i would read enid blyton's school stories on rotation, or The Baby Sitters club. i'm almost ashamed to say how many of those bastards i owned. i hit my early teens, and started on epic fantasy, collecting every last David Eddings book i could, and other stuff of that ilk. by fifteen or sixteen, i discovered the second generation Romantics, and The Smiths. these two, and The X-Files, for nostalgia more than anything else (have you noticed how misogynistic it is?) are still things i'm deeply fond of. i have a Smiths tattoo, and a first edition book of Shelley. the headiness of the obsession has faded to something that's almost normal.
so, all this means that i am not well rounded. and the biggest most shameful area for me is comics. specifically Marvel, superhero comics. i've never understood them. i find them fascinating as an abstract - the broad mythology, the marketing machine that starts kids out as tiny people buying these relatively cheap treats with stories that keep going from issue to issue, supernatural powerful people who might have been nerds or been weak, or been Just Like You, and then become brave and strong and save people - but despite this interest, i've never really seen many superhero movies, or read any Marvel comics.
I like comics. i have a shelf of indie comics. i love Strangers in Paradise, and Mouse Guard, and Y, i love Black Hole, and Blankets, and Platinum Grit. i love Ghost World, and i love collections of beautiful pretty creatures. but i know shit all about superhero comics.
so. i am going to fix this.
i am undergoing a project which this blog will attempt to follow. i like starting blogs because they give me focus. i like navel gazing - after doing a visual arts degree i got into the habit of self-reflection to an almost pathological degree. also, i like writing. so, i am going to keep this blog as the story of me working out what the fuck the Marvel Universe is about. as well, i am getting over being sick, so i want to watch movies in bed, while i lament not being able to binge drink anymore. this requires a lot of movies. you know what there a lot of movies about? motherfucking SUPERHEROS. so, i'm going to watch them. all of them. well, a lot of them, anyway. i will do this while knitting hats. i will also take photos of the hats i am knitting. i hope to also knit socks.
it might be clear from this blog entry alone that i'm a bit of a shut in. i live in a cold place, and sometimes, i'm fairly antisocial. however, i'd like to get laid again one day. and i have a very specific type of guy i tend to like. shut in, nerdy weedy guys (or slightly overweight ones) who grew up on comic books, read too much, are socially a bit... challenged, and probably spend too much time in their bedroom. so, this additional information, while i'm stuck in my house, will assist me in picking up. shallow, maybe. but we all have our faults people. don't judge me.
at the point of starting this project, i have seen in recent times:
In the cinema on release
X-Men: First Class
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight
On my laptop
Batman Begins
clearly, there is a lot of work to be done.
I know I'm over commenting but I miss our talks (and Tani wants to leave the house for breakfast so i need calming. It's 1030am and we're still in bed)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm going to share a friend's insight that changed marvel/dc forme forever - apart from The Batman, all dc's big characters are gods. Unlimited power, no weaknesses worth mentioning. Weird, huh?
Anyway, I'll try to remwmber to send you the following at some point (non superhero, but essential reading)
Bone, which I think you will love, maybe even cry over.
Ttansmetropolitan, a transhumanist socio-political thing starring a hunter s Thompson-esque journalist hero
The Invisibles, a spell inspired by an acid trip with the Marquis de Sade and Byron (not a lot of Byron, but any is enough)
Also, although I don't have a copy to send, Maus. It's a comic artist interviewing his dad about being a Jew in Nazi Germany - portraying Jews as mice and nazis as cats. Beautiful but intense.