On the Wikipedia for the event, it says:

“Free Comic Book Day has three main purposes:

1. To introduce everyone to the joys of reading comics.
2. To call back former comic book readers.
3. To thank current comic book buyers for their continued support.”

I think it’s purpose is great especially for those wanting to jump into comic books and do not know where to start. I like seeing the dads bringing their kids to this event showing them Spider-man or getting them a fun Star Wars story.

The thing I wonder is in however many years when comic books are not published on paper anymore, what will be of this fun event that draws in new audiences. On digital formats such as Comixology, everyday is Free Comic Book Day with a preview or Free Comics section. Even today at the store there were a couple of books I had already looked at online such as a comic book version of the new Ultimate Spider-man cartoon. So to say this event would continue online, aside from a few exclusive ones to that day, may not be true. What of the people who walk by a comic book shop see the poster for the event and figure “This looks cool and I just watched a cool comic book movie, lets check this out”.

I’m not saying it’s going to be an issue any time soon but the transition being made is noticable and I hope this fun, decade-old tradition could carry on in some capacity. Judging from some positive excitement on Twitter, I’m not the only one who would love it to go one either.

Have a great FCBD guys.

-Ben

Directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers stars an all star cast of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man/Tony Stark, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. There is also more great familiar actors and characters in the film including Stellan Skarsgård as Selvig from the film Thor and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts from the Iron Man films.

First of all on the casting: We are all familiar with most of the cast already. We have all seen Downey Jr, Evans and Hemsworth do quite well in their respective films and now we see them all together(don’t worry I’ll get to Ruffalo). The actors all play well of each other with their characters in showing how the characters work together and how they don’t work together. Now in Iron Man 2 at the start we have one of the first lines from the new James Rhodes, Don Cheadle, “It’s me, I’m here, get over it”. Granted it’s probably taken a little out of context but for those aching to see Ed Norton as Bruce Banner again and are not yet on the Ruffalo band wagon, get on. Ruffalo takes well to the challenge of taking on a role three men have taken on before(Bill Bixby, Eric Bana and Ed Norton). Ruffalo settled in nicely to the role given to him and going along from how the team are around each other it’s fun to see the various reactions to Banner turning into a “…giant green rage monster”.

The effects: The Hulk  is given facial features similar to that of Ruffalo I found where it’s not so much for the Norton version. The transformation which we see more clearly in The Avengers came to look more natural aswell. I really like where they go with the Hulk technology and it would be great to see another Hulk film in the future. The 3D is not too much to get excited over. Though the parts with the best 3D are when the giant metal space snake monsters go nuts and we get close-ups and action with them and some creative use of Hawkeye’s arrows.

The Writing: One thing I was thinking about leading up to the film is how much they would focus on actually getting the teammates together. Hulk awol, Thor in his homeland and Tony deemed unfit for The Avengers altogether. Once the threat is brought into light they do not waste any time getting the team together and don’t go too indepth into getting Banner back to NYC or Thor to earth. The rest of the movie is a culmination of two things: Team or Time Bomb? The team fighting and learning to work together. Yes there is a death in the film. I will leave the details at that. It is a shock and it is used to be just what the team needed to stop being a timebomb and start being a team working together to stop Loki. Alot of movies with fighting or action have the ‘Lets smash the crap out of NYC’ part. Especially if there are superheroes(or Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles or a King Kong) involved. Lets face it, Gotham and Metropolis: Fictional New York Cities. The action is so fun and so action packed that it takes what TV Tropes calls Big Applesauce and times it by 10. Every bit of action is worth seeing and they try their best to make it really fun aswell especially with a Hulk involved(with one really great Hulk moment that got an applause).

Overall: The movie is funny, full of action and full of characters and actors who do a great job. It handles all the struggles and the complicatios without dragging on too long and has effective transitions to the next part. The Avengers clocks in at about 140 minutes give or take a few minutes. It’s not too short like those films that feel like a TV movie or extended episode and not too long that you need to go to the bathroom halfway through(ala King Kong or the extended LOTR movies). One bit of warning: There are alot of previews, TV spots, trailers and sneak peeks on the internet. Do not watch them all on repeat in anticipation too much. I didn’t too much and I know some people who did less than me and the less you see(especially some quotes) the more enjoyable a film it is.

In the past I have done the 5 star system for rating movies but for now I am going with this: Above is what I thought of The Avengers. It is definately worth seeing. So go, watch the film and let us know what you think in the comments below.

-Benny Bob

1. Fury codes: The Avengers is coming soon(already has for some people) and while I’m hoping all these clips they have posted don’t give away everything, they have done a good job in getting me excited for it. One thing they have got going is a competition where you set up an account here and submit various ‘Fury Codes’ you find over the internet and other real life places such as Supanova. I however discovered this after my Supanova trip but that doesn’t bother me. You can get codes through riddles on their twitter/facebook pages, hidden in places on the internet(one which was kind of clever and I will tell of it when it’s over so I don’t give anything away) and through the pages of supporting companies. You can win prizes, stuff like home theatre systems, dvds, costumes, holidays, movie tickets etc. I must say going through and participating in this has made for a fun and interesting day off.
2. Ultimate Spider-man: I watched the first two episodes of this series Marvel put up. The new show features Spider-man one year into being Spider-man and having Nick Fury show up telling him he should join S.H.I.E.L.D and learn from other heroes and use their tech. The new show is different to their last one. Differences are things like Spidey breaking the fourth wall to explain a power or a character to the audience(I can’t help bet expect one of the supporting characters to say “…who the heck is he talking to?” when he does that), cutaway scenes for comedic effect(in a Family Guy like way) and general cartoonish things happening in Spider-man’s head in a sort of Scrubs like fashion I guess. Overall not a terrible show, although I would have liked for them to continue Spectacular Spider-man as  that was going really well. It could be a good telling of how Spidey learns to use his abilities better and with great responibility. I do like the character of Stan the Janitor played by Stan Lee who has a few funny moments here and there. For example when MJ is saying “Spider-man could be anyone, even…” looks over to Stan, Stan goes “fwip-fwip” doing the Spider-man hand gestures. It’s fun to have Stan cameos even in cartoon form. I’ll share more on this series as it progresses.
3. Lastly, with all the Avenging and Dark Knight rising, lets not forget The Amazing Spider-man coming out soon too.

More Costumes

The Zim & Stormtrooper conga line that went through the show with a number of participants.

So that’s just about all from the trip. Be sure to keep eyes on things as I post more. Including a review of The Avengers when I get to see that soon enough. For now I will enjoy the rest of my break with the loot we got, including season 1 of K-On! my dad got. Then back to playing with computers.

-Benny Bob

Also a super special shoutout to Scott & Kris who I have been a fan of for years and love that they came out. Great meeting those guys. Scott especially, I have been enjoying his work for sooo long meeting him was really awesome. Especially getting the Awesomeology signed a 2nd time(I think that photo is in yesterday’s blog…).

Okay, photo time:

Signatures by Wil Wheaton and Summer Glau

Summer and I

Costumes

Comic Books

and a sword. I have a sword now. Yep. That’s a good thing.

Anyway good times had by all. My Dad is a champ for providing me this opportunity and we could not be more tired.

Tomorrow is the 10 hr drive back. Fun.