Movie 666

By Demon

Back in the 80s, when kids wore Megadeth shirts and lusted for Debbie Harry, Marvel published a series of extra thick comic books called “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.” The series started with “A” (Abomination to Avengers Quinjet) and continued for 11 more issues to “V” through “Z” ( Valkyrie to Zzzax), and included several supplementary volumes featuring weaponry and dead characters (hey, whether you’re a superhero or a supervillain, it’s a dangerous life). With detailed statistics, origin stories, and glorious images, the Handbook served as an encyclopedia of everything Marvel.

I remember thinking at the time that Marvel had a heck of a lot of characters… perhaps too many for one world. I mean, with a single Spiderman flitting around your city and webbing up muggers, the notion of a superhero is understandable if not entirely plausible. But with literally hundreds of masked vigilantes, criminals, medieval gods, and aliens — not to mention teams, societies, and leagues of all the aforementioned — one definitely gets the sense that the universe we are dealing with is no longer our own and perhaps a bit crowded.

I had a similar feeling going into Iron Man last week at the multiplex… yet another superhero, yet another superhero movie. Despite my doubts, I had been told that Robert Downey Jr. puts on a good show, so I bought my $5.50 twilight ticket, $4.00 popcorn, and settled back in the stadium seating.

I got what I expected. A fun performance by Robert Downey Jr. wrapped up in a somewhat tedious comic book movie. Suits, fighting, explosions… you know the drill.

I have to admit I was disappointed that the film didn’t explore Tony Stark’s alcoholism, one of the signature traits of Iron Man. With Downey Jr. playing the role, this could have been really interesting. But this comic book movie seemed more determined to blow things up rather than brood.

In the time since the Marvel Handbooks came out 20 years ago, comic books have markedly improved their social status as creators like Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, and Marjane Satrapi have pushed them into a realm beyond vigilantes and spandex. Iron Man, on the other hand, reminds you what comics used to be. Pulpy, fun, silly, entertaining, unbelievable… and oftentimes forgettable.

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