First Look at the
Red and Gold Armor

Hot on the heels of the first photo of the Grey Armor from next years Iron Man movie we get the first photo of Iron Man’s main armor, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. The filmmakers have stayed faithful to the red and gold color scheme and I’ve got to say I think it looks pretty darn good.

One design element that sticks out is the round unibeam emitter on his chest. For the most part, the armor seems to take most of its design from the more recent iterations of the comic book armor. However the round chest emitter is a throwback to the older style armor. I wonder if that is simply a stylistic choice and a nod to the classic look, or if maybe the designers thought that the modern triangular shape is a bit too reminiscent of Superman’s shield. Regardless of the reason, it is a good choice. Personally I think it adds to the “mechanical look”.

 

 
I remain cautiously optimistic about this movie, but so far I like what I see.

By now most of you realize that I’m a big Iron Man fan. I don’t think that the character was ruined in the Civil War (which may be a topic for a post sometime in the future, maybe). I’m cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Iron Man movie and my biggest concern is how the armor is portrayed.

The A-Team

In the comics, Tony Stark has gone through many iterations of his armor, constantly refining the design and making some mission specific armors. His first armor in the comics was a clunky, grey suit that he had to cobble together out of spare parts in a manner that would make the A-Team proud. Well, it looks like the movie is going to give us more than one version of the armor and will include a version of his grey armor.

Ain’t it cool news has revealed the first picture of armor from the upcoming movie.

The first glimpse of Iron Man

I was going to include a scan of the cover to Tales of Suspense 39 (the first appearance of Iron Man) so you can see the original comic armor, but then I found that a comparison already exists over at Oof! Blog! Argh! The thumbnail image of the cover has a mouse-over contextual menu that says “Click to embiggen”. And we all know that “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man”. So there you go.

Excellent.

In my post about attending MegaCon 2007, I mentioned the excellent sketch Stan Sakai drew in my “The Art of Usagi Yojimbo” hardcover. I wanted to share the sketch with the world so here it is.

Usagi Yojimbo Sketch by Stan Sakai

The only thing left to say is: Buy Usagi Yojimbo!

Ok, Spring Break is over. Time to get back to work.

Captain
America

I want to talk a little bit about Captain America. You see, Marvel decided to whack the good Captain. Ed Brubaker handled the actual story execution of the execution, so it was done well. (We can now rest easy that Brubaker’s “Cap in jail” is not going to be like his “Daredevil in jail” story arc.) But in spite of the talent behind the writing, you have to ask the question “Why”?

Why kill Captain America and why now? There are a lot of people who are reading all sorts of symbolism and political statements into it, but I have to think that any of that is either coincidental or an act of convenience. I think it is simply good marketing.

We all know that Steve “Captain America” Rogers will not be gone for too long. But for how long will he be gone? Two years. That’s right, two years. You see, in today’s comic book industry there are several factors that determine the length of time Cap will be gone. The first factor is the standard length of a comic book story arc. Nowadays you can expect a story arc to last 6 months to a year, so Marvel is going to need at least a year to tell the stories they want to tell. But the most important factor is the Marvel movie release schedule.

Marvel is currently scheduled to release their Captain America movie in 2009. And since Marvel will be producing the movie themselves, they are going to do whatever they can to promote the movie to make it a success. So expect there to be a media blitz about the “Return of Captain America” leading up to the release of the movie.

Speaking of Captain America movies, I really hope that when they make the new one, they draw inspiration from the past. I hope they watch the clip below to see how Captain America is supposed to be portrayed in film.

Enjoy.

At what point does the trend towards more “realistic” comic book stories clash too harshly with the fantasy elements of the super hero genre?

There is a concept in robotics referred to as the “uncanny valley”. The basis for the uncanny valley is the notion that as a robot becomes more “human” in appearance; the stronger and more positive emotional response real humans will have towards the robot. Up to a point. At some point the robot becomes close to human, but not quite, and becomes repulsive and disturbing. That range, where a realistic robot comes close enough to lifelike to be repulsive is called the uncanny valley.

I think that there is a similar concept that can be applied to comic books, which I like to call the Uncanny X-Valley (no points for being clever). For many years, super hero comic books have tried to be more and more realistic, both in story and art. And for the most part, fan response to this trend has been positive. But I think we are beginning to see these types of stories entering the Uncanny X-Valley, where the realism begins to bump up against the fantasy elements and magnifies the areas of required suspension of disbelief enough that the enjoyment of the story suffers.

I really started to think about this concept while reading Marvel’s Civil War (which just ended, for those of you in the distant future reading an archive of this post and want to put it in historical perspective). The basis for Marvel’s Civil War is that after a tragedy involving super heroes and villains (which resulted in many civilian deaths), the US Government passes a super human registration act, where all super powered individuals need to register with the government and if they want to fight crime they have to do it under the supervision of S.H.I.E.L.D. I like the high concept idea behind Civil War, but while reading it, I found it harder to suspend my disbelief. If the story is going to get into lobbying and congressional politics, then where was the ACLU lawsuit challenging the registration act? If super powered battles can cause huge tragedies, then how come villains still don’t simply kill captured heroes? I think that they might be going too far in realism in one area, but not going as far in other areas and that discrepancy is starting to become too jarring. This range, where a story’s realism actually makes suspension of disbelief more difficult rather than less, is the Uncanny X-Valley.

This is not an attack on Civil War. I don’t think that Civil War has descended to the bottom of the valley. (I’d like to do a more thorough analysis of Civil War, but I think I needed to explore this concept first.) And there are plenty of other examples. I think that the reason super hero movies pretty much sucked (with the exception of Superman) before CGI is the presence of the Uncanny X-Valley. Putting an accurate comic book costume on a real actor almost always looks goofy because everything else in the movie looked real. One of the ways the X-Men movies tried to avoid falling into the valley was by avoiding spandex. Also in the first X-Men movie an extra effort was made to avoid the valley by openly acknowledging the silliness of code names. In Batman Begins, Gotham City was given a very distinctive and not overly realistic feel. Batman Begins also went to great lengths to justify and explain Batman’s gadgets in a way that avoids the valley. The Uncanny X-Valley isn’t just a comic story phenomenon either. Some people find Alex Ross’s super hero paintings “too realistic”. (I’m not one of them.)

Maybe using anthropomorphic characters is a way to avoid falling into the valley. Usagi Yojimbo stories have a lot of components and elements that are historically accurate and thoroughly researched. However, not matter how “realistic” an Usagi Yojimbo story might be written, the title character is still a samurai rabbit. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the fact that the main character is a rabbit is one of the keys to telling more “human” stories?

I think it will be interesting to watch and see if a rapid descent into the Uncanny X-Valley occurs for mainstream super hero comics. I think it is more likely that the pendulum will swing back the other way and more fantastic (and less realistic) stories start coming back in style. Time will tell.

And I’ll be watching.

There’s more than one way to become a super hero.

Personally, I’m a fan of the technological approach (see part 1 and part 2 of the battle armor series). But not everyone wants to build a high-tech laboratory and invent crime fighting super gadgets. (I find it hard to believe that there are people who don’t want to invent crime fighting super gadgets, but I guess it is true.) Some people want to achieve superhood through a more natural, organic, and possibly spiritual process.

I’ve read a lot of comic books, so I feel eminently qualified to distill out the essential formula. The first thing you need to do is go somewhere strange, mystical and exotic. I should point out that my view of “strange, mystical and exotic” is from an American perspective, so if my idea of “strange, mystical and exotic” is actually your hometown then you’ll need to figure out a different “strange, mystical and exotic” locale. I recommend International Drive in Orlando, Florida. (It’s a little light in “mystical” and “exotic”, but it has plenty of “strange”.) Some of the options are places like Stonehenge, an African jungle (preferably one with a lost city of some sort), and Milwaukee. But if you are serious then you need to go straight to the top. I’m talking about the Himalayas.

Once in the Himalayas the first thing you need to do is find yourself a wise teacher. Even though I have never actually been there, I’ve read enough comics to feel confident that wise teachers are coming out of the woodwork in the Himalayas. You’re probably fine teaming up with the first one you run across.

The casual comic reader would think that you have to spend at least 10 years in the mountains studying. You know, reading ancient texts, practicing kung fu in the snow, getting hit with sticks. The usual. However, this being the 21st century and the age of instant gratification, I’m going to pass along to you, dear reader, a short cut.

Amazing Spider-Man 252

Goji berries. That’s right, Himalayan goji berries. You see, comic books also teach us that a rare and exotic food, preferrably a fruit from the Himalayas, can accelerate the superification process. Goji berries are supposed to be chock full of nutrients and whatnot and good for what ails you. (And by the way, this site tells the story of a man named Li Qing Yuen who dined regularly on goji berries and lived to the ripe old age of 252, which also happens to be the issue number of the Amazing Spider-Man that debuted the black symbiote costume. Coincidence?) Clearly, wild goji berries, plucked fresh from the vine will make you extra special super.

So for those of you who don’t want to build your own technology, I recommend that you travel to the Himalayas, find yourself a wise teacher, get hit with some sticks, and nosh on goji berries. And in some amount of time (less than 10 years with the berries), you ought to be ready for a rewarding career in costumed crime fighting.

Let me know how it works out for you.