Actual day one, as opposed to the unofficial day one on Wednesday.
Managed to get my hands on this year’s limited edition “My Little Pony” for Caroline. Thank God, because she kept asking whether I’d gotten it yet. Every year I get her the pony from Hasbro, which frequently have a superhero theme, and when I bring it home she rips it out of the box (suck it, eBay people) and has the previous years’ ponies welcome the new arrival. She has a little Justice League of Ponies.
Worked for a while at the Marvel booth while waiting for Chris Evans to show up (since I wanted to get a poster signed for Caroline.) Handed out Avengers and Defenders shirts and various other items to the waiting fans, which was a lot of fun (for me, at least; I hope it was for them as well). Then Evans, who is in the midst of a press junket, showed up and I got the signed poster. And it was just in time for me to make the 12 Noon showing of “Captain America” over at the Horton Plaza.
What a terrific film. Wonderfully acted, solid direction, a script that deftly mixes wildly hilarious moments with the reality that they’re in a war. Remember how I complained about Thor in 3D missing the obvious shot of having the hammer come right at the viewer. They sure didn’t miss that trick with Cap’s shield. I don’t know that you HAVE to see it in 3d–you probably don’t. Depends how much it’s worth it to you to feel the need to dodge a flying discus.
Signing at the Marvel Booth went fine. Then attended a panel on Gay and Lesbian characters in the X-Men books (obviously because of my work with Rictor and Shatterstar) that I thought went quite well. The room was SRO; it was nice to see that sort of turnout and enthusiasm.
Attended a party being held by Scholastic to celebrate 20 years of publishing Jeff Smith’s “Bone.” I say with complete honesty that it literally could not happen to a nicer guy.
By the end of the party, though, my feet were done. I wound up cabbing back to the hotel.
Tomorrow is my first really busy day. Should be interesting.
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“She has a little Justice League of Ponies.” That’s the difference between you and me, Peter. I would have said “Now she has her own Legion of Super Pets!” Great report! I’ll “Stay Tuned” for more installments.
Did you catch the Golden Age cameo in the Exhibition of Science scene?
Are you referring to a certain costume behind some glass?
So, any chance we’ll see a Justice League of Ponies short appear on YouTube, written, voiced, and moved by Caroline (or her parents)?
See, I’ll be happier with 3D when they *stop* with that annoying gimmick of flinging something at the camera.
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Hope you’re having as good a day today!
Captain America is definitely my favorite superhero movie of the year. I guess it’s not surprising, since The Rocketeer is also a favorite of mine. I’d love to see a JSA movie directed by Johnston, set in the 40s. He seems to have an affinity for that kind of movie.
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And what a great cast! Tommy Lee Jones stole the show, but Chris Evans, Stanley Tucci, Hugo Weaving, and Hayley Atwell were also terrific (and finally we have a superhero love interest who looks and acts like a woman, not like a girl).
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My only problem with it is that the set-up was so great — I love how they took their time telling his origin and everything — but once they finally got to the WWII action, it all kind of felt almost like an after-thought. Heck, the first time we see Cap in his real uniform, it’s in a montage! Even Bucky’s death barely even registered with me. And it was cool seeing Dum Dum and company, but they just seemed to have been stuck in there, with little thought (I’m pretty sure they were never even named within the film… and apparently the British guy was NOT Percy Pinkerton, but James Montgomery Falsworth??? Dum Dum being played by Neal McDonough, of all people, was also weird, but he made it work).
A friend of mine described the end of the film as being hollow, after what we both agreed was a very strong opening.
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I don’t really agree with it as being hollow, but things felt very rushed due to the fact that they had to tell and origin and then set it up for The Avengers.
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In fact, that was a complaint I saw about Thor, too. That the film had too much of SHIELD, and seemed to be there only because of The Avengers, rather than whether Thor could stand on his own.
I can agree with the “hollow” statement. The ending was so downplayed that it made the movie feel like a prologue to The Avengers, rather than a stand-alone film.
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That bothered me about Thor, too, all the SHIELD stuff. Especially the way Hawkeye was shoehorned into it, with no explanation of who he is or why SHIELD would employ an archer.
I guess the more I think about it, the more I can see why hollow is appropriate.
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Cap, more than any of the others, really needed more than one film before being dragged into the present for The Avengers.
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And yeah, I don’t know how they’re going to be able to use Hawkeye or Nick Fury (as we have yet to see him actually do anything superhero-y) without people scratching their heads.
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Not to mention, people may have entirely forgotten about the Hulk, and it won’t help that the green giant might look different yet again.
Anyone else notice the Garth Ennis bit in the film?
I KNEW that was you at the Chris Evans signing! When I saw you lean into the camera after getting the autograph and yelling, “This is cool!”, I thought – “Waitaminute, was that Peter David?”
I saw Captain America yesterday afternoon. Thought it was pretty good (Hayley Atwell totally rocked in the movie… and yeah, so did Chris Evans). Liked the twist with Bucky (no way in hëll would a camp mascot fly with today’s film audience), and seeing him wear a version of the Winter Soldier’s costume made me wonder about future movies. However, I thought the black guy in the Howling Commandos was a younger Fury – which wasn’t clarified throughout the movie.
Glad you had fun at Comic-Con!