Fighting Crime, Spinning Webs

I love Spider-Man. As a kid, he was the first comicbook character I collected. I had a huge collection of Spidey comics. I loved the 90’s cartoon. And when they started selling the US comics in stores in Ireland, the first one I bought was, of course, a Spider-Man issue. Though I was a bit lost, as the UK reprint collections I had been buying as well were about 6 to 8 months behind, so I had a lot to fill in. 

I was incredibly excited at the prospect of seeing my hero in live action in a major summer blockbuster movie with the budget and team to make it look good, and I adored the web swingers 2002 release, starring Toby Maguire. 

The follow-up in 2004, pitting our friendly neighborhood wall crawler against the awesome mind and might of Doctor Octopus took everything to the next level, resulting in a movie that still thrills me to this day. It did, however, get me in a not insignificant amount of trouble with my girlfriend for buying a super articulated 18 inch tall action figure released for that sequel, which I still have to this day, and I bring him to the cinema for the wall crawler’s big events, much to many other fans amusement. 

Although they generally get poor reviews from critics and fans alike, I unironically enjoyed the Andrew Garfield movies from the 2010’s. I still think that while the Toby Maguire had a much better Peter Parker, the Garfield ones captured Spider-Man far more accurately. But both are outdone by the Tom Holland series that brings Spider-Man and friends into the mega blockbuster universe that all began in 2008 with Iron Man. 

Being a comic character, it’s no surprise that I love his animated outings as well. The incredible Spectacular Spider-Man from 2008 is one of my all-time favourite cartoon series, with its gorgeous, clean, minimalistic designs, absolutely rocking theme tune, and top tier character development and story arcs. It died too soon, cancelled after only two seasons, ending on a cliffhanger, thanks to the purchase of Marvel by Disney. Disney! Till all are one! 

The theatrically released animated Into The Spider-Verse movie from 2018 left me utterly stunned in the cinema, sitting jaw wide open, gapping at the unique visual touches, the masterful characters and plot and the unexpected twists and turns, all wrapped in a genuinely touching story about family, love and loss. I consider it to be one of the finest superhero movies ever made, and certainly the best Spider-Man movie to date. 

All this to say that I’m very excited for the upcoming third instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man series, No Way Home. 

Earlier tonight, I got my tickets for the preview screening on Thursday, December 16th in downtown. I would have preferred to get tickets for my local theatre, but all the good screenings (Read: Not 3D) were sold out by the time I learned they were even available. 

Friday morning had lots of space, so I’m also going to go see it then.

And maybe once more over the weekend. I haven’t decided yet.

Of course I’ve decided. You know me too well. 

No Spoilers!

Back in my day, we had TV ad breaks and pre-show cinema trailers, and we liked it!

Actually, we hated it. I recall trying to download tiny pixelated 480P trailers on the college computers at UCC just so I could watch Spider-Man web a helicopter full of bank thieves between two iconic buildings in New York. 

There was a time, however brief, when people would pay to see a mediocre movie just to watch a new trailer for a major upcoming release, such as The Matrix or Lord of the Rings. 

Today’s standard deluge of endless previews and promos and extended scenes and “first five minutes” were unheard of. You got a few trailers in the months running up to release, all made up of broadly the same footage, with maybe one or two unique shots to justify it’s existence. 

If feels like these days you can piece together 75% of a movie from the promotional material. In fact, the inspiration for this post was a clip from the soon to launch Hawkeye series for Disney+ that I watched just before starting to write this. I didn’t mind because the clip was short and while I’m looking forward to the series, I’m not super worried about light spoilers. It’s not like an official promo piece was going to spoil the ending or anything before the series even airs, unlike all those “What the Last 3 Minutes of the Big New Movie That Only Came Out Today Means” that are all over YouTube for every major release. 

On the other hand, I am already 100% sold on the upcoming Spider-Man Marvel Universe movie, No Way Home. If I don’t see a single frame, set photo, news article, rumour or trailer before I see the movie in theatres this December, I’ll be delighted! I have a bunch of keywords muted on Twitter in the hopes that they won’t show up on my feed. 

However, last Tuesday a new trailer dropped, with loads of new footage and new big plot reveals. I had long before decided that nothing would get me to watch it, but as soon as it was online, YouTube helpfully pushed it into my suggested feed. Not an issue, I can just not click on it. But there was a new character reveal right there in the thumbnail. Worse, while I had gathered enough rumours in the months previously that I expected this particular character to appear, I now had their new look spoiled on me. 

I miss going in to movies blind, being totally shocked by every twist and turn of the plot, every reveal and cameo. It feels like the only way to achieve that today is to swear off the internet in the months before the release. And as much as I love you, Spider-Man, I love the internet more. 

Stan Lee

I am the person I am today in no small part thanks to Stan Lee. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to diminish the influence of my parents, grandparents, friends and family. They were all part of my upbringing too. It’s just that, as a kid, I loved comics, and I loved Marvel Comics more than any other.

Through the characters he created, Stan taught me that everyone deserves love, respect and happiness, regardless of nationality, skin colour, race or creed, or any other defining trait. Treat everyone with respect and expect to receive respect in return. Likewise, don’t tolerate hatred. Stand against those who would hurt others. Don’t allow bullies to win.

Anyone can be someone’s hero. You don’t have to be big or muscular or possessing super flight to do good deeds. Small actions speak volumes to those they affect. And enough small deeds can change the world.

You don’t have to be rich or an alien or a godess to do good, though getting bitten by a spider, dosed with lethal radiation or filled with an untested chemical serum helps. But it normal people who are pure of heart that make the world better.

Respect your elders. Respect your partners. Respect your teachers and your mentors. And when you make it remember that you didn’t get there alone and don’t ever think that you and you alone are deserving of anything. Work hard for what you want and honour those that got you there and those that keep you there.

May his memory be a blessing.

Movie Review: Spidey On Spidey

Hi ho, Readers! It's your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man here! Denis has kindly allowed me to do a guest post on his blog, as we're reviewing the newly released "The Amazing Spider-Man".

I'll try not to be as cliched as to use such adjectives as "amazing" or "spectacular" while writing this review, but one or two might slip in, as the movie was, in my humble opinion, incredible! Director Marc Webb proved himself worthy of the task at hand, living up to the comic action and proving he wasn't just chosen for the comedy value of seeing his name in the opening credits! He did a great job on not just the action scenes, but everything from the softer, quieter moments, to my loud-mouth, mid-fight quips.

I was especially impressed with the choice of cast. There wasn't a weak link among the lot of them, from the always wonderful Martin Sheen to Dennis Leary, an actor who I feel deserves more roles than he seems to get. Andrew Garfield was a great choice to play my civilian identity, and Emma Stone played a powerful and strong-willed Gwen Stacy, pretty much as I remember her...

Sorry. Had to take a moment there. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. The entire cast was superb. My only complaint about the cast, in fact, was that some didn't get as much character time as I would have hoped. Everyone was so strong in their role, I would have been happy to see more time given to any or all of them. My friend Stan Lee gets his best cameo yet in this outing, inciting laughs throughout the theater during his short scene on-camera.

But what of the star himself, me! The new costume is wonderful. I might have to try to get myself a custom version, as the kids will only recognize me in that now. Assuming they didn't hire one of my many clones as the stunt double, the CG me is a great facsimile. It really looked like it had mass behind it, and moved better than previous attempts to fake me on-screen. I was especially impressed with my training scene in the warehouse, which looked like a lot of fun. Special shout-out to whoever reproduced my webs. They had lots of tiny details, and looked great on the big screen. They were especially effective in 3D.

Which brings me to the hot topic of modern cinema. Let's talk 3D.

First and foremost, if you're wondering how I managed to watch the movie in 3D, thankfully, the lenses in my mask are polarized, so I don't have to wear those silly glasses. That's doubly good, as they'd be enormous on me, and I don't have ears to hang them on. Normally, I prefer to see movies in 2D. However, in this case, the 3D was really good!

No, no, no! Bare with me. I know. I usually hate 3D too (As do I- Denis). But it really was used extraordinarily well here (As much as I hate too, I have to agree- Denis). There is a great use of 3D with web-lines in a sewer, and the web-swinging through Manhattan worked much better in the final movie than it ever did in the early trailers. It still wasn't much compared to doing the real thing, but a good try. To be fair, if one hero was going to benefit from 3D, it was always going to be me! I even flinched during one scene, something I haven't done in any other extra-D movie.

Finally, I have to say something about the soundtrack. This is especially worth mention, as I noticed and enjoyed it so much. The score was fantastic, with some noticeably beautiful pieces throughout. It was truly orchestral at times, really adding to the emotion or action on-screen. While my friends in the Avengers still reign supreme as the best super-hero movie overall, I think I deserve the "Best Score" award.

Unlike some, I was a big fan of the earlier Spider-Man movie series. Well, the first two at least. Even then, this one blows those previous efforts out of the water, for story, character and effects. There is so little to complain about for me, despite the fact that it doesn't strictly follow my personal mythology. It really is an exceptionally fun piece of cinema, even if it'll never win an Oscar and I give it two Spidey thumbs-up all the way! Highly recommended.

Fan Expo Vancouver: Year One

Last weekend my wonderful wife and I attended the first day of the inaugural Fan Expo Vancouver in sunny Downtown Vancouver! Every word in that sentence is true, even the "sunny" bit. It was a beautiful day, not too hot for those of us in costume, but more importantly, not raining.

For a "Year One" event, the organizers did a fantastic job lining up some incredible guests. Claire was thrilled to be able to say "hello" to Marina Sirtis, the actress that played Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as voicing Matriarch Benezia in the first Mass Effect game. I got to chat to one of Star Trek's supreme beings, Q, in his form of actor John de Lancie, possibly my favourite Star Trek... erm... antagonist? Enemy or villain sounds too strong. Mostly he ended up just being hilarious and annoying. I also said "Hi" to Aaron Douglas, who, had I known in advance that I'd get to meet him, I would have asked to sign my BattleStar Galactica: The Board Game piece*! I missed out getting to meet David Hayter and Jennifer Hale (I even had my steel case copy of Mass Effect 3 in my bag) due to a hungry, hungry tummy, and I regret not saying "hello" to Michael Dorn (who you can currently catch in the latest season of Castle, folks!**) when I had the chance.

Most of the guests I was interested in meeting had a table covered in glossy, high quality images on sale that they would sign for you. This usually ranged from $20 to $30. Unfortunately, what with the whole "between work permits" thing that we're on right now, we couldn't afford to buy any, so we didn't really get any autographs. We felt a little embarrassed talking to some of the celebrities, knowing that we wouldn't be buying their merchandise, but we made sure not to take up much of their time. There's always next year.

The Fan Expo once again also gave me the opportunity to show off the amazing gift my amazing wife and amazing friends bestowed upon me, and dress up in costume as The Rocketeer! This is the second time I've had the joy of appearing as my number one all-time favourite movie hero, the first being back in August of last year at PAX Prime. I never did get around to uploading photos of that event, so I'll see about rectifying that soon.

I was delighted at how many people of all ages recognised the costume, and spent all day getting stopped for photos. Once Claire and I had decided to head out for food, it took us over 30 minutes to cross the main floor, as I couldn't move ten feet without getting stopped. Of course, I loved it, and delighted in letting people hold and even try on the helmet. It's great to be able to make someone's dream come true, and there were a lot of Rocketeer fans at the Fan Expo, but only one Rocketeer. Actually, there were two, but I'll get to that in another post.

The first Fan Expo Vancouver was, as far as this convention attendee is concerned, a roaring success. I have no doubt it will be back, bigger and better, next year, and I'll be there.

Post Script: But that's not all, dear Reader! There are two very special guests I haven't mentioned here and want to talk about, but each deserves their own post, and so they shall get it. In both cases, it was a chance to meet someone I never thought I would ever have the chance to meet. In one of those cases it was the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream, in the other, the chance to say "Thank you". Coming soon!

*- Admittedly I'd have needed to know far in advance, as it's still back in Ireland with friends. 
**- "Who", or "Whom"?!? Usually I know, but this instance has me stumped.


Some more photos from the convention floor:

Some photos were more enjoyable to pose for than others...

It's Matt Wagner's Mage! It's like he stepped off the comic page into real life!

Two of the greatest pulp heroes, together at last! This guy was hilarious and great to meet.

I got some amazing and treasured photos with incredible people, but this is probably my favourite photo of the convention. I didn't know he was doing this, as my vision is severely restricted in that helmet. Hilarious!

I asked to get a photo with these guys, as Joe Johnson directed both The Rocketeer and the recent Captain America movie. Very cool.

This was an entirely homemade costume! It was beautiful! Fantastic job. He had the mask, but it was getting too stuffy to wear, which I could sympathize with.

Good Times

While looking through some of the photos I have tagged as "Favourite" on Flickr, I found these, in no particular order.None of these were taken by me, but all of them bring back some great memories. All images link to their original location, so click through to read about them.

In case people haven't seen them, there is a full set of Spider-Man's adventures around Cork, posted by Peter Parker himself, on Flickr. Seems he had a lot of fun while Claire and myself were away in the U.S. last summer. Just follow the link!

52 Weeks One Hero

Hi there, folks! Your friendly neighbourhood web-blogger here, taking over from Denis for a post. It wasn't that hard either. He leaves his account logged in, fool. All I had to do was wait until he was out and nab the keyboard!

Anyway, in his last post he talked about this whole 52 Weeks thing he's doing. Well, that inspired me to do something similar, but I figured having me turn up in the same group might not be the best idea. People might get annoyed. So I thought to myself, there are tonnes of action figures of little old me in the world, as well as tonnes of figures of lesser heroes. Surely there is somewhere that hosts portraits of toys! And sure enough there is.

Plastic 52 is all about respecting the little guy. Or gal, or monster, or car, or robot, or carobot, but you get the picture. So I joined up Denis' Flickr account to that too (he leaves that logged in as well! Will he never learn?). I've posted my first image, which, in the hopes of calming Denis down when he finds out what I've done, has him in it too.

So if any of you loyal readers have cool toys you might like to share with the world, come join us! It's a new group, so everyone's really friendly with everyone right now, which is great.

Anyway. I'm off to read some more Ultimate me. Did you know I'm dating Kitty Pryde in that universe? Man. I wish I could date Kitty Pryde. I wish I could date.

See ya in the funny pages!