The Avengers Motion Picture Experience That Changed My Life

Editor's Note (I know there isn't an editor, I just wanted to say that): Most of this write-up is me gushing over superheroes and their importance to me. Sure I talk about the Avengers movie, but I also talk about the comic book Avengers that were important to me. So if you don't care about that (why should you?) then this will just end up sounding like a fanboy getting too excited over some dumb movie. Actually, yeah that's what this write-up is, a 19 year old who channeled his 11 year old self and let him loose at the keyboard to get excited about the Avengers. Sorry. 


Editor's Note 2 (*giggle* it entertains me to say): This is pretty stream of consciousness. Sorry about that. This blog post specifically could have benefitted from an editor. 


Editor's Note 3 (come on now): Oh and if you haven't seen the movie yet I do talk about it so there are some spoilers. So read at your own risk.

The Avengers!!!!!

In March of 2004 something truly life altering happened. Marvel comics decided to do a promotional stunt and sell the newest issue of the Avengers for fifty cents. A lot of people probably saw through this promo stunt, but little 11 year-old Alex drank that Kool-Aid so fast. Little 11 year-old Alex had his father buy that issue of Avengers because it was fifty cents. Fifty cents! How cool is that? All the other comics cost three dollars. Some comic fans might know that this issue was written by Chuck Austen. In most comic circles it is pretty clear that he isn't the best writer, but I'll be honest, I don't remember what happened in the issue. I do remember that this issue caused me to put Avengers on my pull list and since that day I have read a new issue of Avengers every month.

Avengers #77, or the catalyst

Avengers #77 (or 492 depending on what numbering you want to go by... yeah it's stupid) caused me to follow the Avengers through a Disassembly, a New era, a House of M, a Civil War, when they turned Mighty, a Secret Invasion, a Dark Reign, when they turned Dark, a Siege, and when they split up again but came back the next month New and Adjectiveless. I still read the Avengers and until recently I thought from time to time what it would look like for these characters to be on the big screen. Then I remembered that no movie studio would be dumb enough to pump so much money into such a movie with little to no big name characters. Then early this month I was forced to eat my hat.

The Avengers I grew up with were not the Avengers seen in this movie. The Avengers I grew up with were a ragtag group of heroes who were always on the run. Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye were dead, they were fighting Iron Man and his team of Mighty Avengers, and the Hulk was off in space somewhere. However I did read some older issues from before I started following the Avengers like I was getting paid for it. But those issues were not my Avengers. My Avengers would, and always will be, Luke Cage, Spider-man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Iron Fist and Doctor Strange; and whoever else showed up. I grew up with these characters and they grew as a team with me.

New Avengers #37, or my team

That isn't to say I did not enjoy this movie. Oh no, the complete opposite happened. I saw this movie three times in theaters. I could not get enough of this movie. I have loved these characters for my entire life and then seeing them on the big screen instead of being static drawings on a page was mind blowing. I used to act out comic books with my action figures, and as I grew older and realized how expensive movies were to make, I thought my little action figure creations would be the closest thing I ever got to a live action team-up movie. It feels like Joss Whedon and the rest of the crew on this movie somehow looked into my head, saw my dreams and said, "Oh, yeah. We can make that a reality. Come out on May 4th, 2012."

I had already seen Iron Man repulsor blast some bad guys, I had already seen Hulk SMASH, I had already seen Thor hurl his hammer, and I had already seen Captain America defy gravity with his shield in live action. I had seen all these characters before do what they do best, beat the bad guys. But what this movie did that none of the preceding movies had done was have it being done all at the same time under one roof. In this movie I not only saw Iron Man repulsor blast bad guys and Captain America defy gravity with his shield, I also saw Captain America ricochet Iron Man's repulsor blasts with his shield to defeat bad guys. I not only saw Thor hurl his hammer at bad guys and Hulk SMASH, I saw Thor hammer in a piece of alien worm armor that Hulk had just SMASHed into the alien worm's back.

If I was going into this movie with no knowledge of the characters or the universe they came from. I think I would still be excited. I'm almost positive that in all of movie history there has never been something like this done. Marvel Studios has been building to the Avengers since 2008's Iron Man. For 5 years Marvel Studios has been putting out movies for their different characters with the intent to have a movie where all these characters come together. That is so ballsy. The idea to spend millions of dollars producing these movies in hopes to produce another one that will cost even more millions of dollars is insane to me.

The Avengers were brought together Earth's mightiest heroes to defeat the foe that no single hero could. That foe was Loki and his army of alien known as the Chitarui (but I will just call them aliens or the aliens, or something to that degree because that word is dumb). Loki gets his hands on the Tesseract (another dumb word, but so is Cosmic Cube...) and starts to break everything. Loki has the power to control people's minds and takes control of Hawkeye and Erik Selvig who is the lead scientist for SHIELD in regards to the Tesseract. After getting away with the Tesseract Loki and his newly formed group start to build a gateway to bring the Aliens to earth. This forces the team of misfits to band together to save the earth.

Before the final battle started Tony Stark confronts Loki in his newly build Stark Tower. Loki has taken over the tower and is using it to house the device to open the portal to the aliens' world. Stark tells Loki that he isn't going to win, there is no way that he wins. Which is completely right. The good guys always win, the good guys always repulsor blast, or defy gravity with their shield, or hurl their hammer, or SMASH the bad guys. You knew the Avengers were going to come out on top. They were going to defeat Loki without question. When the Hulk defeated the first alien worm and Loki called the rest of the aliens in, it looked bleak, they might not win, then I remembered that they were the Avengers. They were the good guys and the good guys always win. Iron Man just told me!

The Avengers obviously win. Loki never stood a chance. The good guys always win. The bad guys might have the leg up, they might have all the space worms and aliens, but the good guys have the conviction. The good guys are fighting because the earth needs the protection. I knew going in the Avengers were going to win. I know going into any movie that the good guys are going to win, but that isn't the reason I saw this movie. I saw this movie because 11 year old Alex demanded we go see this movie. 11 year old Alex was bouncing off the walls to see all the repulsoring, throwing, hurling, and SMASHing he had only seen in the comics.

So did this movie deliver? Did they succeed in their experiment? Well if you look at the box office reports I think they did. This movie grossed a billion dollars quicker than any movie in history or something. I don't really care about how much money it made, I just want to see if this movie is creating a new generation of Avengers fans. Sitting in this movie my mind changed from the 19 year old college freshman to an 11 year old kid who just bought that fifty cent issue of Avengers. I wanted this movie to create more 11 year old kids who are going to sit in their room playing with their action figures reenacting their favorite scenes from this movie. I wanted this movie to create a new generation that fall in love with the repulsoring, shield throwing, hammer hurling, and SMASHing I saw in this movie.

This was the perfect superhero movie. This was the perfect team movie. This was the perfect movie for a 19 year old child hiding behind his beard. I saw this movie three times in theaters and each time I would get goosebumps when the Helicarrier lifted out of the water, I would get goosebumps when Captain America threw his shield at Iron Man and Thor to stop them from fighting, I would get goosebumps when Thor would hit Hulk across the jaw with his hammer, I would get goosebumps when Captain America and Iron Man fought aliens together, I got goosebumps when Thor and Hulk defeated a giant space worm together. I probably had goosebumps the entire time. But none more than when Hulk caught the falling Iron Man and then slowed himself down by sliding down a building in Manhattan.

Maybe not everyone liked this movie, some people probably hated it. That's their opinion and they are free to have it. Me on the other hand, I loved this movie. I loved the experience I had all three times in the theater. I love comic books and this movie got me excited to read comic books again. This movie showed me everything I liked about comic books and why they've been so important to me my entire life. This movie showed me why I can still get excited about repulsor blasting, shield throwing, hammer hurling, and SMASHing, because it's a getaway. It is a getaway from the trials and worries of life and gateway into a world of superheroes.

I love this movie so much.



I don't own those pictures

From my phone

I guess you can access your blogger on smart phones. Pretty nifty. So here's my first (and probably last because I don't like this) post from my phone.

Here's a picture for you troubles:

"King City" or "I Guess Cats Can Be Cool"

Joe and Earthling

I've never been a cat person. Cats always seemed like jerks to me. I never owned a cat but my Grandma had one and it was just flat out mean. Never let anyone pet it and it would hide most of the day. I always preferred dogs. They love to be pet and want to be around you; but then they slobber. I hate saliva from any animal (humans included).

But what if cats had the potential to be useful?! What if you could inject your cat with a syring of "cat juice" and it could do anything? It could be a parascope, a copy machine, a megaphone, a weapon, or anything else you need to pull of that heist. I would definitely consider adopting a cat.

In the Brandon Graham comic, King City, a cat can do all of those things and more. In this book there is a group of people known as "Cat Masters" who have harnessed the power and abilities of cats. They use them to counteract the powerful enemies of the universe. Awesome.

King City follows Joe who is a Cat Master with his cat "Earthling J.J. Cattingworth the Third." Together Joe and Earthling, (with some cat juice) work as a team to do small jobs as hired thieves. This world is so unique but somehow Brandon Graham keeps it so familiar and accessible. We're not all hired thieves and I'm positive in saying that no one uses their cat as an all-purpose tool. But I'm sure we've been able to relate to Joe in one way or another.

Joe used to live in King City. He had good friends, and a nice girl. But then they broke up and he left. He went to travel around the rest of California with no intent of going back to King City. He finds himself back in King City having to confront all the pain and memories he thought he could forget.


Anna, Joe's ex, gets a lot of time in this series to showing her life after Joe left. Drawing mustaches on billboards.  Not sure why that is her career, but it got a few laughs out of me. Anna's boyfriend, Max, had some intriguing points in this book and one of the more interesting back stories. (Fighting zombies in Korea and getting addicted to a drug that with prolonged use turns you into said drug.)


This series seemed unfocused but at the same time had a clear idea of where it was going and how it was going to end. It seemed unfocused in that it never really focused on a specific character for longer very long. I enjoyed the pacing and split between characters, but would have liked to see more Cat Master-ing.

I don't want to ruin the ending, but I think a lot of people (some other people who talked about this comic actually) won't enjoy the ending. It will feel like the Lost ending, Battlestar Galactica ending, or any other piece of fiction where everything does not get tied up in a nice bow. It is another series where the ending is an ending for this character, not the universe. I am fine with that, and sometimes prefer it.

A very entertaining part of this series were all the random little puns thrown into the background and foreground of the story. If you decide to read this book take your time. It is dense. Just about every billboard or tik tok stand has some little joke or turn of phrase that will get a smile.

This book was a break from everything else I have read lately. It was a nice break from the normal good guy beats up bad guy. The good guys beat up the bad guys, but not Joe isn't that good guy. He's just the guy who does things for the people he cares about. This book was entertaining and gave a lot to the reader, it didn't change my life, but it might change yours.

Cover to the trade collection

I don't own those pictures. (someone should tell me if I need to keep saying this)

The Triumphant Return!

The last time I wrote something here was on Easter. Been a while. Sorry to all my readers; who am I kidding, I'm the only who reads these. I guess I shouldn't be sorry, I should apologize to the internet for taking up more... internets? 

I guess with being on summer break now I will have more time to write or whatever you call this. I've been on summer break for about a week and a half now. That whole time I've tried to think of what I can do on this blog now. I basically already got bored writing reviews of things I've read or watched lately, and let's be honest how many reviews do people need to read? I still haven't really figured out what else I want to do on here, but I've got a few ideas for some write-ups. Who knows if I'll get around to them. (I probably will I have nothing else to do right now.)

I am planning on a post either later tonight or tomorrow morning about King City by Brandon Graham from Image Comics and Tokyopop. And I've seen Avengers twice already so I think I will write something about that eventually. Then there's always a grab-bag post about random stuff I read, watched, or listened to that day. 

I've got a lot of free time now and very little things I need to do so who knows what this blog will turn into. I'm excited to see what this thing transforms into, or if it transforms at all (I don't think it will, this will eternally be my musings on popculture and random thoughts I have). So I will take any suggestions on hobbies. 

You're still reading? Uhh, well... I'm more or less spent on the stream of consciousness thing at the moment. Well here's a finding that has changed my life for the better:

Cereal. It's a big deal in my life. I think my favorite cereal is Peanut Butter Captain Crunch but that changes often depending on what is available. But some mainstays in my cereal eating are definitely Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. Both of those cereals were readily available at my house growing up because Costco sold them in those giant crates. Often they were both in the cupboard at the same time and it wasn't until this year, my first year of college, my first and last year of being 19, that my eyes were opened. 

In the cafeteria they always had 5 or 6 different types of cereal. Sometimes Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms were there at the same time. I'm not sure which one of my friends was the first to do it, I know it wasn't me; mixing cereals went against everything I believed in. However it wasn't against my friends' paradigms. So someone on purpose or by accident mixed Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I thought they were a madman and was reconsidering our friendship. But after I was coerced into trying it, everything changed. The oats part of the Lucky Charms were edible for once! The cinnamon that was taken off the Cinnamon Toast Crunch by the milk attached itself to the Lucky Charms oats pieces. 

I haven't thought about cereal the same since. Now instead of eating the cereal for enjoyment, I am eating the cereal for research to figure out which cereals might taste good together. I haven't stumbled upon any other earth shattering (like this discovery was? Come on) mixtures worth speaking of, but I will let you know when I do.

Essentially what I'm trying to say is don't be me. Don't just do the same thing over and over again and get in a rut that forces you to keep doing the same thing. Change and grow and learn new things. You'll thank me later.

Or not, you don't have to.

Really? You're still reading? Nothing better to do today? Neither did I, that's why I wrote a bunch of words about cereal. Well if you are interested here's a list of a few posts I am either working on or doing research for (by research I mean most likely watching more TV and eating more cereal):

• King City by Brandon Graham
• Marvel's the Avengers: The Motion Picture Experience That Changed My Life (I added that subtitle)
• The Vanilla Ice Project on the DIY Network
• The beach
• Puppies who like bubbles
• Puppies who like paper bowls

I think that's enough. Sorry if I wasted your time, I know I wasted mine. But I had fun so does it really matter?