he was turned to steel in the great magnetic field

This week’s media blow incorporates the latest in Stark repulsor technology.

Iron Man: Dude. Iron Man. Dude. Iron Man.

Dude.

Jon Favreau directed perhaps the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen (short of The Incredibles). I suspect he pulled this off because he made a priority of making a good movie first, and a superhero movie second. Favreau wandered through the same minefield that every superhero movie does but emerged unscathed. Let’s take a look:

Tedious Origin Story: Robert Downey Jr, as playboy millionaire Tony Stark, spends the first half of the movie inventing his suit, testing its powers and reveling in his new identity. Why does this work, when it failed for other movies? Because Tony Stark makes Iron Man. He didn’t wake up one morning with super-strength and wall-stickiness. He didn’t get struck by lightning after being dosed by chemicals. The process of experimentation and forging invests us more than following the blithe adventures of a lucky idiot.

Wacky Villains: When you adapt a comic book to the big screen, you realize that guys in blue tights or villains in green and yellow costumes look ridiculous in the real world. Seriously. They look like cartoons. No one would take them seriously. Favreau avoids this by retaining the same names and general ideas, but completely revamping them for a modern story. I won’t spoil the connections for comic book purists - just pay close attention to what people say.

I … Will Avenge … You: As fun as Spider-Man was, I had a hard time with a movie where everyone took everything they said so seriously. Tobey Maguire couldn’t tell someone he needed milk from the store without a wistful look in his eyes and stern resolution in his jawline. But Downey, Terence Howard and Jeff Bridges talk just like regular people talk. They talk over each other, sometimes. They throw off-hand remarks. They’re regular people who just happen to have access to incredible weaponry.

Well, My Work Here Is Done: I never realized how weak the traditional superhero origin story sounded until walking out of Iron Man. Okay, I have super powers. I’m going to put on a costume to avenge my parents’ / family’s / neighbor’s death. Having finished that, rather than return to a normal life, I’ll keep doing this, going after lower and lower stakes until I die or get tired of it. Stark’s purpose in becoming Iron Man doesn’t stop after the first film’s villain buys it, though. He has a clear goal in mind: ridding the world of the weaponry his company created. That goal may expand (it’ll probably have to, to keep the franchise going), but at least he starts with a logical reason for superheroics.

Flip the Script: In addition to surviving and improving on all the standard superhero movie tropes, Iron Man flips several on its head. These will not only entertain your average comic book fan, but will keep the casual moviegoer from rolling their eyes at the awkward suspension of disbelief.

I recommend this film without qualification.

I may discuss some spoilers in the comments, so tread with care.

tell me all your thoughts on god

This media blow offers a terrifying vision of the future:

Planetary: Warren Ellis cutting loose with superhero tropes like he always wanted to. You’ve got Doc Savage Axel Brass, John Constantine Jack Carter, the Fantastic Four the Four Voyagers, etc. The early issues suffer a little from a lack of protagonists - our heroes show up at a place, witness something happening, and then usually do nothing. But it rattles into high gear after a few issues and then takes off.

Half Nelson: I watched about half of this and then just turned it off. I just couldn’t keep interest in a white guy who’s (1) addicted to crack, (2) still able to keep a day job as a teacher and (3) engages his uniformly non-white students. Perhaps watching this in parallel with Season 4 of The Wire, where all three elements also exist and end poorly, made for bad timing. It’s not a bad movie at all - just doesn’t do it for me.

The Immortal Iron Fist: A solid, fun introduction to the character. I’d never read page one of an Iron Fist comic before but was able to follow this without difficulty. The action keeps up at a frenetic pace; the expository boxed text never clutters the scene. And even the plot twists are sufficiently surprising. If Matt Fraction stays on as a writer I think I’ll buy some more.

The Space Merchants: Have I mentioned C.M. Kornbluth in the last sixty seconds? No? Okay: Cyril Kornbluth was one of the sharpest, darkest, funniest minds ever to write in the sci-fi genre. He’s like Philip K. Dick on martinis instead of psychedelics.

Anyhow, The Space Merchants, written in collaboration with Frederik Pohl, tells the story of a bizarre and distant future. The narrator works for a nearly omnipotent ad agency that’s responsible for turning India into a single megacorporation (”Indiastries”) and has been granted the contract to colonize Venus. But corporate rivals and radical eco-terrorists (who believe crazy things like “the interests of producer and consumer are not identical”) keep trying to kill, kidnap or recruit him. Dark hilarity ensues.

Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The past year hasn’t been kind to my favorite Marvel character, who kind of became a dick during the whole Civil War storyline. Fortunately, in Dan and Charlie Knauf’s hands, Tony Stark becomes the conflicted yet ass-kicking futurist we’ve come to know and love. It only collects 4 current issues, but the printer pads the run out with a garish 1960s classic (the first appearance of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and a peppy 70s throwback (in which Tony holds firm against Nick Fury’s attempts to buy out his company). There’s also an extensive history of Iron Man in the back.