The Geek Beat: Interview with a Newbie

And are you starting to get what this is all about? Comic books – why people like them, or do you still not get it?
I think I get it. I think there's probably a lot of reasons people like them. I think the art contributes a lot to people's overall pleasure of a comic book. You're gonna laugh, but I still think that whole thing of when you're a little kid, and you're reading a book with pictures, that there is a simple joy to that. You have the joy of the pictures with it, and the bright, bright colors! It's larger than life characters, and I think it all hearkens back to your childhood, and capturing it, and being able to have it. It's a way to sink into something and relax with it.

Well, I know you were really fried about the movies that were coming out. But you liked Iron Man. What was it about Iron Man that you liked so much? Because you seemed to really get it with him as opposed to X-Men and Hulk, and Batman.
I don't really know. Because I've never liked Batman very well, although I watched the original tv show. I used to LOVE watching the original Superman. The old black and white, with the saggy tights.

Yeah, I was going to say, wasn't there a story about you and a cape...?
YES, there's a story about me and a cape. It involves a very large blanket, a chain link fence, and me standing on top of it in a very high wind, hoping that was what was going to take me off. And I fell, and the blanket got caught on the "cape" on the chain link fence, and I nearly choked to death. And apparently, the neighbors had been watching me and called my mother on the phone. That all came back to me reading comic books! Because I never read comic books as a kid. Of course, I'm an anomaly – a geek who came from non-geek parents, and had no geek siblings, so there was never anybody to take my by the hand and put a comic book in it. My dad actually was the one who showed me Batman [on tv] – maybe he secretly read comics and I never knew. I don't think so. I asked [your] Dad just now, tele vision buff that he is, if he read comic books. He said he read Superman and he read Batman. The rest of the comic books he read were all tv show related. Like apparently, Time Tunnel had a comic book ... a bunch of them had comic books. I didn't know that. I did own a comic book as a child. After you brought this up that you were going to ask me, I remembered that I had a comic book.

A comic book?
Yeah. You probably don't even want to put this in there. It was Huey, Dewey and Louie. I got it when I went downtown to spend the night with Gloria. We went to the little neighborhood grocery store, and I got that. I loved it. I had it for years and years. I used to pull it out as a teenager and reread it because I loved it so much. Why was I such a dumbass, and didn't think about going and getting another one? I don't know. But I do totally get it. But as to why Iron Man versus --

Because you didn't want to see The Dark Knight.
I don't know. Maybe I've been tarnished because I didn't read the comics, or because of all the previous Batman movies. You can only take so much of that. I figure it's just not going to be good. But you all say it's good, so, obviously it must have been. I loved [Richard Donner's] Superman. You know that. I'm a diehard Christopher Reeves fan. I loved it.

I remember you were really deadset against Superman Returns, and that you didn't think it worked.
I hated it. For Tony Stark, it's his personality. I like him as [a] human being. Just like I like Clark Kent. Even though Tony is a playboy, and he's suave...for some reason Batman never did it for me. Because I just think what's-his-name is an a**hole.

Bruce Wayne? Well you know, they say that it was Bruce Wayne that died that night his parents were killed. That Bruce Wayne is the fiction and Batman is the reality.
That's a good way to describe it. If you look at the ones now with Christian Bale, that's the way he plays it. He's a very cold and disconnected person. I don't think he can even have a decent relationship with a woman. Tony Stark never got disconnected from the world. He adapted! "I'll just slam this thing into my chest and become a better me." He's smart, and yes he's rich, but I don't know – he does something different for me more than Batman. And I dig the whole robot thing!

You're just proud you can tell the Mach 1 suit now.
That's not true, I only just learned that like 3 days ago.

You wanted an Iron Man t-shirt at ComicCon!
I DID! I like him. I like the robot, I think he's sexy, I think Tony Stark is sexy. Maybe Adam West killed [Batman] for me with the yellow shorts, the gray tights, the Bat-dance. I just can't do Batman.

But you didn't really get into Wolverine and the X-Men either – was it because it was so far out?
No – well yes, it is far out. I've been debating that – you kept telling me during Watchmen "Remember Mom, it's not your 80's, this is an alternative universe 80's." The X-Men are obviously very far out, Watchmen is very realistic.

Because no one has superpowers.
Other than the blue dude, who we won't talk about. But the rest of them were normal people who wore costumes, and did their thing. And yes, Nite Owl is very smart, and he can build crazy things because he has the money. But none of the stuff is so far out that it can't be reality. I think Archimedes isn't that crazy of a concept that it couldn't work. X-Men definitely are more over the top – but I like their human counterpart better. I think Wolverine has a very human side, and I would be willing to read some of the comic books now, and see what he's like, versus Hugh Jackman's version. I like Professor X. I like the concept of the school. I didn't like – well, you know I didn't like the last movie.

No one liked it.
To me that just got too freaky. The people who just were freaks of nature. I like parts of it – I think the movies could have been better. I don't find [them as] intriguing, though. I get why you like X-Men.I could be a real snot about comic books. Because of being artistically inclined, the art – I'm very picky about the art.

Everyone's picky about the art. Or rather, everyone SHOULD be. Actually, wait, you read 300 and The Fountain before you read Watchmen.
M: I want to read The Fountain again! I liked 300. See to me, that was like a whole other level of comic book. Are there levels of comic books? That was truly a work of art. I liked that it was historically based – of course, there were some over the top things, but I think it was a really good package. His art is really amazing. I think the colors he picked were really cool. And I got into the characters right away. I just don't get how people can't be so picky. I guess if you really love the character that much, you would literally buy everything there was. I like everything to come together well. The story, the pictures, all of it. I've been sitting here complaining that oh my god, I can't believe they're doing another graphic novel, but after reading Watchmen or going back to The Fountain, and 300. I understand why they do it ... So yeah, I want to read more. I'm really anxious for The Stand. I love the story, the pre-art that we saw – again, I'm immediately connecting with these characters because they look very realistic. I like things to look very real. The concept of it is really intriguing. And I already love the story, and I already love the characters, so it will be really interesting to see it tied together in a shorter, more concise format, and with pictures to go with it. I think it's going to be fun.

And as far as movies – you want to see more Iron Man, but are there ones you've read about now that you want to see?
How much of Iron Man is Robert Downey Jr., and his interpretation of Tony Stark?

He's pretty much just like the comics. That's why everyone went so crazy for it.
I liked that he wasn't perfect. He was still working the bugs out of the whole thing – "I never really thought if I went too far, it was going to freeze." I really liked the comedic aspect. That's something Batman and X-Men doesn't have. They're too serious.

Well, X-Men had some – like when Wolverine flips off Cyclops.
But is that in the comic books? I loved that in the movie. I think it would be really hard to like a character, like you enjoy Wolverine, and then all these different people take it on ... He's different, maybe he doesn't always look the same, he doesn't act the same. Oh gee, I didn't like what this guy did so I'm going to erase that and pretend it didn't happen.

I've argued for that a lot, that they should have a set of rules and they can't mess with the character's backstory. They do, they give him a new Japanese wife that gets killed off in his past whenever he regains a memory. I hate that. Everyone should get their own take, but it should be in their own adventure, and some items should be left sacred.
I think that's why I might prefer a graphic novel. Or if one person does several comic books, and it's done. I don't think they should get to go back ... [But] I feel really stupid. Obviously, I liked to read, and I liked to draw, and if someone had introduced me to comic books – had I gotten into it, I would have wanted to draw them.

You could have been a ground breaker.
There you go, with that whole back in time thing.

Yeah, I should go back in time and hand you a comic book – Iron Man. You'll be all "OMG, I love this robot guy!" I'll say "It's like your Huey, Dewey and Louie comic!"
I remember it and wish I still had it. That's terrible.

That's so cute. I think that's sweet.