Tag Archives: Marvel

Sep 1 2013

Marvel and DC lessons at sea are just Top trumps

We recently came home from holiday on an overnight ferry. Once on board we, of course, wandered around, found the bar, the restaurant and the shop. What most adult couples probably don’t do is buy two packets of Top Trumps to play. Of course Scifi hubby couldn’t resist when he saw both Marvel and DC Top Trumps for sale. So we spent the evening sat in the bar arguing about who is stronger Batman or Superman, the Thing or Hulk and whether Batman/Bruce Wayne and Superman/Clerk Kent should have the same scores as their alter egos.

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The DC set uses some really nice art by an artist called Ariel Olivetti who we actually met at New York Comic Con last year and have a Batman/Joker commission from on our wall. So whilst we argued about whether Lois Lane really only scores 5/10 for intelligence I could at least admire Superman.

It’s amazing how detailed, and passionate some of the debates became with the DC set. According to the cards Harley Quinn is the same (low) intelligence level as Lois. Ok so Lois is sooooo stupid she can’t work out that Clark is Superman but she’s also an award winning journalist so surely not that stupid. Harley Quinn was a psychiatrist before she went loony, so again, not so stupid really. The Riddler scores 6/10 yet designs puzzles that confound Batman. Commissioner Gordon is smarter than the lot of them – a little unlikely.

I managed to prove that can’t tell the different Robins apart so got a long lecture on who they all are and how to tell at a glance – apparently the clue is in the cloak. They are: Dick Grayson (who becomes Knightwing), Jason Todd (murdered by the Joker but resurrected by Ra’s Al Ghul and becomes the Red Hood), Timothy Drake, Stephanie Brown (yes Stephanie – a blonde and female Robin), Damian Wayne (the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Ghul) and Carrie Kelly (also female and this time ginger). I include this level of detail as writing it down will hopefully (?) make me remember it. Apparently these are crucial facts that everyone should know.

The Marvel art wasn’t as nice but I did get a crash course into the Marvel Universe which I don’t know at all beyond Spider-Man and the Avengers. It seems to me that almost every character has a matching DC character but I still have no idea of which came first and who copied who. Scifi hubby has only recently started reading Marvel stuff in any great quantity so I finally found things he doesn’t know. For example I still don’t have a clue who Luke Cage is. I got the full back story on the movie that now isn’t being made but no backstory for the guy himself. Also discovered my hubby has a love of Antman. Yes you read that right, there’s a character who can go from the size of an ant to the size of a giant. Interesting superpower…

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By the end of the evening I held a hand with Batman, Superman, Joker, Bane and Commissioner Gordon so winning became a forgone conclusion. *Victory was mine mwhahaha…*

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When we got home and emptied the coolbox I discovered it had Han Solo and a Tauntaun hiding at the bottom. Just a guess but I think I might find them in the fridge soon joining Luke and the Wampa…

May 4 2013

Scifi hubby thinks he’s Iron Man

We went to see Iron Man 3 this week. Having listened to weeks of hype about it and having a rather excited scifi hubby it was quite fun that for once the movie came out over here before the USA. Don’t tell scifi hubby but I actually quite like the Iron Man movies. This one was funnier than the others, and I think it was actually meant to be. The bad guys were bad, the good guy was troubled, the female ‘interest’ was good looking and Pepper got to wear the Iron Man suit. Lots of explosions, big guns and explosions on planes – the stuff that scifi wet dreams are made of.

I did find myself wondering why Iron Man didn’t just call in SHIELD to help. Hulk would have put short shrift to superheated, self healing people. Especially as, if you are a proper geek and sit through all the credits in an empty cinema as the staff hover up around you, you see Dr David Banner at the end. Sadly it turns out I like the movie more than scifi hubby does! He’s read the graphic novel that it’s based on so is muttering about it not being true to the book. Maybe I need to worry about him turning into a comic book traditionalist…

However, for a DC fan scifi hubby gets very excited about the Marvel movies. He’s got an arc reactor chest light that he connects to his tshirt, an Iron Man mask, the Mark 7 armour bracelets and he’s convinced that the Black Sabbath tshirt is a really clever reference – shame no one else ever seems to get it. He’s also just got a new phone case which make the phone look like the Iron Man armour and when it rings the light flashes. To top it off the ring tone is the Iron Man theme tune.

Marvel seems to now be expanding throughout the house. We’ve got omnibus books, hulk hands, Captain America’s shield and Thor’s hammer. He’s also just ordered a series of wall lights that look like the hammer, shield and Hulk’s fist. He’s going to have fun finding places to put all of them at the new house.

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P.S. I’m refusing to give in to the usual scifi cliches for today (May the 4th) but I do still have a Wampa in the fridge…