Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett touches on opting out of the Super Bowl, The Lego Movie, Clark Gregg on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Bryan Singer's apology for Superman Returns.Don't worry, I won't be ranking or rating the various Super Bowl movie trailers. I saw all of them of course, a couple even made me (in the words of one online poll) "stoked for summer." Heaven help me. But that's as far as I'm prepared to participate in this new, weird, all-inclusive Super Bowl. Being an old man, I remember the days when it was strictly for sports fans. If you didn't like football, like some kind of girl/commie, you could actually opt out of it. Now participation is more or less mandatory; if you don't like sports there's always the ads. Not only do people just watch the game for the ads, we've decided they're important, that we have to care about them, dissect them, have favorites, etc. And if you don't want to sit through all of that sport, there are plenty of places online to watch them after it's over.
So I won’t be giving you a list of my most and least favorite Super Bowl commercials either, or even comment on the "controversy" concerning the Coca-Cola ad featuring people of different ethnicities singing the song "America the Beautiful" in (the words of Stephen Colbert) "foreign tongues."
Speaking of movie trailers, I saw the one for The Lego Movie and it looks like fun. I used to play with them so let the record show I have no objection to it as a building toy, but must confess I don't get how it's become a "thing," a juggernaut brand that appears everywhere and in everything. I don't understand how there's a solitary Legoland, let alone six Lego theme parks all over the world. Or why there are endless sets based on every conceivable TV and movie franchise (Batman, Cars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.). Or that kids play with the toys (Bionicle, Legends of Chima, Ninjago*) or watch the cartoons based on them. And the fact there's Lego video games truly leaves me flummoxed. I especially wonder why such an intrinsically gender neutral toy would require color coding; pink sets for girls, blue for boys, unless it's just so people will buy more stuff. I appreciate I don't have to "get" everything, and there's allowed to be things that aren't for me, but if someone can explain the appeal of Legos to me I'd certainly appreciate it.
I wish I didn't have to write about the comments Clark Gregg gave in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune that were reported in a piece on the i09 website titled "If you stopped watching "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Clark Gregg kinds of hates you"… Gregg says viewers who have given up on the show are "geeks" and "losers," then qualifies the statement by saying "I guess I don't mean to say that people who have been frustrated by that discovery period are necessarily losers, I just think they should be, perhaps, a little more patient." I’ve been enjoying Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but can understand why people have been underwhelmed by the show's somewhat poky pacing. And while patience is important, on the other hand when you’re spending millions of dollars on a TV series you kind of hope the producers wouldn't need a "discovery period."
And while I'm on the subject of Superman I've been waiting years and years (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--So Long Tokyopop") for a mea culpa from Bryan Singer over his movie Superman Returns and it finally came. In a piece on the Comic Book Resources website by Steve Sunu titled "Bryan Singer Critiques 'Man of Steel,' Reflects on 'Superman Returns'" by Steve Sunu the director is quoted as saying "I could have grabbed the audience a little more quickly. I don't know what would have helped. Probably nothing."
* Last week I wrote about Papercutz's translation of European comics and after it was posted I received an email from its editor-in-chief Jim Salicrup saying I shouldn't be so sure about kids comics not being big sellers as their title Lego Ninjago has been on the New York Times best-selling graphic novels lists many times--often outselling The Walking Dead.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
