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 offers his views of Free Comic Book Day, Iron Man 2, Power Pack's perfection as an animated property, what boys like, and a unique Frank Frazetta piece.

It's a little late for a FCBD Report but Super-Fly Comics & Games had its best Free Comic Book Day ever--the people came early (in spite of inclement weather) and we stayed extremely busy until late in the afternoon.  Having the best cross-section of free comic books to date definitely helped and as always it was a job watching everyone from kids on up being happy at the prospect of getting a free comic.

As in previous years also in attendance was the 501st Legion: Vader's Fist, the scrappy all-volunteer troupe of Star Wars costume enthusiasts.  People were stopping their cars in the middle of the street to take photos of the Storm Troopers with their cells (not that we approved of this behavior) and I was startled by how many people were genuinely excited to have their picture taken with Lord Vader himself.  It made think about the power of costumes and that Marvel had missed a promotional sure thing by not making suits of Iron Man armor available for comic book shop appearances.

I don't delude myself anyone wants or needs my opinion of Iron Man 2 but I think I can enter into evidence a couple observations that aren't too terribly shopworn at this relatively late date:

It's one of those superhero movies where nobody says "the names" (due to a combination of old ears and a really loud sound system I can't swear to it but I believe at one point Tony Stark tags Rhodey's tricked out armor as being "a war machine").  It's pretty clear during the writing process someone decided that a predominately grown up audience would be willing to accept Mickey Rourke* looking like an extra from Pirates of the Carribean but not if he was called "Whiplash."  I know it's just a happy coincidence but it's probably is a good thing Agent Romanov wasn't referred to by her nom de guerre considering they're currently calling Russian female terrorists "black widows."

And the movie establishes why Marvel needs to bring Happy Hogan back from the dead double quick and as his traditional doughy self, and NOT as the standard nondescript handsome white guy he had become in his last Marvel Universe appearances (it was bad enough they felt they had to glam up Pepper Potts).  And it's not because the comic has to reflect the movie but rather because characters like Tony Stark need to be grounded by regular human beings.

The fact that Power Pack has yet to be turned into an animated series is beyond me, especially since the Disney buy-out.  The plot of the current miniseries, which has the sibs going to Asgard to retrieve one of its legendary golden apples to save their dying grandmother, is (a) an entirely reasonable response when living in a universe where the existence of the Norse Gods is a given and (b) very touching.  And if you don't find this cover to #2 to be bloody adorable I really don't want to know you.

It's always kind of interesting when someone with zero interest in a subject provides an outsider's viewpoint on it, which is why I'm introducing into evidence this piece by Troy  Patterson which appeared on Slate last week; "Boy Candy: Why the Youngsters Love Generator Rex and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien."  It's a fairly snarky superficial take on the shows but manages to avoid out-and-out ridicule and provides a pretty good one paragraph distillation of what appeals to boys that anyone trying to break that market should keep in mind:

Boys like stuff blowing up; freaky, giant beasts; freaky, giant beasts blowing stuff up; growling bad guys; smirking good guys; babes in knee-high boots, for reasons they're not sure of; and heroes they can relate to.  On this last count, and in the case of younger boys these days, that means teenage heroes young enough to project themselves onto and not so old that they resemble authority figures.

I hadn't planned to say anything about the unfortunate passing of Frank Frazetta but this morning in a copy of Famous Funnies #202 I came across this public service (signed by Frazetta) page from early in his career that I don't believe anyone has ever collected or reprinted.

* For a while I thought this was a just a Hollywood rumor but apparently it's been independently verified that when Mr. Rourke was offered the role of not-Whiplash his dealbreaker was the bird.  As in, the character got a bird or he wouldn't do the movie; given the number of actors fully capable of playing the role I'm going to be polite and call this an extremely gutsy move on Rourke's part.

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.