Comic Book Heroes, Comic Book Movies & The 42 Year Old Junkie

You would have to be living under a rock not to have noticed the resurgence of comic book hero movies the last several years.  DC is back with Batman (and better in my opinion).  Superman is getting retooled again, and the light of the Green Lantern is to shine on us for the first time this year.

Marvel has been on fire!  Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Ironman (my favorite) have all hit the big screen and entertained millions.  This year alone, Captain America and Thor will debut, along with a X-Men prequel.  DC has chosen not to have their heroes exist together on the big screen (Justice League still cannot get off the ground), while Marvel has been setting the stage for The Avengers in 2012.  If you have seen The Incredible Hulk and Ironman 1 & 2, then you now what I am talking about.

As a kid,  my brother and I enjoyed mass quantities of these heroes (mostly Marvel).  I am sure that Mom and Dad worried about what this was doing to our imagination.  Granted, one day we did both fight over who was the better Captain America.  I won the battle, but Andy lost a tooth.  We both decided to lie about it, and as a result, had our football helmets (that we got for Christmas) thrown away, but that is another story.

I guess where I am going with this, is that I have been (and continue to be) excited with Hollywood continuing the genre.  As kids, our generation had Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, Thor, Captain America (and many others) fighting crime and keeping us safe.  They did this in book form and I am confident, that in no small part, kept Andy, others and myself reading.  By putting these childhood heroes on the big screen, our children's generation is introduced to the heroes of our youth.  They have Harry Potter along with Teams Edward and Jacob.  Between you and me, I would love to see the "Twilight Boys" try to get the best of Wolverine.  After all, we have had Alien vs. Predator!

Recently, my brother was cleaning out his office and discovered a gold mine.  A good portion of the comics that he and I collected had made the trip to Germany.  Luckily for me, some of them made the trip back across the pond.  As my children get older, I would like to introduce them to these heroes.  Granted, if Jessica and TJ want to read them (okay, and Carol too), it would be great! 

All last year, the four kids and Carol had to watch me drop everything with every preview of Ironman 2 that came on the TV.  It even got to the point that when a preview would come on, Parker and Emerson would scream, "Ironman, Daddy!"  For my birthday (the day it was released in theatres), Carol took half the day off to take me to see it.  We came home, got the four kids, had dinner and then I opened my gift.  I "had to go to Best Buy" per the terms of the gift and purchase two things.  The first, was a BluRay player.  The second, Ironman in BluRay.  When we got home, my job was to put everything together so that we could compare standard format Ironman to BluRay Ironman.  Gee...tough call!

The Ironman franchise has gone with AC/DC for the soundtracks.  Just like the movie is introducing my childhood heroes to a younger generation, it is introducing bands from my youth to them too.  For me, (and Marvel) is it a win-win.  I find it hard to believe that in twenty years, any Britney Spears music will end up on any superhero soundtrack.  Although, Madonna did end up with a 007 title song.

Well, that is it for now.  Thank you for reading.  Enjoy this video link!
Ironman 2-Shoot To Thrill (AC/DC)