Editor's Picks
A Salute to Stan Lee, Comic Art and Marvelous Watches
Spiderman
For all that upper body strength that makes swinging about seem as relaxing as a stroll in the park, Spiderman without his mask is a nerdy Peter Parker that doesn’t look like he’s seen the inside of a gym. Indeed, he’s socially a little awkward and wrestles with allergies. Earnest, angsty but not in a dark way as is fashionable among X-men; Spidey is wholesome and homey with exceptional courage, grit and ability that belie his boy-next-door appearance.
The Hulk
Green, ugly and ferocious, the Hulk personifies raw rage that pulses within every living human being with the certainty of a heartbeat. In comparison, werewolves have it easier, only turning on a full moon that comes monthly, but life is filled with triggers aplenty for the likes of Dr Bruce Banner. The Hulk is us busting through injustices, smashing through contrary viewpoints and pounding detractors to mush.
Iron Man
A wee stretch of the imagination and one might see Elon Musk as the real-life Tony Stark (or alternatively, Bond villain, it’s the same ‘type’ just on opposite flanks of the good-evil divide) – smart, ambitious, visionary tech industrialist, except that Stark is the proverbial playboy while Musk seems to be a family man, always pining about love when not mouthing off at the stock exchange.
Beast
A Renaissance man of letters and the sciences, in the body of a big, blue, beast. Intelligence is beautiful, and sometimes, so is irony; Beast is one of the most interesting characters among the cadre of X-Men, and would make a more attractive Thinker than Rodin’s.
Captain America
Captain America, bleeding-heart American patriot to the tips of his toes, a Hydra agent? Say it isn’t so!! No, even if man and mind crumbles, the ideals behind red, white, blue cannot die as long there’s someone who still believes in them. We’ll consign “Captain America” into the abstract if we must, and as an idea, a mental construct, it will be larger than Steve Rogers; and survive him.
Punisher
This is the real deal; not dissing Batman of the DC stable, but Batman’s refusal to kill simply does not compute with all that darkness he affects, in a soul untainted by slaughter. The Punisher has long moved past such considerations, being freed from scruple and regret by criminals who killed his wife and kids.
Dr Doom
Mad genius applies here, literally, including the bit about being mad. Think Iron Man, but with an exotic streak being from some obscure (and fictitious) principality in Europe, a scientist who also dabbles in the mysteries of the occult, all the better to brew mayhem from a more holistic perspective.
Mystique
It’s a subjective impression until someone sits through the movies with popcorn and a chronograph, but one seems to get many more scenes of the X-Men mucking about than of Mystique kicking ass with smarts and kungfu. She’s worth her body weight of gold in dealing pain and pleasure, on either side of war and peace – it’s a duality we love, and leaves us wondering, “Who do we kill to get Mystique her own movie?”
All to often, people like to think they know public figures better than they actually do, because they read about them or see them on screen all the time. Did Stan Lee do this or that? Was he like this or that? We don’t know. But as to what his comics did for us individually, that we can be sure. So, thanks.