I bought my first comic book when I was five years old (
Superman #198), and not long after one of my next comic book purchases was
Captain America #100, the first issue of his own book (later I learned that it had been
Tales of Suspense up to #99 but that's a story for another day). So here I am 44 years later, still buying comic books, still jonesing for great comic book movies, and even (for the first time) serving as the local public relations rep for a major comic con in my own backyard (Philly rep for
Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con, this coming June 17-19 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, shameless plug dept.)...My first encounter with The Mighty Thor was in that same Cap 100, as he and his fellow Avengers (a very new concept for a five-year-old just starting to read comics) recount how they recovered Cap from the ice...It's a long story...Anyhoo, while I was never a major fan of Thor's comic book mythology (I knew the basics through the 60s and 70s into the 80s but lost track of him after Walt Simonson's outstanding run), I liked the basic dignity of the character...So when Mrs. DeLorenzo's Dugout and I, both of us choosing our trips to the cineplex carefully, ventured out of the bunker to see
"Thor" a few weeks back, we were a little worried that we would only be able to see it in 3-D...Needn't have worried, it was an excellent experience that both of us enjoyed (my first venture into 3-D in an actual theatre, not counting Miss Liptak's showing us the original Vincent Price
"House of Wax" in 3-D in high school Honors English during my junior year at Notre Dame)...Chris Hemsworth (Capt. Kirk's dad, oddly enough, in the
2009 Star Trek movie) was very charismatic, Natalie Portman was animated enough that you didn't mistake her for a piece of wood, and the supporting cast overall was very strong, as was the story...It's hard for a lifelong DC Comics loyalist to admit it, but each Marvel movie gets better and better (and I love the teasers at the end for the next in the series -- Cap could be huge for me!)...We even might go see
"X-Men First Class," although I hear January Jones gives Natalie Portman a run for her money in the "still waters run deep" department...I remind you that I, along with Mrs. DeLorenzo's Dugout and Quentin Tarantino, comprise the very lonely
"Superman Returns" fan club, but hey, I know what I like, and I know what I don't like...Thor's come along way across the
rainbow bridge of Asgard from his Marvel Comics cartoon days of the 1960s!
PS: Here's a cover shot of my very first comic book, the great
Superman #198. Still a great cover, still a great memory. There used to be a fabric/sewing accessories store in Trenton called Willett's on Olden Avenue, and just behind it facing Olden Avenue was a small store called "Ianni's" which sold nothing but newspapers, magazines, paperbacks and comic books. Well into the 1970s Ianni's was like Disneyland for me. Them was the days!
PPS: Tonight Mrs. DeLorenzo's Dugout and I watched
"Dead Again" on HBO. Both of us (separately at the time, 1991, only 10 years before we met for the first time) saw the Kenneth Brannagh-directed gem in the movie theatre and loved it then, and tonight it was just as great as both of us remembered it. Brannagh, who directed
"Thor," is someone who, in my small opinion, has always deserved a little bit more attention than he got. Anyone who can wrangle a subtle performance out of Robin Williams in both "
Dead Again" and another one from both Keanu Reeves and Michael Keaton in "
Much Ado About Nothing" deserves respect. Take another look at "
Dead Again," and see if you don't love the twists and turns in the 2nd hour. Go ahead, I triple dog dare you!
Until the Phillies manage to score more than three a game, I'll see you in the stands!
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