The Satisfying Shield
Because AVENGERS: TWILIGHT has been coming out, I’ve been thinking about Captain America a bunch, more than is necessary for a 48-year old Canadian man.
One of my earliest memories was of my mother having fucking enough of me and going out for a wild night of bingo and drinking, leaving me at home with my confused father. Dad wisely saw this as an opportunity to impress me, so he made a giant cookie in a frying pan and let me stay up late to watch the very-much-made-for-TV movie CAPTAIN AMERICA.
Obviously this was the greatest thing I’d ever seen. I immediately became obsessed with his disc shield.
One of the keys to a superhero character’s appeal are their accessories and how easily a kid can replicate them. You have a large rubber mallet? You’re Thor! Have three knives that you can place between your fingers? You’re Wolverine and you’re under arrest. But my all-time favourite was the garbage can lid making me Captain America.
Anyone who knows me knows that I do not collect nerd stuff. If that’s your thing, god bless you. I hate stuff in general and I find almost every model and action figure and replica ugly as hell and just landfill-in-waiting. But years ago that all changed when I was invited to play paintball.
I immediately purchased a Captain America shield. There was some discussion about my distinct advantage on the field, but everyone quickly realized that my great disadvantage was that everyone could see me coming a mile away.
To this day I can say that the most satisfying sound I’ve ever experienced was that of paintballs exploding against the shield as I ran across a field. I highly recommend it. A+. Five stars.
So now it hangs on my wall, the only toy/model/replica that I own, forged in the heat of battle and the smell of hot dogs that were included in our admission fee that fateful day.
I love Captain America and now I have an excuse to re-post this thing I made years ago:
WAIT THAT WHOLE STORY WAS JUST TO POST THIS DUMB GAG
Yeah
DID YOUR DAD EVEN MAKE YOU A GIANT COOKIE
I don’t know probably
In COMIC NEWS, Batman #142, the first issue of our JOKER: YEAR ONE story, sold out immediately and is going back to press with a new cover!
That’s fun! And the SECOND part of our story is out today with Batman #143! Go pick it up to see what this creep is up to!
In other fun news, PUBLIC DOMAIN is on the AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION’S Best Graphic Novels List for Adults! So if you’re an adult, now you know you should read it! NO MORE EXCUSES!
And C2E2 has been promoting my appearance at their show in Chicago, but they refuse to post my edit to their graphic??
ALL DAYS.
I’M SURE
And finally, my dear friend Ed Brisson is hitting the road to promote his amazing new comic THE DISPLACED from BOOM! STUDIOS!
And, as you can see, he’ll be selling a TOUR EXCLUSIVE edition of issue one with a cover by me! So if you want one, you have to hunt him down at one of these stops!
Subscribe to his newsletter for more!
And I … think that’s it for this week? I gotta go write some Mr. Batman.
BYE!!
UPCOMING BOOKS
BATMAN #144 — Feb 20
AVENGERS: TWILIGHT #1 (2nd printing) — Feb 28
AVENGERS: TWILIGHT #3 — Feb 28
NEWBURN #15 — Feb 28
BATMAN #145 — Mar 5
BATMAN #143 (2nd printing) — Mar 5
BATMAN: FAILSAFE TPB — Mar 12
AVENGERS: TWILIGHT #4 — Mar 13
NEWBURN #16 — Mar 27
SEX CRIMINALS: THE COMPLETE EDITION — Mar 27
BATMAN #146 — April 2
AVENGERS: TWILIGHT #5 — April 17
UPCOMING SIGNINGS
EMERALD CITY COMIC CON (Seattle) — Feb 29-Mar 3
C2E2 (Chicago) — April 26-28
The fact that Captain America is played in that made-for-tv movie by J.D. Salinger's son is one of my favorite pieces of trivia.
Oh what a bad mother I was