Categories
Childhood Family

Marvel(ous) memories

Comedian Bill Maher has made a career courting controversy with his politically-tinged comedy. That’s an arena I have never stepped foot in with this column, and don’t worry, I won’t today.

But he drew fire for a different reason last week, when he posted a blog entry about the passing of Stan Lee, the legendary Marvel mind behind such iconic comic book characters as Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and many others firmly entrenched in our culture.

Maher made fun of fans who were expressing sadness for Lee’s passing, calling it “Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess.”

Um, yes, actually, 20 to date. I saw them with my kids, who were coming of movie age just as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was coming alive on the big screen. As Iron Man ushered in a new era of superhero movies, I saw my children stare at a movie with the same wild-eyed amazement that I did as a kid watching Superman soar across the screen.

As my kids started to get into the MCU, they started looking forward to each new film.

When new trailers would come out for upcoming movie, whichever one of us saw it first had to be the first to tell the others. And try as we might wait to watch it together, usually the first to find out about a new trailer would do a quick sneak-peek, just so when we were watching it together you could go, “Ooooh – watch this part!” Most trailers would be watched at least a few times in a row, to see what we might have missed. Then we have long discussions about what direction we thought the movie would go or what a certain thing in the trailer meant.

When the movies came out, we would always try to go opening weekend. It was there they learned the pro’s guide to movie maximization. Never sit middle. Sucker bet. View is just as good on the aisle. Also, free refills on the large popcorn. If you power though that bucket during the trailers, boom – get that bad boy filled up before the feature starts.

We love to stay for the stingers, those surprise scenes in the end credits. (There are always stingers in the MCU). We would wait through the credits, killing time before the scenes by seeing if we could find our names in the credits. Bonus point for an exact match.

When The Avengers first hit the big screen in 2012, they could not wait to see all the superheroes on screen at once. I remember my daughter seeing Agent Natasha Romonoff, aka Black Widow, kick the everlasting stuffing out of two bad guys while she was still tied to a chair, and watching my daughter stand up and pump her first in the air and scream, “YEAHHHH!!!!”

I remember watching my son as he saw The Incredible Hulk get his marching orders from Captain America: “Hulk – smash.” That was my son’s catchphrase for at least the rest of the day, every so often just randomly laughing loudly and hollering, “Hulk – smash.”

When we went and saw the latest Avengers movie, we sat in silence at the end. Some people may have gotten a tear or two in their eye. It doesn’t matter who.

Although my daughter is off at college now, my guess is that, when the final chapter of The Avengers comes out in 2019, I will do my level best to make sure we all see it together.

The day that Stan Lee died, I got two texts from my kids within three minutes. One read, “DAD! STAN LEE DIED. IT’S SO SAD!!!” The other: “Stan Lee died” followed by three crying emojis.

Stan Lee was 95 years old and had been reported to have been in declining health for a while, so his passing can hardly be called a shock. But it’s still OK to be sad. Stan Lee’s creations that eventually turned in the MCU that has brought joy to so many people. For my kids and me, Stan Lee gave us a part of their upbringing I wouldn’t trade for all the Infinity Gems in the universe. Thank you, Stan Lee. And, Bill Maher, yes, it’s because he did inspire millions to watch a movie. A lot of them. Together.

Mike Gibbons was born and raised in Aiken, S.C. A graduate of the University of Alabama, he now lives in Mt. Pleasant. You can e-mail him at scmgibbons@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @StandardMike or at www.mikeslife.us.

 

Categories
Adventures Animals Family

It’s all about time

When it comes to punctuality, I have long subscribed to the old adage of “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.”

This is often a difficult trait to have, especially in my family. My daughter is always on time for school or work, but apparently uses all of that on-timeness there, as she is constantly the last one ready for any family social event. This is something we should have known would be commonplace when my wife was pregnant some 18 years ago and she went in to be induced in late July. Hey, you know how when women get induced they have a baby shortly thereafter? Yeah, not in this case. Our daughter arrived 11 days later, foreshadowing a lifetime of getting to family events on her time schedule.

Our son is not so much late as indifferent to time. Early. Late. On time. Whatever. As long as there is some time for fishing prior.

My wife is rarely late for anything, but has that knack for getting places just in time, which for someone like me is sooooo much fun. There is a reason the most frequent phrase my wife says to me is “Relax. We’re fine.”

That said, I do understand that there are times when you are late for reasons beyond your control. I’ve had a flat tire on my way to work. I’ve been stopped by a train that, by my estimate, was 800 billion cars long and moving at one foot per hour. And, like everyone, I’ve been derailed by having to rescue a possum.

What, you haven’t?

It happened a few years ago, when I was taking my son to camp. I don’t remember how old he was, but I know he was still young enough to have been in the backseat. I know this because I remember having room in the front for a possum.

We were pulling out of our neighborhood when I saw a guy on the side of the road. He was standing next to a live mammal trap, which held an incredibly unhappy possum. Granted, that adjective is probably unnecessary, as I have met quite a few possums in my day, and I have yet to meet a happy one.

I pulled off on the side of the road, and engaged the gentleman. He and the possum were having a disagreement of sorts, and he did not want the possum to have the ability to return to his place. After a brief discussion, I convinced the man to give me custody of the possum, and I agreed to take it and release it far away so the two would never cross paths again.

I went back home and got a pet carrier and in short order had the possum secured and in the front seat. I am fairly certain the man who had trapped the possum has questions about me to this day.

My son and I drove to some remote woods and released the possum. It scampered off into the woods, and, most likely, used its possum-honing skills and made it way back to the nearest highway, as is the possum way.

We were about 30 minutes late to summer camp that day, and my son did get to share a great reason for his late entrance by bouncing in shouting, “WE RESCUED A POSSUM!!!” Granted, several folks did ask what in the world possessed me to pull over and haggle with a stranger over a possum.

And, yes, one of those people was my wife. Granted, she’d have done the same thing. But somehow, she’d have done it, released the possum, and still made it to camp on time.

Mike Gibbons was born and raised in Aiken, S.C. A graduate of the University of Alabama, he now lives in Mt. Pleasant. You can e-mail him at scmgibbons@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @StandardMike or at www.mikeslife.us.