A Marvel-ous Outing

We had coordinated an end-of-November visit with our good friends from Camrose, Jon and Michelle and their three children, months ago. Our schedules being what they are, we knew that if we postponed it due to Mum’s being hospitalized, it might not happen at all. Besides that, we were settling in for the long haul at the time, and everyone agreed a bit of a respite was a good idea.

Besides, we had built our weekend around a visit to the Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibit at the Telus World of Science, and had already bought the tickets. Going turned out be a very good decision.

Edmonton is the first stop for this feature, a comprehensive history of the Marvel Universe, incorporating not only the comic books, but movies, television shows, toys, and video games.

If our kids had been younger (like Jon and Michelle’s, for instance!), I probably would have lamented the lack of interactive exhibits. There is a lot to see (and especially read) but not nearly so much to do. There is an interactive Iron Man VR simulator sort of affair, but not much else in the way of pushing, pulling and suchlike.

On the other hand, we made good usage of the full-scale character sculptures, creatively posed, very accessible, and just made for selfies and souvenir photos.

As the introductory film at the start of the tour mentions, the stories of the Marvel Universe have been adapted into every form of storytelling known to man. You begin with a bit of context in the 1940s and the creation of classic characters like Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. Seeing original pages from the desk of a legend like Jack Kirby, as well as his own self-portrait as a G.I., was a real treat for me.

Superheroes became passé after the war ended, and Timely Comics, the company that became Marvel, saw their catalogue reduced to westerns, romance, horror and funny animal comics. With the arrival of the silver age, superheroes saw a resurgence, and writer Stan Lee took one last shot at doing superheroes his way - flawed, human, often monstrous - and created the Marvel Universe in 1962 with Fantastic Four #1. This was followed by Spider-Man, a last-minute addition to a cancelled magazine.

Reading about the desperation behind this move, and the uncertainty surrounding these gambles that ended up creating a number of household names is fascinating. Being reminded that Lee, Kirby and Ditko and the like we’re making things up as they went along, even creating a new creation process called “the Marvel method” which gave artists far more latitude in layout and pacing of books.

As mentioned, there is a lot of reading, and the exhibit laying out the Marvel Method is no exception, but it gives a clear picture of the way these madmen worked, and the time pressures they were under.

Moving through the history of Marvel, you can see original comics from the Golden Age, Silver Age, and beyond, as well as original artwork, complete with pasted in logos and whited out corrections. Since the bulk of the exhibit was focused on work from 1962 to today, it was daunting to be reminded of how personal my connection to this make-believe universe was. In every section I saw a cover I had once owned or a story I had read or a book I had collected, from childhood to present day.

A lot of the artwork came from private collections of people whose names I recognized, like writer Brian Michael Bendis. There were also spectacular pieces commissioned specifically for the exhibit, like this Hulk painting by one of my favourites, Steve "The Dude" Rude, best known for his work on Nexus back in the '80s.

And while the majority of pieces are similar to what you might see in an art gallery, there are a couple of holographic exhibits featuring Ant-Man and Ghost Rider.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe gets good representation too, with a good number of original props and costumes on display. It's quite a treat to see the texture and workmanship of these items up close. (And a nerdy thrill to see such iconic symbols as the Eye of Agamotto, Mjolnir and Captain America's shield!)

Full marks for presentation of the exhibits as well: the concrete, graffitied walls of the street-level heroes like Daredevil, Punisher and Luke Cage contrasted with the trippingly reflective and psychedelic setting for Doctor Strange, which used projections of Steve Ditko's immersive inter-dimensional graphics to stupendous effect (and which I did not bother trying to document!).

We spent a little more than two hours there, and I was prepared to spend more, but will probably return at a later date to more fully peruse some of the exhibits. When we returned to the house, we got in a game of Fireball Island before the traditional visitfeast of cuisine Chinoise; a great capper to a wonderful day with excellent friends.

If you have an opportunity and any sort of nerdy inclination at all, I can highly recommend checking out the Marvel exhibit before it leaves Edmonton on Feb. 17.