Chip Zdarsky

FRIENDS. I have illustrated AND written a piece about the superhero movies this year and my nerdy delight. GO SEEEEE

nparts:

Cultural Lessons: It’s impossible being green: From Hornet to Lantern, heroes of this hue lost the battle in 2011
When people talk about the marvellous modern age we live in, they often say things like, “We put a man on the moon,” or “My phone has no cord and is full of dirty photographs.” But when I think about the wonders of today, my first thought is, “They made a Thor movie. They actually made a Thor movie.”

I’m a nerd; a very specific nerd, thank you. Gandalfs don’t Frodo my Sam, Super Marios don’t Koopa my Troopa (though I do happen to understand all of those words). I’m a comic book nerd and I’m living in an entertainment world where Hollywood has torn apart my bedroom of 1989 in order to plan their big-budget movies of 2011. And honestly? It’s pretty fabulous. This year I finally got to see Captain America awaken in the modern era and Thor do battle on the Rainbow Bridge and not have it all be as utterly dumb as it sounds. But for every superhero success, there’s a Shaq-filled Steel lurking or a Dolph Lundgren/Thomas Jane/Ray Stevenson Punisher stinking up the joint, and this year the busts can be summed up with a colour: green.