Silk Impresses the Avengers With Her Spidey Skills

There is always a bedtime crisis at our house: Usually there is some crucial piece of unknown pop culture information that can only be acquired online. This happens in the time period after all electronic devices have been forcibly removed from circulation in preparation for bed.

The information crisis from a few nights ago was, "What is the name of the female hero in the Spiderverse who wears a grey outfit and a red scarf?"  My younger son swore that remaining ignorant of the answer was going to make it impossible for him to go to sleep that night.

I know very little now beyond the fact that her name is Silk and that supposedly she was bitten by the same radioactive spider as Peter Parker and has more or less the same powers.

Except her web shooting ability is "organic." She shoots web out of her fingers, I guess. And wears a bandana. Because no one can recognize you if half of your face is covered. Just ask Batman.

There also seems to be some romantic issues going on between her and Mr. Parker in the comics. I observe this only based on my 90 seconds of searching on Google.

Given the limited female superhero representation in the Marvel cinematic universe, it seemed only fair to sub her in as a shield snatching spider-person in "Civil War" ....or "Homecoming" for that matter.

Rocket Raccon, Captain America and Deadpool

What did you have for lunch today?
I had a Cap' Sandwich!

Our sons certainly enjoyed watching "Captain America: Civil War" last weekend. But they did not seem as outright giddy as they have been after the viewing of various other much promoted and anticipated superhero blockbusters. Perhaps that is partly due to superhero blockbuster fatigue? It hasn't been so long since Batman and Superman squared off, and the next X-men iteration is breathing its hot breath on our necks already.

But I think that the absence of their usual overwhelming enthusiasm had something to do with the somewhat serious tone of the movie and the lack of talking animals or extensive comic relief. Their main gripe afterward was that there hadn't been enough screen time for Spider Man and Ant Man.

In other words, perhaps "Civil War" would have benefited from a little Rocket or Deadpool.

The "Sandwich" joke appears to be a thing in my husband's family. Two people, usually sitting on a couch, sidle up to an unsuspecting person, usually a child. One asks the other, "What did you have for lunch today?"  The second responds, "A insert-name-of-victim-here, SANDWICH!" Hilarious (or extremely annoying) body compression follows. This sort of thing did not go on in my childhood home. (We did not do the "You've got something on your shirt" thing either.)

Perhaps Steve Rodgers would have a jovial disposition about such pranks. But it seems possible that Rocket and Wade might be a bit much for his taste.....
But Marvel/Disney does own all of these characters. So you never know. It could happen.

Rocket Raccoon Lifts the Winter Soldier

Last week Ansel finally redeemed multiple rewards that he had earned this fall (known as bribes in less indulgent circles) and picked out the Disney Infinity game.  He was relatively unenthusiastic about Skylanders, another console-plus-endlessly-expensive-figurines style game.  But Disney Infinity won him over with the possibility of playing as the Guardians of the Galaxy and other Marvel people as well as other Disney and Pixar characters.

Don't know about you, but the pop culture juggernaut of Disney/Marvel/Pixar/Star Wars is making the whole idea of crossovers oddly less interesting for me.  My sons claim to agree, but I am pretty sure that they do not have the same reservations about corporate monoliths that I do. Certainly the "Phineas and Ferb"and  "Star Wars" episode was nicely done.  Ansel was quite excited to see the "Ultimate Spider-Man" and "Jessie" Halloween episode. (If you are unfamiliar with "Jessie," please don't ask) But once everything is possible and Sleeping Beauty can have a light saber battle with Darth Vader...Well, let's just say that just because it can happen, doesn't always mean that it should...Unless we are talking about drawings on napkins, of course.  Ha.

At any rate, We bought the Infinity Marvel starter set and a couple Guardians characters....because... how could we possibly not have Star Lord and Rocket?  I will admit that I don't really understand the logic of the game at the moment- i.e., which character can play in which world, and who else might appear in that world.

But the configuration of characters that we have somehow makes it possible for the person who is playing as Rocket to snatch up the Winter Soldier- a character we don't own, who just seems to wander aimlessly around the set- and carry him around like a piece of lumber...and then toss him off the edge of the world...again, and again, and again.

I am not sure why the Winter Soldier character seems OK with this, or what is gained by the operation, but my sons certainly seem to enjoy doing it.


Of course Rocket looks like the below in the actual game, so please forgive my...would we call it "artistic license?" and/or just sloppy rendering of his costume?

Wicket Winter Soldier

Ansel spent some quality time over the weekend making little Ewok figures representing himself and all of his friends. I cannot remember what brought up the Winter Soldier recently... But he is always cool as far as the kids are concerned.

Archer looked at the drawing this morning and said, "What happened, did Wicket eat Bucky?"

Venom and the Red Skull

Ansel stayed home today because of a mild fever...and so that he and I could bicker for a full day about the watching of minecraft youtube videos versus the memorization of sight words.  (where? there? were? who? how? what?.... and....WHY?)

Perhaps he would have taken this napkin today had he been in school.  

He and his brother are occasional fans of Spider-Man and Captain America.  These Marvel characters  have never been quite as compelling for our sons as say, Batman or Nightwing, but the kids are very willing to pretend to be one or the other for long enough to pummel a sibling or advance the destruction of the livingroom furniture. 

In anticipation of maybe seeing the latest iteration of Spider-Man in a movie theater, we watched the 2007 "Spider-Man 3" over last weekend. And we watched some of the first Captain America movie for no good reason besides the fact that it was on TV, again.

So, perhaps these two villain guys are being pals on this napkin to commemorate the watching of too much Marvel themed television over one weekend.

Tasmanian Devil Winter Soldier

Ansel is suddenly very interested in Tasmanian Devils...because they are so "cute."

Yes, the request for today was a Tasmanian Devil as the Winter Soldier from the latest Captain America movie. 

I think the results could have been worse.

Winter Soldier with Broccoli

Our sons pronounced the Captain America sequel as better than the Avengers movie because, "there were more explosions and more guns."  And three Helicarriers instead of merely one.

They were impressed with the Winter Soldier character and particularly appreciated his hair, as clearly HIS mother does not insist on cutting it when it obscures his vision.

Bane Cat and Winter Soldier Cat

"No one cared who I was until I put on the mask."

I am not proud to admit that I watched the BaneCat video yesterday.  The cat wearing the respirator seems suspiciously mellow about the situation.  I hope pharmaceuticals were not required.

But that video and the promotional materials for "The Winter Soldier" made me think about the power of a bad guy who is wearing a mouth covering.

I was already thinking about cosplaying pets, as I had recently revisited our "super canines" series while posting them on Instagram.

(While I had carefully avoided Instagram in the past, "Daily Napkins" had suddenly acquired 949 followers on its nonexistent account thanks to one repost of a napkin image by Toby Turner a month ago.  I decided I might as well post some more images there as the Tobuscus-derived Instagram constituency seems much more enthusiastic than other social media platforms. )

Anatomically, cats just seemed to lend themselves to mouth covers more than dogs.
I am not sure that the above commentary really explains the image.
Perhaps I should just point out that I was very tired and it was very late last night.

Mini Marvels Captain America with Armor for Ansel

Ansel's Mini Marvels / Captain America kick continues.  Today the Captain is wearing a suit of armor made for him by Iron Man in Chris Giarrusso's "Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors" Perhaps the strawberry is armored also.

Mini-Marvels Red Skull & Capt America for Ansel

 

While our kids often claim to be uninterested in Marvel characters, Chris Giarrusso's "Mini Marvels" books are always good.  Ansel asked for a Mini Marvels style Red Skull.  I did my best to comply as there was not an obviously google-able rendition by Mr. Giarrusso to work from.

Red Skull and Captain America for Ansel

Ansel has learned how to play Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty from his older brother.  He says it's pretty good, although you don't get to actually punch Red Skull.

Captain Americas for Archer

Archer was suddenly overwhelmed with a need for LEGO Captain America yesterday.  I was originally directed to depict the human Captain dismembering the LEGO version, but decided late last night that maybe a threatening posture was better than actual violence.  Or perhaps it was just easier to draw...

Captain America and Hydra Soldier for Archer

We watched "Captain America: The First Avenger" yesterday, leading to hours of mayhem involving flying shields in the living room.  Archer asked for Cap knocking a Hydra soldier out with his shield.  Looking at the napkin this morning he asked me where is the shield?  I told him it had already bounced off the Hydra guy and was out of the picture.  Suggested violence is always better actual.

Kid Nightwing and Captain America for Ansel

Once again, I disappointed Ansel.  Why did you leave his helmet off? he wanted to know this morning.    He did not ask why I had made Cap's legs too short, as these sorts of bad draftsmanship issues do not, thankfully, occur to him yet.

Captain America for Archer

In honor of Father's Day, we took the boys to see "The Avengers," basically against their will.  About 15 minutes in, they decided it was pretty awesome, despite the absence of Batman.