Spider-Man vs. Jesus

(A post from October 2nd)

Inktober 2020, Day 2

This one is not hard to find on YouTube, though the title does vary a bit: “Spider-man Fights Jesus to Bring Mr Starks Back” or “....to Bring Stan Lee Back To Life,” etc. Linkin Park’s 2002 hit, “In the End” plays for the entire clip. The combatants appear to be at some sort of party, though the video quality is extremely low, which is, I suppose, part of its charm. It did present more of a drawing challenge than I might have hoped.

There’s no hitting going on, Spider-Man and Jesus are mostly grabbing and stumbling around in a hapless manner. They do appear to be evenly matched. Spider-Man sports a baseball cap and track pants, both of which are in danger of removal throughout.

Our son agrees with the comment posted on one of the videos that “this is lowkey brilliant.” Another comment suggests that this video sums up the entire internet.

I’m not sure, 

But in the end 

It doesn’t even matter.

Happy Red, White and Blue Day

Happy Red, White and Blue Day!

July 4th would have been a good day to see “Spider-man: Far From Home”

But we had already seen it on the third.

I felt like there needed to be a Spidey popsicle to go with the Bomb Pop.  My younger son helpfully points out that Spider-man, in all of his iterations, never has blue around his eyes like the popsicle. But I did not design the popsicle, just copied it off google images. 

As to why Uncle Sam is giving Peter that weird look...I leave that to your imagination. 

As to why I am seem unable to draw fingers today...can’t explain that either.

Following images are Fourth of July napkins from days past, 2017-2014. I left out the bomb pops, since we just revisited those. Don’t know if any sharks or dinosaurs competed in the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest this year...or if the fireworks will be launched from a Kaiju tonite...but here’s hoping.

Happy Fourth of July!

Miraculous Ladybug, Cat Noir, Spider Man and Cat Woman

Bendy Insects with Dark Felines:

Someone at our house might be watching “Miraculous,” but I am not authorized to reveal who that might be. I gather the show is quite popular...but somehow embarrassing to the in-house viewer.

We are talking about “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir” a French anime style show (“Miraculous, les aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir”) starring an adolescent Parisian girl named Marinette. Her secret identity is the superhero Ladybug. Her schoolgirl crush is Adrien, whose secret identity, unsurprisingly, is her superhero counterpart, Cat Noir...

Or, en francais: 

Chat Noir.

“Miraculous” definitely traffics in some friendly superhero story elements, Marinette and Adrien are simultaneously awkward young people who can’t be cool around cute members of the opposite sex....and powerful spandex clad heroes easily able to dominate evil adults.

Marinette seems to have some qualities  in common with Peter Parker.....And Adrien bears a startling resemblance to characters who are stereotypically female in the american superhero universe.

Like the cat ladies, he sports a skintight shiny black catsuit, ears, tail and pointy finger tips. And most disturbingly, he wears a large blingy gold bell around his neck.

I’m conjecturing that the French audience has a more elastic understanding of what is allowed in male superhero costumes and thematics.

Gender elasticity in superhero land is certainly a good thing.

But apparently, I need to work on my drawing of bendy people in spandex suits.

Spider-Man Noir and Gotham by Gaslight Batman

Brothers in Stylish Darkness:

Spider-Man Noir teams up with “Gotham by Gaslight”s Batman.

Our sons are fond of both of these “alternate universe” iterations of  these characters. Darkness, stylish outfits and significant violence...what’s not to like? 

Although they are supposedly separated by a few decades: Batman in “Gaslight” tracks Jack the Ripper in the late 1880’s London, and Spider-Man Noir swings in the 1930’s during the American Depression, they look like they could work together.

A crossover opportunity, perhaps?

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.

The Amazing Spider-Man with LEGO Spider-Man

The kids are not absolutely certain that they would like to see the latest Spider-Man movie in a theater.  They are concerned that it might not be good enough to merit their undivided attention.  (Viewing movies at home where you can recline in your underpants and demand snack service is another thing entirely) 

Of course, this exacting cinematic standard is being applied by the kids who told me as we exited the theater from the second Captain America movie that it was the best movie of all time....

But they have yet to meet a superhero franchise that they would not like to have in LEGO form. 

I am pretty sure that we do not actually own a Spider-Man LEGO minifigure.  This is a major oversight that I expect I will be hearing more about.

They used to like Spider-Man quite  a lot, but it has been a while.

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.

Fantasy Dodgeball with Connor, Robin and Spider

Remarkably, even at a progressive Quaker school, our younger son  is having stress about dodgeball.

Here we have a fantasy team of sorts: Connor from Assassin's Creed III doesn't look like he is being very effective, Robin from Teen Titans is about to hit the floor hard, and Spider-Man is probably doing some gratuitous jumping.

Evidently it was too many characters on one napkin given the amount of time I had to work with last night....

Ben Tennyson (Ben 10 Omniverse) and Peter Parker (Ultimate Spider-Man)

Ben Tennyson and Peter Parker (both by Man of Action): Perhaps they are debating whose show is more popular? Or whose hair looks better?

Ben 10's SpiderMonkey and Spider-Man with Birthday Cake

Today is the big day at school: frosted cupcakes and official acknowledgement of Ansel's sixness.
I have yet to make the cake for the birthday party this weekend, and unfortunately it will not be as simple as the one above held by the anatomically challenged Spidermonkey and Man.

Ultimate Spider-Man with Ben 10's Swampfire

And yet another Ben 10 & Ultimate Spider-Man team-up: 

Ansel was not much impressed with this one...

Perhaps Spider-Man does not look heroic-or sarcastic- enough?  I was thinking that he might be a bit nonplussed by the fireball wielding plant alien, but I don't think Ansel wants to see him upstaged at the moment.

Ben 10's Ultimate Spider Monkey and Black Suited Spider-Man

What does the word "Ultimate" mean when it comes to Ben 10 aliens and Spider-Man?

Ansel initially asked for  an "Ultimate Spider-Man" in the style of Ben 10's ultimate aliens:  (bigger and more scary, with shiny armor?)  

But after further conversation, it turned out what he really wanted was Spidey in the black suit and Ultimate Spidermonkey.  Although, as he points out, the alien is more like Ultimate SpiderGorilla.

Teen Super Heroes From Ultimate Spider-Man

Ansel is quite impressed with the teen super heroes from "Ultimate Spider-Man." Here they pose in their high school hallway with the every sarcastic Spidey.

I am seriously considering reinstating my "no more than one or two characters per napkin" rule.

Ben 10 Omniverse's Spidermonkey and Ultimate Spider-Man

After a long hiatus, the boys rediscovered the coolness of Spider-Man over the weekend.

An Ipad game triggered interest in the character, but watching a couple episodes of  "Ultimate Spider-Man" sealed the deal.  The snarky, slapsticky asides with the manga chibi version of Spidey remind them of the Teen Titans and are endlessly funny to the 9 and 5 year old mind.

Spider-Man was a pretty hot property around here several years ago.  There were many, many Spidey napkins back in the days before I started posting on this blog, and at least two Halloween costumes were purchased.  During the weekend web frenzy, the kids excavated these costumes from the closet, but discovered that they were way too small even for a determined 5 year old.

Archer said the pairing of Spidermonkey with Spider-Man was so obvious, how could we not do it?  Ansel was mostly concerned that my rendition of Spidey was not going to look exactly like the "Ultimate" version.