It's Blubberin' Time!

By Don M. Ventura

About a week after Toy Story 3 was released, I read an article with the headline “What is it about Toy Story 3 that makes grown men cry?” If so moved, I’ve been known to go from choked up to waterworks in a matter of seconds. I’ve been a big softie ever since E.T. told Elliot “I’ll be right here” and I was right there with the rest of America when Woody waved goodbye to Andy.

But I have experienced a different form of tear duct breakdown over the last decade: tears of comic book nostalgia.

It began with 2002’s Spider-Man. I’m sitting in the theater with my brother and the Marvel logo comes up. Then the music starts and it hits me: after years of development, we are finally being treated to what looks to be a genuinely proper treatment of my favorite comic-book hero. A huge lump sat in my throat until I mustered the strength to fight back the tears, fearful my twin would taunt me as he did when E.T. bid Elliot adieu.

Even more powerful, and unexpected, was my reaction to the words “with great power comes great responsibility.” By this point, I thought “Okay man, pull it together… this is hokey right?” Well, yes of course. But this small moment was important to me, as a fan, because these words are so engrained in the Spider-Man mythos. I was transported back to my stack of Marvel Tales books, reprints of the classic Lee and Ditko stories which originally introduced us to the character.

Imagine my surprise a few years later while I am watching The Fantastic Four and I almost jump out my skin to yell at myself: ”I know you’re not about to start crying during this piece of shit!” But—judge away—when Ben Grimm plows through a wall to save Reed and Sue from Doctor Doom and yells, “It’s clobberin’ time!” I choked up. I reacted to this tiny morsel of appreciation for the source material. As far as I can recall, in the old days, Thing’s fists wouldn’t work unless he charged the villain shouting out his ever lovin’ catchphrase.

It is these small evocative moments that are the icing on the cake. For a better context of what I am referring to, think back to 1999’s Galaxy Quest. In that movie, the fans of the television series Galaxy Quest beg Alan Rickman to recite his character’s famous oath—which he begrudgingly does with little gusto. But the fans go nuts nonetheless because that’s a piece of their childhood. Later in the film when he says, with great conviction, “By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged,” we are treated to what is arguably the most moving scene in the film.

In retrospect, I should not have been caught off guard by my reaction to a clip from the Green Lantern panel at this year’s Comic-Con in which Ryan Reynolds is asked by a youngster, “What was it like to say the Green Lantern oath?” The audience went wild. The actor looks caught off guard. Then he says it: "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power… Green Lantern's light!" My eyes instantly welled up.


When you see a Spider-Man movie, you want to hear J. Jonah Jameson refer to Spider-Man as “wall-crawler” or have Mary Jane call Peter “tiger”. In an X-Men movie, you want Wolverine to describe his lethal approach to resolving conflict with “I’m the best I am at what I do.” In a Hulk movie, you want Hulk to destroy something followed by the monosyllabic third person “Hulk smash!”

It takes much more than catchphrases to bring these characters to life or to create an engrossing story, but as a comic fan, these are the moments in the movies that take us back to when we started reading our favorite books. I’m preparing myself for 2012 when Cap finally raises his shield and calls his comrades to action with two words: “Avengers Assemble!”

I’ll have a hanky ready.