Unqualified Offerings

I am the father of the biggest Fantastic Four fan in America.

The Littlest Offering’s FF obsession has continued throughout the week. Yesterday she was rewarded for her devotion when Mr. Joel at the FLCS gave her a free FF poster (dating from Jim Lee’s days at Marvel) which now adorns the wall above her bed. Earlier in the week she had me “reading” the most recent, not remotely kid-friendly, JMS-written issue of the monthly comic to her. THAT was a thrilling bedtime story! “Then Reed talked to the Lady Scientist some more . . . ” This weekend she picked out one of Marvel’s digests, passing on the cheap reprint of the original Kirby/Lee first issues because there was no color, in favor of one that, to my surprise, retells a bunch of Steve Gerber stories from Marvel-Two-in-One, the company’s Thing team-up book from the mid-seventies. She’s very happy with it.

So anyway, that movie really worked. Anecdotally, it was more successful kids’ entertainment than any of Marvel’s other movies, albeit I never tried her on Blade. And, just as I claimed a couple of weeks ago, it was perfectly possible to find product for her once the interest was sparked.

Meantime, last night, LO, Offering Boy and I saw the conclusion of the animated-series version of the Teen Titans’ “Trigon” storyline – Raven’s evil dad uses her to open a portal to our dimension, he turns the planet into a living Hell and sets about conquering all the stars in our universe. Can the Titans stop him?? SPOILER WARNING!!! Yes, they can.

This was quite nice kids’ TV, hell on earth and all. The tender scenes between Robin and the depowered Raven were particularly sweet. My daughter loved them. My son vocally disapproved of the hugging. But they both liked the story as a whole. (Early in the episode, each Titan fights evil doubles of themselves that Trigon creates. All three of us were yelling “Switch opponents!” at the TV for a couple of minutes before the Titans actually pulled that maneuver.) The “darkness” of the premise – Trigon turns Earth! Into HELL!!!!! – was digestible, and the themes of hope and keeping faith with your friends were solid children’s story material.

Lastly, the long storyline in Justice League Unlimited wrapped up last night. From an adult perspective, I think you’d have to call it a botch. The twist – Brainiac’s reappearance – derails the theme of the Justice League’s trustworthiness (versus, the libertarian grouses, the government’s) completely. The show returns to it at the very end, but you can see the authorial hand replacing the toppled engine on the narrative track.

From a children’s perspective, the whole metaplot seems to have proven perfectly serviceable, though. My son, particularly, got thoroughly wrapped up in each week’s cliffhanger. The Brainiac-Luthor “team up” made a graspable villain concept, and the storyline led to some great fight scenes. (We all liked the climax, when the Flash goes as badass as he’s been at any point in the series.)

Conclusion: the superhero story is alive and well as children’s entertainment too, not just as the persistent pleasure of an aging generation of nostalgics.