Within weeks we were passing around trading cards like Marvel Masterpieces and Marvel Series III, which became the hot commodity that replaced school yard trading pieces like Sandylion stickers and Sanford Mr. Sketch scented markers. Such were the treasures of Catholic school kids in small town Southern Ontario!
In a burst of early Millennial nostalgia, I found myself thinking back to such times over the summer, filling some sort of void/need by tracking down some of those series III cards, and my amazing husband decided to help me celebrate my 42nd birthday by completing my set, which included the cards I was most after, the cards that helped fuel my discovery into all things Marvel, the cosmic beings and sagas.
The card I was most drawn to was a stark image of none other than Dark Phoenix, enveloped in cosmic flame. I looked at her, alone in that fiery lonesomeness, 10 year old me as much enraptured by the scarlet and gold costume as by her dramatic but cold pose. Years later, I got to see that same lonely woman in the ironically cold cosmic flame once again in a movie that everyone else seemed to hate, Dark Phoenix.
Let me tell you, my inner 10 year old was every bit as in awe, which also wanting to reach out and touch Jean on the shoulder to tell her that I understood the ecstasy/rapture she felt. Every time I see the scene, more than ever as the now 42 year old me has been finding a slow burn rekindling of faith and exploring the Divine in the midst of a midlife "crisis", I feel a surge of emotion. If I could put it into words, I would say it would sound something like "I know, Jean".
That's what this blog is about. Going back to the theme of the excitement of my younger self for what the cool big kids were interested in, finding myself recently in conversations with my husband about comic books, the medium that in many ways was initially marketed to and for 10 year-olds, but that has also come to be so much more, or as we put it, media that are meant for consumption by 21 and 30 year-olds and beyond, a silly medium with serious themes and something of an art form in and of itself. In particular, I find myself wanting to write about it, and specifically about the theme, trope, etc. of the cosmic portion of the stories, especially where the human engages with the divine, cosmic, and otherworldly. As the richest of my personal encounters with this interface of mortal and transcendent is largely from Marvel comics, I've decided to make that my focus. I might weave in and out of that, of course, but if a Google search on cosmic Marvel brought you here, I think you will find at least a few good reads. Sometimes I will wax philosophical as I'm doing now, from a pulpit of perceived depth. Most of the time I'll be giddily explaining who X cosmic being is and gushing over the latest Heroclix sculpt with flashy clear plastic.
My background in regards to any sort of familiarity I might have with making comic books out to be more than they are comes from a rich history of that 10 year old kid who grew up very much enraptured by encountering the Divine within the framework of the Catholic Church. I drank up theology as a teenager and pursued an academic study of it in preparation for entering religious life and later the Diocesan priesthood, giving my youth to an institution that I later found too restrictive in my ongoing unfolding of finding myself and interpreting the message of the New Testament. Instead of seeing others walk the path into exploring the mysteries of the Godhead, I saw personalities tripping over one another trying to force their vision of everything from masculinity to pharisaic rigidities of rubrics and blind obedience. I suppose my undergraduate travels and devouring of philosophy and art history broadened my field of vision to the point where I felt like I was squinting trying to make sense of seminary life. I was not alone, and I sadly saw other men there suffering far, far worse than myself.
That's the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini, a great example of Baroque sculpture, where emotion holds the high ground in terms of what artists like him were trying to evoke. It is a serious sculpture about a serious, powerful personal experience that I don't want to rub all over anyone reading this, especially not in an age where religion is becoming weaponized yet again. That said, I would be lying if I did not say that my encounter with such art and the associated religious world did not have an influence over how I have come to appreciate cosmic comic books as an adult, you know, those things originally meant for a much younger and less serious audience. I also don't want to trample on anyone's personal religious experience, but at the risk of insulting anyone that way, well, that's between you and God, and I don't think a blog about getting excited about the Silver Surfer or the Phoenix Force that gets nerdy passionate over such things is going to prevent you from finding the Divine in your serious, personal way.
Now that that is all over with, my name is Brent, named by a passionate mother after a ghost town in Northern Ontario, and among other things, I am a comic book nerd who loves the cosmic stuff. My favorite character is Jean Grey, both with and without the Phoenix Force attached. I have a pretty strong feeling that we are about to come into a very fascinating place in both the comics and the MCU, what with Jean finally getting to explore her cosmic destiny in an ongoing series, and, well, stuff like Galactus coming to the big screen. I want to share my thoughts, but more importantly, my enthusiasm.
If you want to come fly off into space with me, awesome, let's go!
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