Why I Like Reading Old Avengers Comics

So of course this weekend I went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron, because I would not be true to my geek roots if I did not. It has made me remember how much I love Scarlet Witch and the Vision in the comics and I’m back to reading my old Avengers comics.

I started on the first one with the Vision which was published near the end of the 1960s and it’s hilarious. Comedy genius, though not deliberately.

Case in point:

I’m enjoying putting together an article for the Vision’s first appearance in the comic book Avengers. HOLY CATS! pic.twitter.com/RLgB3KLnJM

— Polo Lonergan (@PoloLonergan) May 3, 2015

Then we have some great scenes with Hawkeye and Black Widow who were cohabiting at the time, or at least hanging out in a rather intimate way. Uh. Upside down.

This scene in Avengers #57 (1968) cracks me up. Upside down Black Widow! pic.twitter.com/hK0AMXfs1I

— Polo Lonergan (@PoloLonergan) May 3, 2015

There’s so much to love about these old comics. I’ve also found an old 4 part series where Wanda and Vision are moving in together after getting married, and believe me I’m going to enjoy that as soon as I get around to it.

Comics are my next love after knitting so I’m delving into my obsession. That doesn’t mean I’m not knitting as well. I bought some gorgeous cotton to make a top with and there will be pictures of that soon enough – I’m not using a pattern because I’m an idiot, so I’d like to document the process.

I just really love Agent Carter okay – A Love Letter

Though I have the chance to vent my Agent Carter love over at Nerd Underground I just had to bring it here as well. I am full of feelings. All the feels as the cool kids would say.

Warning: this post contains spoilers and an inordinate amount of squee so I’m putting it behind a cut.

Captain Marvel Gets A Movie

So in a break from the knitting news, I’m going to squeal a while about the Carol Danvers movie that’s coming out. In an announcement made yesterday Marvel gave us a date (6th July 2018) for the Captain Marvel movie and I am SO EXCITED.

It’s not a secret that Captain Marvel is one of my favourite characters of all time. She is resilient, hilarious, and deserves a lot of attention. Thanks to the marvelous (pun intended) write Kelly Sue Deconnick the new Captain Marvel series has become one of my most cherished.

And now there’s going to be a movie.

The only thing that would be better is a joint movie with Ms. Marvel tagging along as her feisty side-kick.

Click picture for source!

Anyone else as excited as me for the new run of Marvel movies?

Not long until Avengers 2!

Guardians of the Galaxy Knitting Patterns Part 2: We Are Groot

This weekend my girlfriend and I made another trip to the cinema to see Guardians of the Galaxy. We saw it a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it but we both agreed that it’s much better the second time around.

So is this Guardians-inspired pattern post.

The first time around there were basically no Guardians of the Galaxy themed patterns on Ravelry. Not even a Groot! Can you imagine? Life was bleak, times were hard. Then some fabulous and industrious souls began working their obsession into useful patterns for us lowly addicts. Lo, a bunch of patterns are now readily accessible. Well… a bunch of Groot patterns anyway!

Here are a few of the cutest.

As ever, these aren’t my patterns. They’re ones I have collected for fellow fans in my bored browsing of geeky patterns. Enjoy.

Pattern and photo by Twinkie Chan.

Baby Groot

Download for free on Ravelry.

Look at him. LOOK. I challenge anyone not to be thoroughly in love with that last scene where baby Groot is dancing along to the Jackson Five. The only thing that would make this cute little tribute better is a soundtrack.

Pic and pattern by Mirella Designs.

Dancing Groot Chart

Download for free on Ravelry.

Looking to make your own thing and need a Groot chart to finish it up? Here you go! This would look great on a bag, wouldn’t it? Or even a blanket if you’re feeling adventurous.

Pic and Pattern by Kamila Krawka Krawczyk.

Baby Groot 2

Download for free on Ravelry.

This last one is a tad more complicated than the other but it’s just as doable and potentially even more adorable. Just look at all the lovely details on this. I would love to stuff wire into his arms to make him pose.

FPC: Captain Marvel

 

Welcome to the Friday Pattern Collective where I gather up a few patterns from around the net (well, Ravelry mostly) to present them to you.

See previous weeks.

This week we’re going for Captain Marvel who, as every good Marvel fan knows, is about fifty million different types of awesome.

Glorious art by Pryce14

The latest run of Captain Marvel is written by Kelly Sue DeConnick who I met (along with her amazing husband Matt Fraction, writer of the recent Hawkeye series) last year. She’s an incredible writer and brings us Carol Danvers as a strong and interesting character full of depth and great plots.

Also… her costume is really great.

At the moment we’re not following the comics due to funding issues so since I’m starting to seriously miss my monthly binges on comics, Captain Marvel was the obvious choice for this week’s FPC.

Captain Marvel Gloves

By Maratini Knits

How can we not love Captain Marvel when aesthetically her outfit is so pleasing? And for once it’s not in a yay-boobies kind of way but because it’s three primary colours looking amazing side by side. These gloves are on my to-do list for the autumn.

Captain Marvel’s Lucky Hat

by What The Hell Am I Writing

If you’ve read the series you’ll remember Carol’s lucky hat from #9. Here it is, crocheted in all its glory. Now the Jayne hat has nothing on this for proclaiming fearlessness.

Stars in the Evening Sky Socks

by Cindy Craft

Carol Danvers is badass. Carol Danvers doesn’t need any of this oxygen nonsense. She’s happy enough to fly out into space past the vivid colours of the setting sun and out into the black, no matter who she’s leaving behind. It’s just something she needs to do.

And now for something completely different…

Baby Groot

by Alexandra Chmiel

Baby Groot narrowly missed out on being including in the previous Rocket and Groot Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired post and he is disappointed in a very friendly, forgiving way. Which means he’s going to be tacked onto the end of this. I’m 100% sure Cpt Danvers wouldn’t mind for a second.

That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed my little round-up of patterns. If you have any on theme to share, please do! The more the merrier.

 

 

Friday Pattern Collective: GotG-Inspired, part 2

When I was three my aunty presented me with a choice. She put two well-wrapped gifts in front of me: one was thin and a little taller than the other, while one was plump and wider. I chose the taller one and still remember making that decision so my younger sister, then eighteen months, could have the bigger one. This turned out to be my first memory and it’s one I remember vividly.

I mention this because the tall thin gift was a Steiff raccoon who bore a tag on his belly proclaiming his name to be ‘Raggy’. I still have him in the bed right now. He began a lifelong adoration of the maligned creatures.

Rocket may not know what a raccoon is but he steals the show nonetheless. Even seeing the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer made it clear we would all love him. More surprising was Groot, the pure-hearted tree creature who is a surprisingly dazzling dancer. Between them they took our hearts and in return I give them patterns.

As ever I don’t own these patterns and all the photos come from the Ravelry project page for illustration of their loveliness. Go peruse. They’re gorgeous.

Raccoon Scarf Crochet Pattern

by Bees Knees Knitting

The first time Rocky sees someone wearing this he almost fell straight over onto the fugitive he just caught at the pizza place. When he saw the same item later he was flattered and a little disturbed. I mean, who does that? Really big fans of Rocket, that’s who!

Rocky Raccoon

by Sweet N’ Cute Creations

Want your very own Rocket to hug? Yeah, me either; that sounds potentially painful. But maybe we could keep one of him at a safe distance. It’s easier to keep an eye on him that way. The only thing this cute little crocheted raccoon needs is a massive gun and maybe some blood stains.

Magischer Baum

by Regina Satta

Groot cares. He may not have the words to say so but he protects those who are close to him. Honour that protective nature with these socks with beautiful leaves and winding vines. Sure, Groot wouldn’t be able to wear them, but he’d like them anyway.

Tree of Life Mittens

by Janel Laidman

Considering Groot’s role in the film (trying not to be spoilery here…) he definitely deserves the title of Tree of Life. These mittens, aside from representing Groot in a very elegant way, are thoroughly gorgeous.

While typing up this post I got the mental image of Rocket sitting down to knit something using needles created from Groot’s wood. This image will stick with me.

These two characters made the movie for me so I hope you enjoyed some patterns representing them. Stay tuned next week for some Captain Marvel-eque patterns, purely because Carol Danvers is freaking amazing!

Time For a Comic Interlude

Unfortunately for anyone wanting a giggle, I don’t mean comic in the funny sense. Nope, I’m geeking out over here at all the beautiful and awesome comics I’ve discovered in the last year of hoarding collecting them.

Top row, left to right:

• Spider-Woman (old school).
• Avengers and X-Men. I only bought this because it had Spider-Woman on the front.
• Dexter. Uh, don’t bother with this one.
• PRETTY DEADLY. I will be elaborating on my love for this.
• X-Men.
• Avengers Assemble. Bought because Kelly Sue DeConnick.
• Iron Man.

Bottom row, left to right:

• Jupiter’s Legacy. I don’t know what this is, I only picked it up ’cause it was on offer at the store.
• Secret Avengers. I only have one.
• The Superior Foes of Spider-Man. I dropped this one last month.
• Captain Marvel. SO AWESOME.
• Hawkeye. The comic that really snared me into the world.
• Fearless Defenders. Mixed feelings on this one.
• Young Avengers which by all accounts is awesome.

It might not come as a surprise to you that I seek out comics that are female-friendly. I don’t mean that in the wishy-washy fluffy pink way; I like my violence and angst as much as anyone. However, a lot of comics feature so much boobs-and-butts poses that I can’t pay attention to the story anymore, if there even is a story beneath the gratuitous objectification. Usually there isn’t.

I like to pick up a comic and lose myself for a few minutes. For this, any feminists out there looking to dip your toes into the world of comic geekery, just pick up something by Kelly Sue DeConnick who is my new hero. I got a comic signed by her a few weeks ago and she’s just as wonderful as I expected. In the list above three of my four favourites so far are Captain Marvel, Pretty Deadly, and Avengers Assemble; all written by DeConnick. The other on my best-of list is Hawkeye which is written by Matt Fraction – Deconnick’s husband. Yeah. They’re the power-due of awesome comics right now.

Aside from the Hawkeye Annual which was lazily drawn and awkward, the women in all of those comics are human-looking. A lot more so than in some of the other more mainstream ones I’ve picked at random in the past.

Anyway. These are the comics I’m adoring right now. My only disappointment is that I can’t knit and read comics at the same time.

Any other comic book geek knitters out there?

Related articles

• A Look Into Avengers Assemble #23 (comicsrefueled.wordpress.com)
• Comic Booked’s Best of 2013: (comicbooked.com)
• COMICS: Spider-Girl And Wolverine Team-Up In First Look At AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #23 (comicbookmovie.com)
• Exclusive Q&A with Kelly Sue DeConnick on the “Castle” graphic novels (kindlepost.com)