EXTRA: I GOTS THE FEAR
BY MATT TERL

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: It's a small tradition, and one that we're eager to break early on. We, in theory, reserve EXTRA for working pros with something on their chests that they want gone.

To hell with that.

Since everyone else is talking about the X-Men movie, we figured that if we didn't do the same thing then we wouldn't be timely and all the other comic-centric websites would make fun of us.

We might be late to prom with one eye in the middle of our foreheads, but never let it be said that we don't put out.

So then, without further ado, Mr. Matt Terl Gots The Fear, and wants to tell you about it.)

The Fear came back about a month ago, the same Fear I felt way back when Jen asked why I never brought her to the comic book store with me. We were watching TV at the time, and the commercial for the X-Men movie had just ended. She looked away from the screen and over at me, and said, "We'll be there opening night, right?"

On the one hand, this was great. I mean, what self-respecting comic book fan and pop-culture junkie isn't going to be thrilled when his girlfriend is determined to be at opening night of the new comic book-related movie? But on the other hand, I felt my stomach start trying to digest itself, and the usual embarrassed eye-twitches start up, just like they do whenever she flips through some old issue of X-Force that I've left lying around the apartment.

How to explain to her girlfriend all the reasons that you're clinically ashamed of your hobby? That for all the quality work you've shown her, all the Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis stuff, there's still tons of "Yes! You've vanquished my hordes, but my master plan remains in effect, and I shall crush you like the insignificant worms you are!" style crap out there? That I'm terrified that they've done the X-Men movie up totally wrong, and that we're going to leave the theatre, and despite everything we've been through and all the other horrible stuff she knows about me, this is going to be it? That I think that she's going to look at me pityingly, and just shake her head in sad resignation?

There's no way to explain any of this to her. There's also no way to adequately explain that this movie has the potential to expedite the process of saving the industry that I've loved for so long.

So I don't bother, and we check out a 7:30 showing, Friday night, July 14th.

And she loves it. She laughs at all the right parts, gets misty-eyed, gets excited, cheers, and everything. In short, she responds to it the way we're all supposed to respond to really well-executed entertainment.

I, on the other hand, am so concerned that it's going to be the worst thing ever projected onto a screen-- up to and including the annoying little "Let's go out to the lobby and buy snacks!" cartoon from the 70's-- that I almost fail to notice that I'm enjoying it as well.

Bryan Singer and the rest of his crew pulled it off. They did the impossible. They created a comic book film that maintains the look and feel of the source material while still making it entertaining enough for the masses.

The numbers, incidentally, back me up on this. Third-largest opening day in box-office history, behind Star Wars: Episode I and Jurassic Park: The Lost World. Almost 55 million dollars on its opening weekend. And grades of A- across the board on Entertainment Weekly's fan-poll-- after over 600 votes-- on its website, this despite the fact that EW's own reviewers gave the film a C.

And while it's possible that the grades have been heavily weighted, the numbers should be enough to make anyone reading this stand up and cheer. All those Marvel movie projects we've been hearing rumblings about? I figure at least half of them will get fast-tracked. Expect the Ultimate X-Men comic to get the media push that it deserves. Expect 1989 all over again, in other words, but maybe this time the industry will do it right. Maybe Ellis and Bendis and all the rest of the people who have been putting out superior work over the last decade will be read and noticed and appreciated by the mainstream. Wouldn't that be nice?

But enough of my usual SAVANT rhetoric. Back to direct reactions to the movie.

Jen and I enjoyed the movie in totally different ways. She, as I said, responded to the characters, the story, and all the rest-- but to her they were totally new. She told me afterwards that she was never sure which characters might prove to be expendable, and she was especially worried about Wolverine, since he was played by an unknown in a cast of established stars.

I want you to think about that. I was never worried about Wolverine. He's Wolverine, for God's sake, one of the most popular characters in one of the most popular franchises in comics. They'd sooner kill off God himself in a Marvel Comics Film than Wolverine.

She liked seeing the special effects, enjoyed the story-- although we did reach a consensus that it didn't reach quite as dramatic a climax as we might have liked-- and responded to the characters.

I, on the other hand, just geeked out completely. I found myself loving every little reference to the comics that gets thrown in there, the little cameos, the homages and the other nice touches. But the point is, the movie worked for both of us, coming at it from completely opposite sides.

Is there any chance that people will learn the right lesson from all of this? Maybe. I heard on the radio today that the first-time screenwriter who did much of the work on X-Men has, over one weekend, become the go-to guy for this month in Hollywood. The writer. Not the effects company, not Halle Berry. This is a good sign.

On the other hand, Marvel has already made one misstep. A small one, it's true, but it frustrated me. Shortly after seeing the movie, I saw this week's TV Guide with the X-Men cover, and, it claimed, an X-Men mini-comic inside. So I flipped through it, wanting to see who Marvel would stick onto this relatively high-profile, mainstream comic. The art was some solid work from Salvador Larocca, but the writing . . .

I know that Chris Claremont defined the X-Men. I've adored his older work for years, and he's the one who made me love the team back in the day.

But his more recent work has yet to recapture any of the charm or drama it used to have, and the exceedingly purple dialogue of which he is so fond is not what I would want people seeing when they read what might be their first X-Men comic book story. It was fine, it was workmanlike, but it should have been stellar.

My first thought on reading it was, "Damn. Wish they had run something I could've shown Jen." Instead, when she asked -- ASKED, for the love of God-- if I had any X-Men comics I could recommend to her, I gave her the trade paperback of the Dark Phoenix Saga, which she seems to be enjoying.

So there's your assignment for this week as far as I'm concerned: find someone who's never read an X-Men comic book, and treat them to the movie.

Then, have something decent set aside to lend them to read. That's it. A simple, easy way to move new people into comic books.

If the movies can at least maintain this level of quality over the next couple of years, saving this industry may be easier than we ever imagined.

And next time, maybe I won't be so afraid to take my girlfriend.

(EDITOR'S OTHER NOTE: Apparently, Mr. Terl was spared the free comic Marvel produced as a giveaway item for opening night of the movie. Judging by people's reaction to it, kids immediately put the comic to good and practical use smashing bugs in the movie theater parking lot.)