Yup, the ultimate comic book movie mash-up hits the screens this weekend and it delivers. Crazy to think, a movie that pushes fun, comic action and doesn’t devolve into clichés, caricatures, or hyper-realism. Sometimes, it’s good enough to be what you are. This is one of those rare examples.

Taking a step back, The Avengers is the culmination of years long, universe building efforts by those minds at Marvel. Back, way back, in 2004 Marvel announced they were getting into the movie business. With the success of Spiderman and X-Men franchises, Marvel saw the prospects of long-term cinematic success with its characters. However, both of those properties were actually licensed and developed by major studios, leaving Marvel with a cut in the profits, but no control in the product. Thus, the 2004 announcement was a huge gamble, but something worthwhile for the creative forces at the House of Ideas. Securing funding, or actually a huge line of credit, Marvel burst out on its own, intent on making movies based on characters like Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, Dr Strange, Hawkeye, and others.

Over the next several years, deals lapsed or rights reverted back or licenses changed hands. Regardless of the machinations, it all led to Marvel’s ability to work with Paramount Pictures and announce the mother of all geekdom fantasies: a coherent movie universe was being created in the Marvel movies and it would all be spurred from the first Iron Man movie.

Much to the surprise of most, Iron Man ended up being a fun, exciting film and reinvigorated Robert Downey Jr’s career. Based on this success, Marvel worked towards an Iron Man sequel and then things really started getting rolling. A Thor film and a Captain America film would be developed. And all of these would lead to…a crossover film that introduced the Avengers team concept. It was unheard of in film. In comics, sure, you could get crossovers all the time. In cartoons, yes, as long as the rights were OK, you had limited team-ups. In tv shows, it already got hard and maybe you have a couple of shows doing a two-part story. But in movies? No, that’s damn near impossible. First, you have licensing and rights issues. Ah, but Marvel took back all their rights, so teaming up these characters wouldn’t be a problem. Second, you have scheduling and logistics. Sure you could have folks hop in for cameos, but there’s no way you could align everyone to do the equivalent to an all-star movie. Or maybe you could.

So, a couple of years ago we had Iron Man 2 hit theaters. It was OK, but not as good as the first. But now you had the teasers in place, because Marvel had actually taken the time to roadmap everything. First we got a Thor tease, which led to the 2011 flick. Then we got teased on Captain America, which led to another 2011 flick. And then we got the tease to the team concept, which, 600 words later, gets us to today, The Avengers!

First, the cast is all back, and they all act like they did in their own movies. Robert Downey Jr is the smarmy, funny Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth is the giant, Shakespearean speaking Thor, Chris Evans is the straight arrow Captain America, Samuel L Jackson is the non-swearing Nick Fury, and Scarlett Johansson is the badass Black Widow. We also get Jeremy Renner as the sharpshooting archer Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo steps in as the third Hulk in as many iterations. Having a star studded cast isn’t the big deal here, it’s having them reprise starring roles from their solo projects and getting together for a big party romp that is awesome.

Second, the story is there. It moves a bit mechanically at times, especially in the first hour of buildup. It’s like you’re literally watching someone move chess pieces to get everyone in place for the fun to start. Or it’s like being on a rollercoaster and sitting through that beginning climb where you see and hear the car getting pulled up by the motorized chain. You know the fun is coming, but there’s still a little bit of something that takes you away from the moment. Yet, once you get started, you don’t really care about that beginning part anymore. That’s how the story moves along.

Third, the effects are pretty solid. I didn’t partake in either IMAX or 3D, so the effects may even be better, or worse, but in standard presentation they were exactly what you expect. Nothing looked amazing, nothing looked horrible, nothing was so jarring to take you out of the moment, nothing was so convincing that you marveled at the technology. Combining points two and three, the reveal of the helicarrier was a big, huge moment, that actually looked a little underwhelming and played out a bit contrived. Yet, once you got the thing in the air and saw how it worked into the story later, it was fine.

Last, the action was really good. In fact, the big climax was about as close as you can get to a live action comic book that we’ve seen to date. It was 40 minutes of action that was fun, funny, geekout worthy, and plain kick-in-the-pants worthy. You get to see the Avengers actually doing an Avengers type mission and it was done really well. You take an ending battle like this, and you compare it to the nauseating, eye-puke inducing trash of Bayformers 3, and you have a little faith restored in the creative talents out there. Again, there was a little bit of mechanical set-up, but that’s all nitpicky stuff. That finale was a full blown nerdgasm moment.

One random note. A character like Hawkeye works in the comics, deadly archer, visually compelling, fun stuff. In a live movie, where you’re going up against ray guns, armored warriors, thunder gods, it becomes a bit silly. Throughout the flick, you get to see Renner’s Hawkeye do some cool stuff and it’s good, but when he’s slinging his bow rather than drawing a gun, you kinda chuckle. And if there are moments in the climatic battle scene that don’t work, it’s watching a dude with a bow and arrow trying to snipe alien warriors buzzing around him at subsonic speeds.

Another random note. The Hulk is the crowd pleaser, which is a bit surprising. In previous attempts at having the character carry a film, it just didn’t work either time. Yet, in this team setting, he gets the most satisfying bits to play off. When you sit back and think about it, it does make sense as the Id of the group gets the most directly satisfying and humorous spots. What do you want to do in this type of flick, you want to smash stuff, and that’s Hulk’s speciality.

Overall, this was a fun flick. It’s satisfying on a multiple levels. First, as a summer blockbuster, it definitely hits the spot and it’s a great way to start the season. Second, it hosts a great number of trailers, from the guilty pleasure of Expendables 2 to the hotly anticipated Dark Knight Rises to the always looking better Pixar’s Brave, it’s the first time I’m excited about some stuff. Throw in a kickass Prometheus trailer and I realize I need to find some dates to take to these movies. Third, it’s the culmination in a half-decade of planning and execution. I remember when they first laid out the plan, and I was both skeptical and hopeful. I didn’t think they would pull it off, but I was excited about the possibility of them doing something so audacious. Fourth, it’s smart enough to present you with a reasonable story, but not too serious to deliver a grade A summer tentpole flick. It’s quintessential very good all around.

Last bits, as Marvel movies are wont to do, The Avengers includes some additional teaser footage in the end credits. Be aware that there are TWO clips, so stick around to the very very end. The first clip is the set-up for future stuff, which is mindblowingly bold. The second is just fun goofing. Both worth it. After all that gushing, I’ll pin this at 8 out of 10 assembling super teams.

What’s the most important thing to you right now?

Time. Time is the currency of life. It’s finite for every one of us. It’s our most limited resource. When science fiction becomes science faction, maybe we’ll be able to clone ourselves or replace our bodies with robot parts, but we’re not there yet, and time remains life’s limiting factor. You’ll run out of it at some point.

Depressed much?

Nope, inspired. If you know that time is limited you can either curl up in a ball or you can seize life! I guess there’s a third choice, just do what you’ve always done, keep the status quo, but that IS depressing. You won’t curl up in a ball, you’ve got too much to do in life, too much to accomplish. So if that’s the case, then you must seize life! You must make into reality all that you have thought about achieving.

Easier said than done, don’t you think?

Yes, much easier. No one said it’s easy to get to where you want to go, to be what you want to be, to do the things you need to do. Why would it be? If it were, it wasn’t much of a goal. Plus, if it were, the whole journey thing, enjoying how you got there, would suck if it was that easy. Nope, the whole point in striving for the imagined is that you don’t know if or how you’ll get there, but you’re gonna have a hell of a time trying.

So much touchy-feely, why don’t you give a real example?

OK, about six months ago I committed to finishing my novel. As I was reinvigorated, I did a bunch of research to learn about self-publishing and ebooks. It became evident that writing an author’s blog was an important tool in marketing and building an audience. I started this blog, but I wasn’t ready to discuss the books, so I started writing random thoughts. Mostly to inspire myself, I kept writing pieces about what I was doing and what I was trying. Then I realized, I could compile that into a book and try the whole e-publishing thing with that. And thus, I’m a Frayed Knot was born. 1) Inspired to make better use of my time. 2) Taking steps to make ideas into reality. 3) Unexpected journey leads to unexpected outcome.

Fine, are you ready to talk about your book now?

A little. I spilled the beans a bit with the author bio on Amazon. In case you didn’t read it, “He is writing the universe-spanning Worlds on Fire series.”

Universe-spanning? What does that mean?

Actually, I lied. It should be…universes-spanning.

Wait, what?

Can’t say more about that yet.

Fine, what about the first novel, the one you’ve been trying to finish for a decade?

It’s fantasy, it draws on awesome concepts that seem like typical swords-and-sorcery, but are actually steeped in a different mythology.

Whoa, that’s a mouthful. What are you really saying?

It’s not about magic, there’s much more going on that that.

What’s the most exciting thing about this story?

The revelations. As you peel back the layers, it just keeps going.

Any specific details?

Not yet, but I’ll do character bios and world histories right here on the site. Cool content will live here that enhances the book.

Fine, I want to read this now. When is it coming out?

May.

This month? Are you serious?

Shit, I guess so.

How far are you from finishing?

Far enough that I need to end this and get back to writing!

Outside of my undying adoration to this movie, the quote speaks to me at this moment as well. As I mentioned in my book, time is the currency of life and we should strive to spend it well. It gets especially difficult when you’ve made decisions to dedicate certain hours to certain endeavors.

Take sleep for example. You and I both know there’s a certain amount of hours set aside for the nightly slumber. Let’s do a simple counter. I have 24 hours in a day. I like 7 hours of sleep, that leaves me with 17 hours.

I do have a day job, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time doing that. On average I arrive at the office at 7:30 and leave the office at 7:30. That’s another 12 hours, taking me down to 5 hours left. Now, that isn’t totally accurate, I’m not spending 12 hours solely at work. This would include time for breakfast, lunch, and workout.

OK, so 5 hours left in the day. Let’s say an hour total in commuting back and forth, and that leaves me with 4 hours. And what a glorious 4 hours it is.

That’s 4 hours to eat dinner, and cook it if I’m really ambitious. That’s 4 hours to write, or pretend to write. That’s 4 hours to goof off and unwind, whether that’s TV or internet or reading or sewing. That’s 4 hours for a personal relationship, if there is one. That’s a tough schedule.

That’s why I wish I had more time. In the last two weeks I’ve actually done something to do exactly that. Normally, I slept around midnight and woke up a little before 7. This allowed me to get to work by 7:30 and start the day. What I’ve tried to do is sleep before 11, preferably around 10:30 and wake up by 6. This allows me to scoot over to the office gym in the morning and finish my workout before starting work. This in-turn allows me to leave work by 6pm and suddenly I have almost 5 post-work hours to utilize.

But Alton, you really don’t, you’re sleeping earlier. I know, I know. In the end, I can’t make more time, I can only be more efficient with it. Carving out 15 minutes here or a half hour there, and maybe I free up an hour later on.

Still, time is the limiting factor, it’s the constrained resource, it’s the unforgiving thing of it all. When you start to break it down, it’s easy to see how some folks lose track of their goals. After all, how can you get to them when you actually just spent 25 hours in a 24 hour day?

It takes discipline and a willingness to sacrifice. There are things that are lower on the priority list, it’s up to you to determine what those are. Time, the currency of life. Spend it well, spend it frivolously, it doesn’t matter, it all gets spent no matter what. It’s up to us to make it worth something.

Coming up: Answers to your questions

It was around that time I started thinking about the novel, the series, the second novel, the cool stuff coming up, and I realized it was time to get down to work. The real work, the hard work, the nitty gritty stuff that will become Worlds on Fire. Dang, and I really hoped to bask in the glory a little longer. Just more motivation to get this one done so I can press that submit button again and do my shimmy-shake.

What about these posts: well, we’re still here aren’t we, so more stories it is. I might switch things up a bit in the coming weeks. Especially as the book nears completion, I’ll start focusing on teasers, behind-the-scenes, extra goodies, all the stuff to get you excited about the launch. I also wanted to do more stories, maybe less anecdotes and more serialized, episode flavored posts. Might be Story Tuesday and Worlds on Fridays, we’ll see. It is something I’m thinking about and hoping you enjoy.

Kindle Select: this is a secondary program that Amazon has rolled out on its publishing platform. Short version: authors agree to exclusivity of their work for 90 days and enablement of Kindle lending, users get the ability to borrow books under their Prime account, and Amazon gets a vast library with a promise to compensate borrows with a pooled fund. That’s why the blogposts came down over the weekend, because the content needed to be exclusive to Kindle/Amazon if it was submitted for the Select program. It’s funny starting from the ground floor, exclusivity might suck for some, but if it means I can avoid another round of digital formatting for a different device, I’m fine with it.

OK, that’s all I got.

Coming up: What’s up with that book title?

I’m a Frayed Knot: Musing from My Life. Have you heard that joke, about the string and the bartender? If you haven’t, you’re missing out.

Bigger announcement, the compilation is live right now! Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RV3XEK

As I mentioned before, I re-edited every story. I also wrote a whole new piece titled, “The girl I was going to marry”. It’s like DVD-exclusive content, how fun. I wrote a brand-new introduction, added a Table of Contents, and designed that cover you see.

A couple of things.

First, it’s free for this weekend, so download it now! I’m trying out the Kindle Select Program, which allows for several features including the ability to do “free” promotion days. This seems counterintuitive, but I actually would love to see this gain traction than never get any downloads. So download it, and tell your friends to download it, too! It’s FREE.

Second, formatting and uploading to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) was interesting. Definitely took time to reformatting everything to work for the platform. Plus, there’s more moving parts than you expect, from cover design to front matter to back matter. I can see why even independent authors use 3^rd party services to handle that stuff. It was my first try at this, but after having the final draft all ready to go, I easily spent 4-6 hours trying to get things perfect. It’s time consuming, especially when you’re just starting.

Third, you’ll notice this site is a bit bare right now. I removed the posts that appear in the book, not because I want to force everyone to download. Rather, the Select Program I mentioned earlier requires exclusivity to the material, and that doesn’t just include other ebook platforms.

Doesn’t really affect things too much because we’re shifting to concentrate on the actual novels now! It’s a very exciting time!

So, if you’re looking for some reading material on over the holiday weekend, go download the FREE book! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RV3XEK