After our visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and the Enterprise Space Shuttle, we head back toward the Lower East Side and the New York Forbidden Planet store, the only North American outlet for the British comic book and collectibles chain.
The New York location has a smaller footprint than the London Megastore, and doesn't sell books, specializing instead in comic books, action figures and toys, and comic, movie, TV and video game-related merchandise - but it's just as much of a geek paradise.
Karli has generously offered to take care of my purchases as part of my birthday gift, so I judiciously select a couple of graphic novels, and we get into the checkout line so we can pay for those, adding in a Brian Bolland Forbidden Planet New York t-shirt to complement the one we bought at the London Megastore.
My graphic novels of choice are Old Man Logan and The Infinity Gauntlet. To be completely accurate, they're actually collections of Marvel comics storylines rather than stand-alone stories, although Old Man Logan could easily have been done as a single story.
The Old Man Logan miniseries, originally published in 2008, is one of those alternate universe stories that both DC and Marvel seem to be so fond of* - perhaps more Marvel than DC, although I think that DC's Elseworlds comics from the 1990s and early 2000s are perhaps a bit better than their What If? Marvel equivalent. (That being said, watch for the animated version of What If? on the new Disney+ streaming service in 2021.)
In this version of Logan's future, the supervillains have won the war against the heroes by forming an alliance and wiping out their opponents, after which the ringleaders have divided up the United States amongst themselves. Almost 50 years later, a grey-haired pacifist Logan is living quietly as a tenant farmer and father of two in Hulkland, ruled by the Hulk, who has mated with his cousin Jennifer (aka She-Hulk) and produced an inbred cannibal army of greenskinned, rednecked offspring.**
Sworn to never again use his adamantium claws in anger, Logan is savagely beaten by members of the Hulk Gang after he's unable to pay his rent, and the lives of his family threatened if he doesn't make a double payment in a month. In desperation, he agrees to join the blinded Hawkeye in a road trip across the United States in order to deliver a shipment of super soldier serum to resistance operatives in Washington, where the Red Skull is the new President of the United States. Over the course of the trip, we learn of the tragedy that caused Logan to renounce violence, as well as getting an overall view of America after the fall of the heroes.
The concept was popular enough with fans that it eventually spawned an ongoing series, but the graphic novel only collects the initial eight issue run.
The collected Infinity Gauntlet series might appear to speak for itself, given the popularity of the two movies derived from the storyline, but that's not necessarily the case. I say "derived from" but I might as well have gone with "inspired by" - other than the concept of Thanos the Mad Titan eliminating half the life in the entire universe with a single snap of his gauntleted fingers, and the idea of the entire MCU going up against him in battle***, there's not a lot of resemblance to the original comics.
Which, to be honest, is not necessarily a bad thing. I'm generally not a big fan of massive changes from source material, but in this case, the movie versions offer a much more dramatic and plausible take on the story. The comics paint an epic and grandiose version of the struggle to defeat Thanos, drawing in the great powers of the Marvel Universe such as Galactus, the Celestials, and the Stranger, and eventually even avatars of the cosmic constants such as Love and Hate, Order and Chaos, and Eternity, the living personification of the universe. Unfortunately, the story itself is almost ridiculous in its depiction of Thanos and his irrational responses to the possession of infinite power over all of reality.
When we're done at Forbidden Planet, it seems a waste not to make a quick return visit to the Strand, conveniently (and literally) located right next door - which may explain why FPNY doesn't bother to stock books.
Because it's a return visit, I only grab a couple of books to add to my previous purchases: the rapture of the nerds, by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross, and No Time To Spare, by Ursula K. Le Guin. For the rapture of the nerds, even if you didn't have me at Charles Stross, I'm obviously going to be intrigued by the possibilities of a geek singularity. Equally obviously, anything by Ursula K. Le Guin is always a good choice, although the title of this collection of blog postings is sadly prescient, given her death only a month after its publication in December of 2017.
To cap off the day, we have a tasty casual barbecue dinner at The Mighty Quinn, just around the corner and a couple of blocks away on 2nd Avenue, and that's my birthday. Thanks again to Karli for a great (birth)day out in New York City - I think we managed to ring all the bells in terms of a geek birthday, although it's a shame that we didn't think to bring Dancing Jesus from our London outing, he really does get the party started.
- Sid
* I think that both of these concepts are an inevitable response to new writers and artists coming into their respective comic universes and wanting to take a fresh look at the well-worn trials and tribulations of both heroes and villains.
** It never says whether or not She-Hulk undergoes this experience willingly or unwillingly. Nor is it explained why the Hulk has joined the alliance of supervillains by killing the Abomination and taking his place, although there's an elaborate Hulk storyline from 2006, Planet Hulk, which involves the Marvel Illuminati - Professor X, Tony Stark, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Namor the Submariner and Black Bolt of the Inhumans - exiling the Hulk from Earth by blasting him into outer space. The Hulk is not happy with them when he makes his inevitable return. (Parts of the Planet Hulk story inspired the Hulk's career as a gladiator in the Grandmaster's arena from Thor: Ragnarok.)
*** The comic book version pulls a few more heroes into the story - obviously the movies can't feature the X-Men, the Fantastic Four just haven't made it on the big screen to date, and outside of the world of comics fans, no one has any idea who Adam Warlock is.
