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It’s Clobberin’ Time!
I’m stepping away from posting on my most recent book, “Merchant of Justice” for a movie review.
Saline, Louisiana is a small community in north central Louisiana best known for its watermelons and the birthplace of my ancestors. My grandparents lived in a house right out of the Addams family neighborhood. Fifteen foot ceilings inside with a bare light bulb dangling on a wire from the center. Aging, sagging stairs leading up to two front porches on either side of a bay window. The house sat five feet off the ground on piers. No air conditioning. My parents would travel to Saline during the summer months to help my aunts and uncles shell black-eyed peas, shuck corn, and harvest watermelons and we would stay at my grandparents’ house. An enclosed porch on the backside of the house had a small bed pushed up against a window and the only air came through that screened window.
I was bored. There was nothing for a twelve year old to do in Saline. I could walk a couple of blocks to the playground of Saline School (first through twelfth grade!). Or, I could walk four blocks to downtown Saline, a picture perfect Main Street of a small town.
The grocery store was small and most of the candy bars were so old, they had been invaded by worms. The meat in the cooler had a green sheen! The Calico Cafe across the street served blue plate specials for lunch. My one dollar allowance would only go so far. I wandered into the hardware store filled with aging furniture and light bulbs and musty towels. Nothing there for me!
Finally, across the street from the hardware store, I entered Baber’s Drug Store. No prescriptions were filled here. The old fashioned ice cream soda counter had no ice cream. Shelves were stacked with home remedies. It was here I found a box of sulfur and a box of saltpeter I would take them home in the coming months and make gunpowder. A story for another time!
At this time in my life, I was growing beyond childish stories. Just the year before, in September 1966, my life had been changed forever when I watched the first episode of a new show called Star Trek. I would never go back to Lost in Space! The stories and character were different, interesting, complex. Later as I matured, I would realize these characters were “mature”. The comic books I read at that time in my life were DC Comics: Superman, Batman, Justice League. Maybe I could find a new comic book to read.
I found the comic book stand and realized the DC comics available I had already seen. But there was something in front of me that would change my life must as much as Star Trek had. Here is the cover of that comic:
The Fantastic Four? Never heard of them. But I decided to take a chance and part with my 12 cents and try it. I took that comic back to my grandparents’ house in a misting rain. I laid across the bed in that back porch with my face pressed close to the cool breeze coming in the window from the rain filled air. And I read about Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch and the Thing. The Thing, a hideously deformed human had a blind girlfriend who was not horrified by his appearance. She had disappeared into the “Beehive” and the Fantastic Four had to find and rescue her. In the process they encountered a “cocoon” containing a highly advanced human life-form, the product of scientific experimentation. Called simply “Him” the humanoid emerged and fought the Fantastic Four. This creature would later be called Adam Warlock!
I was blown away! The character development was powerful, and, yes, mature. The story of the Thing being rejected by those around him because of his outward appearance resonated with this poor, chubby, bullied boy! And, he still managed to have a girlfriend!
After the rain stopped, I ran back downtown and spent the rest of my allowance on the comic book before the one I had just read along with three new comics: Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Avengers. Sorry, DC. I never went back until Christopher Reeves brought Superman to life in 1978.
I share this because I have survived four theatrical versions of The Fantastic Four. The 1994 Roger Corman production, produced so Fox would not lose the franchise rights never appeared in public but you can find it on a distant corner of the Internet. The two early 2000 movies were much better and almost captured the feel of the Fantastic Four. The 2015 version should not be discussed. I rank it right along with Alien Resurrection, the third Alien movie that undid all the second movie earned with Ripley, Newt, and Hicks.
Last week, I went to the new movie with my adult daughter and son. Together we watched the definitive, authentic version of the Fantastic Four I first encountered in that comic book back in 1967. Go see it! The story of family, of unity, of good versus evil, of a mother’s love for her child is so powerful! And throughout the entire movie, the characters were spot on! I was back on that bed in my grandparents’ house meeting the Fantastic Four again! Take someone you love and enjoy one of the most uplifting and inspiring movies this year. Set in a 1960’s alternate world, the setting resonated with my own childhood memories of a country flourishing with hope and the promise of a great future. The space program dominated the news with exciting images of spaceships, astronauts, and space walks culminating in a man walking on the moon. Optimism still reigned in this world and that hope and optimism can still be discovered if we learn to look beyond our differences and strive to make this world a better place by being a part of the human family.
Help the movie beat out the competition (haven’t seen Superman yet) because for the Fantastic Four, it’s Clobberin’ Time!
How I Became Captain America
This is how I became Captain America.
It was late on a Tuesday and I was slaving over the latest Mother’s Day gift I had produced in my long life of eleven years. At our Cub Scout meeting, we were making trays for our dear mothers to serve us food and drinks on. Mr. Talbert had cut out round wooden slabs with white Formica on them and our job was to staple rope around the edge and make two rope handles at opposite sides.
My handles were slightly off center and every time my mother would load up the tray and pick it up, one side would tip downward and glasses of lemonade would fall to the floor. Jelly glasses of lemonade. We drank out of glasses from jelly jars.
My mother was the original master of recycling. She would take everyone’s drink left at the end of a meal and pour ice and all into a large glass and then DRINK it!!!! The original Suicide drink!
Back to the tray. I was upset. I was chagrined. I was ashamed. My mother’s gift was useless. In a temper tantrum I jerked all the rope off around the edge and jerked off the handles and then threw the thing across the front yard. Amazingly, it sailed through the air like a giant, fat Frisbee, bounced off of a tree and imbedded itself edge down into the dirt.
I gasped. I raised an eyebrow. I chuckled. I had a shield! Just like my hero, Captain America. I ran into the house and dug through a drawer until I found the black, red, and blue Magic Markers. Now, I was a student of math so I wanted my concentric circles to be perfect and my star to be just right. So, I took out my compass and some string and a ruler and I marked off the rings and drew the star on the slick white surface of the shield. Then, I colored in the red rings and the blue background for the white star. I cut some leather straps from an old belt and made myself a handle on the back.
I stood proudly in front of my mirror in my room and grinned. I was Captain America holding up the shield that would protect me from all the evildoers in the world.
Fast forward to 2005. I was working on the script for my play “The Homecoming Tree”. It is the story of a group of people living in a boarding house in Shreveport, Louisiana at the beginning of World War II. The main character was a thirteen year old boy who was fascinated with beating the Nazis. I had interviewed my parents and my late brother extensively in the preceding few years about life in 1941. When I asked my brother who his heroes were he said, “The Shadow, Captain Midnight, and, of course, Captain America.”
Captain America? In 1942? I did some research. As anyone who has seen the movie is aware, Captain America had his start as a comic book during World War II. It was shocking to realize that my brother and I had shared this connection I was never aware of. He passed away in 2008 but he had the opportunity to see “The Homecoming Tree”. My mother passed away in 2004, but not only did my father get to see the play, he sang “There’s a Star Spangled Banner Hanging Somewhere”, a 1941 song that I recorded and played as part of our radio music playing the background during the play.
I gave my main character a love for Captain America. I got Randle Milliken, the actor playing the young boy to make his own uniform. Guess what he did? He found an old serving tray made out of plastic very similar to my tray and put the star and the stripes on it. Only, he didn’t make the lines perfect as I did. He even found some old red gloves and when he came out onto the stage the first night of performance as “Captain America” I was back in my front yard wrapped in heat and humidity, shield up to ward off the bullets of my enemies, sweat soaking my blue tee shirt as I fought off the evil drones of death and destruction.
So, this weekend, I cannot wait to see “The Avengers”. The original Avengers were my heroes way back in the 1960’s when I discovered comic books and I cannot wait to hear those words: “Avengers Assemble!” and see Captain America once again stand up for what is right! I’ll see you there!
Bruce Hennigan 
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