World's Most Forgetful
World's Most Forgetful
May 13
Like Tony Stark as the events of “World’s Most Wanted” unfold, I have a terrible memory.
It sucks. What sucks worse is KNOWING I have a terrible memory. I’m not talking about forgetting phone numbers or the birthdays of my kids. I’m talking about life events, big and small, that just pass through my brain like emotional dialysis. I have two kids, a great wife, all of whom I adore; they’re constantly doing amazing things, and I can hang onto so few of them. I don’t know why; maybe it’s the complete lyrics of Elvis Costello eating up valuable brain cells.
I videotape and photograph, but it’s a double-edged sword. Half the time, I feel bad because I’m not “living the moment” when I’m behind the video camera. The other half of the time, I feel desperate because I’m convinced that if I’m NOT filming or snapping, I’ll never really recall these moments at all.
I read through Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca’s “World’s Most Wanted” arc in the Invincible Iron Man Omnibus hardcover and it snapped me up and yanked me to the ending. I got a little swept away, the way you do with any smart action-adventure story. I tapped my feet to the beats of the plot until the last chorus was sung and I closed the book and I was sated.
A day or two later, I found myself thinking back to the key emotional beats. Especially that heartbreaking “who’s Happy?” Watching the world’s smartest man become stupid was tough because it was the kind of sci-fi plot twist that any writer would kill to create–a clever-as-hell concept that also bites hard into an emotional truth.
None of us want to lose our memories; they are our idenitites, our friends and family, our selves. But we do lose them, even if we don’t want to. In some ways, we can’t help it. Time and whiskey kill brain cells; people shuffle off the stage and others take their place. You may even have watched a friend or family member succumb to diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s that literally dismantle your memories against your will.
Tony Stark’s plight tapped into my own fear of losing memories; when he couldn’t remember one of his best friends or even how to operate a screwdriver, I felt a pang of recognition and fear. For me, it elevated a fun action-adventure romp into deep, insightful science fiction.
I’m with you Matt, whenever I’m behind the camera at family events or just doing something with the kids, I feel like I’m watching it happen, not participating. But, when I don’t take pictures, I feel like I’ve missed an opportunity to capture a moment that’ll never happen again. Obviously, I need to hire a professional photographer to follow us around. Wonder what Annie Liebowitz’s hourly rates are?
Oh yeah, and “World’s Most Wanted” is great. The “Who’s Happy” line got me kind of choked up.
Golly, Matt, just reading *this* made me tear up a bit!
Jason: I’ll go halvsies with you on Liebowitz. I understand she’s in financial trouble so I bet she’s cheap these days.
Anika: no, don’t tear up! Think of something funny! Like William Shatner singing!
Huh, you know, considering how the storyline ends (not sure if you’ve gotten to the end of it yet) this is a really fascinating perspective. I hope some of the upcoming comics with Tony in them address this.
You know, a lot of the time when we talk about stuff like this, it comes down to you telling me that I don’t get it because I’m not a parent. But I’ve been noticing lately how few pictures and home movies I have. Granted, a lot of the media I’m ‘missing’ is from a period I don’t want to remember, but it struck me just a few days ago that I have next to no pictures, for instance, of my cat. And it never seemed like it was important when she was alive, you know?
Jeff: If I’ve ever told you that you don’t understand “because you’re not a parent,” that was really douchey of me. I’m sorry.
Caroline: I have got to the end of the story, but not anything after…issue 19, I think? Wherever that first hardcover ends. I need to track down those issues post haste.
No, man. It wasn’t douchey at all. Out of context, maybe, it sounds like it, but context is important. Dude, if it bugged me, I’d have told you.