I’m still shook, even now at 5am on a Thursday, over what I witnessed a few days ago in the Barnes & Noble Starbucks. Absolutely shook.
Two grown-ass men, obviously friends but dressed like they were in two different high school cliques, were arguing, passionately about who Gerard Way was. The one wearing a Green Lantern shirt and thick-rimmed hipster glasses said that Gerard Way is the lead singer of My Chemical Romance. The other guy was wearing what I wore during my emo phase in middle school, mostly black with a skinny red tie and a grey vest, was arguing that Gerard Way was a comic book writer.
Then a third person comes up, obviously another friend as she put down a tray of drinks for the three of them, looking like she could’ve been a Kappa Nu with Elle Woods, and asks “What dumb thing are you two arguing about now?”
The two men reply. Elle Woods’ sorority sister says “They’re the same damn person, you idiots. He does both things.”
Absolutely shook. I feel like I witnessed the utopia suggested by the end of High School Musical where everyone from all the different cliques are friends and Wildcats or some shit…
Now I’m imagining a fic where these two show each other comics and music and fall in love over the shared love of the multidudes Gerard Way contans and I think that’s just so beautiful.
One of my ALL TIME favorite Captain America comics is “Man Out of Time” – a fantastically written miniseries by Mark Waid and GORGEOUSLY illustrated by Jorge Molina ( @jorgemolinam ) that retells the story of Cap coming out of the ice. It deals with the weight of loss of his removal from his own time, greiving over Bucky’s loss (and remembering him after the Brubaker soft retcon of being about 20 when he “died”).
One of the most striking moments to me is at one point in a flashback, Cap is talking to Bucky about what they want to do after the war is over. Bucky says that he always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon – he never saw it – and it is a part/represents of what they’re fighting the war for.
At the end of the comic, as Cap has some time to himself, he travels to the Grand Canyon for Bucky, as a way to deal with his loss, and this moment happens:
And, well, this moment always gets me. Steve going there, drawing Bucky, and “showing him” the Grand Canyon in the only way he can. It’s his way to try to start to move forward.
It was always a dream of mine to see an epilogue, of Steve being actually able to take him there in person after he finds out he’s still alive. This weekend, I was able to make that a reality.
I had the distinct privilege to be able to commission Jorge Molina himself (the original artist of Man out of Time), at Wizard World New Orleans for just that scene, and here it is:
I am BLOWN AWAY by the work he did – this is a traditional media piece, done in inks and copic markers, and the values he worked in, the expressions, the dynamic pose that conveys the awe of the location, and yet still have it be a tender, quiet moment between the two of them. in the Grand Canyon, Steve with the sketchbook, hand squeezing Bucky’s shoulder, both masks off and taking in the natural majesty of the canyon.
And God, to see Bucky looking honest-to-god /HAPPY/.
;__________;
Thank you SO much, Jorge, this is everything I could have wanted and more.
Maybe I’ll be able to (ditigally) color this some day 🙂
This is incredibly beautiful and so damn uplifting that I could cry. The amount of detail for a con commission is stunning. It’s like he always had that picture in his head, and was just waiting for an opportunity to create it.
knitting in the dark 