Ian McNab
Staff Writer
Whether it’s swinging through the city, supported only by the strength of a spider’s web, or it’s using a suit of armor to help you lift objects with superhuman strength, the powers of superheroes have intrigued audiences for decades. Now, thanks to a joint effort by Marvel Comics and The California Science Center, fans will be able to experience the science behind their favorite heroes.
Running from March 26th until Sept. 4th, the exhibit is another brain child of comic book legend Stand Lee. For the past 45 years, Lee has been creating the majority comic book characters that we think of today. Starting with the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, he went on to create such legends as The Hulk, Spiderman and Daredevil.
“I think everybody loves things that are bigger than life,” Lee said. “I think of them as fairy tales for grown-ups. Well, you get a little bit older and you’re too old to read fairy tales.
“But I don’t think you ever outgrow your love for those kind of things, things that are bigger than life and magical and very imaginative.” Lee discussed when asked about the appeal of the exhibit. “But in a comic book, they’re fun and you can have the same kind of thrill and enjoyment you had when you were a kid reading those kinds of stories.”
While the world of comics is an ever expanding field, and has always been a form of escapism for young kids to life long readers, this exhibit failed in many ways to convey the true form of the superhero. While this is clearly the first exhibit of its kind, there is much improvement that can be done to help attract more fans and more non-fans.
When you are first taken up in the elevator to the exhibit, you begin to feel as though they are trying to completely immerse you into the comic world, but once you step past the first room of excellently detailed art panels from different comics, things go down hill quickly.
The large room is set up with each characters station around the walls, allowing for participants to walk in the circle that had been designated by yellow foot prints painted on the ground.
It is clear that a large amount of time and effort was put into finding a way to relate the characters to the different regions of science that their powers are conceived from. However, most of that effort is seen only through the countless plaques placed around each characters station.
When you get done reading all of the scientific information about how certain powers of each character works, you almost feel as if they have taken the super out of the hero. And at times the science seemed to be irrelevant to what the character does.
For example, Doc Ock is a bad guy who was once a brilliant nuclear physicist and inventor who designed a set of robotic arms to help him in his research. In a horrific lab accident he was exposed to an intense amount of radioactivity, fusing the mechanical arms to his body giving him absolute control over the artificial limbs.
With this ability, Doc Ock has wreaked havoc on the innocent, only trying to help strengthen his power and status. Such a villainous character with such forceful powers would certainly translate into an exciting, interactive display…right? Wrong. The goal for Dock Ock’s activity was to use different tongs or prosthetics as a means of tying a shoe. Not quite harnessing the power or Dock Ock.
This was far from the only station to fall through on its “interactivity.” Other options were to stare through a hole into some sort of spinning laser light show and a picture of the Invisible Girl that you were looking at is suppose to disappear. The Invisible Girl never disappeared, only a sense of nausea seemed to set in.
One of the most famous and popular comic book characters is The Hulk. Even people who don’t read comics know who he is, turning from a mild mannered doctor into an oversized, enraged green monster. And how did the exhibit show off the rage, size and destruction that The Hulk is synonymous for? They had you step inside what was suppose to be his brain, with different sections highlighted as to which section controls anger, sadness, etc. Uneventful, anti-climactic and un-Hulk like in every way.
As Lee states frequently, comics aren’t just for kids – it is a way for people of all ages to experience an infinite fairy tail-like world. But this exhibit did a terrible job of accommodating the older audience. It seems to be more of a glorified playground for kids, that just so happens to have a comic book theme.
While they state that it is an immersive world for all people, if you are not between the ages of three to twelve, there is a very slim chance that you will enjoy yourself.
All of the work that was put into the relation of science to the super powers is overlooked by young kids, who go straight for the interactive features. While the older crowd is left reading all sorts of information, there is little for them to interact with.
The highlight of it all seemed to be right before the exit at the unavoidable, post-exhibit gift shop. With stacks and stacks of figures, toys, games and more, there was surely something for everyone to spend money on.
This science exhibit might have fallen extremely short after all of the hype and glorified descriptions it was given, but it has opened the door for similar exhibits to follow. Whether Marvel and the California Science Center team up again or not, they have both surely learned a lot from this, and in the event that they try to do it again, they will hope know how to cater to all fans of all ages.
07-11-2006
