In his "Deus ex Comica" series of essays, Adam Besenyodi is taking a look at the impact of comic book pop culture on a personal level, from the Marvel titles' influence on his mid-'80s preteen and early teen years to the friendships formed around the books and characters, to what it's like rediscovering that world as an adult.

    Using the collected body of work as a sort of "How to Mess with Your Kid" guidebook, I have maintained for years that I aspire to be the dad from Calvin & Hobbes.  And I came pretty close to perfectly realizing that goal this past Christmas.  Once we'd made the decision to get a Nintendo Wii for the family, we were able to find one surprisingly easily.  In preparation for the big day, I removed the Wii from the box and filled it with four packages of underwear, four packages of socks, and a pair of pajamas, wrapped the box, and tucked it under the tree.

    Christmas morning, after all the presents were opened, there was a lone box way in the back corner behind the tree.  I told my son to pull it out and unwrap it.  The look on his face as he jumped up and down with the coveted Wii box hoisted triumphantly over his head was priceless.  As was the look on his face moments later when he opened the box and didn't find a Wii inside it at all.  Because he is only six, I didn't want to scar him too badly (and I like being married to my very lovely and tolerant wife), so after a few moments I had him open the door to our entertainment cabinet to reveal the Wii already set up and ready for play.

    I haven't had a console system since the Atari 2600, and even though the novelty and nostalgia of that system will always live with me, it didn't really plant any hard-core gaming seeds in me.  I suppose like in most households in the mid-'80s, the Commodore 64 was primarily used for games and secondarily used to print out sixth-grade science reports.  So sure, I logged plenty of hours in front of it playing Ghostbusters, but that was technically a computer, right?  And then along came the Wii.

   I had never played Marvel: Ultimate Alliance prior to the afternoon of December 25, but I knew I wanted the game.  In fact, it was the only one I wanted for the Wii.  I had watched the on-line trailers for the game at the Activision site in the days leading up to Christmas completely enthralled.  Seeing Wolverine and Storm and Iron Man and Daredevil in those trailers, combined with the physicality of the Wii, fascinated me.  Sure, I feel like I know these Marvel characters because they've been a part of my life for decades, but it surprised even me just how geeked I was at the prospect of actually getting to be them in gameplay.

    Coming at this from a renewed comic book fan's perspective and not from a gamer's perspective has allowed me to wallow in the pixilated goodness that is the House of Ideas come to life.  And my wife, a tepid comic book fan at best with admittedly no knowledge of the Marvel U. before embarking on the adventure, has been drawn into the game right alongside me almost from the beginning.

    Initially, I had claimed Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as my own.  Settling in those first couple of days, I took my time finding my way around this new world as best I could, trying to get the basics down.  I started out as Spidey, then changed to Wolverine, then Thor, then finally settled on Captain America.  Moving across the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, learning (often the hard way) things like how damaging walking into fire can be for a superhero, I started to grasp the features and talents of the characters.  And by the time I took on Fin Fang Foom at the end of the Prologue, I was feeling pretty good about my learning curve.

    Three or four days after Christmas, as my wife stood in the family room watching me play the game, I could tell she was dying to jump in, so I invited her to sit down and join me.  And apart from the simulator discs that I do solo, we've played the game together ever since.  She's way more competitive than I am, but we tend to balance each other out.  Where she could sit and play any game well into the wee-early morning hours, I have the good sense (I suppose) to knock off at a somewhat reasonable time.  But we fuel each other, and it's fun to be a team in this adventure.

    We both have our favorite characters to play.  She is a big fan of Luke Cage, and I love being Captain America.  Although we didn't know it at the time, this arrangement works out well for us since Luke is a good melee fighter and Cap is a good range fighter (don't be too impressed, I'd never heard of those terms until a week or two ago), so the diversity of our preferred charges is a huge benefit.  She loves to get into the thick of things and throw down (she also loves Luke's catchphrase to end all: "Sweet Christmas!"), and I like to hang back, using Cap's shield throw to do my damage from a distance.

    We favor Luke and Cap in "Arcade mode", which basically means we're a team, but sort of in competition with each other with regards to fighting stats and such.  It keeps us motivated and spurs a friendly rivalry.  Our son is only allowed in the room when we play Marvel: Ultimate Alliance if he is wearing his headphones while he reads or plays his DS because the language can get quite colorful.  While we rarely talk smack to each other (and are really pretty encouraging of each other), it simply wouldn't be right to take down a boss without at least some trash-talk.

    We have tried "Cooperative mode" which shares stats and increases the total number of characters available for our team to four, but found it much too confusing for our novice-gamer's experience.  We tend to end up all turned around and attacking the other characters on our team or each other by mistake.

    We are a good puzzle-solving team, which has served us well through the various worlds of the game.  All told, our first run through, start to finish on "Easy", took us right around 30 hours.  We have no idea how good or bad that time is, nor do we care.  We were duly satisfied with the experience.  And now that we have unlocked Black Panther, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Blade, Ghost Rider, and Nick Fury, we have enjoyed heading back to various points in the game to have some fun and explore these characters.  My wife is becoming proficient using Blade's Blood Haze and Ghost Rider's Penance Stare, while I'm fond of Nick Fury's Submachine Gun moves and Iceman's talents.  We have also started a second game, hoping to see if we can move through the challenges more efficiently than the first time around.

    The simulator discs are a lot of fun, too.  If my wife is busy with other things, or I have a few minutes to kill, I can sit down and bang through one of these timed, character-specific tests for a fix without messing with the continuity of whatever game we're in the middle of.  The nice thing about these simulator discs is that they force you to explore other characters and their powers, as well as particular areas within the game.  I can hone my Sue Storm Invisibility powers against Radioactive Man, or practice my Web Bullets and Web Snare work as Spidey when I take on Scorpion.  As a bonus, successfully completing all of the simulations unlocks the last playable character, the Silver Surfer.

    As if the Wii alone wasn't distracting enough, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance provides an amusing, immersive diversion to the stresses of our everyday life. And now, with Activision's recent announcement that a (rumored Civil War-inspired!) sequel for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is on the way, I couldn't be happier -- giddy at the prospect of new characters and adventures to tackle, shield in-hand.

Miss an installment of "Deus Ex Comica?" Here you go:

Part 1: Gateway Drugs

Part 2: Judging a Book by its Cover

Part 3: Ignoring Personal History

Part 5: Bound for Greatness

Part 6: Marvel 1985

Part 7: A Real American Hero

Part 8: It's a Sickness

Adam Besenyodi loves to talk pop culture. He is a former editor and staff writer for PopMatters, a participant in the Pop Conference and a freelance writer.

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