Here’s The Saga Of Jon Favreau And The Worst Comic Book Ever Made, Iron Man #210
Jon Favreau has a new movie out this weekend called The Mandalorian and Grogu. Unfortunately, I found it disappointing. I do not really know Jon Favreau and I have not interacted with him since hosting a 2014 Apple Store Q&A with him about Chef, which is a great movie.¹ Yet, I can't help but think of him fondly for reasons I will explain ahead. Which compounds my frustration with The Mandalorian and Grogu, because I very much wanted to like it because I think so highly of Favreau.
¹This is a Q&A moderation that I mostly remember for vastly overestimating the enthusiasm for the 20th anniversary of PCU. I even set it up in one of those ways where I said something like, "Obviously, we can't end this without bringing up..." Which, of course, the audience is going to think I'm bringing up Iron Man, or Elf, or Swingers. Or maybe even Rudy. No, I said, "Obviously, we can't end this without bringing up the anniversary of PCU." I've never before seen a jam packed audience have no reaction whatsoever except for just one person clapping once. I remember Favreau trying to save me, "Yeah, great memories," or something like that. On that note, yes I am still available to host your Q&A moderation.²
²I'm actually doing one this Sunday night, May 24th with Edgar Wright for a screening of Baby Driver at the Regal Union Square after the 5:05 showing. I will promise you that PCU will not be a topic. At least probably not.
When writing, there's no one I like making fun of more than myself, so to be at least a little fair, that Chef Q&A actually went pretty well for the most part, the PCU part aside. After the Q&A we went back into the Apple Store green room and Favreau, who is in front of me, turns around and gives me a high ten and said, "We really had them!," which made me feel good. This Q&A happened to be around my birthday.³ As I was collecting my things I saw my girlfriend, Kate, talking to Favreau. In front of both of them was an issue of an Iron Man comic, #210 to be exact. I heard Jon Favreau say, "No, I already have Iron Man 210," as a wave of anxiety and dread hit me. At the time, Iron Man #210 was my least favorite comic book of all time. And Jon Favreau is very much a part of this whole story.
³Speaking of birthdays, as I type this, mine is eight days away. (I share a birthday with JFK, Annette Bening, Bob Hope, Noel Gallagher, and former Cincinnati Reds star Eric Davis. Not to be confused with my friend Erik Davis from Fandango, who I do not share a birthday with.) If you are thinking about gifts for me, a paid subscription to this newsletter would be great. Here's why: I actually like doing this newsletter a lot. But, unfortunately, I can only continue to do it with paid subscriptions. But the upside is you will get to read the rest of this Jon Favreau, Iron Man story, and then you can read the Tom Cruise story and the Rise of Skywalker premiere party story.
