Digital Comic Museum
General Category => Comic Related Discussion => Topic started by: Roygbiv666 on June 05, 2012, 10:18:08 AM
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http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-half-assed-superhero-origins-all-time/
WARNING: Sophomoric sense of humor required.
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when I was 8 years old, those origins seem perfectly reasonable to me.
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To be fair, the real-world origin for Firebrand was apparently even more half-assed (wait, that doesn't sound right, but I don't have time for math). Roy Thomas apparently wanted to use Quality's Wildfire, but DC said no, the readers might confuse her with the ball of energy living in the suit of armor in the Legion of Super-Heroes. So he made something up at the last minute and named the character after his wife.
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And she was one of my favorite ASSes.
heh.
They neglect to mention that Bouncing Boy married a chick who can duplicate herself. Anytime. Chuck Tayne - pimp.
To be fair, the real-world origin for Firebrand was apparently even more half-assed (wait, that doesn't sound right, but I don't have time for math). Roy Thomas apparently wanted to use Quality's Wildfire, but DC said no, the readers might confuse her with the ball of energy living in the suit of armor in the Legion of Super-Heroes. So he made something up at the last minute and named the character after his wife.
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Am I the only person who's grown tired of self-congratulatory hipsters writing "lists" on websites such as Cracked? I mean, after a while you've got to wonder if it isn't time to do something else when your job consists of sadly juvenile humor with the rather obvious "gay jokes" ("Lookit! Ultra Boy is checkin' Superboy out! They're gay, yo!") and snidely poking logic holes in comic books meant for little kids in the 1940's and 1950's.
Sophomoric indeed. ::)
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Then don't read them.
Am I the only person who's grown tired of self-congratulatory hipsters writing "lists" on websites such as Cracked? I mean, after a while you've got to wonder if it isn't time to do something else when your job consists of sadly juvenile humor with the rather obvious "gay jokes" ("Lookit! Ultra Boy is checkin' Superboy out! They're gay, yo!") and snidely poking logic holes in comic books meant for little kids in the 1940's and 1950's.
Sophomoric indeed. ::)
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In defense of the Bouncing Boy origin story from "Adventure Comics" #301 (or is it #302?, my memory isn't as sharp as it once was), I enjoyed it when I was twelve and I just read it again in an "Adventure" digest reprint form an hour ago, and I still enjoy it. It has touches with seem quaint now (robot gladiator games, for example) and it owes a lot to the story of the Little Engine Who Could, but I like the idea that the fat kid who isn't above average intelligence could take an absurd ability he gained through a stupid mistake, be rejected by the Legion because his dubious ability made him seem more like a potential menace than a Legionaire, and still figure out a way to prove his worth. For fat kids who weren't overly bright that was and is a powerful message. And, no, I wasn't a fat kid but I was a skinny one. As juvenile literature, Bouncing Boy's origin story is first rate and I appreciate the fact that it has a framing device of being told to would-be Legionaires who are in the midst of the applicant process. As Kewl Shit, it probably doesn't make the grade.
The average super-hero origin tends to border on highly unlikely or outright silly and don't stand up well in the face of logic or ridicule. I don't particularly care for most of Seanbaby's material which I generally find lazy and predictable, although he does come up with something genuinely amusing now and then. I don't follow his columns, but he has been doing them for quite awhile and I'm sure he doesn't care what I think of his work. He's been doing something he obviously loves doing on a very regular basis for an extended time so I admire him for that. He obviously has a following so, like a lot of things in this life, relatively and personal tastes are involved.
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Then don't read them.
Good advice. LOL
Sorry Roy, I'm afraid that was my "kranky" side coming out. The article subject just seemed like such an easy target that I groaned while reading it (many super hero origins -- even Batman, Spidey, and Superman -- can't stand up to logic or ridicule, as jfglade points out). But I also knew what I was getting into, so... my own stupid fault. ;)
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My least favorite origins are they put on a costume and viola they are a super hero. So anything that gives a power of some kind is more probable than the powerless individual with a bright make me a target costume not getting killed on their first adventure. BTW as a pre teen I too loved BB's origin and use in the Legion. I always totally loved Matter Eater Lad as one of the dumbest superheros. And I think he made it in the first try to the LSH. I also loved the Legion of Subs
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No worries.
The thing is - if he knows enough to make fun, he may be one of us. "One of us".
I generally like Cracked since the time investment is minimal and I read them over lunch at work.
Then don't read them.
Good advice. LOL
Sorry Roy, I'm afraid that was my "kranky" side coming out. The article subject just seemed like such an easy target that I groaned while reading it (many super hero origins -- even Batman, Spidey, and Superman -- can't stand up to logic or ridicule, as jfglade points out). But I also knew what I was getting into, so... my own stupid fault. ;)
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My least favorite origins are they put on a costume and viola they are a super hero. So anything that gives a power of some kind is more probable than the powerless individual with a bright make me a target costume not getting killed on their first adventure...
Ha! Sounds like "The Rainbow", a one-shot-wonder superhero from The Arrow #3 by Centaur! (Link to the DCM preview page. (http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=751&page=21)) His origin story is literally that he was inspired by reading a comic book and announced that he could be a superhero too, then put on a horribly garish costume and started hanging out on rooftops looking for criminals to swing down upon with a handy rope.
Gosh, I wonder why he never had more than one appearance. ;)
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What I personally object to in comics is the "meta-origin." One of the more entertaining parts of comics is the diverse (sometimes absurdly diverse) ideas that go into it, and the writers who come along to say that all of that is wrong, and everybody's origin is "really" some ancient artifact, say, buried in Siberia? Well, suddenly your universe of hundreds of titles across most of a century seems small and boring.
If I remember correctly, James Robinson's "The Golden Age" (which bored me to tears with cliches) had the most egregious example, trying to link every superhero origin to Starman, even claiming that the unpowered "mystery men" were mentally unbalanced (another common offense--wanting to help people means you're crazy, to some writers) by the same event.
Likewise, there was DC's ill-advised "Invasion!" crossover, where we learned that something like a sixth of humanity have the X-Fa--I mean "meta-gene.
(And, as I've mentioned, I'm also not fond of leading with the origin when introducing a character. There are very few cases where pages of a callow twit stumbling into powers and learning that he should be responsible is more engaging than actually seeing him solve problems. I think a lot of the listed characters could have been improved substantially by telling the story in a brief flashback at the end of the first story.
Granted, we're talking about splitting hairs, but what's more interesting? Having someone tell you that, oh, he fell out of his chair and spent the night huffing fumes or watching the "drama" unfold?
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Didn't one of the JSA have something like that? Was Wildcat inspired by Green Lantern or something? If only there were some kind of engine I could use to search for an answer, somehow connected to, let's say, a series of computers. Sigh.
Oh, right:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Ted_Grant_(New_Earth)
And, in the Silver Age - Barry Allen reading a Flash comic starring Jay Garrick. Then, someone tried to explain away the coincidence of lightning striking just the right combination of chemicals to give Barry super speed by having some kind of imp do it (http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/mopee.html , http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Flash_Vol_1_167). Then it was some descendant of Barry traveling through time? Then Barry himself creating a cyclical origin (shades of movies!).
What I personally object to in comics is the "meta-origin." One of the more entertaining parts of comics is the diverse (sometimes absurdly diverse) ideas that go into it, and the writers who come along to say that all of that is wrong, and everybody's origin is "really" some ancient artifact, say, buried in Siberia? Well, suddenly your universe of hundreds of titles across most of a century seems small and boring.
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Am I the only person who's grown tired of self-congratulatory hipsters writing "lists" on websites such as Cracked?
There's a whole business model that supports this, unfortunately. It's not really self-congratulatory hipsters writing "lists" -- it's companies whose business model is to drive Internet advertising revenue. They need frequently-released content that's cheap and easy to produce (lists fit that bill) that's gonna tickle enough people's fancy so that it gets linked to on enough social networking sites so that people will visit and provide enough eyeballs on ads. The companies hire people to write in a self-congratulatory hipster voice because it has the effect of amusing people.
It's also why a list of only 6 items has to be published on two pages (so I see twice as many ads).
BCing you
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If only there were some say to do this with comics ...
There's a whole business model that supports this, unfortunately. It's not really self-congratulatory hipsters writing "lists" -- it's companies whose business model is to drive Internet advertising revenue. They need frequently-released content that's cheap and easy to produce (lists fit that bill) that's gonna tickle enough people's fancy so that it gets linked to on enough social networking sites so that people will visit and provide enough eyeballs on ads. The companies hire people to write in a self-congratulatory hipster voice because it has the effect of amusing people.
It's also why a list of only 6 items has to be published on two pages (so I see twice as many ads).
BCing you
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cracked.com itself while known for its lists is itself a survivor in the world of publishing. Starting out as Cracked Magazine which was second rate MAD and surviving for years before failing and reinventing itself as a humor website. Gotta respect em for that.
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All's I know is they give me a good laugh at work. At lunch. Not during the rest of the day.
cracked.com itself while known for its lists is itself a survivor in the world of publishing. Starting out as Cracked Magazine which was second rate MAD and surviving for years before failing and reinventing itself as a humor website. Gotta respect em for that.