Hey, the vagina dentata thread is thattaway!
― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:42 (eighteen years ago) link
But please don't post there, Zillaman might come back.
― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:45 (eighteen years ago) link
(113 points)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/29/Magrex1.jpg/403px-Magrex1.jpg
"He's been good and he's been bad but common sense he never had. During the swinging marvel sixties, nobody was more maniacal than Magneto! But he could reform at the drop of a hat to become a sincere, deep, profound, achingly deep man of immense DEPTH. But we secretly like him better when he's a gibbering freak, as Grant Morrison proved." (Vic F)
Excellent example of a villain who's ethos rather than powers makes him a great foil to the hero(es), and the subject of a grebt essay by Tom on the perils of character growth.
Greatest moment: Answering a door – "Who am I? I am power! Men call me – MAGNETO! And now – come in!" (Vic F)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 17:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 17:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 17:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 7 September 2006 12:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 7 September 2006 13:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Vic F (Vic Fluro), Thursday, 7 September 2006 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:01 (eighteen years ago) link
Did Morrison write this stuff, or it was Claremont meddling?
― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:06 (eighteen years ago) link
Yay! The legacy continues! Onward to #1! LET NO ONE STOP US!
― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:28 (eighteen years ago) link
I think the answer lies in less short-term factors: Batman's had a pretty great run in media visibility for almost two decades now (from the Burton and Schumacher flicks through the animated series up to "Batman Begins", and of course the 60's show got shown a lot on TV, too), and then there's the Miller stuff, which might not be too popular with ILCers *these days*, but I'm willing to bet most of us went through a phase of thinking "Dark Knight Returns" and "Year One" were pretty hot shit. So between those two factors it seems pretty difficult for a comic fan not to have at least a passing fondness for Batman, while Superman has just been a lto more...avoidable.
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 7 September 2006 19:48 (eighteen years ago) link
Did anybody else have absolutely no interest in Bat/Supes comics when a child? After all the movies, tv shows, cartoons, etc., the comics always felt superfluous.
― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Thursday, 7 September 2006 19:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Thursday, 7 September 2006 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Flyboy (Flyboy), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Friday, 8 September 2006 14:40 (eighteen years ago) link
Surely! Isn't half the point of these things that they're soap operas? You follow them because you've come to hold some sort of (irrational) attachment to the characters, and even if you realize there's no reason to assume you'll be interested in what Chuck Austen does with Kitty Pryde, you've built up an affinity for Kitty Pryde following all her previous misadventures, close scrapes, and milkshake dates, and so there you are, reading a Chuck Austen book against all your better instincts.
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Monday, 11 September 2006 00:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 11 September 2006 08:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 11 September 2006 08:11 (eighteen years ago) link
(118 points)
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/data/thumbnails/2/popeye.jpg
I guess we could make some sort of claim for Popeye to be considered the first comic superhero, but I think that's an angle of little interest. Popeye was the toughest guy around (it was a couple of years before spinach got any credit for this, and it never played a crucial part until the animated shorts played it up), and an adventurer (ha, I'd much rather draw parallels with Corto than Superman), but he didn't seek out crime or evil to fight. He wasn't a character who would profess nobility, make speeches about good and evil or anything like that, but he had the right kind of heart, albeit along with a very short temper. He was about as far from an intellectual as you can imagine, but he was generally pretty smart, and remarkably secure in himself - "I yam what I yam" is a very firm statement of individuality, although it's probably more accurate to regard it as a sign of a total lack of interest in self-examination.
It's the Popeye in the Segar strips I love: Popeye in stories that are inventive adventures, with beautifully played broad comedy, satire, great characters all the time (I love the Jeep, the whiffle hen, the sea hag, Wimpy and lots more) and they even have the famous romantic elements with Olive, a relationship that was always complex and problematical and multi-faceted. For me, the nine years from Popeye's introduction until Segar's death is the best run of daily strips ever created, by some distance (and I think Segar is one of the most important influential figures in comic history too, something that's often rather neglected), and a strong contender for the best comics of any kind ever (I guess I'd maybe put Herriman's Krazy Kat sundays above them, but it's close); and I don't know that comics have ever produced a character I like better than Popeye. - Martin
The best not superhero superhero - Pete
Greatest moment: ThimbleTheatre had been starring Castor Oyl, Ham Gravy and of course Olive for nearly ten years before, in 1929, they took a sailing trip and met this gruff, tough seaman with an entirely unique appearance and way of speaking. No one before or since (aside from parodies and homages) had muscles like that, or one eye missing or screwed up enough so it might as well be, and the pipe, face and tattoos are equally distinctive. The speech patterns are established from the first moment - asked if he's a sailor, our first sight of him has him saying "Ja think I'm a cowboy?" - Martin
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 11 September 2006 09:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jack Charlston (jcharl), Monday, 11 September 2006 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 11 September 2006 13:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jack Charlston (jcharl), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Monday, 11 September 2006 15:29 (eighteen years ago) link
20. Crazy Jane (Doom Patrol)
(119 points)
http://yukihime.com/board/crazyjane.jpg
Quite hard to search for on ILX, this lady only seems to appear as the subject of a letter from Tom Ewing to DC Comics, explaining why she needed a spanking. Half of the love story at the center of Doom Patrol, one of Grant Morrison's initial pair of assaults on everything good and DC, Jane was a multiple personality sufferer whose every personality had a different superpower.
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 22:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 21 September 2006 03:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 21 September 2006 04:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― James Morrison (JRSM), Thursday, 21 September 2006 07:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 21 September 2006 09:14 (eighteen years ago) link
I wrote a much more boring letter, which got printed.
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Vic F (Vic Fluro), Thursday, 21 September 2006 11:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Am I a reactionary square? (Leee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:33 (eighteen years ago) link
(126 points)
http://www.blogzine.com.br/rorschach.jpg
Hero-of-sorts from Watchmen, based on the old Charlton comic The Question (though I'm unsure whether Watchmen was during one of the characters lower-profile eras). For all that Owlman was the analogue of Batman, it's Rorschach that the subsequent decades of writers seem to have taken as a template.
And Rorschach with his self-conscious "life as art" attitude is actually a pretty Nietzschean superhero, so that quote fits in more than one way, although it's a pretty lame Nietzsche quote as Nietzsche quotes go. (I guess it's the popular favorite because it feeds off the legend of his madness?)(Chris F)
Actually, Pal Joey/Taxi Driver era Peter Boyle coulda made a great Rorschach. He's too old now. (HUK-L)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 28 September 2006 10:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:06 (eighteen years ago) link
I always thought the "free to carve my own morality into the world" issue was kinda problematic regarding Rorschach's personality. If he was free to choose his morals, why would he still cling to the sort of conservative ideas he had previously? I don't think real extreme rightists ever go through such a moral epiphany.
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:11 (eighteen years ago) link