Monday, July 30, 2018

Short Cuts: Hard to Believe! Successful Comic Concepts that Challenged Your Acceptance!








Martinex1: Recently we have talked about our appreciated seriousness of comic book concepts (as well as the opposite lack thereof).  Today let's consider characters, situations, powers, gadgets, and predicaments that challenged your personal level of acceptance.   The suspension of disbelief is an important aspect of enjoying comic books, but what particularly successful concepts really were on the edge for you?  What "strange" things became relatively accepted in comic books, but you personally never really liked or struggled to appreciate fully.


I want to stick with successful and repeated particulars if possible (because there are just so many weird one-offs), but let's discuss and create a list of the things that just about annoy you enough to make you not buy a comic.


To get us started, here are an array of those types of things that give me pause.


CHARACTERS:   I always marveled that Fin Fang Foom was an accepted and acceptable archenemy of Iron Man.  The dragon always seemed like a stretch for me.  I don't particularly dislike the character, but he does make me scratch my head.   From his name to his pants, the villain is one that when I step back and look at it, he doesn't make a lot of sense.






Similarly, I have really come to enjoy the new Guardians of the Galaxy and the whacky team members.   But there is still something about Groot and Rocket Raccoon that screams "Silver Age Madness!" to me (even through Rocket is from the Bronze Age).   I have to give credit to the modern creators for making this work.  That is good writing and characterization if you can make me care about these characters.   But I still hesitate a bit.


GADGETS AND DEVICES:  I will probably generate a lot of debate and derision in the comments with this one, but I've always thought the Batmobile is just silly.

For some reason, I just cannot put it into the proper perspective.   How does it get built?  Can't it be tracked?   It is something that is so much a part of the Batman mythos, and because of that it actually had slowed my liking of the character.  Again, it seems like a very dated concept to me.

But if you think I am ripping on DC only, I will add that Reed Richard's Ultimate Nullifier is a complete contrivance.  And even certain uses of Spider-Man's webs leave me less than impressed.  
 
POWERS: Superman's X-Ray and Heat Vision! Ugh! Wonder Woman's Magical Lasso! Huh!
 
So what do you have to say?  Are there comic book concepts that challenge your acceptance?  And maybe you love them anyway?   Let's get the conversation started! Cheers!


 

9 comments:

Humanbelly said...

I bet a liberal arts professor could easily craft an entire semester course out of this topic-- it's ripe for discussion and examination! Good one, Marti--

CHARACTERS: The absurd over-abundance of individuals and/or races that have conquered "a thousand thousand" worlds/galaxies/systems/dimensions, razza-razza-razza--- only to finally meet their match in little ol' Planet Earth. At some point, even an infinite universe would have to have been scrubbed clean or squashed under the spaceboot-heel. The first big two would be Galactus and Kang, of course. And then the much lesser-known Galaxy Master (who himself was the product of a race that had ALREADY conquered a thousand thousand galaxies, etc). You gotcher Kree, Skrull, and Shi'ar empires, of course-- which are practically local in scope, and yet how can three such seemingly vast empires exist (even in conflict) in our one little Milky Way? And what was the interdimensional empire in EXCALIBUR? And what was the deal with The Gatherers in The Avengers, where they had wiped out ALL of the superheroes across infinite dimensions, and those on our "own" Earth were all that was left? Heck, weren't the sorta hapless Toad Men supposed to have been a major intergalactic scourge themselves?

GADGETS & DEVICES: This really started as Batman shtick, but Stan Lee brought the convention to tremendous new heights: Hawkeye's earlier trick arrows and Iron Man's infinite catalog of on-board "transistor-powered" (oy) devices. The one that just made me drop the book on the table would be Hawkeye (early in the Kooky Quartet era) testing out a brand new "anti-gravity" arrow he'd invented (!!!). ('Cause, y'know, middle-school drop-out Clint Barton spent SO much of his non-carny hours studying up on cutting edge quantum physics, electrical engineering, and hi-tech fabrication. . . )

And on a grander scale-- even as a youngster, I could NEVER buy into the credibility of SO MANY Big Bad Supervillain Boss types having these enormous, hi-tech lairs, almost always right under everyone's noses in a warehouse or sub-basement in NYC. How does it get paid for? Who does the contract work? How do the nuclear reactors fit through a walk-in freezer to get to the 5th sub-basement at all?

Powers: I hate to say it, 'cause they're so popular, but Mutant Powers are, for the most part, just make no sense at all. Because these changes, these "mutations" would STILL have to have their origins in some aspect of human DNA. Even as a little kid I kinda recognized something like that. So, Angel's wings are a non-starter-- and they would've acted as replacements for Warren's arms, in any case. Mutating into a specific other animal (a lizard, say, or a wolf) is, if anything, even less plausible than "mutating" a part of the brain into being able to handle deft energy manipulation (like weather or magnetism or gravity. . . ).

The other one, much as I enjoy both ends of the spectrum, is the use of ant-size and giant-size folks. Apart from the problems with mass (which got brought up WAY early on with Ant-Man/Giant-Man, to be fair), tiny people and giant people simply couldn't see, hear, speak, or even move at those sizes they way they would at Human size. That's why even a little kid can instinctively see that the old Godzilla movies aren't giant monsters at all, but regular folks tearing up REALLY terrific miniature cities. . .

Ah, but enough of my curmudgeoning. . .

HB



Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Charlie Horse 47 said...

I’ll just ditto what HB wrote LOL!

Selenarch said...

There's a huge bank to draw from here, but I'll just write a check from some recently discovered deposits:

Characters : The Impossible Man. I can go so far as to say, yes, I can appreciate the instant metamorphoses, the collective mind, and even the desire for connecting with something other than one's myriad self that these might engender, but the whimsy? The loony-toon mercurial character of Impy was way overplayed and became tiresome after page 3. Prolonging this over the course of one whole book was an exercise in editorial self-indulgence which borders on the criminal.

Gadgets: I'll just mention the Fantasti-Car in whatever form it took. This thing can fly fast enough to go from Manhattan to the backwoods of Pennsylvania in a couple of hours and no one thinks that enclosing it is necessary? At those speeds, let's just keep the top down,'cause we're all good here? Really??

Powers: Gonna go to the Legion of Superheroes for this one. No, not Bouncing Boy, that's too easy. I'm going with Ayla Ranzz, a.k.a Light Lass. Not because she controls light, but because she can make everything light. As in floating. Easy to lift. Not. Heavy. Get it? Aargh!

Wonderful topic, though!

Cheers!

Mike Wilson said...

I always found Green Lantern's ring a little too perfect; it basically did whatever unbelievable thing the story (or the writer) needed it to do, then that particular function was never mentioned again.

To build on what HB said, I always wondered why some villains didn't just put their fancy tech (Wizard's anti-gravity discs, Trapster's universal solvent, Hobgoblin's glider) on the open market and make billions. It'd be a lot safer than crime, and if they really wanted to "rule the world" they could've done it legitimately, through capitalism, like Gates, Google, or Elon Musk are trying to do.

Then there are the titles (U.S. 1, Steelgrip Starkey, Street Poet Ray) that I can't believe ever got published ... but maybe that's a separate category.

The Prowler said...

Here's what I have to say about that:

"The Superman" - danger rears it's ugly head and the hero has to spring into action. As with Superman, there's the iconic shot of the shirt ripping open to reveal the costume underneath. Okay, some of the costumes I can understand, but the ones with a cape? A CAPE!?! How do you wear a cape under your street clothes... seriously.

"The Eyes Of Laura Mars" - when the hero, or villain, has a mask that just covers their eyes. That's all that stand between them and their secret identity!!! Two weird shaped circles around their eyes... AND IT WORKS!!!

"The Animal Sidekick" - this was more with DC but the animal sidekick. The Super Pets had capes, the bat animals had masks. Who put them on? When did they put them on? I mean, really? But don't forget Redwing. Wouldn't you know that Sam Wilson was the Falcon when Redwing kept flying up to him?

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" - take someone like our man, Luke Cage. Steel hard skin but his clothes were always getting shredded. No way he bought off the rack! Someone had to have been making those... somewhere.

Now I know we were staying away from "one-offs" but this is my favorite. From the Bat Man TV show. Bruce Wayne and Bat Man had to both be at a function in the city. So Bruce dressed Alfred up as Bat Man, gave him a voice disguising Bat Mic and sent him with Robin in the Batmobile. Pardon my French, but the skinniest DAMN Bat Man you ever saw...

(Let go of your love
Ride his pulse and
You'll forget
Show down your
Time will come
If not tonight
Surely by the dawn
Take it like a man
The strange face of love

A cat's eye a lizard's tail
The pentagram
He bought in hell
He stalks the night with no intent
His brow sweats for innocence
Take it like a man
The strange face of love

Don't look back
Don't look back
He's right on your trail
Don't look back
Don't look back
He's just a step away from Hell
Don't look back
Don't look back
Into the strange face of love

The rain's soul
Makes killer cry
He wants desperately to die
But fast and skillfully forgets
He's back on the streets with no regrets
Just take it like a man
The strange face of Love

Don't look back
Don't look back
He's right on your trail
Don't look back
Don't look back
He's just a step away from Hell
Don't look back
Don't look back
Into the strange face of love

Don't look back
Don't look back
He's right on your trail
Don't look back
Don't look back
He's just a step away from Hell
Don't look back
Don't look back
Into the strange
...face
...of love

Strange
Strange
Strange
Strange face of Love

Strange).

Anonymous said...

Characters: The Human Torch: when he fights common thugs or human villains, he is literally burning them. That's absolutely horrifying. As lame or unbelievable as other characters can be, none of them are as awful or as much a liability as Johnny Storm.

Devices: Okay, I'm stretching the definition of "devices," but... High-heels on super-heroine costumes. Seriously, Artists? How could they even run, let alone kick and jump? Keep your fetish to yourself!

Powers: no super-power stands up to scrutiny, Someone already mentioned shrinking, the dumbest power ever, so I'll go with super screams. They can be drawn to look cool, but have you seen them on the CW? They look goofy as hell. Also, your sound waves would take out your teammates as well. You can't only make sound go in one direction. I love Black Canary as a character, but I've never loved her power.

- Mike Lougjlin

Killraven said...

Great Topic!

I agree with most of the above.

I'll add Dr. Doom's "Time Platform". Always seemed like a bit of a cheat. Don't get me wrong I usually liked the stories, just not how they got there.

How about Thor's whirling hammer opening another dimension? A power I always had a problem with.

Anonymous said...


I was disappointed as a kid when I finally read Daredevil's profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and saw that all his fighting, strength and acrobatics were acquired through intense training.

The feats he performed always seemed so superhumanly impossible that I had assumed the radiation that heightened his senses had augmented his physical abilities as well...seemed like a fine, convenient comic booky origin.

But having him become a fighter able to take out ninjas and swing across buildings all through intense training...done in secret...AFTER going blind? Always felt like too much.

But that's comics for ya. Radiation transforming you? Perfect! Working out after school? Get that far-fetched crap away from me!

-david p.

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