Martinex1: Comic book history is littered with numerous sidekicks who have disappeared over time, but there are a few significant success stories. DC Comics has perhaps the largest stable of sidekick tag-a-longs and legacy heroes, but what makes them great?
Frequent commenter, david_b, queried recently about sidekicks and how they have evolved, what has made a few successful, and how has their design affected that success. In particular, he wondered about the Boy Wonder. How did a character that was designed as the polar opposite to his partner become an icon? Is Robin great because he is the light to Batman's dark - or in spite of that opposing appearance has he somehow found greatness? Robin is different than the "me-toos" of his generation; does that make him better or worse?
Marvel seemed, for the most part, to steer away from sidekicks. They carried over a few from the Golden Age of comics, including Bucky and Toro. And they developed the "universal" sidekick in Rick Jones who had partnerships with the Hulk, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and ROM. I actually find Rick to be relatively compelling as the everyman in the Marvel Universe, despite having a rather whiny Silver Age existence. DC had Snapper Carr in a similar mold; why doesn't he have the same type of legacy?
And what about the odd Stripesy as partner to the Star-Spangled Kid from the earlier era, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Speedy and the rest? You might also get a laugh out of the villainous DC sidekicks from the late 70s - take a gander below at Chick, Sardine, Honeysuckle and the gang!
Who was the best sidekick and why? Who had the best design (and the worst look)? Who should have never been created? And specifically, to david_b's question what makes Robin such a superstar?
It's another great day at BitBA, so let's indulge in a compare and contrast discussion with a side of "kick"!
25 comments:
This has always been a touchy subject for me. I was a Marvel guy all the way through '72-81. The idea that DC's tired old characters needed to have a sidekick just reinforced their apparent detachment from their readership.The whole Rick Jones thing was a nod to that era I guess, but more than anything it was atypical of the core of the whole Silver Age: that you can relate directly with the Marvel characters, so there was no need for a stand-in sidekick for the young reader. And the fact that every main DC character had a Robin, Aqualad, Superboy, Supergirl, Superdog etc just drove the point home even harder how creatively bankrupt and uncool DC was.
I am glad I left Marvel when I did. The idea of a family of Hulks, of so many Spider-People it is hard to keep track of, of Kid and Pet Avengers: my God how my 14 year old brain would have burst from such obvious cash grabs and worn out tropes.
Yoyo
Never liked kid sidekicks, although I can just about see the purpose of Rick Jones as he was responsible for Bruce Banner becoming The Hulk. Robin? Was glad when he was sent off to college and The Batman became a lone operator again. Perhaps because of the popularity of Simon & Kirby's kid gangs, publishers thought it would be a good idea to add a kid sidekick to other superhero series. Joe Simon's rationale for Bucky was so that Captain America wouldn't be talking to himself all the time, but most of the other ones that popped up in various comics were a step too far in my estimation.
My question is why does Toro dress like the Sub-Mariner? That always confused me as a kid.
Aa a young kid i could simply not understand Rick Jones being passed around from Hulk to Avengers to Cap America to Cpt Marvel. My 12 year old mind couldn't follow. Wertham should have investigated!!!
I haven't liked kid sidekicks since I was about 8-years old. I liked Robin when I was very young because of things like Super Friends and the old live action Adam West Batman show. But once I got a little older, and into actually reading comics, I began to loathe kid sidekicks. I didn't start liking Robin again until he went out on his own and became Nightwing. (Then he was cool again).
I always thought Batman worked best alone, so I was not at all happy when DC gave him a new Robin in Jason Todd, and I was actually glad when they killed him off. But DC seems to have an obsession with sidekicks (especially Robin), and they just couldn't help themselves and gave Batman yet another new Robin (Tim Drake) a few years later. Even Frank Miller couldn't resist the urge to give Bats a new Robin in DKR. {sigh}
Let's face it, the idea of kid sidekicks is pretty stupid, and more than a little creepy when you really think about it. I mean it's one thing if you're an adult costumed vigilante out risking your life fighting criminals, but to bring a child along with you is not only extremely irresponsible, it's down right criminal. Even if they have super powers (like Kid Flash) it's still just wrong on so many levels.
I never cared for the kid sidekicks. They seemed superfluous and distracting. Even Bucky and Toro (Marti- I too wondered why Toro dressed like Namor, also wondered why they called him "Toro"). As much as I liked Batman, I didn't care for the string of Robins. Not a personal thing - I really liked Dick Grayson as Nightwing. Much more interesting than the 'boy wonder'.
Perhaps they make more sense if the 'sidekick' trope was addressed as an experienced primary hero training an apprentice. That didn't seem to be the case much. They just kind of 'hung around' the hero.
Where did those villainous sidekicks come from? Wild. As much as Poison Ivy gets annoyed by Harley Quinn's presence, I can't imagine she'd warm up to "Honeysuckle"...
OK, I'll swim upstream.
I generally - not always - like the sidekicks. There was something really cool to me about saying "the Torches". Kid Flash -- loved his costume as pictured in the post. I can't say that I've read too many Flash stories where they team, but I certainly liked Wally in Teen Titans and Secret Society of Super-Villains. Hmm... maybe I never saw Kid Flash (in particular) as a sidekick?
I think William's point about the kids being put in danger was never hammered home to me as much as it was in Brubaker's Winter Soldier arc when Cap spoke of Bucky leaving a lot of collateral damage and doing "the dirty work" in the War -- the stuff Cap couldn't do while wearing the flag. That was interesting.
Alan Davis's run on Detective Comics with Batman and Robin was a favorite of mine.
Rick Jones and Snapper Carr? You can have 'em both. I never cared for either.
So while I understand all of the arguments above -- they're really quite valid, all -- I have generally enjoyed these characters, derivative and superfluous as they might be.
Doug
Red - those villainous DC sidekicks came from the non-canon 1976 "Super Friends" comic. Funny but creepy at the same time.
In general that is how I might describe all sidekicks.
I liked Robin and Kid Flash in the Titans, but those were almost different characters in a sense. From my perspective the Titans existed somewhat outside of their past - which was a good thing. Whenever I thought of them as sidekicks it went downhill.
It wasn't so odd that the sidekick characters would emulate the adult heroes, but in reverse it makes no sense that Batman or the Flash would want these kids around. Batman is almost by definition an anti-social loner and the Flash is such a do-gooder he would not ever put Wally on jeopardy. That is the biggest flaw in sidekicks - it changes the responsibility and character of the main heroes.
At least Rick Jones was portrayed as an 18 to 20 year old and not a young teen like some of the others.
Books like The New Warriors at Marvel were better in that those teens were never sidekicks- just a bunch of kids trying to be heroes. That makes more sense -especially when the Avengers tried to discourage their activities as dangerous. I agree with previous posters who think the latest craze of various Spider and Hulk variations is bad. It is so misguided and insipid.
In general I think sidekicks are a bad idea - and would not name any (including Robin) as a character favorite. It is just an old trope worn very thin.
'Derivative' sidekicks.., Thanks Doug, that's the description I was going for in my original descriptions of color scheme/naming similarities (Flash/Kid Flash, Aquaman/Aqualad, Sandman/Sandy, etc..).
I guess the interesting point I pondered in my original thought was, Robin premiered back in April 1940, created by Kane/Finger/Robinson and probably one of the first 'sidekicks', at least has become one of the more famous ones from that era, long before any other hero had 'em.
Aside from the conscious purpose of attracting younger readers, in hopes the Batman character would perhaps be softer, more approachable, I just pondered why they thought a non-derivative style would be effective..? They certainly weren't emulating any similar prior concept.
The obvious idea I'm familiar with was since the Batman colors were so dark, I'm supposing the simplest reason was to add eye-catching color to the covers to compete with the likes of Superman, Captain Marvel, instead of simply 'Bat-boy', and a similar dark costume motif..?
Aside from the cape device, Robin premiered as a wholly incongruent device, set apart from the title character.
I just found it fascinating. and since the non-derivative approach was proven soooo successful, boosting readership, how come most future sidekicks didn't follow that approach..? Obviously the heroes in the 60s had primary colored uniforms, the creators ignored that color enhancement and originality and made 'em all derivative.., as Titan's Roy, Wally, Donna.
The original, more derivative Bucky Barnes was created a year after Robin, most likely to emulate DC's success.
Martinex1, great points on how the main character's basic premise being at odds with the addition of their junior 'wards', and on the Titans forming that wonderful junior-group synergy removed from their past alliances with their older guardians, the latter deserving thanks to our favorite DC writer Bob Haney on that. Very unique in comic history.
Thanks for the insight, everyone. :)
Yeah, the whole kid sidekick thing always seemed a bit weird to me. I guess it was a holdover from the Golden Age. I think DC did well in the 80s/90s to make the ex-sidekicks their own characters (Wonder Girl, Nightwing, Speedy becoming Arsenal/Red Arrow, Garth becoming Tempest, Wally becoming Flash). I even liked the way Sylvester "Star-Spangled Kid" Pemberton outgrew Pat and became leader of Infinity Inc. Too bad they killed him off later.
I'll show my ignorance of contemporary comics: Are there still sidekicks today? I know the characters we've been discussing are still around, but I don't believe any of them would be considered sidekicks these days.
Doug
Another question:
To the point of derivative sidekicks... Do you also eschew derivative heroes in general (She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel (or whatever she's called now), Supergirl)?
Doug
Just curious, would you consider the boy commandos to be sidekicks and also in star-spangled comics I forget the name of the kids group who hung around with the shield / guardian? The reason I ask is because neither of the kids nor the superhero had superpowers.
I think there is a distinction to be made between "sidekick" and "partner." One of the reasons Robin was successful as a character, besides those mentioned above by David B., is that he was Batman's partner. From 1940 to 1970 Batman and Robin were a team. I'll let other comic scholars prove me wrong, but I'll bet there were more Robin solo stories in those thirty years than Batman solo stories! Cap and Bucky, G.A. and Speedy, were teams. Rick Jones was a sidekick, the guy who is welcome to hang around but not an integral part of the team (Captain Marvel years as a special case.) Snapper Carr, the very definition of a sidekick, did not participate in adventuring, and didn't expect to. (As far as I know. I've read very few of the early JLA) Johnny Thunder was a sidekick to the JSA at first. I find it interesting that Yoyo above disliked DC from '72-'81. I am hard pressed to come up with any titles that had regular appearances of either sidekicks or partners in that time-frame! Superman sometimes let Jonathan Ross hang with him. Green Lantern had Itty. With a partner or a sidekick, the "lead" character can expalin things to the reader, see also Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Otherwise we get many thought balloons!
William and Kid; Batman a loner? Once Dick went to college, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon became the de facto "behind the scenes" partners. Not to mention his network of informants. Batman may have been the leader of the team, but he was always a team player.
My favorite sidekick? It's a tie between Kid Devil and Denton Fixx!
Perceval Popp was my favorite sidekick. ;)
I never cared much for them, even Robin. Like Kid, I was glad when he went to college. I would just about put a comic book back in the rack when I saw Rick Jones in it.
Like Doug, I don't guess I ever considered Kid Flash to be a sidekick.
Viewed from a health and safety perspective sidekicks were a menace, and should never have been allowed. However, that's an adult way of thinking.
Back in the day sidekicks were just one way of featuring young people as an analogue for the reader. We also had the Legion, the original X-Men, the Teen Titans etc. And Superboy too. Sure these characters weren't sidekicks as such but were tapping into the same spirit.
The generation gap back then was real. Sure, Snapper Carr made a spectacle of himself on a monthly basis but DC creators didn't have a clue what was going on in the life of the average 11 year old. Comic books used to be escapist fantasy, and sidekicks fit right in. Then we grew up...
So I do like sidekicks (and, to a extent, spin-off characters such as She-Hulk) because they are embedded in the comic ecosystem, and the comics just wouldn't be the same without them.
Yoyo makes a good point about 60s Marvel. I hadn't considered before how their heroes naturally superceded sidekicks. But Johnny Storm had some 'side-kickish' qualities as had Bobby Drake, so the idea didn't completely disappear. I can see, too, why Stan deemed Rick Jones a necessary addition to The Hulk given that the Hulk himself was a throwback to the monster mags and another age.
But for all that, let's be honest, there was still no excuse to turn Rick Jones into a protest singer ;)
My favourite sidekick ever is Dan the Dyna-Mite. I've only ever read one story featuring him -
in the 1970s' "DC-18 100 page Super Spectacular" - but that was enough to sell him to me. His grown-up partner TNT would pick him up, swing him round and round and round and then fling him at the bad guys, whereupon, he'd explode - because that was his power; exploding. Who wouldn't want an exploding sidekick?
I think all sidekicks should be 'exploded', SDC. Blow all the little runts up.
Ward Hill Terry, I'd say that Batman was still a 'lone operator' in that he didn't take Alfred and Commissioner Gordon (who were adults, not kids) with him on his nightly patrols like he did with Robin. Alfred functioned in the background, and Gordon was his own man who just had the same goal as Batman - rid Gotham of criminals.
Hey Charlie Horse, it's the Newsboy Legion with the Guardian. I think they were more than sidekicks, as they were the headliners.
I recently read through Kirby's Jimmy Olsen run, which is a hoot. The new Newsboy Legion (including Flipper Dipper) and Guardian are in there, along with Jimmy and "his pal" Superman, so there's a lot of sidekicking going on. I liked it, and it made me think that a Jimmy Olsen series could actually be good!
Robin was essential on the '60s Batman tv show, but I wasn't a fan of him in comics until New Teen Titans. Wolfman and Perez really made him a compelling character.
I agree with the previous post - I never really saw Robin as a sidekick. I saw him as more of a partner. Sidekicks were constantly being rescued by their mentors after they got in over their heads. With Robin, although there were times that he was in need of rescue, quite often it was he who was rescuing Batman. And quite often, he came up with the crime solving clue. Kid Flash is similiar but somewhat different. I never really saw him as a sidekick or partner simply because he lived so far away from the Flash and had his own adventures from the beginning. I saw him as I saw Mary Marvel or Captain Marvel Junior - an extension of the Flash and a member of "The Flash Family" if you will. There one times that DC tried to cram into the sidekick mold, such as the first appearance of the Teen Titans in "The Brave and the Bold". But the reality was, when the Flash and Kid Flash got together it was more of a team up than a mentor/sidekick story.
Hi garret- what issues of olsen were they???
Hey Charlie, it's Jimmy Olsen 133-139 and 141-148. They're collected in TPB form, vol 1 + 2: https://www.amazon.com/Jimmy-Olsen-Adventures-Jack-Kirby/dp/1563899841
The Newsboy Legion and Superman are involved throughout, while Guardian is there but not quite as much. Plus all sorts of bad guys from Darkseid's minions to Don Rickles! And informative intros by Mark Evanier. I dig it!
Dig it! Adding to my list for C2E2 in 2 weeks!!! Rock on!!!
As mentioned by Allen The Marvel Family is highly influential in the development and success of the sidekick. Billy Batson is the sidekick to Captain Marvel and obviously the basis for Rick Jones' relationship with Captain Mar-vell. Additionally Captain Marvel Junior, Mary Marvel and the Lt. Marvels are sidekicks, these characters were immensely popular in the Golden Age outselling Superman. When Schwartz and Weisinger were building the DC Silver Age they re-tooled successful Golden Age ideas and built families. Otto Binder the great Marvel Family writer was used very effectively by Weisinger, alongside Seigel of course, to build the Silver Age Superman mythos, sidekicks and super pets to the forefront. The Legion can be seen as a team of sidekicks who had their own sidekicks, the Substitutes!
Simayl- great comment; love your historical take on the question . And I always enjoy hearing about the history of the medium...
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