lemming Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Haven't seen it' date=' but I support it in principle. [/quote'] Yay Super Pets! I did like some of the goofier aspects of the silver age. "Yikes! That's darn unfriendly!" is still one of my favorite quotes. (Said by Streaky when some villian attacks the legion of super pets) And one of my favorite parts of the Last Superman story is when Krypto rips out the Kryptonion Man's throat. Though that isn't very silver age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Yay Super Pets! I did like some of the goofier aspects of the silver age. "Yikes! That's darn unfriendly!" is still one of my favorite quotes. (Said by Streaky when some villian attacks the legion of super pets) And one of my favorite parts of the Last Superman story is when Krypto rips out the Kryptonion Man's throat. Though that isn't very silver age. Great moment. Seriously, many of my favorite film and literary characters have their animal companions, from the Cowboy's horse to the fantasy hero's trained wolf to the witch's familliar. I have no problem with Super-Pets, as long as they're presented in a way that fits the tone of the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age RE: That infamous Brave & Bold Issue. I'm far from the only person that remembers this; it's been picked by several "silly silver age" lists as one of the most absurd moments in comic history. And I have this issue stashed away at home. /sarcasm on I've long joked about having multiple copies in safe-deposit boxes, with instructions for them to be mailed to appropriate people should I disappear suddenly /sarcasm off What's going on? There's something stealable in Gotham, and Batman is trying to convince Copperhead that he's too distracted to guard it. WW & BG keep giving him more and more outlandish gifts -- but when they write their secret identities on slips of paper and tell him where they've hidden them, Batman realizes it's gone too far -- they've actually fallen in love with him! It gets worse from here, believe me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age G_d yes. That kind of drek always bugged me. Spending millions of dollars to perform crimes that could at best get you a coulple hundred grand...of course, that's also an action movie trope. Viper, which is better than it has ever been, still annoys me becase of that. Technology with patent rights worth billions, and (figuratively) they're using it to knock over liquor stores... No shite! SOme of the technologies could revolutionise the world, so they use them to steal some stupid gem or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age That article touched on some of the Silver Age conventions I dislike the most: 1) Insane moral codes. Reed Richards saving the life of Galactus so as to allow Mr.G to go on killing billions of innocent people ranks high up there, as does Superman's one-time refusal to kill the Joker (iirc), despite the fact that doing so was the only apparent way to save all of existance. Also witness Batman and the Joker, etc, etc. Yep. The Supes-Joker miniseries was the nail that sealed the coffin of disgust for both Superman's and Silver Age moral codes in general as far as I'm concerned : As far as Reed Richards-Galactus, the outrage is only slightly less because from the onmiscient reader's POV, we know for sure that Galactus' continued existence is necessary for the universe to survive. At least Marvel recognized the issue by having RR being put on trial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broblawsky Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age In all fairness, the Joker almost certainly wouldn't have really let Superman kill him. Joker's life focuses around Batman, but he was willing to actually give a shot at killing him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Rose Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age In all fairness' date=' the Joker almost certainly wouldn't have really let Superman kill him. Joker's life focuses around Batman, but he was willing to actually give a shot at killing him.[/quote'] Granted, Superman's CvK is all-consuming enough to prevent him from killing anything (makes you wonder how you can eat with that much CvK), but let's be honest. If Superman wanted you dead, the only thing you could do to stop him would be to kill yourself. Heck, he might even stop you just so he could do it himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Matter-Eater Lad... nuff said. Hey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broblawsky Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Granted' date=' Superman's CvK is all-consuming enough to prevent him from killing anything (makes you wonder how you can eat with that much CvK), but let's be honest. If Superman wanted you dead, the only thing you could do to stop him would be to kill [b']yourself[/b]. Heck, he might even stop you just so he could do it himself. At the time, Joker had the powers of Mr. Mxyzsptlk, the omnipotent fifth-dimensional imp. He could fold up the laws of physics and wear them like a paper hat if he wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Has anyone mentioned arbitrary, nonsensical weaknesses? Like Martial Manhunter fainting when someone lights a match, or Hal Jordan's Power Ring not being able to effect anything yellow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Going through my old Superboycomics and this one panel just blew me away. I can't believe they got away with this stuff in the '50's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Going through my old Superboycomics and this one panel just blew me away. I can't believe they got away with this stuff in the '50's. Exactly which issue was that gem from?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Methinks CBikle has found a new web site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age The original came from Comic Book Resources Oddball Comics section. I photoshopped some stuff to make it more inflammatory. Oddball comics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age That bottom left panel is, um, ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age That bottom left panel is' date=' um, ... [/quote'] Next time someone tells you they want a Silver-Age campaign, show them that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superskrull Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age The original came from Comic Book Resources Oddball Comics section. I photoshopped some stuff to make it more inflammatory. Like I said, those transformation stories are just too dumbass for words. Pictures help though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted May 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Just recently discovered the Collected Jimmy Olsen, volume 2, at my local library. Ugh. It's hard to even begin to say how dumb that was, even for a purely comedy mag. And is it just me, or did they turn Jimmy into just about every kind of freak that could possibly exist? I wonder just how the plot sessions ran: "What will we turn Olsen into this time?" How many years did that series run, anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Just recently discovered the Collected Jimmy Olsen, volume 2, at my local library. Ugh. It's hard to even begin to say how dumb that was, even for a purely comedy mag. And is it just me, or did they turn Jimmy into just about every kind of freak that could possibly exist? I wonder just how the plot sessions ran: "What will we turn Olsen into this time?" How many years did that series run, anyway? I am SO jealous. Jimmy Olsen is one of my favourite titles. Some of the earliest stuff in my collection are Australian reprints of JO stories. The series seems to have run for about twenty years. More than the Authority, so far. Obviously it's overwhelming cheesiness is its main appeal. On the other hand, towards the end of its run, you had a period where Jack Kirby was doing his New Gods stuff. It was still cheesy ("Whiz Wagon"), but it was also Classic Stuff. Brilliant. There are a few JO stories online, at: http://www.allaboutcomix.com/joindex2.html Unfortunately, none of them are my favourites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age I always had trouble with the badly designed villains whose only "schtick" was that they had an attack that would kill people if it was ever delivered properly. "Marvel" seemed to be particularly guilty of this with characters like "The Melter" and whoever that guy was with the whirling buzz saw blades on his wrists ! As a result they could never be shown to act intelligently ! Th e "scientific" super villains who could use technology in amazing ways but who insisted on spending their time fighting the heros annoyed me as well. If you can conquer gravity like "The Wingless Wizard" or magnetism like "Dr Polaris" why would you bother to spend your time comitting petty crimes and fighting "The Human Torch" or "The Flash" ? A sensible super genius would patent their inventions and retire rich ! Well in the case of the Wizard, he'd already done that. Trying to kill the Fantastic Four was his hobby in retirement, not a way of getting rich. And Doctor Polaris was rich as well. His motives had nothing to do with accumulating money and everything to do with having driven himself insane through over exposure of his brain to magnetic fields. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brionl Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Matter-Eater Lad... nuff said. Dude! Tenzel Kem takes a Bite out of Crime! How can you not love that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Weapon Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Repped. That article touched on some of the Silver Age conventions I dislike the most: 1) Insane moral codes. Reed Richards saving the life of Galactus so as to allow Mr.G to go on killing billions of innocent people ranks high up there, as does Superman's one-time refusal to kill the Joker (iirc), despite the fact that doing so was the only apparent way to save all of existance. Also witness Batman and the Joker, etc, etc. 2) Evil psychotic Secret Identity fetishism. Heroes who supposedly stood for all that was Good and True would constantly lie to and humiliate their friends and loved ones, even to the point of brainwashing, in order to protect secret identities that a ten year old could figure out in under five minutes. I understand that DC has continued this. I also dislike the entire "I can't possibly directly help myself or my loved ones with my powers" convention, though that is just as strong now as it was then (witness Buffy the Vampire Slayer). To be fair Buffy did try to get a job in construction using her enormous strength, working for Zander of all people. There was union trouble. Most Supers should be earning amazingly good money with their abilities, even if they do maintain a secret identity. Instead, to allow fans to identify with them, most would rather let a loved one be put out on the street for lack of rent than take a job that calls on their powers. Pathological respect for authority was annoying, and has now been largely replaced by pathological hatred for authority (or, on the Hero boards, hatred of The Authority). It would be nice to see government agents and agencies represented as government agents and agencies, neither angelic nor hopelessly corrupt. "Funny" villains being forgiven for crimes that should have resulted in massive loss of life alwys bugged me, as did revolving door prisons. Court cases where Supers were allowed to testify in masks(?) without revealing their identities even to the court(!?!) made me ill. That about covers it for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steamteck Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Oh thank heavens someone else remembers this - I thought I'd imagined it or something! I remember wondering why they were competing for his love by bringing him more absurdly unobtainable trophies, rather than, say, setting up an intimate dinner date or something. I want to see that issue again... just one more time I've still got that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Great moment. Seriously, many of my favorite film and literary characters have their animal companions, from the Cowboy's horse to the fantasy hero's trained wolf to the witch's familliar. I have no problem with Super-Pets, as long as they're presented in a way that fits the tone of the story. Point taken, but here's mine regarding super-pets: the cowboy's horse, the rangers trained wolf, et al aren't depicted as being sapient and/or having super-powers. To me, the image of a dog or horse, etc with human-level INT and a red cape flying around has always put me off - unless it's in an explicitly silly storyline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Re: The Essential Bad Silver Age Batman in the 1970s took on a bit of the campy feel of the 1960s television show and villains like "The Squid" - a fishy version of the Penguin but not nearly as smart who liked to dangle Batman over tanks of killer aquatic creatures. Not the best period in the Caped Crusaders history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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