What I notice about this title is that it genuinely means well. It tries to address pertinent social issues of the day whilst keeping the kids entertained, kind of like the Fat Albert show back in my day. Hey, Fat Albert was also a comic! I need to track those down.
Meanwhile, let's talk like a 1940's drunk:
I know I shouldn't think it's awesome, but I totally do.
I also notice that after The Little Wise Guys came along, the emphasis was definitely taken off DD. Only when you needed a grown-up to act as an unlicensed attorney in a court proceeding on behalf of a minor getting tried as an adult would he show up. Thusly:
While this probably would have been great reading for my grandmother, who enjoyed herself some Perry Mason and Matlock, I have to think that young boys reading a comic book to see fighting would have been pretty disappointed. When the only person who isn't seen throwing a punch or using a weapon in the whole story is the guy wearing the costume, something just ain't quite right.
In the next story, The Little Wise Guys go to camp for some reason. They probably went to get away from Daredevil, who apparently said what he wished The Little Wise Guys would say. Thusly:
We should all do that as a form of self-affirmation. If someone doesn't have enough enthusiasm at seeing us, we should just say it ourselves. "Honey, you're home! My life is now worth living again!"
Well, here is something different:
A sundial wrist watch? Someone explain to me in the comments how that was a reliable timepiece, because I'm at a loss. If it works, I'm going to get into the sundial wrist watch business because all the tree-hugging college kids would eat it with a spoon.
And for some reason, there was a section on this:
Do you have any idea how cheezed I would be if they took up space in a comic I purchased with the basics of table tennis? If I wanted to learn something, I certainly wouldn't be reading comics, now would I?
And what kind of a random thing is this? At least show me how to throw a boomerang like Daredevil did. I hope you can live with yourselves, Doug Cartland and Harry Cook!
See you tomorrow!
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18 comments:
OMG! OMG I had to pick myself up off the floor. I thought, for a second there, that that guys name (Harry Cook) was Harry Cock.
Anyways, sure a sundial watch would work, but you would have to know the exact position of NORTH and hold it perfectly level. If you were gonna goto the trouble to strap that thing on, why not just wear a regular watch?
"holding your wrist in the sun"?! Ouch!
Why not be the first to get one? Because on a camping holiday with lots of people your age, you wouldn't so much impress them as invite a severe kicking for being such a loser.
Sad but true.
LadyBlack
Haha, I like the point about Daredevil's speech - it reminds me of a scene in Heathers where Christian Slater and his dad are saying what they want the other to say.
Wait. Wait. You just can't use “whilst” — a word that no one ever uses unless one or both of his or her pinkies are sticking out — in a 'blog entry that complains about table tennis in any context! If you're not playing ping pong right now, then I can only infer that you have a croquet mallet in your hand!
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the costumed daredevil crimefighters who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.
DUM! DUM!
As I recall, there was some sort of legal requirement in the 1940s and 30s that led to comic books having to have the text pieces (ex: the ping pong bit) to keep their bulk mail rates or some such thing.
That sundial wristwatch would only be useful if it had a built-in compass. And a latitude adjustment. And a level. And if you had a big hole in your head, since there's a good chance you would be casting a shadow on the face during the midday hours, making it useless.
@Anoonymous—
The rate in question was 2nd Class, that which applied to ordinary magazines. The Postal Service insisted until 1996 that comic books had to have a couple of pages of text to qualify for this rate. (In 1996, the 2nd Class was eliminated in favor of a more broadly applicable rate for periodicals.)
Those miserable two-page stories and articles actually disappeared because the text requirement was met by having a page or two of letters, and stuff such as Stan Lee's reports of what was happening in-shop.
Based on the look on Harry and Doug's faces and the title of the piece, I'd have to guess that they were about to tell you that table tennis is very, very dangerous, and enumerate the various ways in which you could incapacitate yourself.
@Justin Garrett Blum: I'd watch Law & Order: Daredevil until it burned a hole in my DVR.
@Tom - I'm glad somebody got that joke. In a way, I'd love to see a police procedural set in a comic book universe that took a hard look at the way the criminal justice system worked. I mean, why is there such a revolving door for violent offenders, for example?
@Justin: It's not a bad idea, but someone has to find the person who could write the comic and bring the legal expertise so it doesn't feel like the writer learned it only from TV. Shows like Law & Order, Boston Legal, L.A. Law, etc. have writer-producers on staff with legal experience out in the real world, so they bring it to the show in an entertaining way. I'm sure that person's out there in comics - (s)he's got to raise a hand, swear an oath to uphold sales and find a progressive publisher.
Um.... has everyone forgotten I'm a lawyer? If there's a demand for comic book-related courtroom drama, I have years of experience in criminal cases.
@Adam: I did not know that! If you can find a way to make it happen, you've got at least two consumers, me and Justin.
Maybe you could do a series that's kind of a combination of Law & Order and Oz...except with superpowers. I don't think such a thing has ever been attempted, has it? I'd definitely read that.
Daredevil and She-Hulk are both good candidates.
Oh, I meant the new Daredevil.
Hmmmmm.... it would be kind of like a Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law only with Marvel or DC characters. That might be an interesting read.
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