Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Swingin'-est Blog Ever! Thursday!

An uninformed observer might think that the best thing comics could do from a marketing standpoint is to be as hip and trendy as possible. The Silver Age of Comics taught us that this is a really bad idea:


I've picked on Swingin' with Scooter before, partly because the name of the book is Swingin' with Scooter. I strongly suspect this is where Mike Myers got the idea for his "Austin Powers" character, but I suppose that's between him and DC.

What really doesn't work is Superman using slang. I know he's supposed to be under thirty years of age, but he has always looked like a guy knocking on fifty. And he's a dweeb. Seriously, why do you think he has any foes at all? Who in their right mind would want to tangle with someone who can fly into outer space and lift a skyscraper with his bare hands? Superman's personality is so abrasive that even his incredible power can't keep people from wanting to kick his ass. That, my friends, is a nerd. And using hip language only makes it worse.

And we can see the influence of the awful Adam West Batman television series that validated everyone's claim that comics are stupid. The worst of this is that Robin starts saying "Holy (whatever)!" all the time:





Those of us older than 40 will remember decades of hiding our hobby from the jeers and cruel taunts of non-fanboys. We suffered a lot for you kids. And you're welcome.

Hey! It's time for Fun with Out of Context Dialogue!(tm!):


That's right! You can't put one over on Roy Raymond, with your spaghetti-filled table legs and... stuff.

See you tomorrow!

7 comments:

Dave said...

That's the one Roy Raymond story I remember.

And that damn Batman TV show has a lot of karma to pay off.

Anonymous said...

Like it or not, that Batman TV show saved the character. Before it was picked up his book was on the verge of cancellation.

Aurora Moon said...

That out of context panel just confused me. Who the heck would put spaghetti and wine up a hollow table leg?

Zocktastic said...

Aurora, probably someone with a very strange fetish.

... Like me.

Christian Zamora said...

Hmmmmm-- I always thought the Batman show was cool.

I may be from Earth II.

Anonymous said...

I like how Lois is perched on Superman's shoulder like a parrot.

Tom K Mason said...

I've had the hollow table leg spaghetti before (get it with a side order of La-Z-Boy tartare, if you can). Roy Raymond knows not how lucky he is (maybe he got to eat some before solving the crime).