Thursday, May 26, 2005

Stupid Hero Quote

"Eh? That kitten -- falling off a ledge--! They say a cat always lands on its feet -- but I'll make sure it has a 'soft' landing!"

In the Silver Age, storylines weren't "decompressed". Nowadays, it takes a six issue arc to catch a purse-snatcher running down the street, because during the chase you have to recount the incident's relevance to your origin story, argue on the phone with another member of your team, question your role in the larger superhero community, have conflict with either Superman or Aquaman or both, then muse on your complex relationship with the local authority figures.

In the Silver Age, you defeated other-dimensional world-conquerors, their planet-shattering weapons, & their slavering hordes in 11 or 12 pages (not counting splash panel), with enough time left for a panel or two of snappy repartee with your sidekick/girlfriend/comic relief character. Yes, in that happy era, heroes even made time in their schedules to save falling cats that probably didn't need saving.

In this case, so plentiful were heroes, in fact, that another hero rescued the cat first.

Who made the above speech and who rescued the cat instead of just talking about it...?

6 comments:

  1. I'm going to guess Green Lantren and Flash. That was back when heroes were friends and went fishing together.

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  2. Mm, nope! But a logical guess.

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  3. Wasn't it Flash, with the Elongated Man stealing his thunder and rescuing the kitten?

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  4. Exactly, Martin!

    And was the Flash? Oh, yes... particularly since saving the cat GOT COVERED IN THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER.

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  5. Hey Chasdom, I was never a fan of Hal or Barry's individual comics as I got my fill of them from the old JLA. Thinking back, I can only recall one incident of them hanging out and that was in an issue that featured the Shaggy Man. Hal and Barry were fishing and somehow ended up in Russia fighting one of the shaggy Man's clones. As a kid it impressed me that Barry and Hal actually did things outside of their costumes. Compared to the other heroes, that pretty much made them married in my eyes. :)

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  6. I actually have that issue of Flash, though in black and white and translation:

    "He rescued that cat instead of me, so he has to be a villain out for his own gain!"

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