Who among us didn't wear a towel pretending to be a superhero at some point in our childhoods? My favorite move was to roll up the towel and drape it over my shoulders like I was heading to the pool - and then running behind a tent or something, letting it flow down and become a cape, making for a quick change transition into my heroic persona. I think I was inspired by Clark Kent doing something similar as he ran behind a hot dog stand at Niagara Falls in Superman II.
Started with George R running to supply rooms or back of buildings or huge shrubbery. That was followed by Bud Collyer in the 40's cartoons on Saturday or Sunday morning on Cartoon Corners. Then Bud was back in the mid 60's in new CBS cartoons that latter included the few year old Justice League of America.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you quietly do things to help because somebody might not be able to admit being in over their head with a problem. Being listened to and avoiding a problem to be was the best feeling. Clark was also important as well as his alien counterpart in the comics.
Since then, a lot of people want as much credit as they can get for even small things. For many, Stupendous Man has fully replaced Superman, even in real life.
Yeah, right, Calvin.
ReplyDeleteMVP; as in, "Most Vexing Pest!"
I'd like to think that this story is a prequel to an older issue. After the JLA kick him out, he finds a team better suited for his... 'talents'. The Tiny Titans :D
ReplyDeleteAs for towel wearing heroes, I'd like to suggest Stupendous Man teaming with Forbush Man
Add in 'Mazing Man and you've got a team!
DeleteNever used a towel but I did use a sheet at one point. Though as a kid my parents had bought me one of those cheap Superman capes, I had Superman pajamas at one point, and then for Halloween my mom made me a Greatest American Hero costume, complete with cape. I've usually had access to a cape to play with.
ReplyDeleteWith me, it was the 1966 Bat-mask that my parents bought me during summer vacation in Westerly, Rhode Island.
ReplyDeleteWhere did this League shot come from? It's priceless. Never had a cape. Couldn't afford the dry cleaning bills for them. Ah, but for a starship!
ReplyDeleteJustice League Adventures comic.
ReplyDeleteMost of my favorite superheroes were capeless (most notably Mr. Barry Allen), so no towel-cape was necessary for me. Still, what I wouldn't have given for a set of Flash Underoos. (If they were made in adult sizes, I'd even consider buying one now!)
ReplyDelete@Tobor: You got a lot right in that short final paragraph. Even when one does heroic things for the right reasons, vying for recognition afterward just cheapens the deed. Boy, I could write paragraph after paragraph about how the modern philosophy of "look out for yourself" is killing our ability to look out for each other....
It all started with that pre-Crisis issue of CHALLS, where they were deemed financially responsible for some kind of collateral property damage while defeating their latest enemy's master plan. And Superman (their chief character witness) was disappointed about the bad precedent it set. Thinking it would discourage non-superhuman altruism in similar (if smaller scale) situations.
ReplyDeleteI remember that issue! Only, it was technically pre-Zero Hour.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteCarycomic said...
It all started with that pre-Crisis issue of CHALLS, where they were deemed financially responsible for some kind of collateral property damage while defeating their latest enemy's master plan. And Superman (their chief character witness) was disappointed about the bad precedent it set. Thinking it would discourage non-superhuman altruism in similar (if smaller scale) situations.
July 26, 2020 at 9:47 PM
FROM THAT CONCERN.....
Good Samaritans Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.
https://definitions.uslegal.com/g/good-samaritans
A good samaritan in legal terms refers to someone who renders aid in an emergency to an injured person on a voluntary basis. Usually, if a volunteer comes to the aid of an injured or ill person who is a stranger, the person giving the aid owes the stranger a duty of being reasonably careful. A person is not obligated by law to do first aid in most states, not unless it's part of a job description.
If Atom joined Aquaman with Apollo, Atom Eve, Atom Ant, Animal Man and 'Mazing Man would you have the new A Team?
ReplyDeleteBut, when was that law passed? Before or after the 1960's?
ReplyDelete@Carycomic: it's actually not one over-all Federal law. More a series of laws that vary by jurisdiction through each of the 50 states and District of Columbia.
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, on principle, I agree with you. "Reasonably careful" requires a great deal of flexibility when one is dealing with super-villains.
Interesting aside: When Jesus originally told the parable of the good Samaritan, Samaritans were the last people that any Jew would expect to voluntarily do a good deed. (That wasn't based on fact, but just hate and prejudice -- like a Japanese man in the 1940s, or a Black man in much of the South.) Yet today the word Samaritan -- at least, among English-speakers -- has become synonymous with it.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, more of a redundancy than an oxymoron? :-)
ReplyDelete@...Horsefeathers: How about Amazing Man and 'Mazing Man?; also Atom Ant and ADAM Ant?
ReplyDelete@my namesake: That second one would rock! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother groaner I wish would bite the dust.
ReplyDeleteWho was the pest on the original cover? Mr. Mxyzptlk or Bat-Mite, maybe?
ReplyDeleteIt was Robin.
ReplyDeleteJust like that time both the Teen Wonder and his grown-up Earth 2 counterpart guest-starred in a summertime team-up between the Filmation Justice League and their JSA counterparts.*
ReplyDelete*Silver Age Superman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Flash, and the Atom! :-)
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete@...Horsefeathers: How about Amazing Man and 'Mazing Man?; also Atom Ant and ADAM Ant?
Hyram H Horsefeathers said...
If Atom joined Aquaman with Apollo, Atom Eve, Atom Ant, Animal Man and 'Mazing Man would you have the new A Team?
Hyram said...
Atom Ant and 'Mazing Man were already there. Amazing Man would be a good addition.
Adam Ant? Sorry, He wouldn't hit the right note here.
How about Adam Ant and 007 vs. that mad military musician with the tin ears...Colonel Klinker?
ReplyDeleteOr, failing that, how about Stupendous Man vs. the child-hating Toy Man? ;-)
ReplyDeleteOr, failing that, how about Calvin and Hobbes vs. Hobbes and Shaw?
ReplyDeleteI almost thought this was real, until I rembered Bill wouldn't have approved.
ReplyDeleteBefore you call me dumb; DC was doing one shots(that I wish I'd bought) with Hanna-Barbera cartoons, so it ain't that farfetched.