The Marvel that Wasn't.

 So, not long ago I went and saw the movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It was a very good movie and I would recommend it. However, there was something that did bother me as someone who's been in and out of superhero comics for a long while. Now, there is valid reasoning for some of the omissions that happen. Usually, they happen by way of condensation and omission. Hollywood likes to adapt the origins of superheroes and then skip ahead to whatever the hottest new storylines for the character are. For example, the Captain America movies started with World War II and the Red Skull, which were stories from the actual 1940s with some elements of 1960s Cap thrown in. But then the second movie raced ahead to the Winter Soldier storyline, which is a story from 2005. Then the third movie adapted the Marvel Comics Civil War storyline which was from 2006-2007. There were decades of unused storylines in between those events. It wasn't until the Falcon and Winter Soldier series on Disney+ that they doubled back and adapted the Flag Smasher, Power Broker and John Walker stories from the 1980s.

But alas, I know comic books aren't going to be 100% just like decades-long runs of comic books. And I know fans can get awfully nitpicky about this stuff. But, as catharsis, I would still like to go into the things I missed and that I wish the moviegoing public could have seen. So, stick with me a little as I get these off my chest.

The Funny Damage Control

This is the one that came up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The depiction of Damage Control. In Brand New Day, as well as Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man, the Department of Damage Control is a meddlesome, and antagonistic government agency that seems intent on locking up and controlling superhumans at the expense of human rights. But what if I told you that Damage Control in the comics, usually was not a government agency, not corrupt and not trying to lock up anyone?

The cover of Damage Control #1

First appearing in 1988, created by writer Dwayne McDuffie and artist Ernie Colon, Damage Control was a comics miniseries about a private construction and engineering firm whose sole job was rebuilding after superhero and supervillain fights caused collateral damage in the city. It was also a workplace comedy. The company was originally founded by a woman named Anne Marie Hoag, but actually owned in secret by the unlikely alliance of Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin) and Tony Stark (Iron Man), who both had their own interests in keeping New York City from being torn down by superhumans. Other principal characters include traffic manager Robin Chapel, comptroller Albert Cleary, account executive John Porter, intern Bart Rozum, and technician Eugene Strausser. Damage Control would deal with such problems as how to remove the remains a giant robot from the city, how to fish the entirety of Avengers HQ out of the river, and how to deal with the employee shortage caused by one of your workers discovering an alien artifact at a job site and having an “superhero origin”. All while bantering and dealing with their own personal stuff and various guests from the rest of the Marvel Universe. Though Damage Control rarely has series of its own, they have become a staple of the worldbuilding of the Marvel Universe.

So, why does the MCU have an evil, decidedly unfunny version of Damage Control? Well, needing some kind of government villain is one reason. The other seems to be them expanding on a subplot from the comic Civil War in which Damage Control's CEO at the time, Walter Declun, was dealing Mutant Growth Hormone to villains in order to amp them up and create more collateral damage and thus more paying work for Damage Control. This small blip of a story that was largely separate from most of Damage Control's appearances, seems to have cemented the idea in the MCU that Damage Control are the bad guys. It's a shame, though. The MCU could use more neutral people and organizations that are germane to the superhero world itself.

The Great Thunderbolts Ruse

The year is 1997. Due to a big event storyline that was published across Marvel's whole line of comics entitled Onslaught, the Avengers and Fantastic Four have disappeared and are presumed dead. With these heroes gone, that leaves a big gap in the world's defenses. Who could fill it? Suddenly, a new team appears: The Thunderbolts! Their roster: sword-wielding leader Citizen V, super-strong giant Atlas, genius inventor Techno, sound-manipulating Songbird, energy-wielding Meteorite, and one-man jet squadron Mach-1! For all of an issue, the Thunderbolts avail themselves fairly well as a superhero team like any other, taking on a number of villains and easing the fears of the citizenry. That is . . . until the last page of issue #1. That's when it's revealed that the Thunderbolts are not actually superheroes, but the Avengers' archenemies the Masters of Evil in disguise! Citizen V is really Baron Zemo! Atlas is really Goliath! Techno is really the Fixer! Songbird is really Screaming Mimi! Meteorite is really Moonstone! Mach-1 is really the Beetle! As the series goes on, cracks start to form in the team. Some members like Citizen V and Meteorite stick to the original villainous plan. Others like Atlas, Songbird and Mach-1 start to realize that they like being superheroes. And Techno just goes along with whatever side will benefit him the most.

The cover of Thunderbolts #1

The movie Thunderbolts was decidedly not that. And with good reason. Other than Baron Zemo, none of those villains had been introduced into the MCU. The Thunderbolts movie was good for what it was and still managed to drop a twist ending on people when they got introduced as the “New Avengers” at the end. And to tell the truth, that original version of the Thunderbolts didn't last forever anyway. It kind of got passes around as a title for various different villain or antihero team books. But man, do I wish I could have seen Marvel Studios drop that particular twist on the moviegoing public! “You thought you were watching superheroes! Well, surprise! These are actually the bad guys!” Oh, well.

The Many Faces of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

One of the most consistent antagonists introduced in recent MCU movies is CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis Dreyfus. She appeared in a post-credits scene in Black Widow, she recruited U.S.Agent in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and she was revealed to have done all sorts of morally repugnant things in Thunderbolts. Hard to believe she used to be Nick Fury's girlfriend, isn't it?

A very famous (and scandalous) Steranko page featuring Fury and Val.

ContessaValentina Allegra de Fontaine was created by famed comic book writer and artist JimSteranko in Strange Tales #159 in 1967. Steranko himself is an interesting guy, having worked as an escape artist and magician as well as an artist, as well as being the artist who introduced elements of psychedelia and op art. But that's a subject for another day. Anyway, Val was introduced as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who knocked Nick Fury for a loop upon first meeting her. She had a very long career with S.H.I.E.L.D. And an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Nick Fury until 2009 when it was revealed that Val was a mole working for a terrorist organization called Leviathan.

Look, I'm not the biggest fan of the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comics or Val in particular. But seeing her just show up from the beginning as an antagonist feels abrupt to me. Like, I get that they're adapting the newer stuff, but in the comics her being a villain had emotional weight because the readers and other characters thought she was a good guy for so long.

Hawkeye the Rabblerouser

Of all the first crop of Avengers in the movies, people seem to dismiss Hawkeye the most. He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He's a guy who shoots arrows and he has a family. That's it. Just a standard, stable, family man. The most normal guy in the Avengers. Now, what if I told you that Hawkeye had one of the biggest personalities in Marvel Comics?

Cover of Hawkeye miniseries from 1983.

Hawkeye first appears in Marvel Comics as a misguided villain in Tales of Suspense #57 in 1964 as a foe for Iron Man and an accomplice of the Black Widow, who was also a villain at the time. Later on, when most of the original lineup of Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and Wasp) quit, he showed up at Avengers mansion to try out for a spot. And as an Avenger, boy did Hawkeye make himself known. Clint Barton proved himself to be loud, rebellious, in-your-face, cocky, flippant. It was such that Captain America had to work overtime just to gain Hawkeye's respect. Also, if we associate Marvel heroes with “quippiness”, then Hawkeye was the “quippiest” Avenger. He was especially known for branding his teammates with all sorts of nicknames, like calling Iron Man “Shellhead”, or Thor “Goldilocks”. Hawkeye was the Avengers' resident wisecracking urban roughneck. The team rebel and the guy who would take risks no one else would (kind of a necessary thing when you're the only member of the team with no powers). Eventually, he would grow up and become something of a leader, but he wouldn't completely lose his rebellious streak.

So, how did Hawkeye go from the most quippy Avenger to possibly the least quippy Avenger. Well, part of it is that they based a lot of his characterization on a version of Hawkeye from a comic called The Ultimates, which depicted him as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a family. But another contributing factor is that, through Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal, they ended up giving most of Hawkeye's more flippant and rebellious traits to Iron Man instead. So, Hawkeye ended up having to be put into a different role.

And . . . I think that's all I've got for now. I'm sure I could come up with more. Like how Hank Pym (you know, Michael Douglas's character) was originally the one who built Ultron. Or how Bucky Barnes was originally depicted as Cap's kid sidekick rather than as a peer. Or how Drax the Destroyer was originally human . . .

Y'know what? I'd better stop before I've bored everyone.

Until next time . . .

Unsung Superheroes: Metamorpho

 

Unsung Superheroes title card

Okay! Time to shine a light on another one of the lesser-knowns of DC Comics! Been looking forward to this one. This is both one of my favorites and one of the characters we saw in 2025's Superman movie.

But first, let's set the stage for the era. It's 1965. DC had found success with its science-forward approach. But a new competitor, Marvel Comics, had appeared with a different approach that emphasized character drama and flawed, tragic heroes with feet of clay. So, what happens when both approaches meet head-on?

You get a character like Metamorpho, The Element Man!

Metamorpho

He wasn't the first of this new breed of hero at DC. He was preceded by the Metal Men in 1962 and the Doom Patrol in 1963 (more on them at another time). He was the first solo hero in that mold, though.

Created by writer Bob Haney and artist Ramona Fradon, Metamorpho started life as devil-may-care, handsome soldier of fortune Rex Mason. Mason works for corrupt millionaire tycoon and scientist Simon Stagg. Stagg also happens to be the father of Rex's lady love Sapphire Stagg. One day, Simon Stagg sends Rex on a mission he doesn't intend for him to return from. Along with Stagg's manservant Java, Rex is sent to the Lost Pyramid of Ahk-Ton in Egypt to retrieve the mysterious Orb of Ra. While on the mission, two things of consequence happen. One, Java attacks Rex and leaves him for dead. The other is that after he recovers from Java's attack he stumbles on a mysetrious glowing meteorite. Faced with a seeming death from the radioactive meteorite, he swallows a pill Stagg gave him to use whenever he might face death and promptly passes out. Something happens when Rex is exposed to both the chemicals in the pill and is exposed to the radiation from the meteorite. When Rex Mason awakens, he's been changed to something else. No longer quite human and with a startling new appearance, Rex Mason has become an Element Man. He is now a creature made up of pure versions all the different elements in the human body. He is able to transmute his body into any form of those elements, whether it be solid, liquid or gas. He can be as ephemeral as flourine gas, as strong as cobalt or even as reactive as sodium!  A walking, talking chemistry set able to transform into different mixtures and compounds of those various elements. Shaken by his transformation, Mason turns once again to Simon Stagg in hopes he can return him to normal (though, he does kind of thrteaten to tear down Stagg's mansion if he doesn't). But Stagg has his own plans for Rex Mason and also holds the Orb of Ra. Made from the same meteorite that transformed Rex Mason, the Orb of Ra is the only thing that can weaken an Element Man. Encouraged by Sapphire Stagg to use his powers for good until a cure can be found, the superhero career of Metamorpho begins.

For a catchier, more simplified account of the origin, you could also just listen to this song from Tifton Records' 1966 Songs and Stories About the Justice League of America:

Condensing it down to one paragraph doesn't quite gather all the nuance. For the time and the publisher it was coming from, it really was something new. And the characters and relationships were more complex than you'd see in a 1966 issue of Superman and Batman. So, let's do a rundown of the cast.

Rex Mason/Metamorpho- Rex Mason is our hero, but he's far from perfect. He's good enough to know not to give Simon Stagg all the discoveries and artifacts he's sent to find because he knows Stagg is power-hungry. However, Rex is also kind of arrogant, and looks down on “freaks” (like Java). It's only after he's transformed that Rex is humbled. But even then, he becomes depressed and fixated on getting back what he lost, even to the point of relying on Simon Stagg who he knew was untrustworthy.

Sapphire Stagg- One of the most surprising things about Sapphire Stagg is that unlike a lot of the more delicate and easily scared female love interests in 1960s comic books, Saphire accepts the transformed Rex almost right away. She faints upon seeing him at first, largely because she had a feeling that something would go wrong on the expedition and now was seeing it made manifest, but recovers quickly. She's even the one who pushes him toward using his abilities to be a hero. Sapphire's flaws though, lie in how sheltered and naive she is. She loves Rex, but she's also devoted to her father who she just can't see as the villain he is.

Simon Stagg- Simon Stagg is probably one of the first supervillains to not only function as a recurring supporting cast member but also to hide behind a legitimate facade (about 20 years before the Superman comics did the same thing with Lex Luthor). Unlike a lot of villains from that era of superhero comics, Stagg isn't bent on destroying the superhero, but controlling him. Which means he always has to keep Metamorpho close by, constantly dangling the promise of a cure in front of him and with the Orb of Ra nearby just in case Metamorpho should turn on him. He's not just controlling of Rex either. One of the reasons he ordered Java to abandon Rex in Egypt is because he didn't want him to marry Sapphire.

Java- Java is Simon Stagg's manservant. He's also a caveman that was resurrected in the modern day and given greater intelligence by Simon Stagg (yes, really. We're dealing with 1960s comics here, remember?). Java is romantically fixated on Sapphire Stagg, convinced that if he were only handsome like Rex Mason, she would surely fall for him (something we know is definitely not true, because she accepted Rex even after he was changed). Java spends much of his time vacilating between begging Simon Stagg to somehow make him handsome, feeling sorry for himself, and plotting some way to kill Metamorpho so he can have Sapphire all to himself. Java is cunning but not really smart. Java may be a bit of a blunt object, but not someone Metamorpho should be complacent around.

Metemorpho debuted in Brave and the Bold #57 and then he got his own series series, aptly titled Metamorpho, which lasted 17 issues. Not a super long run, but respectable considering how few new features even made it to series. He was considered for an animated TV show shortly after his debut (he lost out when CBS got the rights to do a Batman cartoon). And in the comics, he gained the questionable honor of being the first superhero offered membership in the Justice League of America to turn it down (Justice League of America #42, story entitled “Metamorpho Says No!”).

An issue from Metamorpho's original series.

In the early days of Metamorpho's appearances, the more tragic nature of the character was often countered by how tongue-in-cheek many of the stories are. The solo series was marked by a good-natured lampooning of pulp fiction tropes. For instance, despite supposdly having a legitimate reputation, Simon Stagg rather openly lives like a James Bond villain. His underlings, aside from Java, dress all in black with executioner hoods. His facilities are littered with strange technology. He even has a pet jaguar named Sheba. Metamorpho's villains also lean towards parody. They include characters with names like Achille Le Heele and Cha Cha Chavez.

As is often the case in corporate superhero comics, even after his series was canceled, Metamorpho still stuck around.

He'd reappear in series of back-up stories in Action Comics and World's Finest Comics, and then in the third issue of 1^st Issue Special. In the early '80s, Batman forms a team called the Outsiders, which he forms to intervene in things the Justice League can't because of their high status. Metamorpho becomes a founding member of the team. Later, after the dissolution of the Outsiders, an amnesiac Metamorpho (it's a long story), joins Justice League Europe, the European branch of the Justice League International. 

Metamorpho in Justice League Europe

It's while with this team that Rex reunites with Sapphire and finds out that he has a son named Joey Mason. Joey, it turns out has powers of his own and can transmute matter by touching it.

Baby Joey Mason

For the record, the above picture is what Joey looked like in the comics. The Superman movie made him look like Grogu but with smaller ears (I guess because they thought it would be merchandisable).

Later on, Metamorpho seems to join a new version of the Outsiders headed up by Nightwing (the original Robin, all grown up). But it turns out to be some kind of intelligent off-shoot of Metamorpho named Shift. Kind of a chemical clone. And then years later he would join a team called the Terrifics (a pastiche of Marvel's Fantastic Four) alongside Mr. Terrific, Plastic Man and Phantom Girl.

The Terrifics, including Metamorpho.

So, Metamorpho stuck around and he's become a good supporting cast player. He may not have been able to leg it out as a leading man, but he's become a fairly reliable member of the c-list.

There's just one problem with his tenure in the DC Universe.

He can't seem to stop dying.

It's become something of a crutch for DC writers that because of how powerful Metamorpho is, that they can kill him off to show how dangerous things are and then just bring him back later. He died at the end of the original Outsiders run and then came back. He died at the end of the Justice League International and came back. I believe he was dead at the beginning of Nightwing's Outsiders, which is why Shift could take his place. It's something that I wish DC would stop doing.

Anyway, now thanks to James Gunn and Warner Bros., the world has seen Metamorpho in live action (he's already appeared in a whole bunch of cartoons). 

Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho in Superman (2025)

He also got a new series around the same time written by Al Ewing and Steve Lieber. It lasted all of six issues and, to no one's surprise, Metamorpho seemed to die at the end. I don't think DC even showed how he came back this time, because now he's appearing in Justice League Unlimited.

A issue from Metamorpho's latest series.

He is one of my favorite lesser lights of the DC Universe. He has been ever since I read his original run of comics and was exposed to Metamorpho's unique combination of pathos and parody. I hope I might have at least clued you folks into why.

Television Oddities: Fluppy Dogs

 

Television Oddities title card

The year 1985 was an important year for Disney Television. Disney, as a company, had been struggling for a few years after the death of Walt Disney with the idea of what direction to go. However, in 1984, Disney came under new management with the recruiting of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells as CEO and COO respectively. Eisner, who prided himself on being a creative CEO, was intent on Disney creating new characters and properties. Also, as someone who had once had high-ranking positions at major television networks, he knew there was potential in television.. So, he set about launching Disney Television Animation.

Now, this may not seem so crazy right now, but you have to understand that Disney just didn't do TV animation. A lot of the major studios from the Golden Age of theatrical animation didn't. It was generally understood that they couldn't match the quality of their theatrical output on a TV budget, so they didn't really bother. But in 1985, Disney launched two television cartoons: The Wuzzles, about an island of composite animals (Butterbear, Bumblelion, etc), and Adventures of the Gummi Bears, a fantasy adventure very loosely inspired by a candy that Eisner's children became enamored with at camp. And from those two shows came all the television cartoons Disney has made since, including Duck Tales, Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Gargoyles, Kim Possible, Phineas and Ferb, The Owl House and numerous others.

But not every show made it to series.

In 1986, ABC aired a Disney pilot for a show titled Fluppy Dogs. Fluppy Dogs, like many children's cartoons in the1980s, was meant to tie in to a line of merchandise including books and toys. For the record, here's a commercial for some of the toys:

Typical soft stuffed toy line aimed at young girls, right?

Disney decided to get a bit creative with it.

Fluppy Dogs TV title

The special opens with the main Fluppies of the series, Stanley, Tippi, Ozzie, Bink and Dink, traversing a dangerous mountain range in inclement weather. They eventually get to a cliff when one of the Fluppies pulls out a small, glowing crystal which they use to open a door in midair that leads them to another world, which they hope is their homeworld.

So, apparently, Fluppy Dogs can traverse the multiverse.  Also, points to anyone who thinks the travel method reminds them way too much of Kingdom Hearts.

They get chased through this new jungle world by a dinosaur-like creature until they find another door which leads them to our world. Well . . . a human world (it's still animated so it's hard to call it OUR world). The Fluppies end up causing a bit of trouble in a supermarket and escaping into the streets only to get caught by dog catchers. But not before getting the attention of the villain of the piece: J.J. Wagstaff, millionaire and rare animal collector. You see, Wagstaff knew about Fluppies already, having read about them in some old book. Now he was intent on adding one to his collection.

In the meantime, the Fluppies are in the pound with few means of escape. So, Stanley manages to get himself adopted by a woman who is there looking for a pet for her son Jamie. Jamie's less than enthused with his new pet, having expected a bigger dog. However, Jamie takes Stanley for a walk and after a brief escape attempt, saves Jamie from danger on a construction site. This reveals Stanley's extraordinary nature and after a brief explanation, the Fluppies now have their first ally on Earth.

The Fluppies and Jamie.

Jamie tries his best to help but his resources are limited. He manages to scraoe together all the money he has and manages to buy another Fluppy, Tippi, from the pound. Though, upon seeing this, his mom says “absolutely not” and makes him give Tippi to their teenage neighbor Claire.

Things go a little better that night when Jamie and Stanley are sleeping and Jamie starts scratching Stanley's head in his sleep. This causes the bed to start flying.

Yeah, it seems that Fluppies are just straight-up magic in some worlds. The flying bed scene is a really fun scene, but it also feels a lot like Disney animation was riffing on the flying bicycle scene from 1982's E.T.

Anyway, they fly to Claire's house to pick up Tippi (who is less than enthused with life at Claire's, since she seems to use Tippi as a sort of “dress-up doll”), and inadvertently reveal the truth to Claire (enter ally #2). They then go to the pound to stage a jailbreak, narrowly avoiding Wagstaff who had them open the pound so he could get the remaining Fluppies.

Tippi and Claire.

A good chunk of the rest of the special is the Fluppies finding more otherdimensional doors and opening them only to find that not only are they not the way home, but there's something on the other side that will cause trouble if it gets out. They open one door only for a huge flood of water to come through. They open another and a creature that Claire names a “Falumpus” comes through. In the meantime, Jamie is trying to help but the more he's involved the more trouble he gets in with his mom.

Wagstaff makes one more attempt at capturing the Fluppies, managing to actually nab Ozzie. Trying to keep Jamie out of it for once, Stanley and Tippi seek help from Claire who drives them to Wagstaff's mansion in her car. Jamie, though, sees them depart and he, Bink and Dink pursue by riding the Falumpus (which was still in Jamie's basement).

Things go south as Wagstaff and his butler Hamish manage to catch Stanley and Tippi and threatens to call the police on Jamie and Claire for breaking into his home. As a last ditch effort, Jamie and Claire “say goodbye” to the Fluppies by scratching their heads. This manages to release enough magic to rip the top floor of Wagstaff's mansion off and send it flying to the library where the actual portal to the Fluppies' homeworld is. The Fluppies open the door and go through, and Wagstaff and Hamish pursue only to get stuck on the other side (note: without his money and status and on a world where the animals he's trying to collect are the dominant species, Wagstaff will likely be at a disadvantage). This leaves Jamie and Claire alone on their own side of the door.

Months pass, the seasons change. Jamie and Claire are now good friends after their adventure. But they still miss their Fluppy friends. Then one winter day, Stanley and the other Fluppies appear saying that they miss Jamie and Claire too. It turns out that they found a way to stabilize the door between Earth and their world. As they open the door, hundreds of Fluppies stream through eager to have their own adventure on Earth.

So . . . how do you get from floppy dog plushies to canine interdimensional adventurers?

The Fluppies in their toy form.

Well, it's not unusual for animation studios to take a toy concept, even a seemingly gentle one aimed at young girls, and pump in some adventure and higher stakes.  I mean, even the Care Bears had villains like Dr. Coldheart and Noheart.

But it really seems more like an example of what Disney was doing and what headspace they were in regarding TV animation at the time. Turning a simple concept into a high adventure with appeal for both gender demographics. Heck, with Gummi Bears they took the name of a candy and some how turned that into a medeival fantasy adventure. And apparently they didn't stray too far from the initial concept. Certain details seem to have stayed. Like designating the Fluppies by their qualities. According to Wikipedia, the initial lineup of characters in the children's book were Fanci Flup, Cuddle Flup, Brave Flup, Cool Flup, Shy Flup and Silly Flup. The characters from the special are listed as Stanley the Loyal Fluppy, Tippi the Loving Fluppy, Ozzie the Cool Fluppy, Bink the Shy Fluppy and Dink the Playful Fluppy.

Anyway, the special aired on ABC on Thanksgiving, November 27, 1986. It got the lowest rating of any of ABC's TV movies during that week and of course did not go to series.

Should it have?

Well, despite the novel “cutesy animals travelling the multiverse” angle, I doubt it was any great loss to children's television as a whole. But it does show an interesting time in Disney television animation when none of it was really a sure thing yet and proves to be an interesting television oddity because of it.

Unsung Superheroes: The Atom

 

Unsung Superheroes

At first I thought I was going to write posts about the side characters in the 2025 Superman movie and then move on to others. But I decided to skip ahead to a different character. Why? Because I thought it would be best to emphasize what DC's deal was in the 1950s and 1960s. Because when you pay attention to commentary and discourse about superhero comics, you hear a lot about how Marvel Comics came along in the 1960s and broke the mold. But little is said about DC, with the implication that they were just the old guard who were writing “the same old superheroes”. But it was actually something that DC did that revived interest in superheroes and set the stage for what Marvel would do later.

You see, the Golden Age of superhero comics started in 1938 with the creation of Superman and lasted through World War II. The superheroes created during that time were pulpy, two-fisted “mystery men” who took on a lot of gangsters before they started taking on Nazis. But once the war years ended, the days of the superhero kind of wound down. I mean, some of the big names like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman hung around, but a lot of the other superheroes were retired. In their place, other genres cropped up. Among them were comics based around westerns, war, horror, crime and romance. And they sold rather well, too. Granted, during that time, practically every child in the U.S. read comic books. It wasn't to last, though. You see, it was the 1950s and the United States was in a very conservative place at the time, and the stage was set for a moral panic about comic books. A child psychologist named Frederic Wertham wrote a book titled Seduction of the Innocent in which he blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency and various other moral failings (if we can call things like homosexuality and Communist sympathizing “moral failings”, because I'm sure he did) on children's exposure to comic books. The end result was a series of Congressional hearings about comic books and the institution of a strict self-censorship system called the Comics Code. The Code essentially cut a lot of the new comics genres off at the knees, causing them to lose a lot of their edge. The horror comics could no longer be horrific and were consigned to an early grave. The western comics heroes could no longer engage in the gunplay they were accustomed to. And the protagonists of the romance comics could no longer show any desire other than the desire for marriage and a stable home life.

So, what were the makers of comic books to do? Well, DC editor Julius Schwartz had an idea. They would bring back the superheroes they had once published. This time, though, they'd be reinvented. Characters like Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and the Atom would get new designs, new origins, new powers and it would be brand new characters under the masks. And probably the biggest move that would set the stage for what DC would be about for a couple of decades and which would have some echoes beyond that: These new heroes would be based firmly in the realm of science fiction.

It made sense. Schwartz and many of the other editors, writers and artists working in comics had roots in science fiction publishing. And also, it was the late '50s by this point and the children of the United States were rapidly becoming more fascinated by space, speed and science as the country started moving toward its first space flight. It should also be noted that when I say DC was committed to science fiction, I mean they were sincere about it. There are many cases where something is considered science fiction or “sci-fi” and the science being touted is iffy at best (like Marvel's tried and true “radiation causes super-powers” approach). DC at least tried to include some degree of plausabity. At least plausible enough for an adventure story aimed at 8-year olds. For example, it was more important to establish that the Flash could move at the speed of light at his upper limits so they could explain to kids exactly how fast light was than to explain how he was possibly able to do that (Note: this might be why DC superheroes can often seem a bit overpowered). And so, the Silver Age of superhero comics was born.

So, which DC character best represents that commitment to science fiction and the transition from the pulpy Golden Age to the science-minded Silver Age? Well, the usual answer would be the Flash. However, the Flash is actually a bit too well-known to be a subject for this column, what with having been the star of a nine season TV show. So, I think the second best choice would be . . . The Atom!

The Golden Age

Al Pratt as The Atom

So, the very first Atom made his debut in All-American Comics #19, cover dated October 1940. And his whole gimmick was . . . that he was short.

The original Atom was Al Pratt, a sophomore at Calvin College in Calvin City, who was teased for his diminutive 5'1” stature and lack of athleticism. However, he was trained by ex-boxer Joe Morgan and would become strong despite his small size. Atom became a member of the Justice Society of America and would fight against enemies like The Emperor of America, The Black Dragon society and Cyclotron. It was in 1948 that DC decided to beef up Atom further and gave him atomic-powered super-strength, attributed to an after-effect of a battle he had with Cyclotron in 1942. Atom's last Golden Age appearance would be with the Justice Society in 1950.  (Editor's Note: Some of this is canon that was written after the fact).

He would reappear years later as DC would revive the Golden Age heroes as denizens of the other-dimensional Earth-2.

The Silver Age

An early appearance of Ray Palmer as the Atom

In 1961, comics readers were introduced to a brand new Atom. Showcase #34 saw the introduction of Ray Palmer, physics professor at Ivy University in the small college town of Ivy Town. One day while working on an experiment, Palmer sees a meteorite strike the earth. He runs to investigate and finds a meteor that he theorizes had once been part of an ultra-dense white dwarf star. He lugs the very heavy rock to his car and brings it back to his lab,. Where he fashions it into a lens. Ray Palmer puts the lens to work in his experiments in reducing matter but finds little success as the things he shrinks end up blowing apart. Later, Ray goes on a hike with his girlfriend, lawyer Jean Loring and the Ivy University Nature Club down into a cave and brings the explode-y shrinking lens with him. However, a cave-in traps them in the cave. Ray then decides to use the lens to shrink himself to find a way out. He does, and manages to save everyone and return himself to regular size without, you know, exploding. Later on, he concludes that some force within his own body must allow himself to use the shrinking lens without blowing up. So, Ray works the shrinking tech into a belt and adds controls to manipulate his weight and density too. He figures out how to shrink down and travel through phone lines. He also develops a costume that somehow appears when he's shrunk and disappears when he's full size.

And that's basically how Ray Palmer's career as the Atom starts. He becomes good friends with fellow superhero Hawkman. He joins the Justice League of America. He goes up against villains like Chronos the Time-Thief, the Floronic Man and the Bug-Eyed Bandit. He also had some adventures involving something called the Time Pool, which allowed him to travel to the past. Interestingly, much of his motivation for being a superhero at the time was to catch criminals for his lawyer girlfriend to prosecute so he can boost her career so that she will someday marry him, which will prove ironic later. If nothing else, the Atom served as a fun way to expose kids to basic physics ideas like mass and density, as well as to show off other small-scale scientific concepts. Though, like a lot of superheroes, the Atom proved to have a limited shelf life as a solo star. Despite being one of those classic superhero concepts, shrinking heroes usually don't last long (Atom wasn't the first or the last shrinking hero. He was preceded by Doll Man in 1939 and followed by Ant-Man the next year in 1962). And it was after that that things got kind of tough for Ray.

He still hung around the DC Universe as a very specific utility player for whenever a story needed a physicist or a guy who can shrink. But his life kind of took some hits and he went in some strange directions.

He split-up with his girlfriend-turned-wife Jean Loring because, irony of ironies, he was spending too much time adventuring as the Atom.

Then, for a little while he became the sword-wielding hero of a tiny alien race that crashed in the Amazon in the miniseries Sword of the Atom.

Sword of the Atom

After that, he was even deaged into a teenager so he could join a new version of the Teen Titans.

The teen version of the Atom

I know this seems like a lot. But it serves as an illustration of all the ways that comics book writers and editors will try to revamp a C-List character. Anyway, all the while, his relationship with Jean Loring deteriorated more and more as DC writers started to write her as more and more unstable.

Which leads us to the third Atom . . .

The Modern Age

Ryan Choi as the All New Atom

The year 2006 introduced DC Comics readers to a brand new Atom. After a storyline in which Jean Loring killed the wife of one of Ray Palmer's old friends, Ray disappeared to parts unknown. Filling in for him at Ivy University was a hotshot young physics professor straight from Hong Kong named Ryan Choi. Ryan was a big fan of Ray Palmer's work as a physicist, and after coming to Ivy Town inadvertently takes up Ray's superheroic role as the Atom in order to stop a brewing war between science and magic that was incited by Palmer's old enemy Chronos.

The one thing consistent about Ryan's tenure as the Atom was that he was always more excited about the scientific possibilities of his work as the Atom than about the adventure and action.

Ryan's tenure was relatively short, though. He was killed off by a new villain group (his solo comic book was also cancelled after losing readers from a radical tonal shift after issue #12. I remember because I was one of the readers who was lost. It was one of my favorite comics for the first year).

But in superhero comics, nothing stays gone forever. And DC has a tendency of trying to reset everything.

So, Ray Palmer came back. This time with a revamped back story that emphasizes Ray trying to use his Atom powers to live up to the example of a father and brother who were both firefighters. And Ryan Choi also returned as Ray's lab assistant who wants to use science and the Atom powers to surpass the various allergies, phobias and other frailties that have held him down. So, now they're both operating as the Atom.

The Atom Project.  Choi (left) and Palmer (right).

But it is a good example of the radical change from the 1940s heroes to the ones of the 50s and 60s. From athletic short guy to size-changing physicist. And the way the Atom's stories emphasized physics shows how a pivot towards science fiction has influenced DC comics even to today. And all of it wrapped up in a small package.

Cartoon Stars Re-Animated: Droopy

 

Cartoon Stars Re-Animated title card

I've covered a lot of Golden Age animation studios in this little series of mine. Walter Lantz, Fleischer Studios, Famous Studios, UPA, Terrytoons, etc. But the three I've steered away from are Disney, Warner Bros., and MGM. And there's a good reason for that. All three of those studios had cartoon stars that still maintain some level of cultural ubiquity. Disney's Mickey Mouse and friends are cultural icons. 90% of Warner's Looney Tunes characters are still well-known. And MGM's lead duo act, Tom and Jerry, are cartoon icons worldwide.

But not every star character is still enjoying the limelight. MGM has a character, created by one of the greatest minds in theatrical cartoons, who does not appreciate the same fame as Tom and Jerry do.

That's right, all you happy people, it's time to talk about Droopy.

Droopy, as he appeared in his first cartoon

Droopy was a cartoon character created for MGM animation by the one and only Tex Avery. He's generally depicted as a small, white, anthropomorphic basset hound who speaks in a jowly monotone voice. His character and voice are based on a character named Wallace Wimple on the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly. The voice actor who played Wimple even voiced Dropy in his first cartoon.

Avery was the one who created and developed characters like Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny while working at Warner's and was in many ways responsible for developing the Looney Tunes signature madcap style. Then he moved to MGM, where he pushed what he had started at his previous studio even further. His cartoons only got wilder, crazier, more unhinged and more adult. While at MGM he created characters like Red Hot Riding Hood and Screwy Squirrel.

And yet, in the middle of it all was this intentionally subdued white hound dog.

Droopy first appeared as an unnamed character in the 1943 cartoon Dumb-Hounded. In this cartoon, he is shown constantly being one step ahead of a similarly unnamed Wolf character who has escaped from prison and is going to greater and greater lengths not to get sent back. Droopy would always be there wherever he'd run, and the Wolf would react with wild takes only capable in a cartoon.

In many ways, Droopy was the most subdued part of the cartoon. And yet he caught on.

Droopy would go on to star in twenty-four cartoons, though he didn't get a name until his fifth cartoon Senor Droopy. Early materials like production materials and even some comic books had him labelled Happy Hound, but that obviously didn't stick. When given a full name in the cartoons, it's usually something along the lines of “Droopy Poodle” or “Droopy McPoodle”, despite the fact that he's clearly a basset hound (best guess: “Poodle” sounds wimpier than “Hound” and serves to underscore his understated nature).

Poster for Senor Droopy

Now, Droopy seems to fall into basically two molds in his cartoons. He's either more or less an understated punchline, showing up for a laugh when you least expect him like in Dumb-Hounded, or he's an underdog hero who quietly outsmarts his foes like in cartoons like Homesteader Droopy. Droopy will spend most of the cartoon calm and unpertured, using his wits to counter his adversaries. That is, until one specific slight rouses his ire in certain cartoons and he gives the villain a comical thrashing. Usually, coupled with the phrase “You know what? That makes me mad”. It's not a lot of versatility, but MGM got more out of it than you might expect.

Mind you, Droopy doesn't work as an underdog or a punchline unless he has less subdued characters to work off of. Droopy had two. One was the Wolf. The other was a bulldog character with an Irish brogue named Spike, who was later renamed Butch (the Tom & Jerry cartoons already had a bulldog named Spike). Pretty much every cartoon is based on a pattern of the Wolf or Butch overreacting to things in wild ways and Droopy underreacting to things.

Droopy with the Wolf

Droopy with Spike, aka Butch

Droopy continued to appear even after MGM got out of the business of making new cartoons. Usually, he was connected in some way to Tom & Jerry, who were MGM's big cartoon stars. In 1980, there were Droopy shorts created by Filmation for The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show. In the 1990s, Hanna-Barbera made the show Tom & Jerry Kids, which not only featured a pint-sized version of the cat and mouse duo, but also Droopy now paired with a son named Dripple. The Droopy and Dripple cartoons usually featured father and son matching wits with the Wolf, now named McWolf. The cartoons also regularly featured a variant of Tex Avery's Red character, named Missy Vavoom. Droopy and Dripple were then spun off into their own show Droopy, Master Detective in which they play a pair of not-quite-hardboiled gumshoes. Droopy was also the only MGM character to appear in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Tom & Jerry are strangely absent). And not only that, he also appeared in all three of the Roger Rabbit shorts Disney made (Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit, and Trail Mix-Up). For a brief period, starting in 1992, he served as a host character for the newly launched Cartoon Network. Beyond that, he's mostly appeared in Tom & Jerry projects, starting with a cameo in 1992's Tom & Jerry the Movie (note for people who click on the link: Tom and Jerry talk in that movie.  It can be jarring if you're not expecting it) and then appearances in every straight-to-video Tom & Jerry movie since. Other than Droopy, Master Detective, he hasn't really had any starring roles.

Droopy with his son, Dripple

It's great that Droopy still appears in things and I still think the character is funny when used right. However, since he's often at his best as someone who punctuates the wild takes of other characters, he might be a bit of a limited comedic tool. It happens. Some characters are just only good at a couple of things. And some characters have a surprising amount of range (Believe it or not, one of the characters with the most range among WB's Looney Tunes is Sylvester. But I digress). I wouldn't mind seeing the occasional new Droopy short, but I doubt he could carry another series. Droopy, Master Detective feels like a bit of an anomaly.

Droopy, Master Detective

Still, chalk the character up as another part of the lasting legacy of Tex Avery.

Television Oddities: Doctor Who the Movie.

 

Bringing a beloved show across the ocean to a new culture can be . . . tricky.

Such is the lesson learned from Doctor Who The Movie.

Doctor Who the Movie is a TV movie from 1996, a coproduction between the American network Fox and the BBC. It came about as an attempt to revive the Doctor Who series which had ended in 1989. At the time, there was a general distaste for the franchise, which was starting to feel old-fashioned compared to new science fiction shows that were coming out like Star Trek: The Next Generation. The project was a passion project of producer Phillip Segal, who had watched Doctor Who when growing up in England before his family moved to the United States. His intention was to create a new series, but Fox only committed to one TV movie. So, Segal developed the film with the intention of it being a backdoor pilot.

That's right, folks. We have another failed pilot.

Promotional image for Doctor Who the Movie

The movie opens with the Seventh Doctor trying to return the remains of his archenemy the Master after his execution by his other archenemies, the Daleks. However, the box containing the Master's remains breaks in flight and what's left of the Master in the form of a slithering ooze gets out and sabotages the TARDIS. This causes the Doctor to have to make an emergency landing in San Francisco on December, 30 1999. After leaving the TARDIS, the Doctor accidentally stumbles into the crossfire of a gang trying to chase down a young man named Chang Lee. Lee calls for an ambulance for the Doctor (stealing his personal effects in the process). The Master/ooze also hitches a ride aboard the ambulance. At the hospitalthe doctor is put under the care of cardiologist Dr. Grace Holloway, but seemingly dies on the operating table. Meanwhile, the Master takes over the body of the paramedic. That night, the Doctor regenerates from his seventh form (played by Sylvester McCoy) and into his eighth form (played by Paul McGann). The one big wrinkle is that now the Doctor has amnesia and must figure out who he is.

And that's more or less the set-up for what's ultimately a story of the Master trying to steal the Doctor's regenerations so that he can live again, plus some stuff about his machinations endangering the Earth. There's some other details. The Doctor pairs up with Dr. Holloway. The Master dupes Chang Lee into helping him. There's also some plot thread about getting some circuit from an atomic clock on New Years Eve 1999.

This movie is weird. And it's weird from two different angles.

From the perspective of a longtime fan of Doctor Who, it includes so many things that feel a bit incongruous with the existing series. The Doctor can suddenly read people's futures just by looking at them. The Doctor also seems to have some degree of advanced strength right after regenerating (he basically beats down a door). In-jokes and references are dropped in weird ways. For example, the Doctor's oft-used alias of “John Smith” is given as his name to the paramedics by Chang Lee, even though he wouldn't have known that. And possibly the most perplexing of all, the Doctor goes around saying that he's half-human on his mother's side. Something that, if it were true, feels like it should have been revealed in a much more dramatic way.

On the other side, we have the view of a new person just coming to the franchise. So much of this movie feels like it's right in the middle of things. Instead of the Master ast his peak (or at least A peak), the movie gives us this back-from-the-dead, transformed, last-ditch-effort version of the Master. The Daleks are talked about as if they're important but never shown. And rather than getting to know the Doctor and then getting nto some of the odder aspects of the lore like his constantly changing face, we get a regeneration practically right off the bat. Now, I know that Doctor Who was a long-running series and it wasn't uncommon for a new series of it to start with lots of history behind it. But most seasons of the show after it was revived did a better job of introducing viewers and getting them up-to-speed. Usually by staying focused on the point-of-view of one of the companion characters. If anything, this movie should have stayed focused on the pov of Grace Holloway.

The Eighth Doctor and Grace Holloway

Overall, the movie feels like it got stuck halfway between being a revival and a reboot.

Anyway, the movie aired on Fox in 1996. It did very well in the UK, but didn't perform well in the US. Part of that might have been lack of familiarity with the property, but a lot probably also had to do with it airing opposite the final episode of Roseanne.

But it wasn't a complete failure. It turned out that people really liked Paul McGann as the Doctor. That got him officially enshrined as the Eighth Doctor, which led to that version showing up in novels and audio dramas, complete with Paul McGann as the voice actor. The other thing it did is introduce the idea of the Doctor as a more contemporary action hero type. While many previous versions of the Doctor were more apt to rely strictly on brains (with the exception of the Third Doctor and his “Venusian aikido”), the Eighth Doctor was a lot more apt to run and fight and engage in motorbike chases as well as wage cerebral warfare. This was something that was incorporated into the character when the show was eventually revived in 2005.

All this, plus the uniquely embracing nature of Doctor Who fans (they may have versions of the Doctor they don't like, but they'd never exclude a Doctor), results in Doctor Who the Movie becoming possibly the most beloved failed pilot of all time. To the point where the movie has been newly remastered for blu-ray and 4k releases.

Go figure.