This is going to be a list of things or events in comics that were so insane and stupid that they couldn't help but make a reader go "Holy sh*t, this is awesome." It won't be a numbered list and I likely will try to add more as time goes on
1. Bat-cow
Here's something you'd think you'd only find in the silver age of comics and not the modern "Doom and Gloom" of today's DC comics. Rescued from the slaughterhouse and raised as a pet by Damian (yes, THAT Robin), it is a cow...that has taken on the bat-family name...and brings justice to the farmland...what more do you need?
It's stupid, but so stupid that it actually captures fairly well the fun insanity of comics.
2. Floronic Man's reefer madness
So there was a time where Jason Woodrue once came back to life and was made out of marijuana. He was thusly stoned out of his mind. But it gets better! Because he wanted Poison Ivy's help with his plan of growing more marijuana. Why?
Because that's how he's going to save the world! By getting everybody really, really high. Which may be the greatest super-villain plan ever! After all, if everybody is stoned out of their minds, who is going to stop you from doing whatever you want (assuming you are not also stoned beyond belief)? As far as villain plans go, this seems fairly insane, yet successful. (check out the AT4W reviews of Batman: Shadow of the Bat #56 and 57 for more (#56)(#57))
3. Snowflame
So what's better than a super-villain using drugs to try and take over/save the world? How about a super-villain powered by drugs?
Introduced as a villain of the New Guardians way back Snowflame is the villain who gets his superpowers from doing cocaine. He gets super-strength, resistance to pain, pyrokinesis, and worships cocaine like it is a God.
He was killed shortly after introduction but he lives on in our hearts as the most glorious premise for a super-villain ever (again, see the AT4W review of New Guardians #2 to behold the glory that is Snowflame! (SSSNNNOOOOOWFLAME!!!))
4. Marcus
In the insane series of Deadpool you need just as insane premises to keep up and that's what happened in Deadpool: Dracula's Gauntlet as Dracula introduced his greatest warrior: Marcus, the Centaur warrior that was bitten by a werewolf and bonded with an alien symbiote! He is the perfect warrior with no weaknesses! Except for being diabetic. Something even Deadpool can understand.
He's a diabetic Centaur Werewolf Symbiote Warrior who worked for Dracula. What more do you need?
5. The Chrysler Building
In the series World War Hulk: Damage Control, the city is helped to rebuilt thanks to shadow stone from the planet Sakaar. It worked, but it also had the unforeseen side-effect of bring the Chrysler Building to life. Complete with a face and arms.
But the fact that it came to life isn't why it's on this list. It's the fact that it is STILL ALIVE (at least until the Marvel universe goes boom). Basically the Chrysler Building wanted to leave and see the world because he was sick of staying in that one spot his enter life. The people and heroes of Marvel didn't want him to do that because...well...he's a building! And there's been enough damage already.
In the end a compromise was reached and Damage Control mounted the building on an anti-gravity platform, allowing him to travel wherever he wanted for one month every year (because, "no one's in Manhattan in August"). His first vacation was to Japan.
How can this do anything other than capture the stupidly awesome insanity of comics? Marvel, the company whose characters were founded on being relatable, has a living Chrysler Building with a face and arms who goes on vacation.
I. Freaking. Love. Comics.
6. Punching a dinosaur
Tis rare that there is ever a greater sign of a character's manliness than decking some of the biggest creatures the world has ever had roam it in a single punch. And interestingly enough, it happens more often then you'd think. So here's just a few examples of heroes proving how awesome they are by beating senseless creatures that are long extinct.
From the Hulk:
To Spider-Man:
To the Martian Manhunter:
To perhaps my personal favorite of Captain Marvel just because of the detail in the punch:
7. Lex Luthor's Bibliobot Mark 2
When you're the smartest man on the planet, you don't do things the normal way. In All-Star Superman, while in prison, Lex Luthor built the Bibliobot Mark 2, a robot that can recite of 1000 works of literature. And something interesting happens when he has it read Moby Dick a certain way.
Lex Luthor used his story telling robot to carve out an entire underground cavern right underneath the prison without anyone ever finding out. With PERFECTLY SCULPTED STAIRS!
There's smart, there's genius, and then there's Lex flippin Luthor.
8. All-American crazy
This one comes from a Batman/Captain America crossover where the Red Skull teams up with the Joker and, of course, a good time is had by all. That is until the clown prince of crime has a sudden realization about his new partner.
The Joker, a mass murdering psychopath who causes chaos for sh*ts and giggles, hates the idea that he's been working with a Nazi and proudly proclaims his patriotism by trying to kill the Red Skull (it didn't work, mind you) and while it's strange that he makes the distinction in the first place, there is just something very awesome about someone as bad as the Joker basically saying "I may be a monster, but at least I'm not a damn Nazi!"
If there's anything comics have proved to us over the years, it's that you can't go wrong by making Nazis the bad guys of your story.
9. Hawkeye's Pym Particle Trick Arrow
Clint Barton found the perfect way to both save on storage space in his quiver and ensure that he doesn't miss, with the help of his old Avenger's pal Hank Pym.
I feel like that arrow storm should have been a lot more lethal than it was but whatever.
10. Ms. Marvel's The Inventor
So here's a rather interesting idea for a super villain.
For a yet unrevealed reason, a scientist named Knox cloned the famed inventor Thomas Edison. Unfortunately, Edison's DNA sample was contaminated by Knox's pet cockatiel during the synthesis. And thus we get, The Inventor!
So...if his origin story wasn't enough for you, he's also a mad genius and one of Ms. Marvel's first big villains.
He also doesn't like being called a bird.
And his big plan that brought him into conflict with the new hero?
That's right! He finds kids and teenagers to be useless wastes of space and decides the best way to make use of them is to use them as non-polluting batteries, with the added benefit of lowering overpopulation.
11. Darkseid dares to sit on your couch!
It's very rare to find a villain more dark, powerful, and as universally recognized as a threat by the DC universe than the mighty god Darkseid. The ruler of Apokolips and the breaker of wills. Never had there been a more terrifying force than he!
Which is why it is so damn funny that he has repeatedly been written and drawn just casually sitting on people's couches and armchairs.
How does one properly react to the lord of ultimate evil just chilling out in their living room? I'd like to think Darkseid knows how funny it is and is doing it deliberately.
If anyone has more suggestions for stupidly awesome things in comics, share it in the comments so I know what to add to the list, as I'm going to add more to this as time goes on. Thank you!
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