Sunday, November 25, 2012

Interlac

"As the official U.P. language, Interlac is taught in schools throughout the system and is the common form of communication between most sentient United Planet races."  - Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #   1
Interlac is a DC Comics fictional language. It is the main language used by 30th century United Planets (think the United Nations IN SPACE) in the Legion of Super Heroes comics. It was first referenced in Adventure Comics # 379.  However, the actual letters and numbers weren't reveal until years in Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 2) # 312 by writer Paul Levitz and artist Keith Giffen. 
Language / Numbering System
The language has 26 letters that corresponds with each the English letters and it's numbering system uses a ten as a base (as shown above). As such, it has ten digits corresponding with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0. However, the numbering system is flawed due to 42 and 7 looking the same. It has a similar problem with 41 and 6. Despite being written differently, Interlac sounds exactly like English.
Babylon 5
In Babylon 5, there is an unrelated language also called Interlac. This version of Interlac is a universal language based on math. This is flawed idea to the possibility of aliens having non-decimal based numbering system.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlac

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Mercury Man

Mercury Man was a Golden Age superhero who has fallen under public domain. So, now anyone can use him without approval from his original publisher.
Merco was an alien from the planet Mercury. They were "ruled by greed, hatred, and fear". Since they have super advanced weapons, they ended up killing each other in nuclear Armageddon. However, Merco managed survived because the radiation gave him super powers and turned him metallic... for some reason. He had small wings on his ankle and had wing-like ears. He went to Earth as the superhero Mercury Man to prevent the Earth from suffering the same fate. He stopped a nuclear attack on the US. Dr. Penn (a female scientist he met) gave him the power to become a normal human and turn back (although his metallic form was the only time he could use his powers). The next time we see him, he (now in a different costume) takes various "warmongers" to Mercury to show what could happen to Earth if they don't change their ways and trap them there when they refuse to do so.
Merucry Man has a variety of powers. He can fly, turn into mercury, fire disintegration bolts, use minor telepathy (which allows him to find people) and has super strength. He has also been shown surviving in the vacuum of space and the explosion of a nuclear bomb. He also has scientist-level intelligence.
My sources were:

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Grasshopper

Neil Shelton
The Grasshopper(s) is a series of parody superheroes of the same name that each die shortly after they are introduced to spoof the tendency of superheroes dying and being replaced by a new hero with the same name. My main source was Wikipedia.
Doug Taggert
He was an employee for Roxxon Oil (an fictional oil company). He was a security guard that used a suit of power armor allowing him to jump superhuman heights, but provides little to no protection despite being armor. Doug has a crush on  his co-worker Cindy Shelton, who has a crush on the Grasshopper (his alter ego). He tried to stop a robbery and joined the Great Lake Avengers... for five seconds, since the Batroc's Brigade (the people committing the robbery) killed him shortly after.
Neil Shelton
Neil was another Roxxon security guard that gained Doug's suit. However, it was altered and was more like Iron Man's. Cindy Shelton fell in love with him thinking he was the original Grasshopper. Unfortunately, she was Neil's cousin. So, Neil used his "Maximum Jump" to avoid her, which (according to Doorman) killed him because he exited the Earth's atmosphere and burned upon reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.
Unknown
A person claiming to be "The All-New Grasshopper" was a member of the GLA (now called the "Great Lakes Initiative"). His neck was snapped by a disgruntled Deadpool when the latter was kicked off the team.
Skrull Impostor
A fourth Grasshopper joined the team. He was revealed to be a Skrull (a type of shape shifting alien) impostor. Mr. Immortal (the team leader) was shocked while Big Bertha (a female member of the GLA) thought it was obvious.
References:

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Freedom Ring

Comic writer Robert Kirkman felt that it was unrealistic that teen heroes almost immediately adjusted to their superpowers. So, he wanted to create "an inexperienced hero who would get beaten up constantly and probably die". So, he created Curtis Doyle / Freedom Ring for Marvel Team-Up #20 and had him killed in issue 24. However, because the character was gay, people have accused Marvel of being homophobia. Kirkman later admitted to regretting for killing him off due to the small amount gay people in comics.
The villain Ringmaster had made a ring out of a Cosmic Cube (a type of reality warping object), but lost it when the Punisher shot his ring finger off (Ouch). Captain America found it and was going to give it to SHIELD. However, he lost it when he was attacked a MODOC Squad. Curtis Doyle found the ring. He accidentally created a ice cream sundae and realize the ring allowed him to warp reality. He got the name "Freedom Ring" from his friend, Troy, who called the ring a "free dumb ring" (not realizing its power). Troy (who turns out to be a Skrull) became a superhero Crusader and Freedom's partner. FR battled Abomination and got seriously injured. He used the ring to heal himself and made himself stronger, faster and tougher (due to Crusader convincing him to do so). He battled Iron Maniac (an alterate reality version of Tony Stark) whose armor expand outwards and ended up killing Freedom Ring. Crusader later ended up with the ring.
My sources was Comicvine page "Freedom Ring" and Wikipedia page "Freedom Ring".

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Badger

The series is a mismatch of genres: its a superhero spoof with magic / fantasy element, but has realistic martial arts. The tone varies from black to light comedy. Some people complain about the comedic portrayal of mental illness. However, others find it very funny. The setting is the very accurately portrayed Madison, Wisconsin.
Norbert Sykes, the main character, is a veteran from Vietnam that has multiple personality disorder. Among his personalities is the Badger. The Badger is a martial arts expert "superhero" that attacks innocent people due to his mental illness warping his perceptions of  what is going around him. He tries to help animals or environmental causes. He also the bodyguard for the wizard Hammaglystwythkbrngxxaxolotl ("Ham" for short), who he met after escaping an insane asylum. His other personalities include Emily (that of a nine-year old girl), the homicidal Pierre (who has a French accent), Leroy (that of a dog), Max Swell (an architect) and Gastineau Grover Depaul (who acts like an "inner city African American").
The series has other notable characters. Daisy is Nobert's caseworker. Marvis is Norbert's wife and expert in Vietnamese martial arts. Lord Weterlackus is a demon that used to working with Hammaglystwythkbrngxxaxolotl. 
My source is the Wikipedia page "Badger (comics)".

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Bozo the Iron Man

Yes, this is real. Bozo the Iron Man was a Quality Comics character featured in Smash Comics until issue 42. According to Comicvine, Bozo has fallen to public domain.
Hugh Hazzard was a man with connections to the police. He found a robot and (temporily) deactived it. He enter the robot (it was hollow). He used to go back to find where it came from and found out it was made by an evil scientist. A fight broke out and the scientist died. Hugh took the robot and used to fight crime, dubbing it "Bozo". He altered the robot to make it fly. The robot was either used like a mecha robot (controled by a walkie talkie) or power armor (a la Iron Man). Bozo has made several cameos in DC Comics (who owe a majority of Quality Comics' superheroes). Bozo was the inspiration for the DC Comics villain "Gonzo the Mechanical  B*stard".
My sources were the Wikipedia page "Bozo the Iron Man" and the Comicvine page "Public Domain Characters".

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Force of July and Freedom's Ring

Yes, I know the pun is lame. The Force of July is an antagonistic superhero team in the DC Universe. They are an extremely patriotic superhero team that works for the government. However, they end up fighting with other superhero teams such as the Outsiders and Suicide Squad. This team consisted of the leader Major Victory (a super strong hero who flies and fires energy bolts), the energy-blasting Lady Liberty (who could also fly), the self-duplicating Silent Minority, Sparkler (who could project light in the form of beams or fireworks and fly) and the planet-controlling Mayflower. All the original members would sooner or later be killed.
An offshoot of the team, called Freedom's Ring, appeared in  Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven. They protecting the titular city. Members were new versions of Major Victory, Lady Liberty and Silent Minority. The latter two were killed by the Nuclear Legion. The Freedom Ring was absorbed into First Strike (a special team working for S.H.A.D.E. led by Father Time). It got new members including the "grey skinned giant" Bigfoot, tiny soldier Doll Man, the robot Gonzo the Mechanical B*stard, Human Bomb (who can detonate matter), Lady Liberty III, Silent Minority III, Phantom Lady (who "bend dimensional reality" via her black light projector), Major Victory II, psychic Replicant and villain Major Force (the unrespected leader).
My sources were: