Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!

History

Origin

Superman discovered that the citizens of his home were acting like primates. He investigated and discovered that a mysterious barrier around the Earth was the causing this. A ray tried to hit Superman, but he used a meteor to protect himself, but destroyed the meteor and sent it to Earth-C, an anthropomorphic animal world. Various denizens gained super powers from the meteor fragments. The animals (who would later became the Zoo Crew) teamed up with Superman to stop the ray (which was turning the animals non-anthropomorphic). They found out that Starro was the culprit and he was hiding on that reality's Pluto. After beating Starro, the animals decided to become the Zoo Crew. Early on, they had trouble working together in battle, but improved with time.

Back Together

The team made a come back in the Teen Titans # 30-31. Kid Devil read a comic called "Whatever Happened to Captain Carrot" (a obvious reference to Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?"). In a parody the darker themes in comics, Little Cheese is dead, Yankee Poodle was a fugitive accused of killing the president, Captain Carrot drowned his guilt for the death of his sidekick in drink, Fastback is missing and Pig-Iron and Rubberduck were underground superheroes. Alley-Kat Abra was the only fortunate one and was now a famous magician. A hero called American Eagle reformed the team to avenge Little Cheese's death. Then after investigating, they discovered that Alley-Kat Abra (who refused to join the reformed team) killed Little Cheese, framed Yankee, trapped Fastback in the future and sold the team's secrets to the government. Alley-Kat was sent to prison and the Zoo-Crew went off to save Fastback.

Countdown

We discover that Earth-C is actually Earth-26. With the aid of Chip Hunter, they managed to free Fastback. President Benebuck Arnold formed the Collar ID Initiative (a parody of Marvel's Superhuman Registration Act), but the Zoo Crew refused to comply and operated on the sly. The team members got their alter egos back (except Yankee, who was making money on her getting framed). The team battled various enemies and freed Alley-Kat, who revealed that an impostor took her place and did all of the horrible things. Starro managed to get all of the team (minus Pig-Iron) to forget how to use their powers. Rash Al Paca started to flood the planet. Benebuck reveals the Collar ID Initiative has removed all of the planet's superpowered being's powers. So, the Zoo Crew got help from the Just'a Lotta of Animals (who are from an alternate dimension) to get most of the animals onto a giant ship. However, they accidentally end up on New Earth (the main reality) as "normal" (non-anthropomorphic) animals.

Final Crisis

In Final Crisis # 7, Monitor Nix Uotan restored the Zoo Crew to their "normal" forms.

Members

• Captain Carrot- He gains Superman-like powers from eating "Cosmic Carrots" (carrots effected by meteor fragments). These abilites last for roughly 24 hours (although exertion to a high enough level could speed it up the time limit) He has an alter ego as Roger Rabbit (later changed to Rodney for legal reasons), a cartoonist.
• Alley-Kat Abra- She is a magic user that uses her "Magic Wanda" (magic wand) to cast spells.
• Pig-Iron- He worked in a steel mill until a meteor fragment knocked into a vat of melted steel turning him into a giant metal version of himself with super strength and invulnerability.
• Rubberduck- He was a movie star, but a meteor fragment allowed him to become super stretchy.
• Yankee Poodle- She was a journalist, but got the ability to shoot force beams (shaped like stars and stripes) from the meteor.
• Fastback- He is a turtle that is ironically super fast now.
• Little Cheese- He was a mouse that got the ability to shrink into tiny sizes from eating a piece cheese from the moon (as opposed to getting them from a meteor fragment). He is now dead.
• American Eagle- He is really Johnny Jingo, a radio reporter. He has no powers, but uses Batman-like gadgets.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Carrot_and_His_Amazong_Zoo_Crew

Gorillas in Comics

Please laugh.
What the Heck I am Talking About?
Due to the popularity of gorillas in forms of media such as King Kong, comic books had a large amount of stories featuring gorillas. Later, there was backlash against the "silly" plot device.
History
Oddly, in the Silver Age, gorillas were used as gimmicks to get people to buy comics. However, due to gag covers, rarely did the comic actually have more than few panels involving the gorilla story. There were a lot of brain-transplants and King Kong knock-offs. Several rumors emerged about the wide use of gorillas:

1. Publishers thought that by simply putting a gorilla on the cover, it would increase sales.
2. To not abuse the winning formula, DC Comics would only have 1 gorilla comic per month (except for "gorilla month")

Due to comics becoming a more respectable art form, there was backlash against this gimmick. However, these comics have gained collector value. In the Modern Age of Comics, mainly to due Silver Age nostalgia, comic book creators have referenced this gimmick.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_in_Comics
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/JimmyOlsen98.png

Seduction of the Innocent

To comic book readers, this is the bible of Satan.

Content

Fredic Wertham (the author) blamed comics for juvenile delinquency. The book, in reality, is mainly based on undocumented events, which may have not even happen. He claimed that reading comics would cause kids to do the same thing as the characters in the stories. Despite superheroes not being popular at the time, Wertham made incredibly stupid and rash statements about them: he claimed Batman and Robin were a gay couple, Wonder Woman was lesbian and Superman was a fascist. The book has gone out of print, due to the fact that it uses comic panels and he didn't ask permission from any of the companies.

Legacy

This book caused a Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency meeting, where there was a debate between Wertham and Willaim Gaines, publisher of EC Comics. Despite the SSJA not taking Wertham's side, they suggested to publishers to tone down the comics. This led to the formation of the Comic Code of Authority. Despite banning everything Fredric complained about, he thought it was "inadequate" to protect the youth.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_innocent

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Seduction_of_the_Innocent.jpg

Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC

Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC is a web show created by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy on Youtube.

Format

The series is a parody of the Get a Mac television commericals, where a PC and a Mac (played by human actors) would compare and contrast each other, usually with the Mac winning. In this, comic characters would compare and contrast (or talk smack as some would put it) their recent movies and each other in humorous ways.

Rounds

The series is divided into rounds, which are similar to seasons in a television show. Round 1 focused on Superman and Spider-Man, but had cameos of Batman and Hulk, who would later become recurring characters. In Round 2, Iron Man and Batman talk smack. Round 3 focused on the characters from the Watchmen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine at each other's necks. Round 4 has had (at time of press) only two episodes: "Iron Man 2 and Jonah Hex" and "The Musical", where Iron Man sings about how the flaws in his movies were for the sake of Marvel Movies' continuity, only to have Batman point the continuity error in Iron Man 2, where the new actor playing Rhodey looks different from one that played him in Iron Man. To which, Iron Man said "Shut up."

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy

Superman Curse

The Superman Curse is an idiotic theory that any one who plays Superman or is involved with adapting the character is doomed to a horrible fate.
Supposed Victims
The following are actors commonly sited as beening victims of the Superman Curse. There are few more I didn't list, because the list was too long.

• The Fleischer Brothers- They made the classic Superman cartoons. After making them, they started to fight and lost money and had to sell their company.
• Kirk Alyn- Played Superman in serials and failed to find work else where.
• George Reeves- The first actor to play Superman on television. He was found shot dead.
• Danny Dark- Played Superman for the Super Friends cartoons and died of pulmonary hemorrhage.
• Christopher Reeve- Play Superman in the movie of the same name. He fell of a horse and his body became paralyzed from the neck down.
• Margot Kidder- Played Lois Lane and suffers from extreme bipolar disorder
• Mark Pillow- Played Supes in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and never starred in another movie

People Who "Escaped" the Curse

Despite the latter, the various actors who played Superman and members of his supporting cast, such as Brandon Routh, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Jon Cryer, to name a few, led successful acting carrers

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_Curse

Flash of Two Worlds

The "Flash of Two Worlds" is a story in The Flash issue 123, which introduces the concept of the DC Multiverse.

Plot

The Barry Allen Flash is doing magic tricks at a charity event. However, during one trick involving him vibrating his molecules so fast they're invisible, he disappears from the stage and reappears in another city. Turns out that this city is Keystone City, home to the Jay Garrick Flash, who was previously written off as being a comic-in-a-comic. Barry (after looking up Jay in a phone book) met with Jay Flash. He discovers that Jay retired the same year his comic in Barry's reality got canceled. Barry thinks that the comic's creator was unknowingly basing the comic on events in Earth-2 (Jay's reality). Meanwhile, the Thinker, the Fiddler and the Shade united to get revenges of their old nemesis, Jay Garrick. The Flashes split up: Jay takes on Shade, Barry takes on Thinker, but the evil guys escaped and figure out there are two Flashes and warn Fiddler. Fiddler uses his magic music to mind control the duo and have them commit crimes. However, as the villains get the loot, the Flashes capture them and reveal they had jewels in their ears to block the music and played along to fool them. Jay decides to come out of retirement and Barry goes home.

Legacy

Due this comic's success, many of the DC's Golden Age characters were revived. Later, crossover between Earth One (Barry's reality) and Earth Two (Jay's reality) became a yearly theme in the Justice League of America comics and led to the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_of_Two_Worlds

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Flash_v1_123.jpg

X-Babies

History

In Uncanny X-Men Annual # 12, since the X-Men are assumed dead, Mojo (see his post) was left without his # 1 rating generator. He tried to create his own version of the X-Men. After numerous failures, he created the X-Babies (younger versions of the X-Men). They rebeled againist Mojo and he was going to kill them... only to discover his ratings were higher than ever. There have numerous versions of the X-Babies, usually they are younger versions of the current X-Men roster. X-Babies had several villain teams such as the Brotherhood of Bullies (based on the Brotherhood of Mutants). In Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem, a group of X-Babies were on the loose and Mojo tried to take advantage of their crushes on each other and "child-like" flaws to get them to sign contracts, but Kitty Pryde saved them. In the new X-Babies miniseries, the X-Babies discover that Mojo created the "Adorable X-Babies" (newer, cuter version of the team, but with shallower personalites), which became his # 1 rating generator.

Roster

The current members are:

• Colossusus (Colossus)
• Creepy Crawler (Nightcrawler)
• Cyke (Cyclops)
• Shadowkitty (Shadowcat)
• Psychild (Psylocke)
• Shower (Storm)
• Sugah (Rogue) (I'm as clueless as you are)
• Wolvie (Wolverine)

Former members include:

• Archangel*
• Bishop*
• Boyo (Banshee)
• Charlie X (Prof. X)
• Dazzler*
• Gambit*
• Havok*
• Iceman*
• Longshot*

*Please note some of the members without nicknames sometimes had "Lil'" in-front of their names when being referred to.

Notes

• The X-Babies are a parody of the fad of creating younger version of popular characters also called "babyfication".

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Babies

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Xbabies.png

Mojo

Character History

The denizens of what would be the Mojoworld had an inability to stand up right and they could not evolve to counteract this. However, a scientist called Arize invented exoskeletons that allow them to do the latter. Depspite this becoming popular, a few of the denizens refused to use these and used motorize platforms. The so-called Spineless Ones took over the world. Their leader, Mojo, became in charge of all the planet's television and film media. He was assisted by his loyal (but sarcastic) robot servant Major Domo. So many people watched it, Mojo had to create genetically engineered slaves to do all the work. One of these, Longshot, rebelled and (despite having his memories wiped) escaped to Earth. Mojo later turned Longshot's girlfriend Ricochet Rita into Spiral (Mojo's insane warrior) . Mojo de-aged the X-Men into children, but the New Mutants saved them. Mojo discovered that the X-Men boosted his ratings! Later, he created a younger version of the team called the X-Babies. But despite boosting ratings, they rebelled against him. Mojo was seemly killed and was replaced by Mojo II: The Sequel, who was just as bad as Mojo. Mojo returned. Due to his inability to learn from mistakes, he created more X-Babies until every X-Man had a X-Baby counterpart, all of whom rebelled against Mojo. He created the Mitey 'Vengers (Avengers) and babies versions of Age of the Apocalypse villains to stop the X-Babies, who also rebelled. However, Mojo (off screen) managed to defeat them somehow. He would later plague the X-Men numerous times to try and boost his ratings.

Powers and Abilities

His multi-legged platform has several weapons built into it such as particle beams and a mechanical tail. He is also very strong and can easily lift a grown man with one arm. He has magic powers proportional to his "worship of his followers" (the popularity of his shows). He is seen to be immune to Rogue's powers as seen as he bear hugged her. Mojo is a "force of death and corruption", as such his touch can age humans and wither plants. Doctor Strange claims if Mojo was on Earth long enough he would cause "natural" disasters such as storms.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_(comics)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Uncanny_X-Men_461.jpg

X-Men: The Ultimate Guide

Big Barda

Character History

Barda was a New God born about 250 years ago. She was on the planet Apokolips (ruled by Darkseid). Barda was taken from her mother by Granny Goodness and trained her to lead the Female Furies battalion (which she did). However, she fell in love with Scott Free (an enemy of the evil Darkseid). She later helped lead a rebellion led by the New God Himon. The duo freed Scott. She went to Earth and married Scott (who now called himself Mister Miracle). She became an on / off member of the Justice League and helped them in various crisises. She briefly left Scott, due to him being insensitive. She later resume her romance with him. After resigning from the JLA, she and Scott settled in Connecticut suburbs, but never stop helping people in time of need to the point she became a heavy hitter member of the Birds of Prey team. She was killed in Death of the New Gods # 1. But, she was reincarnated in Final Crisis.

Powers and Abilities

Like all of the New Gods, Big Barda is immortal. She also has super strength and durability. She's skilled in hand-to-hand combat and all weaponry / warfare. She has been seen fighting Wonder Woman to a draw. Her main weapon is the Mega-Rod. The latter produces powrful energy bolts and allows the user to increase gravitational forces. She is also able to summon / use the Aero-Disks, which allow her to fly.

Trivia

• The Teen Titans (in the event of 52) are shown to have a Big Barda-like member called Little Brada. Her connection to Big Brada is unknown.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Barda

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/img/b/BigBarda.jpg

Frankenstein (Dell Comics)

Dell Comics tried to cash in on the superhero craze, while getting horror fans to read it too. This is what they came up with.

Overview

This guy seems to be unrelated to the traditional monster. He was created by "the Doctor" (not the British time traveller) and somehow gave him "superior intellect and the strength of fifty men". He was dormant for over 100 years (and completely ignoring the concept of decaying), until a lightning bolt gave him life. He donned a rubber-like mask to hide the fact his face is green. He also dubbed himself Frank Stone, inspired a chuck of masonry that happened to have FRANK engraved in it. He befriended the millionaire Henry Knickerbocker and, when the old man croaked, he got his money and became rich. The only person that knew Frankenstein's alter ego was William, his butler, however, Miss Ann Thrope (pun off of "misanthrope), a Lois Lane-like character, suspected that Frank and the hero were one of the same.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(Dell_Comics)

http://upload.wikimedia/org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Dellfrank.jpg

Gag Covers

Gag Covers refers to a marketing technique used in comics in the Silver Age of Comics, most notably DC Comics.

What is it?

A gag cover was a cover where something shocking and seemly out of the ordinary (usually a character such as Superman acting grossly out of character), so the fans will buy it. Usually, this is just a scene taken out of context. For example, a cover may have Superman destroying a car and inside it turned out the car belonged to criminals. However, sometimes the cover completely lied. For example, the cover of Superman # 293 shows Superman refusing water to people dying of thirst despite the actual story is about the people becoming avert to water and Superman has to find away to get them to drink it.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_in_comics

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Superdickery
http://www.comicvine.com/superman-293-the-miracle-of-thirsty-thursday/4000-15757/

Dream of the Endless

Dream is a member of the Endless, a group of living personifications of their name sake. Dream (as the name implies) controls dreams. However, in Gaiman's world, Dream also defines reality.

Morpheus

Morpheus is the first Dream of the Endless and is much older. Despite usually appearing to be a tall, “bone-white” skinned man with black eyes and unusually colored pupils, his appearance is known to change 'depending on who's watching'. For example, while Mister Miracle saw him as a man, Martian Manhunter saw him as Lord L'Zoril, a Martian god with the appearance of a flaming alien skull. However, when many gods were meeting with Morpheus, he appeared in the same form. To confuse the matter more, Bast, goddess of cats, said "I much prefer you in cat form, Dream old friend". So, it’s unknown how this appearance thing works. He likes to wear a helmet that is made out of the skull of a now-dead enemy of his, which is also his sigil to the other Endless. His speech bubbles tend to appear wavy and black with white lettering in normal caps (as opposed to the other character’s block caps).

Despite ultimately being heroic and responsible, he does have some negative traits. He tends to be cold, selfish and unwilling to accept change. The most extreme example of this was in “The Kindly Ones”, where he lets various denizens of the Dreaming (the heart of Morpheus’ domain) including Able, Fiddler Green and Merv Pumpkinhead, die in gruesome deaths instead of trying to save them (although he later let himself die to stop the Kindly Ones ). He is also usually blind to his flaws, but he can confront them if someone points them out. If an Endless loves a mortal, it will end badly. As a general rule, all of Morpheus’ romances end badly.

Prior the The Sandman series, it’s implied he is even more of a jerk. In “Preludes and Nocturnes”, he is imprisoned for 70 years and his kingdom falls apart. He escaped and after getting back his bag of sand, helmet and ruby, he started to rebuild his kingdom. In “Season of Mists”, he allows Loki to walk the world free. In “Brief Lives”, he kills his son (who was begging to be killed as he is now a bodiless head). In “The Kindly Ones”, Lyta Hall (who thinks Morpheus kidnapped his son, though Loki did it) released the Kindly Ones on the Dreaming and they go on a rampage (they’re able to do so because he killed his son). After several of his servants and friends die, he allows himself to be killed to stop them.

Daniel Hall

Prior to becoming the new Dream, Daniel was the infant son of Lyta Hall. His father was Hector Hall, whose ghost was manipulated by Brute and Glob (two nightmares) to become the lord of dreams. They did so in a forgotten corner of the Dreaming. Morpheus came and imprisoned the duo, “killed” Hector and sent Lyta back to reality. He later dubbed Lyta’s son Daniel. Loki kidnapped Daniel, but Lyta thought Morpheus did the deed and sent the Furies after him. Morpheus sent Matthew (A man now transformed into a raven) and the restored Corinthian (a nightmare loyal to Morpheus) to save him (which they did). When Morpheus was toast, Daniel (because he was a “child of the Dreaming”) became the new Dream.
The new Dream was a mix of Daniel and the entity of the Dreams. Unlike Morpheus’ speech, his was mostly normal, except for his word balloons being wavy. Notably, Daniel is much more nice and gentle than Morpheus. However, he is also inexperienced in some matters. So, he relies on the advice of the raven, Matthew, who worked closely with Morpheus.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_(DC_Comics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hall
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Dream.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Danielhall.jpg
The Sandman TPBs

Seaguy

Seaguy and Chubby Da Choona playing chess... with Death.

Publication history

Seaguy is a 3 volume comic written by Grant Morrison (who did All Star Superman, Doom Patrol, JLA, Animal Man, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Invisibles, and Batman) and drawn by Cameron Stewart. Grant created Seaguy to be the opposite of the popular "bad-ass" characters, which he felt were "trendy and unconvincing". He wanted to make two sequels to Seaguy, but it had low sales making the latter unlikely. According to rumors, Grant said he would do the 52 series if he could do Seaguy sequels. Eventually, Morrison got the okay to do so. The first volume was simply called Seaguy. The second was entitled "The Slaves of Mickey Eye". The third one, "Seaguy Eternal", has not being put into action yet.
Plot

In a seemly perfect world, where most people think all the world's evil is gone, superheroes aren't needed. As such, Seaguy is just a guy in a wet suit with a talking tuna fish named Chubby Da Choona. However, the duo discovers that Xoo, a food staple of their world, is alive and they try to protect it. The comic combines light-hearted whimsical and dark tragic elements, but each adventure get more tragic than it's predecessor until he learns the secret of the moon.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaguy

http://mildmanneredcast.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/seaguy-wins.jpg