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ChronosCat

NP Monday Sep 24, 2018

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I'm amazed at how thin most superhero disguises are, and how completely everyone's fooled.

And some are worse than others. Take Wonder Woman on the TV series for (a really horrid) example. She always and only shows up wherever this one globetrotting government agent is - whether it  be a major city or deep in the jungle. And only to deal with situations that this agent knows about. Said globetrotting agent is a woman with the same facial features, same hair color, same body shape... disappears at critical moments, which is when Wonder Woman appears...

How can ANYONE fail to figure it out? Particularly her sidekick, who is another supposedly-highly-intelligent clue-analyzing government agent and goes with her on nearly all of her trips?

(Wonder Woman, as portrayed in that show, is pathetic in other ways. I mean, watch her arms when she runs. They flap around like a baby bird trying to fly sideways. Women who run fast move their arms in a certain way, and that ain't it - that's characteristic of the slowest female runners in junior-high gym class.)

Superman is a bit better - he's mostly where Clark Kent is, but Clark Kent mostly sticks to Metropolis. So Superman is mostly where a few million different people spend most of their time. And Superman can get to wherever else he's needed without leaving a trail in government or airline records. On the other hand, there is still the issue of Clark Kent disappearing just before Superman shows up, and not reappearing until after he leaves.

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1 hour ago, Don Edwards said:

I'm amazed at how thin most superhero disguises are, and how completely everyone's fooled.

I once saw this hilarious mini-comic created by stills taken from the Animated Batman and Superman cartoons. It shows a shadowy figure looking at superhero pictures, it then proclaims "Of COURSE! It is so obvious!" and the last image shows a guy confronting Clark and telling him, "Your secret is out, Clark Kent! You are BATMAN!"

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To be fair, there have been several instances within DC stories in which Superman and Batman have posed as one another in order to deceive various people, and almost no other characters see through that deception, either. While in the case of Superman posing as Batman one can use the excuse of the Batman mask hiding key features of his face and hair, nobody ever seems to notice any difference in Superman's appearance and voice . . .

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2 hours ago, ijuin said:

To be fair, there have been several instances within DC stories in which Superman and Batman have posed as one another in order to deceive various people, and almost no other characters see through that deception, either. While in the case of Superman posing as Batman one can use the excuse of the Batman mask hiding key features of his face and hair, nobody ever seems to notice any difference in Superman's appearance and voice . . .

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19 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

I'm amazed at how thin most superhero disguises are, and how completely everyone's fooled.

Yeah, in most continuities that doesn't make much sense. In EGS however? If William and Gillian can pass for humans ...

19 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Superman is a bit better - he's mostly where Clark Kent is, but Clark Kent mostly sticks to Metropolis. So Superman is mostly where a few million different people spend most of their time. And Superman can get to wherever else he's needed without leaving a trail in government or airline records. On the other hand, there is still the issue of Clark Kent disappearing just before Superman shows up, and not reappearing until after he leaves.

... I believe he was hypnotising Lois Lane few times to make her forget ... of course, not that he USUALLY has such power ...

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A story in "Superman #330" had Superman discovering that he had been subconsciously constantly trying to hypnotize people around him into disbelieving that Clark Kent could be Superman--apparently his eyeglasses (which are made of indestructible Kryptonian polymer salvaged from his spaceship) were amplifying the effect.

Relevant excerpt from the story: https://imgur.com/gallery/uju1W

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On ‎9‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 11:09 PM, ijuin said:

No wonder sales of The Daily Trombone are slipping . . .

Actually, the Trombone is Sliding.

 

The "Secret Identity" convention barely stood up to scrutiny back in the 1930s. 
21st century America leaves even less room for the masked vigilante.
Time to recall the wisdom of MST3K.

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3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

The "Secret Identity" convention barely stood up to scrutiny back in the 1930s. 
21st century America leaves even less room for the masked vigilante.
Time to recall the wisdom of MST3K.

While I agree with this, it is worth remembering that many heroes only have secret identities due to it being expected by convention or tradition. It is readily possible to write heroes that do not need one. Of the heroes who do have one, the best of them are those where the secret identity fills a genuine need for the hero. For example, in some of the better written Superman stories it is arguable that it is Clark who is the true self and Superman merely a coloured mountebank meant to distract from the man underneath.

Batman, on the other hand, needs Bruce like you need wheels on a bathtub. It is perhaps his greatest weakness. : /

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All this talk of secret identities reminds me of how the Sailor Moon fandom came up with the concept of the "disguise field". The fanon is that the Sailor Senshi forms have a magical effect which prevents anyone from recognizing their faces while transformed, or otherwise putting two and two together unless the person actually sees the Senshi transform or is told who they are. (In a way it's like the Super Hypnotism ijuin mentioned, but the magic is on the superhero form rather than the civilian form.)

2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Batman, on the other hand, needs Bruce like you need wheels on a bathtub. It is perhaps his greatest weakness. : /

But what if you want to take a bath in another room?

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9 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Batman, on the other hand, needs Bruce like you need wheels on a bathtub. It is perhaps his greatest weakness. : /

Batman wouldn't be possible without Bruce's money.

9 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

For example, in some of the better written Superman stories it is arguable that it is Clark who is the true self and Superman merely a coloured mountebank meant to distract from the man underneath.

Didn't read those stories, but based just on movies, I would think real Kal El is somewhere in middle between Clark and Superman. However, definitely agree with him not being satisfied with being just superman. (Hmmm ... nice quote about it on DC wikia ...)

Tony Stark, meanwhile, might live just well without secret identity.

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1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Tony Stark, meanwhile, might live just well without secret identity.

Which is indeed what he does in the MCU continuity.

That's true, but my point was that he's ok with that - like, he doesn't seem to regret it.

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It seems that if you have super powers and you want to be a "good guy", you only have a few choices.  Either work for someone with deep pockets (enforcing their idea of the status quo and better tomorrow).  Or be a vigilante constantly dodging lawsuits and overzealous law enforcement (on behalf of those who don't agree with your views of the status quo and better tomorrow).

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7 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

It seems that if you have super powers and you want to be a "good guy", you only have a few choices.  Either work for someone with deep pockets (enforcing their idea of the status quo and better tomorrow).  Or be a vigilante constantly dodging lawsuits and overzealous law enforcement (on behalf of those who don't agree with your views of the status quo and better tomorrow).

Depends on level of power. Superheroes which can calmly and verbosely explain why they are good WHILE whole law enforcement unit is shooting on them from automatic weapons don't need that much money.

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True. Superman seems able to fund himself mainly from donations and from odd super-jobs (e.g. making his own diamonds by compressing coal, or digging up some gold). The fact that he doesn't willingly kill or maim people when he easily could (and when they are trying to kill him) also does wonders for his public relations--instead of him taking justice into his own hands as judge, jury, and executioner, any villains who don't require a super-prison to hold them get immediately handed over to police in as intact and unharmed a condition as possible. Superman is very much a lawful type as opposed to a take-law-into-his-own-hands type.

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1 hour ago, ijuin said:

Oh yeah, back in "Action #1" he was intimidating a suspect by walking along high-voltage lines while carrying him.

He also did stuff like kidnap a governor from his home to talk him into pardoning an innocent man about to be executed. The early Superman didn't as much respect the law as he paid vague attention to some rough guidelines.

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Hmmm, then again it wasn't until the Fleischer cartoons that Superman was explicitly described as fighting "a neverending battle for Truth, Justice, and The American Way".

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On 9/24/2018 at 8:12 PM, ChronosCat said:

http://egscomics.com/egsnp/assorted-18a-009

She's Claire Kent! Wait, wrong superhero.

Crap, I just realized that Dan missed an opportunity to do a callback to the "Claire" secret identity Grace had, though I know Dan was going for the "painfully obvious" gag here so I guess he gets a pass.

 

...This time....

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16 hours ago, ijuin said:

odd super-jobs (e.g. making his own diamonds by compressing coal, or digging up some gold)

... that can hardly be called job. How many diamonds he need?

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