Sometimes when I’m bored I think about somewhat useless things that interest me enough to make the time go by. That’s where some of my posts around here come from. Lately I’ve been thinking about what I would do if it were up to me to try to save the comic book industry and DC Comics in particular. I’ve reached a stumbling point in one of my branches of thought and I need your help. If you can answer the below questions, it would help me out. So please give it a try whether you are at all interested in comic books. In fact, it’s those that aren’t very interested in comic books whose help I most need.
I want to know what you know about the various characters. I am going to link the characters names to a picture of them. If you don’t recognize the name, click on the image to see if that jogs your memory at all.
The options are:
A) I know who this character is and I know how he became a superhero
B) I know who this character is, but I don’t know how he became a superhero
C) I recognize the character’s name and, but couldn’t necessarily identify him
D) I know this character on sight, but couldn’t name him
E) I don’t know who this is
Note that if your answer is “Which [character name] are you referring to? The origins differ slightly/greatly from one to the next” then your answer is probably (A).
1. Superman
2. Batman
3. Wonder Woman
4. Green Lantern
5. The Atom
6. Hawkman
7. Martian Manhunter
8. Nightwing
9. Blue Beetle
10. Captain Marvel
11. Triumph
12. Black Canary
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7 Responses to Superhero Origins
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I’m not much of a comic officionado, but I saw the movies for 1 and 2, and the Lynda Carter tv series for 3, so I would answer (A) for those. I’ve heard of 4 and 10, but don’t know a thing about them, so (C).
The rest are (E).
Hope this helps.
Did I really misspell “afficionado”? I feel my geek cred hemorrhaging away . . .
1) A
2) A
3) A
4) Some A, some B. I do know there are many GL’s across the Universe and across the various Earths and ages of Earth. I know the Guardians of OA created the GL Corps, but I don’t know how specifically Hal Jordan or Guy Gardner or any of the others got selected.
5) B
6) B
7) B
8) B, I don’t know why specifically Dick Grayson struck out on his own.
9) C
10) A
11) E
12) B
Let’s just say I read the JLA a lot when I was a kid 😉
1>A – and a whole lot of ’em too.
2>A – including the replacements
3>A
4>A – whole heck of a lot
5>A
6>A – Both origins
7>A
8>A
9>A
10>A – Both Marvel and Fawcett/DC
11>E – who?
12>A
Keeping in mind, my knowledge of the comics continuity is rather fragmentary post-2000… I have knowledge of certain happenings, but others (such as Spider-man “mutating” to gain organic web-shooters and no longer needing his old mechanical shooters and formula equipment) passed me by till I picked up a mag and noticed the difference, then had to go back to look up when they’d done it.
1) A
2) A
3) B
4) C
5) E
6) E
7) E
8) E
9) E
10) C
…guess I take the prize so far for least-comic-aware!
1. A
2. A
3. A
4. A
5. B
6. A
7. C
8. B
9. B
10. A
11. C
12. B
Does this qualify me as a geek?
I’m a little late to this party, but here goes. My perspective, in a nutshell: An avid comic reader/collector until age 18, HOWEVER pointedly anti-DC (only Marvel Universe, and a healthy amount of what used to be called “independents”). The sole exception was/is an enthusiasm for the Batman character. Also, don’t know/care about Crisis et al modifications to origin stories. So take all that for what it’s worth:
1. Superman – A
2. Batman – A
3. Wonder Woman – A
4. Green Lantern – A
5. The Atom – B
6. Hawkman – A
7. Martian Manhunter – A
8. Nightwing – A
9. Blue Beetle – C (actually mostly familiar with him as the template for Nite Owl in Watchmen)
10. Captain Marvel – A
11. Triumph – E
12. Black Canary – C