Obscure character ID
plausible prose man
superhero who would've appeared in the late seventies. I'd have bet
you fifty dollars the character was named "Doll Man" (with no
connection to the midget Superman who came over from Quality) and was
drawn by Steve Ditko, but apparently this is the not the case.
Visually, he's pretty distinctive. His costume (as I recall, although
apparently my memory's deserted me all around here) consists mainly of
a blue suit coat and...well, I want to say garish orange and yellow
striped pants, but I'm not at all confident in that) He has shortish
black hair (you know, with the usual comic-book blue highlight) and he
wears...its not exactly clown make up, since he doesn't have a big red
nose or crazy hair and his face isn't painted white, but he does have
a big yellow grin and perhaps big round yellow eyes like they were
painted on.
Any help any one can give here would be greatly appreciated.
plausible prose man
Here's a picture, from a contemporary house-ad.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uZMPVFAFJD8/SfLsKhNiBxI/AAAAAAAADa0/hGaD-ij9BAU/s1600-h/ad.jpg
plausible prose man
>
> - Show quoted text -
Ah, turns out it's "Odd Man," and it was by Steve Ditko, and the strip
was meant to be a back up in an issue of Shade that was never
published. It would see the light, FCVO "see the light," in "Canceled
Comics Cavalcade," and eventually in 'Tec #487 (apparently somewhat
rewritten) So I suppose its not terribly surprising they don't mention
it in surveys of Ditko's DC work.
Marty
> > Here's a picture, from a contemporary house-ad.
>
Who's that between Hawkman and Barda?
And between OMAC and J'onn?
Diana in her island gear?
Arian
"Marty" <killha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:2355c97c-aa19-4052...@n3g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
>
>> > Here's a picture, from a contemporary house-ad.
>>
>> >http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uZMPVFAFJD8/SfLsKhNiBxI/AAAAAAAADa0/hGaD-ij...Hide
>> >quoted text -
>
> Who's that between Hawkman and Barda?
looks like enemy ace to me
>
> And between OMAC and J'onn?
>
> Diana in her island gear?
that would be my guess.
cheers,
Arian
>
Mark Evans
> On Apr 20, 4:00 am, plausible prose man <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Apr 20, 3:53 am, plausible prose man <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > > I'm trying to connect a name to an image I have of a minor DC
> > > superhero who would've appeared in the late seventies. I'd have bet
> > > you fifty dollars the character was named "Doll Man" (with no
> > > connection to the midget Superman who came over from Quality) and was
> > > drawn by Steve Ditko, but apparently this is the not the case.
>
> > > Visually, he's pretty distinctive. His costume (as I recall, although
> > > apparently my memory's deserted me all around here) consists mainly of
> > > a blue suit coat and...well, I want to say garish orange and yellow
> > > striped pants, but I'm not at all confident in that) He has shortish
> > > black hair (you know, with the usual comic-book blue highlight) and he
> > > wears...its not exactly clown make up, since he doesn't have a big red
> > > nose or crazy hair and his face isn't painted white, but he does have
> > > a big yellow grin and perhaps big round yellow eyes like they were
> > > painted on.
>
> > > Any help any one can give here would be greatly appreciated.
>
> > Here's a picture, from a contemporary house-ad.
>
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> Ah, turns out it's "Odd Man," and it was by Steve Ditko, and the strip
> was meant to be a back up in an issue of Shade that was never
> published. It would see the light, FCVO "see the light," in "Canceled
> Comics Cavalcade," and eventually in 'Tec #487 (apparently somewhat
> rewritten) So I suppose its not terribly surprising they don't mention
>
> - Show quoted text -
IIRC, he was an ordinary detective who used gimmicks, usually comical
in nature, when fighting bad guys. Sort of a good Joker from his less
crazy, dangerous days. Of course I suspect his main "power" was to
befuddle people who wondered who his tailor was.
Mark Evans
plausible prose man
> > > Here's a picture, from a contemporary house-ad.
>
>
> Who's that between Hawkman and Barda?
>
> And between OMAC and J'onn?
>
> Diana in her island gear?
I think it's probably some sword and sorcery character; I don't think
Wonder Woman was an implosion book, and...huh, here's some art from
the unpublished Vixen comic (you might want to scroll down, but
Robby's blog is well worth reading)
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/254/
If Beyonce wants to be in a superhero movie, she certainly looks the
part of 70's era Vixen.
YKW
4e48-8e8f-f...@k15g2000vbd.googlegroups.com:
> I don't think
> Wonder Woman was an implosion book
They were =all= implosion books. Immediately prior to the scale-back,
there were two types of books (leaving Treasuries aside) DC was
publishing: a) 25-page 50-cent with-ads and b) 80-page one-dollar no-ads.
Every book was trimmed in the wake of Kahn's idiocy. Every. Single. One.
The surviving small books went to 17-page 40-cent with-ads, while the
Dollar Comics line was shorn back to a 64-page length.
--
------------------- ------------------------------------------------
|| E-mail: ykw2006 ||"The mystery of government is not how Washington||
|| -at-gmail-dot-com ||works but how to make it stop." -- P.J. O'Rourke||
|| ----------- || ------------------------------------ ||
||Replace "-at-" with|| Keeping Usenet Trouble-Free ||
|| "@" to respond. || Since 1998 ||
------------------- ------------------------------------------------
"It's not that I want to punish your success. [...]I think
when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
-- The One, 14 Oct 08
Mike B
> plausible prose man wrote:
>> I don't think Wonder Woman was an implosion book
>
> They were =all= implosion books. Immediately prior to the
> scale-back, there were two types of books (leaving Treasuries
> aside) DC was publishing: a) 25-page 50-cent with-ads and b)
> 80-page one-dollar no-ads.
>
> Every book was trimmed in the wake of Kahn's idiocy. Every. Single.
> One. The surviving small books went to 17-page 40-cent with-ads,
> while the Dollar Comics line was shorn back to a 64-page length.
Right. According to Kahn's "Publishorial" reprinted at Dial B for
Blog, the WW feature in question was part of an effort to "introduce
a number of new characters of a more experimental nature: Cinnamon,
The Odd Man, The Amazons."
Unknown
"YKW" <FluffyM...@foxnews.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9D60B01CA2B11...@69.16.185.247...
> plausible prose man <George...@aol.com> wrote in news:a62759e4-aa5d-
> 4e48-8e8f-f...@k15g2000vbd.googlegroups.com:
>
>> I don't think
>> Wonder Woman was an implosion book
>
> They were =all= implosion books. Immediately prior to the scale-back,
> there were two types of books (leaving Treasuries aside) DC was
> publishing: a) 25-page 50-cent with-ads and b) 80-page one-dollar no-ads.
>
> Every book was trimmed in the wake of Kahn's idiocy. Every. Single. One.
> The surviving small books went to 17-page 40-cent with-ads, while the
> Dollar Comics line was shorn back to a 64-page length.
Kahn's idiocy? From what I understand, she had no choice in the cutbacks.
plausible prose man
> plausible prose man <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote in news:a62759e4-aa5d-
> 4e48-8e8f-fd36a3063...@k15g2000vbd.googlegroups.com:
>
> > I don't think
> > Wonder Woman was an implosion book
>
> They were =all= implosion books.
I think "implosion book" most specifically refers to the titles
abruptly canceled or announced but never published at all at DC over a
(relatively) short time beginning in 1978. Even if you got fewer pages
for your money, they were still publishing Wonder Woman, and 17 pages
was all you got in 1975. Meanwhile, DC was actually publishing 8 fewer
books in 78 than it was in 75, so that's somewhat more...implosive.
> Immediately prior to the scale-back,
> there were two types of books (leaving Treasuries aside) DC was
> publishing: a) 25-page 50-cent with-ads and b) 80-page one-dollar no-ads.
>
> Every book was trimmed in the wake of Kahn's idiocy. Every. Single. One.
> The surviving small books went to 17-page 40-cent with-ads, while the
> Dollar Comics line was shorn back to a 64-page length.
Anyway, Kahn's editorial referenced elsewhere suggests the figure in
question is from a proposed but never published title called "The
Amazons." As this is mentioned as but one example of "new characters
of an experimental nature," alongside Cinnamon and Odd Man, it seems
reasonable to conclude this book would have no connection to the
inhabitants of Wonder Woman's paradise island. Then again, it's also
possible Jeanette was using marketeering to promote what was really
old characters of a conservative nature. Cinnamon and Odd Man were new
characters, but Cinnamon was hardly the first cowgirl in comics and
Odd Man seemed more ill-concieved than experimental.
plausible prose man
> > And between OMAC and J'onn?
>
> > Diana in her island gear?
>
> that would be my guess.
I wonder if that might be a a character called "Starfire." She was a
swordswoman with long dark hair who had her own implosion era comic.
http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2006/2006_Individual/2006_03/001075.php
Admittedly, the costumes don't match, and Starfire's supposed to be
sort of Asian, but they were fairly inconsistent about the later, and
who knows, perhaps Staton got an early model sheet that didn't match
the revised character, or her "otherness" was toned down for the
promo. Anyway, there isn't a lot of mention of either Wonder Woman or
an "The Amazons" feature in the following:
plausible prose man
> "YKW" <FluffyMcNut...@foxnews.com> wrote in message
>
> news:Xns9D60B01CA2B11...@69.16.185.247...
>
> > plausible prose man <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote in news:a62759e4-aa5d-
> > 4e48-8e8f-fd36a3063...@k15g2000vbd.googlegroups.com:
>
> >> Wonder Woman was an implosion book
>
> > They were =all= implosion books. Immediately prior to the scale-back,
> > there were two types of books (leaving Treasuries aside) DC was
> > publishing: a) 25-page 50-cent with-ads and b) 80-page one-dollar no-ads.
>
> > Every book was trimmed in the wake of Kahn's idiocy. Every. Single. One.
> > The surviving small books went to 17-page 40-cent with-ads, while the
> > Dollar Comics line was shorn back to a 64-page length.
>
> Kahn's idiocy?
Presumably he means the sixty or so titles DC would add to the
schedule, starting in 1975, at an expanded page count and lower profit
ratio. Kahn lacking the same power to expand her pool of available
talent by fiat, however, meant a lot of these books just weren't that
good.
> From what I understand, she had no choice in the cutbacks.
I see the cutbacks more as a rational business decision, since the
lower price didn't justify the diluted product in the consumer's mind
and sales suffered as a result.
Then again, the explosion also helped drive Gold Key off the racks,
and helped turn them into DC's secondary market.
black...@aol.com
Daibhid Ceanaideach
> I take it Odd Man was from Earth 1, and died in the Crisis?
I believe Odd Man popped up in Superboy, proving there really isn't a
character too obscure or silly for Karl Kesel to have a go with.
--
Dave
Hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically ... run.
plausible prose man
> I take it Odd Man was from Earth 1,
Since he only appears in one story, at least unironically, its
perhaps an open question as to whether he's part of the DCU at all. I
mean, if he was gone, it's not like anyone would miss him, apart from
the occasional bit of chicken fat.
> and died in the Crisis?
I don't recall that, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen, either.
However, he has shown up in both Infinite Crisis and 52, so perhaps.
Then again, and perhaps Duggy will get mad about this, but I don't
think you can infer the Blimp (and hence Merryman, Dumb Bunny, et al)
are really part of the DCU either, even if you did see one of the I5
in a panel or two if 52.
Tim Turnip
<George...@aol.com> wrote:
>On Apr 29, 2:01�pm, "blackje...@aol.com" <blackje...@aol.com> wrote:
>> I take it Odd Man was from Earth 1,
>
> Since he only appears in one story, at least unironically, its
>perhaps an open question as to whether he's part of the DCU at all. I
>mean, if he was gone, it's not like anyone would miss him...
We'd have a very small DCU indeed if that were the criteria.
Personally, I feel like they're all in the DCU and (pre-Crisis) on
Earth-1 unless proven otherwise.
>Then again, and perhaps Duggy will get mad about this, but I don't
>think you can infer the Blimp (and hence Merryman, Dumb Bunny, et al)
>are really part of the DCU either, even if you did see one of the I5
>in a panel or two if 52.
I believe that was their villainous counterparts, the Superior 5, who
appeared in 52 (if it's when I'm thinking of). The Inferior 5 are
based on Earth-1 if you go by Phil Foglio's Angel & The Ape mini which
comingled those characters with Gorilla City and the Green Lantern
mythos.
jdunlop
> On Apr 20, 8:12 am, "Arian" <Angstbo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > > And between OMAC and J'onn?
>
> > > Diana in her island gear?
>
> > that would be my guess.
>
> I wonder if that might be a a character called "Starfire." She was a
> swordswoman with long dark hair who had her own implosion era comic.
>
>
> Admittedly, the costumes don't match, and Starfire's supposed to be
> sort of Asian, but they were fairly inconsistent about the later, and
> who knows, perhaps Staton got an early model sheet that didn't match
> the revised character, or her "otherness" was toned down for the
> promo. Anyway, there isn't a lot of mention of either Wonder Woman or
> an "The Amazons" feature in the following:
>
> http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing27/feature1.shtml
That article is certainly lacking in detail about the DC Implosion,
clearly written by somebody who was not there at the time (meaning,
probably not born.)
The DC Explosion (25 pages for 50 cents) lasted three months, cover
dated Sept, Oct, and Nov, published in June-August (yes, they were
three months ahead on cover dates then.)
Two comic zines of the time, The Comic Reader and The Comics Journal,
wrote very detailed articles at the time. Unfortunately, my copies of
both are in the attic right now.
Anyway, the mystery women in the white dress is an Amazon. All the
characters in the house ad were to be backup features in the expanded
books. The backup in Wonder Woman was Tales of The Amazons.
Starfire looks a lot different, and was published between Aug/Sep '76
and Oct/Nov '77.
Here's Starfire:
http://www.dcindexes.com/gallery/browse.php?select=!dc/!other/starfire
What I love is that each issue shows her in a (sometimes slightly,
sometimes significantly) different costume.
And if you have any questions about what a DC comic looks like, go to
Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics at
There is no better source of information about DC.
Duggy
> Then again, and perhapsDuggywill get mad about this, but I don't
> think you can infer the Blimp (and hence Merryman, Dumb Bunny, et al)
> are really part of the DCU either, even if you did see one of the I5
> in a panel or two if 52.
I'm sorry, why am I getting mad?
===
= DUG.
===
plausible prose man
> On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:39:39 -0700 (PDT), plausible prose man
>
> >On Apr 29, 2:01 pm, "blackje...@aol.com" <blackje...@aol.com> wrote:
> >> I take it Odd Man was from Earth 1,
>
> > Since he only appears in one story, at least unironically, its
> >perhaps an open question as to whether he's part of the DCU at all. I
> >mean, if he was gone, it's not like anyone would miss him...
>
> We'd have a very small DCU indeed if that were the criteria.
I don't think it's necessary to include every character who ever
appeared in a DC-published comic in the same universe as the Superman
and Batman you see in the on-going titles.
> Personally, I feel like they're all in the DCU and (pre-Crisis) on
> Earth-1 unless proven otherwise.
Some of DC's comedy characters just don't fit all that well. I'm
troubled by the idea Tim Drake could bump into, say, Peter Porkchops.
Then again, if I were the editor of the bat books, I'd only sort of be
willing to admit they live in the same world with Deadman and the
Spectre, either, and both of those characters show up in the books
fairly often, huh?
> >Then again, and perhaps Duggy will get mad about this, but I don't
> >think you can infer the Blimp (and hence Merryman, Dumb Bunny, et al)
> >are really part of the DCU either, even if you did see one of the I5
> >in a panel or two if 52.
>
> I believe that was their villainous counterparts, the Superior 5, who
> appeared in 52 (if it's when I'm thinking of).
I'm not sure, I just ran across something in the DCU-wiki describing
"Odd Man" has having been one of Booster Gold's pallbearers, alongside
Blimp. Oh, okay, Yeah, that's definitely the I5's Blimp in 52. The
Superior Five were in Villains United.
> The Inferior 5 are
> based on Earth-1 if you go by Phil Foglio's Angel & The Ape mini which
> comingled those characters with Gorilla City and the Green Lantern
> mythos.
Well, okay, but then...are the Freedom Brigade from Earth 1? and
Cobweb Kid and the Kookie Quartet? Don't we have enough problems with
trying to fit Metropolis and Gotham City around NYC, you want to deal
with Megalopolis?
Daibhid Ceanaideach
> On Apr 29, 7:09�pm, Tim Turnip <timtur...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:39:39 -0700 (PDT), plausible prose man
>>
>> <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote:
>> >On Apr 29, 2:01�pm, "blackje...@aol.com" <blackje...@aol.com> wrote:
>> >> I take it Odd Man was from Earth 1,
>>
>> > Since he only appears in one story, at least unironically, its
>> >perhaps an open question as to whether he's part of the DCU at all.
>> >I mean, if he was gone, it's not like anyone would miss him...
>>
>> We'd have a very small DCU indeed if that were the criteria.
>
> I don't think it's necessary to include every character who ever
> appeared in a DC-published comic in the same universe as the Superman
> and Batman you see in the on-going titles.
>
>> Personally, I feel like they're all in the DCU and (pre-Crisis) on
>> Earth-1 unless proven otherwise.
>
> Some of DC's comedy characters just don't fit all that well. I'm
> troubled by the idea Tim Drake could bump into, say, Peter Porkchops.
That one *was* proven otherwise though: Pre-Crisis, Peter lived on Earth-
C, Post-Crisis he was a fictional character, and Post-Infinite-Crisis,
he's on Earth-26.
And, apparently, if he travels to New Earth he turns into a normal pig...
(Incidentally, Cassie Sandsmark once babysat for Sugar and Spike...)
plausible prose man
wrote:
> On 30 Apr 2010, plausible prose man <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Apr 29, 7:09 pm, Tim Turnip <timtur...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:39:39 -0700 (PDT), plausible prose man
>
> >> <Georgefha...@aol.com> wrote:
> >> >On Apr 29, 2:01 pm, "blackje...@aol.com" <blackje...@aol.com> wrote:
> >> >> I take it Odd Man was from Earth 1,
>
> >> > Since he only appears in one story, at least unironically, its
> >> >perhaps an open question as to whether he's part of the DCU at all.
> >> >I mean, if he was gone, it's not like anyone would miss him...
>
> >> We'd have a very small DCU indeed if that were the criteria.
>
> > I don't think it's necessary to include every character who ever
> > appeared in a DC-published comic in the same universe as the Superman
> > and Batman you see in the on-going titles.
>
> >> Personally, I feel like they're all in the DCU and (pre-Crisis) on
> >> Earth-1 unless proven otherwise.
>
> > Some of DC's comedy characters just don't fit all that well. I'm
> > troubled by the idea Tim Drake could bump into, say, Peter Porkchops.
>
> That one *was* proven otherwise though:
> Pre-Crisis, Peter lived on Earth-
> C,
Right, I know. I always wondered if there was a Earth C+, home to
Just Some Animals. I see no reason to treat that as quite as well
connected to the rest of the DCU as Earth 2 was, for instance. And,
(you'll here have to excuse me for mixing concepts from eras in DC's
publishing history such that they probably don't apply) the world
depicted in that issue of (I think it was) Detective from a few years
ago where Tim and the Joker are driving around at Christmas Time
connects to Earth C at all (which I suppopse technically it doesn't,
but anyway)
> Post-Crisis he was a fictional character,
Perhaps he was a fictional character on Earth sigma, but there was
still an Earth C. It was now an "alternate dimension" rather than a
"parallel earth," but...that was a comic I enjoyed and everything, so
I'm glad they weren't all just erased from existence by a wave of
whiteness, but I don't know that I would've enjoyed Batman: Year One
more if Frank Miller had explicitly shown us Earth C was just a ride
on the Cosmic Treadmill away.
plausible prose man
It seems to trouble you when DC excludes a given story from the
canon, especially if all the explanation you get there is an editorial
edict along the lines of "please try to be serious." I recall you
being unhappy Stephanie Brown was in comic book heaven, when later it
turned out she wasn't ever really dead at all.
Duggy
> It seems to trouble you when DC excludes a given story from the
> canon, especially if all the explanation you get there is an editorial
> edict along the lines of "please try to be serious." I recall you
> being unhappy Stephanie Brown was in comic book heaven, when later it
> turned out she wasn't ever really dead at all.
Did she end up in heaven? Figures. Lots of "dead" heroes were shown
that way in Dead Man: Dead Again, whether they were or not.
===
= DUG.
===
Duggy
Don't recall it. Can't find it.
Can you point me in the right direction?
===
= DUG.
===
plausible prose man
Duggy
"Yeah, pretty much par-for-the-course" is unhappy/getting mad?
===
= DUG.
===