Catman_prb
Sad Clown
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2007
- Messages
- 4,733
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 31
The beginning of what we think of as 'the Golden Age of Heroes' started really with one man; Superman. Some may say that there were heroes before him, some cite the Batman as revealing himself before Big Blue. They may well be right. But nonetheless Superman was the first one to really embed himself into the public consciousness. The first documented heroics of Superman are reletively unremarkable. Junior reporter Lois Lane was kidnapped by a small time mobster when investigating a corrupt senator. Superman rescued her, hospitalising a number of petty crooks and dropping the mobster off at the police station, complete with a pile of evidence.
It's strange to think that these humble beginnings mark the start of the Golden Age. When we think of the exploits of Superman these days, they normally concern aliens, robots, and eldritch demi-gods. But this is the first of many, and does not tell of the things to come, and not just for Superman. In time, others arrived, and events began to snow-ball. When Superman punched that first crook I doubt he could have predicted how everything would end. I doubt that anyone could have.
- From The Golden Age: The First Heroes, J. L. Gaddis, 2004
How did it start? That's a really good question. One that I kept asking myself, all the way through it. I think it started as a whole when a young man left his small-town farm and saw the corruption at work in the big city. Of course, I know more than most do about this, so it's kind of unfair on the real historians who spend their life doing this, y'know? Well some of it the man himself told me, some of it I worked out myself. Either way, that's not how it started for me. I've lived in Gotham all my life. It was a real dump back then, not like it is now. So when you see someone cleaning up the streets like he did...well, can you see how a ten year old might get inspired, can't you?
- T. Drake, quoted in Clash Of The Titans: Teenagers In The Age Of Heroes, by Walter Thompson
It was stupid. That's what it was. This wasn't the first time it all happened, and it all went badly before. Me and the Society...it didn't go so well is all I mean. So the idea that they could just start putting masks on again, and forget all about the stuff that we went through...the stuff that we did? That really got my goat. I remember I was talking to Ted Grant, Wildcat, when the news started breaking about Superman, Batman, the new Green Lantern, god even Wonder Woman. Teddy was real fond of the newsreels of Wonder Woman. I remember I said "Doesn't this seem like a real bad idea to you?"
Ted just shrugged it off. He was that kind of guy, you would really have liked him. Everyone always did. Then a while later he said "Maybe they can be better than us?"
Like they could unwrite our wrongs, y'know? Anyway, real bad idea. 'Course Ted had worked it out already. I'll be honest, that surprised me. I always figured that I was smarter than Ted. Anyway, "God dammit, they're only kids!" I said. God, I was so high on my own smoke.
Ted knew I was. He just looked at me, real cool like, and said "We were kids once. And we should help 'em out. Lord knows they're going to need it,"
And that's when I figured it out too. How this was all going to end up. I looked at that helmet again for the first time in years...Sorry, that's not what you wanted to talk about is it? You want me to talk to you about the Faultless Four, and Eclipso and all that stuff, don't you?
- "Man of Mercury", Flash Magazine v.1 issue 15
MASKED VIGILANTE BURNS DOWN WAREHOUSE DISTRICT
HUB CITY - A man who witnesses claim "had no face" was seen fleeing from the burning wreckage of Hub City's warehouse district late last night. Often a hideout for various street gangs, the district is becoming known as the place that the police department feared to tread. A dozen burnt bodies have been pulled from the warehouse where the fire started, all with a single bullet hole in the head. Sources from within the police department have mentioned that a substantial quantity of cocaine has been taken into evidence. So who is this faceless man? Is he a hero to rival Gotham's caped crusader? Or is he a serial killer who managed to do society a favour by accident? Unfortunately this is a question that may never be answered.
- Hub City Times, Vic Sage 18th November 1992
And with the heroes come the villains. Perhaps it is telling of the American psyche that the emergence of costumed heroes demands the creation of foes to match them. Could these vigilantes sate themselves on the organised crime of the various cities they inhabit forever? Unlikely in the extreme. Street level heroes such as the Green Arrow, or Batman in his formatitive stage maybe. The more human amongst them, perhaps, could have coped with fighting human evils. But the superhumans? The metahumans? How long could they last against the mobsters and the petty thiefs before they started pounding them to a fine paste? No, supervillains were inevitable. As such, should they not be seen in a more sympathetic light? Are they not the yin to Superman's yang? They provide society with a much needed commodity. If they are to be feared, then they are to be feared just as much as the so-called heroes who walk amongst us.
- Preface of Dr. Harleen Quinzell's essay 'Ubermensch', published prior to her committal to Arkham Asylum
It's strange to think that these humble beginnings mark the start of the Golden Age. When we think of the exploits of Superman these days, they normally concern aliens, robots, and eldritch demi-gods. But this is the first of many, and does not tell of the things to come, and not just for Superman. In time, others arrived, and events began to snow-ball. When Superman punched that first crook I doubt he could have predicted how everything would end. I doubt that anyone could have.
- From The Golden Age: The First Heroes, J. L. Gaddis, 2004
How did it start? That's a really good question. One that I kept asking myself, all the way through it. I think it started as a whole when a young man left his small-town farm and saw the corruption at work in the big city. Of course, I know more than most do about this, so it's kind of unfair on the real historians who spend their life doing this, y'know? Well some of it the man himself told me, some of it I worked out myself. Either way, that's not how it started for me. I've lived in Gotham all my life. It was a real dump back then, not like it is now. So when you see someone cleaning up the streets like he did...well, can you see how a ten year old might get inspired, can't you?
- T. Drake, quoted in Clash Of The Titans: Teenagers In The Age Of Heroes, by Walter Thompson
It was stupid. That's what it was. This wasn't the first time it all happened, and it all went badly before. Me and the Society...it didn't go so well is all I mean. So the idea that they could just start putting masks on again, and forget all about the stuff that we went through...the stuff that we did? That really got my goat. I remember I was talking to Ted Grant, Wildcat, when the news started breaking about Superman, Batman, the new Green Lantern, god even Wonder Woman. Teddy was real fond of the newsreels of Wonder Woman. I remember I said "Doesn't this seem like a real bad idea to you?"
Ted just shrugged it off. He was that kind of guy, you would really have liked him. Everyone always did. Then a while later he said "Maybe they can be better than us?"
Like they could unwrite our wrongs, y'know? Anyway, real bad idea. 'Course Ted had worked it out already. I'll be honest, that surprised me. I always figured that I was smarter than Ted. Anyway, "God dammit, they're only kids!" I said. God, I was so high on my own smoke.
Ted knew I was. He just looked at me, real cool like, and said "We were kids once. And we should help 'em out. Lord knows they're going to need it,"
And that's when I figured it out too. How this was all going to end up. I looked at that helmet again for the first time in years...Sorry, that's not what you wanted to talk about is it? You want me to talk to you about the Faultless Four, and Eclipso and all that stuff, don't you?
- "Man of Mercury", Flash Magazine v.1 issue 15
MASKED VIGILANTE BURNS DOWN WAREHOUSE DISTRICT
HUB CITY - A man who witnesses claim "had no face" was seen fleeing from the burning wreckage of Hub City's warehouse district late last night. Often a hideout for various street gangs, the district is becoming known as the place that the police department feared to tread. A dozen burnt bodies have been pulled from the warehouse where the fire started, all with a single bullet hole in the head. Sources from within the police department have mentioned that a substantial quantity of cocaine has been taken into evidence. So who is this faceless man? Is he a hero to rival Gotham's caped crusader? Or is he a serial killer who managed to do society a favour by accident? Unfortunately this is a question that may never be answered.
- Hub City Times, Vic Sage 18th November 1992
And with the heroes come the villains. Perhaps it is telling of the American psyche that the emergence of costumed heroes demands the creation of foes to match them. Could these vigilantes sate themselves on the organised crime of the various cities they inhabit forever? Unlikely in the extreme. Street level heroes such as the Green Arrow, or Batman in his formatitive stage maybe. The more human amongst them, perhaps, could have coped with fighting human evils. But the superhumans? The metahumans? How long could they last against the mobsters and the petty thiefs before they started pounding them to a fine paste? No, supervillains were inevitable. As such, should they not be seen in a more sympathetic light? Are they not the yin to Superman's yang? They provide society with a much needed commodity. If they are to be feared, then they are to be feared just as much as the so-called heroes who walk amongst us.
- Preface of Dr. Harleen Quinzell's essay 'Ubermensch', published prior to her committal to Arkham Asylum
