As a youth in the wilds of America in the 70s, I was exposed to a lot of syndicated cartoons, featuring a lot of silly supers left over from the ’66 Batman TV boom. (Side-note: You don’t ever want to watch ‘Super-President.’ Just… trust me on this one, okay?) Among my favorites were such the mighty Underdog, kung-fu sensation Hong Kong Phooey and pop-stars-turned-supers The Impossibles, heroes that my young mind considered the equal of Superman, Batman and the Fantastic Four. Indeed, even now I think that Gizmo Duck is as much hero as Iron Man, and would put solid money on Paperinik versus Daredevil in a straight fight. (Donald Duck has a temper, is all.) Even Jeff Rovin, the editor of the seminal ‘Encyclopedia Of Super-Heroes’. refused to separate El Kabong from Zorro, but somehow, we still have folks who complain about a talking duck cameo in a movie that is primarily about a talking tree fighting with a talking raccoon, leading us to today’s fan-riffic query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) longs for an amazing Darkwing Duck crossover with Hong-Kong Phooey to the very core of his being, asking: Should silly supers be considered a separate breed from their “serious hero” counterparts?
2 Comments
It depends on the story. Most of the time, I’d say “yes” but when the story is right, they are fine to be with any other character. Like, see Spiderverse animation.
If used in the correct context. Having Captain Carrot show up next to other Superman analogs makes sense. Having him show up in a non-related group, such as Doom Patrol makes no sense.