69] Emblems/Symbols - The words can be used interchangeably, and describe a hero or villain’s “trademark” graphic motif, which is generally a stylised reflection of their crime-fighting {or law-breaking} identity: Superman’s “S” or Spiderman’s “web and spider” costume - they are usually displayed prominently on the hero’s costume, and if he or she is a member of a team, the team frequently {although not inevitably: witness The Justice League} share the same {or variations of the same} emblem, for example the X-Men’s "X’ symbol.
As costumes frequently change throughout a hero’s career, their emblem may vary accordingly over time: Batman’s “bat” symbol displayed on his chest began as a simple stylised black bat, was later superimposed upon an oval yellow “moon” device, and then lost the moon altogether to revert to the plain bat motif.
Symbols are not restricted to a costume, and are often reflected in a hero’s paraphenalia: again, this is often the provenance of the “ordinary” hero {one who lacks any non-human powers, and thus requires equipment to supplement his or her abilities} - Batman is again the prime example, with almost every item he uses, from vehicles to weapons displaying his “bat” emblem.
70] Badges {see: we don’ need no steenkin’} - This quote actually isn’t far from the truth, in that badges are a limited subset of emblems/symbols, restricted to those which are employed by heroes who enjoy any official legal status. Members of such official organisations are relatively rare within comics, since most heroes prefer to operate either outside or on the fringes of officialdom.
Apart from that, badges share the same features as emblems, although their display may range from Johnny Alpha’s {from Strontium Dog} simple “SD” breast badge to Judge Dredd’s official Justice Department uniform and array of eagle-themed paraphenalia, from mototorcycle to boot-knife. And badge.
71] Retrocon Originally a used to enforces continuity, this refered to storytellers revealing information about events in previous stories, usually leaving the
facts the same, thus preserving continuity, while completely changing their interpretation. One example of this would be Caption America meeting with Bucky being more “realistic” in “The Ulimates”, as opposed to the original curcumstances. It has also been used to illiminate facts about heros that writters would like eliminated. For example, the automatic assumption, that while the “Earth-One” and “Eath-Two” Batman shared details of their past, the “Earth-Two” Batman has never killed anyone. Some peole do not see this as satisfactory, seeing as how, until the multiple universe explination came about, they were the same person, and thus have common pieces of career history. Other reason include the return of 1930 element to the current incarnation, such as the lack of a Yellow circle around the bat-symbol, and tribute stories.
P.S. You asked for it, Askia. I am open to suggestion towards how to shorten this, or for you to revise it, as long as the example of Batman is followed. In fact please make suggestion as I have read the OP, and while I believe I make a good point that should not be swept under the rug, looking at other entries makes me aware that my writting style has not addapted to this one after a mere few seconds of looking at these entries.
All, I gotta do is ask? Okay. I want a million bucks, a suite at the Waldorf and naked Salli Richardson in triplets.
I think what you wrote is fine, Scott_plaid. You added to the definition of retcon, provided examples and neatly dovetailed with Lumpy’s definitions for that and for canon and continuity. Don’t worry to much about length; I did some research online to write up “power rings” and wrote a long entry – and need to get back to a shorter definitions. I’ve been consciously modeling my entires after Marvel Universe Handbook-style defintions.
Hopefully some more people will join in. This is like SDMB superhero/science-fiction/fantasy wiki we got here!
Well, when I said "You asked for it, I kinda mean that in a mock threatening tone, like you hear when a villain in a movie asks the same question, but I forget to put a mock-threatening emotion. An old school one, not those graphic icons, then extinguish the threat by linking to when you did actually ask me. (Now if you want things to appear by magic, I suggest you try saying the word, "So Cool " or maybe "say you " aloud) Now that I look at it however, I was in to much of a hurry to beat Menocchio, or someone to writing a definition of Retcon that does not deny the past, so I ended up with a buncha’ typos. I hope that if you do wiki, then you correct mistakes like “Originally a used” and “Eath-Two” Batman. I would myself, but I am too lazy. No wait, that isn’t it. It that I am not able to edit my post seeing as how my friends only say it right to mention the forum, after it began to charge for membership.
Eh, looking into this I might sound a little uptight, but I guess it works for me.
Lieutenant: A subordinate to the main villain of higher rank then a henchman. Lieutenants need not have any powers, but must receive orders directly from the villain. Other common differences from the henchman include spoken lines, a name, and a lifetime of greater than one issue.
Second (n.): A considerably more important lieutenant, often with formidable powers. Seconds often serve as physical foils for the hero when the villain is no match. Additionally, the second can operate on his/her own if necessary and will eventually become more popular than the main villain. Examples: Destro to COBRA Commander, Darth Vader to the Emperor.
Loner: A hero who prefers to work alone, but is invariably forced not to. Loners often have children, tightly-knit groups of heros, animals that can speak, and other loners thrust on them for dramatic purposes. Note that simply working alone during most of one’s career does not make a hero a loner; it is a state of mind. Wolverine is a loner. Spider-Man is not.
Magic should be in this list, but I am not up to the task.
75.Magic rhyming incantations, spoken incantations or patterns formed in mid-air, causing the laws of reality, and/or probability to conform to the performers of said actions will. Often mistaken for advanced forms of science, i.e. Captain Britain’s armor.
76] Bounty Hunters - A relatively small subset of heroes {or anti-heroes}, who apprehend or kill criminals for cold hard cash rather than personal revenge or any wider sense of justice. As such, they enjoy little of the popularity often afforded to more altruistic heroes, and are frequently seen as little more than hired killers. As such, they are generally loners, {Lobo} although they may work with a partner rather than a sidekick {Johnny Alpha/Wulf Sternhammer}.
The Strontium Dogs {and the various series spin-offs such as Durham Red} of 2000 AD are also mutates, frequently gifted with exceptional powers such as psychic abilities: the sole non-mutate exception being the “norm” Wulf, Johnny Alpha’s partner. Strontium Dogs {or Search/Destroy agents, to give them their proper title}, are affiliated to the Galactic Crime Commission but are exiled from Earth due to prejudice from “normal” humans: Strontium Dogs exemplify the prejudice against bounty-hunters and mutates; in reality, they are earning a living the only way the law permits, and are despised for it in return. This does not, however, make them misunderstood saints.
Bounty-hunters are usually affiliated with an official legal or judicial organisation {who often view them with a degree of suspicion and distrust, given their mercenary status} and are not generally limited as to turf: as free agents, their area of operations may well be global or even galaxy-wide. In line with this official affiliation, they may wear badges {the SD agents, or Strontium Dogs}; as befits their loner status, they seldom wear costumes or uniforms, and generally eschew emblems.
As they range widely in their occupation, they usually avoid cumbersome paraphernalia such as all but the smallest and most mobile of vehicles {Lobo’s Hog}, but generally carry a formidable arsenal of often highly personalised and idiosyncratic weaponry {Wulf’s Happy Stick, a hammer allegedly forged from the shards of Thor’s hammer}.
77.Fraternity: A team consisting primarily of heroes that operate solo: JLA, Avengers, Teen Titans.
78.Family Team: A team consisting of heroes who are related to each other outside of the superteam environment: Fantastic Four; Power Pack.
79.Outcasts: A team consisting of heroes who band together because they all have some feature that prevents them from operating in normal society: X-Men; Doom Patrol; Metal Men.
80.Name needed: A team consisting of members who otherwise would be considered villians, or reformed villains: Suicide Squad; Thunderbolts.
Nah, a Rogue’s Gallery is just a group of villains. The Squad or Thunderbolts are groups of villains acting as heroes. Another (non-comics) example would be the Dirty Dozen.
See, I was thinking supervillain groups like The Superman Revenge Squad, The Secret Society of Super-Villains, The Hellfire Club, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants…
Hm. How’s this…?
Lump in reformed villains with "Outcasts", too. They’re outcasts because they may not be as committed to reform as they seem, or their allegience may be purely temporary and expedient.
**Supervillain teams ** are "Outlaw Alliances" which may be of an ongoing or temporary nature of people committed to illegal criminal activity and confirmed recidivists like the duo of Black Tom and Juggernaut or the many permutations of the Injustice Gang who tackle the JLA.
Sounds good to me. By the way, I borrowed the Fraternity label from Fenris, so he deserves credit for that one.
Ok so let’s amend then this way.
79.Outcasts: A team that works together because they share some trait that sets them apart from mainstream society. They may be Mutants (X-Men), Freaks (Doom Patrol), non-humans (Metal Men; Starjammers), reformed villains (Suicide Squad; Thunderbolts) or rebels (Runaways).
Thank you, but my friends only told me about this when the period of time you could signup for free expired, and so now my only option is to ::shudder:: pay for this service.
#81-Fallen Heroes as distinct from the Dead, Fallen Heroes have fallen from grace–i.e.-they have conducted themselves in such a fashion that they are now considered villains. Terra, of the Teen Titans; Sinestro, Parallax, Magik of the New Mutants.
#81.) adventurer. SYN. for hero. One who may have no superpowers but continues to put themselves in extraordinary, exotic and fantastic situations.
#82) antihero. VAR. of superhero. One whose personal beliefs and behavior consistently falls short of the rigorous superhero code of conduct but who may otherwise still operate as a superhero. EXAMPLES: PUNISHER, WOLVERINE, VIGILANTE, DAREDEVIL, perhaps BATMAN. SEE CODE OF CONDUCT.
[ul][li]Moderate social views[/li][li]Killing as a last resort, if at all.[/li][li]Strict morality: stealing, lying, cheating, keeping promises.[/li][li]Self-sacrifice: literal, physical, financial, personal.[/li][li]Great independence.[/li][li]Determination.[/li][li]Competence and reliability.[/ul][/li] “Strict morality” has been amended from my previous categorization. I’ve decided that “exploitable weakness” was too limiting.
#84) vigilante. SYN. antihero. One who operates independent of, and outside of, conventional police authority on city, state and federal levels. There is considerable overlap betwen a vigilante and an antihero. SEE ANTIHERO, #82.
#85 Power Rings: Metal bands worn around finger. Sometimes posses the power to manifest the user will in unlimited ways. May very in proportion to the users will, as in the various Green Lanterns. Another form is that of rings that posses only a few uses beyond the use of an ordinary ring. Examples included the ring of Gyges, of the story by Socrates (able to make the user invisible and illustrate moral points), the One Ring, of “The Lord of The Rings”, (able to control the wearer and turn said wearer invisible), and the rings of The Mandarin, enemy of Iron Man. (powered by non-earthling science and not magic.)
Sorry Askia, I read post 58 and immediatley set to work, skipping over the next post. I didn’t notice your covering the same subject in the very next post.
P.S. Please elaborate on your last post, as I am spend alot of time on my own threads and haven’t goten out much.