CSBG Archive
Snark Free Corner for 1/7
Welcome to the latest installment of your breath of snark free air!
Enjoy!
GREAT SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
A lot of characters out there become heroes for a variety of reasons.
They gain powers – something tragic happens to them that makes them want to fight injustice.
And then there is Doiby Dickles.

Doiby Dickles was a taxi driver who thought he saw some crooks kill Green Lantern. Dickles figured it made sense to dress up as Green Lantern to stop them. And when the real Green Lantern showed up, he liked Dickles’ moxie so much that he asked him to be his assistant.
And just like that, Doiby Dickles, a taxi driver from Brooklyn was the sidekick to one of the most notable DC heroes of the Golden Age.
Green Lantern would fight the bad guys with his magic ring that could create pretty much anything.

Doiby fought the bad guys with a wrench.

And he did it was FLAIR!

There really is not much of a place in modern comics for a taxi driver from Brooklyn to help out a superhero by hitting bad guys in the head with a wrench, so Doiby is probably better off where he was sent – outer space.
But boy, was he a fun character or what?

For a snark-FILLED take on the character, check out Brian Hughes’ excellent site, Again With the Comics here.
COVER THEME GAME
As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn’t something obvious like “They all have prices!” “They all have logos!” “They all feature a man!” etc.
In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.
A cool point to the first person to figure it out!
For the first time since I began doing these things, there are TWO distinctive themes for these covers. One (the one I was first thinking of) is a lot more prominent, but the other one definitely DOES exist (although it borders a BIT on being too common to count as a “theme,” but not enough to discount it), so there are TWO themes this time around! A cool point for either one!
Good luck!
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SNARK FREE CHALLENGE
What is Catwoman better as – a villain or a hero?
THE COVER GAME
This week’s game is as follows…
Find me a comic cover that features Vibe on it.
The twist? No covers from the first series of Justice League of America (and no JLA/Avengers #3, either)!
Here is an example (which you can’t use! )….

Remember, only one cover per commenter!
Good luck!
WHO IS IT?
Remember, tell me who it is and what number clue gave it away!
1. This is a group of characters.
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2. One of these characters shares the name of a fairly notable video game character from the 80s (stress the word “fairly,” as I do not wish to hear folks say they’ve never heard of the character…hehe).
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3. This group worked with a notable DC hero.
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4. This group was basically stand-ins for a famous comedy group.
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5. This group has three members, two of whom have names that rhyme.
Who is it?
Well, that’s it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.
Hope you had fun!






27 Comments
fanboy d
January 8, 2008 at 2:45 am
catwoman is great as both! she has a pseudo-conscience as a villain and a FUBAR moral compass as an antihero. heroic’s my preference for her comics, villain in batman’s.
Tom Fitzpatrick
January 8, 2008 at 4:35 am
Actually, Catwoman is a “He-llian”, a combo of He-ro and Vi-llian. he he
Must seek alot of therapy for that one, doesn’t she?
Rob M
January 8, 2008 at 6:04 am
Cover game: JLA Classified #24 http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=300634&zoom=4
John Seavey
January 8, 2008 at 6:06 am
Of course, what strikes me about those old Green Lantern covers is…Doiby’s basically murdering those guys. I mean, you hit a man on the head with a pipe wrench as he’s sinking under the water, even if you don’t stave in his skull like rotten wood, he’s probably going to drown. And what’s Green Lantern’s response? Smile approvingly.
Creepy stuff.
Michael
January 8, 2008 at 6:21 am
Given Doiby’s sorta prominence in Young Justice, I’m surprised Didio hasn’t gotten around to blowing up the planet Myrg yet.
fanboy d
January 8, 2008 at 6:33 am
‘he-llian’ sounds like a pejorative term for trans-gender
stick with antihero
Graeme Burk
January 8, 2008 at 6:36 am
I bet you’re loads of fun at Three Stooges film festivals too
Mark Cook
January 8, 2008 at 6:51 am
Who is it? Winky, Blinky and Noddy, who hung out with the Flash. It was clue number 5 when it clicked.
avengers63
January 8, 2008 at 7:13 am
Cover game: Do all three have characters who died at some point? I don’t dollow DC much, but I seem to remember something about Waller & the Black Lighnting dude kissing it. That would go with Superman’s “death”.
I don’t have any idea for the SFC. I was going with Captain Carrot & the Zoo Crew until #’s 4 & 5.
I agree that at this point you can’t really classify CatWoman as hero or villian. Anti-hero fits her much better.
Cat Skyfire
January 8, 2008 at 7:20 am
I like the semi-heroic Catwoman now. All the risk of before (she still commits burglaries, just not instead of rich financiers, it’s rich crooks), but now with the aspect of honor to it. Doing the ‘wrong thing’ for the ‘right reason’. It also puts her in a different place with the Batman, which involves a lot less hatred.
JD
January 8, 2008 at 8:45 am
All three covers feature someone who once went to prison ? (I remember Waller & Black Lightning, and it must have happened to Superman at least once…)
M Bloom
January 8, 2008 at 8:54 am
I’ve always preferred Catwoman when she’s in that gray area between hero and villain. The DCAU version is probably the best example of this: she was still a thief, but when Batman needed help she was there for him.
Scott MacIver
January 8, 2008 at 9:13 am
I like Catwoman, not as a hero, but as a thief. She doesn’t have to be plotting the fall of western civilization, but she does have to be a burglar. Something just almost below the radar of the Batman.
Omar Karindu
January 8, 2008 at 9:46 am
All three covers also feature members of Lex Luthor’s Presidential Administration. Waller was Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, Black Lightning was Sec. of Education, and Cat Grant was the Press Secretary.
Tally
January 8, 2008 at 9:59 am
I prefer Catwoman as Mrs. Bruce Wayne.
jrp001
January 8, 2008 at 10:50 am
Catwoman as a theif with a heart (and pocket-full) or gold (cat-shaped that is).
Never E-vil, but always leaving you guessing as to which way she will go…
Andrew Collins
January 8, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Tally said:
“I prefer Catwoman as Mrs. Bruce Wayne.”
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!
buttler
January 8, 2008 at 1:59 pm
For Vibe as we like to remember him, let us not forget Martian Manhunter #12:
http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/6227/martianmanhunter12jv4.jpg
Tom Fitzpatrick
January 8, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Would you rather have “her-llian”?
Brian Cronin
January 8, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Correct-a-mundo!
That IS the main theme!
However, there was a secondary connection between those three characters that was a bit too unique for me not to count. So if someone can figure it out, another cool point is waiting!
Brian Cronin
January 8, 2008 at 4:08 pm
As you alluded to, it’s a bit too common of a theme to be a standout, but sure, there was a Superman gets arrested storyline in the mid-90s (some aliens arrest him for some weird reason), so I’ll count it! You can have a cool point!
John Cage
January 8, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Enjoy:
http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/45077255267.15.GIF
Have a good day.
John Cage
Rob M
January 8, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Without meaning to kiss up to Cronin, I thought the cover theme game was a particularly good one this week, and the covers were well selected. I found at least four or five possible themes that applied to two of the three, but couldn’t make them work for the third: Steel (Man of … and Stalnoivolk/Steel Wolf); names beginning with Kat (Cat Grant and Katana), Russians (Stalnoivolk and Sabbac’s other identity), criminal gangs (Intergang and Sabbac’s other identify)
Hats off to Omar for coming up with it.
buttler
January 8, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Secondary cover theme: Cat Grant, Amanda Waller and Jefferson Pierce are all single parents.
Brian Cronin
January 8, 2008 at 9:47 pm
ALSO correct-a-mundo!
Brian Cronin
January 8, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Gracias!
acespot
January 8, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I love this cover
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=300633&zoom=4
the issue itself sucked, though.