Comments on: A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments - Day 39

By: P_B

P_B — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:43:18 +0000

I love how Invisible Girl is saving all of them at once and still stuttering and freaked out.

By: MarkMc

MarkMc — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:56:10 +0000

My guess, since Stan and Jack both were in the Army during WWII, is it was an expression used a lot at one of the places one of them was stationed, kind of like the Marines' "Boo ya!"" today.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:31:30 +0000

I dunno, tanzim, can you imagine trying to find out which issue it first appeared in?

Especially since it likely debuted on the radio series.

By: Tanzim

Tanzim — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:28:59 +0000

Brian, could you please do one of these articles on the phrase "Up, Up and away!" soon?

By: Dave Sikula

Dave Sikula — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:40:00 +0000

Actually, "Yay Bo!" goes back to at least the late 20s. Ira Gershwin uses the phrase in the lyric to "Strike Up the Band:"

Let the drums roll out
Let the trumpet call
While the people shout "Strike up the band"

Hear the cymbals ring
Callin' one and all
To the martial swing, strike up the band

There is work to be done, to be done
There's a war to be won, to be one,
Come, you son of a gun of a gun, take your stand

Fall in line, yay bo,
Come along, let's go
Hey, leader, strike up the band!

It's basically a call to action. Could even derive from carny talk.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:24:24 +0000

I thought it was a sort of cheer... "Yay, Bo!" Whoever Bo is...

By: mrjayberry

mrjayberry — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:26:18 +0000

My theory is it was a typo, Stan Lee meant yaboo because the Thing thinks Mole Man is a real dork.

By: Jax

Jax — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:41:32 +0000

Yeh, I mean it was literally only a few years before that people though hiding under your school desk would be succesful defence against an atomic bomb.

By: Mike Blake

Mike Blake — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:28:04 +0000

Yes, Paul, but don't forget that back then radioactivity was a magic fairy dust you could do anything with. After all, half the heroes who fought the Radioactive Man should have gotten cancer, but never did.

By: Johnny Bacardi

Johnny Bacardi — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:18:37 +0000

I always figured it was just a contraction of "Yeah, boy!"

This was the first issue of FF that I ever read, at the tender young age of four.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:58:54 +0000

I remember picking up this issue of FF off the rack. Even then, as a young boy with a very limited knowledge of science, I thought Reed's instruction to Ben was ridiculous. The "wall is radioactive, if you touch it you're doomed!"

Electrified, maybe. Sharp edges covered with a powerful poison, surely. However, if that entire wall was radioactive enough to kill Ben with just a touch, Johnny, Sue, Reed and the Mole Man were all doomed from the radioactivity as well.

By: Jax

Jax — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:08:38 +0000

Or a precursor to "Yeh, Boi!!!"

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:05:57 +0000

The only other time I've seen "yaybo" used was in another Stan Lee comic (X-Men #1). It reminds me of "fetch" in Mean Girls. "Stan, stop trying to make 'yaybo' happen!"

By: The Dude

The Dude — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:58:06 +0000

I imagine "Yay Bo" is the precursor of today's "Hey, holla atcha boy!". I guess that means Stan Lee created ebonics. He truly is "The Man"

By: hangmanjury

hangmanjury — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:25:26 +0000

Of all the catchphrases, I hope you put "Hawka" in somewhere.

By: joecab

joecab — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:00:38 +0000

It's like "Yay, boy!" I THINK I've heard it before long ago...

By: JackKing

JackKing — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:11:44 +0000

I can't tell if I like "Smile playmate" or "Yay bo" better, despite the fact I have no idea what "YAY BO" means

By: kolya

kolya — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:32:31 +0000

'sort of cross between a nuclear explosion and the bellow of a lonely whale!'

THAT kids, is how you write an analogy - Smilin' Stan Lee-style!

By: Chris Jones

Chris Jones — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:43:46 +0000

Why did superheroes in the 60's always call the people they were fighting "playmates"? It's really specific to the 60's and it's kind of bizarre.