Comic Book Resources

Incidentally, from Yahoo news:

“I wanted to call myself Danny Street so Harry Secombe wouldn’t know I’d gone back to the stage. But there was already a singer called Danny Street, so I became Danny La Rue,” he said.

…So, Morrison got his oddest character ever by making a literal interpretation of somebody’s name?

All of a sudden I’m not so impressed anymore.

(Not that I ever believed the “Everything Grant does is Gold!” line of thinking, anyway.)

Sijo, that’s the lamest, reaching-est, most out-of-left-field attempt at gratuitous backlash-ery I’ve seen in quite some time.

I didn’t know there was a real inspiration for Danny. Cool.

I agree with Jack Norris, Sijo.

Since when getting inspiration from someone or something makes you a weaker writer?
Can you tell me of a single writer who doesn’t get his ideas from the real world?

Even if the name came from somewhere else, I think it still takes a hell a lot of creativity to come up with the idea of a sentient reality-hopping transvestite street. It’s not like the name Danny la Rue automatically invites such an interpretation.

I agree with the others. Where do you think ideas come from, Sijo? You see an interesting name, or you misread a sign, or you hear a snippet of conversation out-of-context in a restaurant and, VIOLA!- inspiration!

Is naming a band The Velvet Underground less cool because it was the name of an obscure S & M book first? Or does the intertextuality enrich it further? Danny The Street feels like a fuller character to me for having been named in homage to an actual person who embodied several of the more salient characteristics.

And it all came from a line of thinking similar to: “Hmm, Danny La Rue, huh? That means Danny The Street, doesn’t it? As if a person could be a street! Hah! Wait a minute…” The head priest at my church growing up was Father La Mort, and I’ve always wanted to use that somewhere, but it just sounds way too far-fetched.

-Citizen Scribbler

Rest in piece Mr. La Rue, and thanks for being the inspiration of one of the greatest characters I have ever seen.

Yes, drawing inspiration from real life figures and incorporating them into your fiction is singularly unimpressive. Just ask anyone who studies the work of Shakespeare, and you’ll find out about true originality….

Oh… wait a minute… Really??!? Never mind.

-”Sijo, that’s the lamest, reaching-est, most out-of-left-field attempt at gratuitous backlash-ery I’ve seen in quite some time.”

Or, it can be a perfectly natural, spur-of-the-moment reaction to finding out something like that. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought of it.

However, while I couldn’t care less about Angry Poster Backlash, I want to make clear I didn’t mean any slight to Morrison, much less LaRue. Doom Patrol, while not my cup of tea, does deserve its reputation.

‘Danny The Street’ was invented by Brendan McCarthy with Grant Morrison, both very drunk, so the story goes.

Coming from the UK and growing up in the 70′s and 80′s Danny La Rue was an almost permanent TV fixture. I would imagine for most UK readers of Doom Patrol the joke was pretty obivious. However personally I’ve always been fascinated when this sort cultural referencing happens the other way around. There have been many cases of things from US TV, films etc that I originally thought to be ‘original’ only later to find they where referencing something else.

“Or, it can be a perfectly natural, spur-of-the-moment reaction to finding out something like that. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought of it.”

But you’re the only one who took the time to post it.

It seems in pretty poor taste to waste all this space — that’s supposed to be in tribute to someone else — lambasting another poster’s opinions. Sijo had an opinion and put it down. Everyone else on these boards does the same. As always, we all love free speech until someone disagrees with us.

Personally, I haven’t read enough DOOM PATROL to have “experienced” the character, and have never heard of Danny La Rue, but I can share in the sadness that another human whom people loved is gone. If he indeed inspired such a beloved character, then I understand the sorrow is even greater.

So mourn, if you like. But don’t waste time carping at each other. It’s just silly.

That’s what Sijo gets for daring find even the slightest fault with the focus of some people’s religion, I guess.

“Sijo had an opinion and put it down. Everyone else on these boards does the same. As always, we all love free speech until someone disagrees with us.”

This is always a non-argument. Saying you disagree with someone does not infringe on anyone’s free speech, and is itself just a part of stating an opinion.

No, Jack, you didn’t infringe on his free speech. Sijo is still just as free as he ever was to express his opinion. Some of the posters here, did, however, treat him like crap for saying something you don’t like. At best, that’s a misuse of your own free speech. I can’t tell anyone what to say, just as you can’t keep Sijo from spouting off however he likes, but common civility should be the rule. No one wants to be put down for stating his opinion, but we all — and yes, I’ve been guilty of it too — seem to think it’s fine to treat others that way.

I frankly don’t even see what exactly was so offensive about Sijo’s original post anyway. Your own post struck me as a better example of “gratuitous backlash-ery.” But that’s just my opinion, and I freely admit I could be completely wrong.

I must say, though, I do like the word “backlashery”.

RIP Danny!!