Heroism, everyone!

(From "The Green Mask" number 1, 1940.)

13 Responses to Heroism, everyone!

  1. Patriot_Missile says:

    Judge Dredd and The Punisher should look into this…

  2. Jeff Hebert says:

    In the next panel he literally shoots the entire gang to death. Codes versus killing are for WIMPS!

  3. Willi C Borne says:

    Now we know just what comic Hit Girl and Big Daddy were reading. Love those sick, brutal bastards.

  4. Lordgrimm01 says:

    “Finger said, “Batman was originally written in the style of the pulps,”[19] and this influence was evident with Batman showing little remorse over killing or maiming criminals.”

    “Although not as cold-blooded as the early Batman, the Superman featured in the comics of the 1930s is unconcerned about the harm his strength may cause, tossing villainous characters in such a manner that fatalities would presumably occur, although these were seldom shown explicitly on the page.”

  5. Gero says:

    So the Green Mask finally makes an appearance, and he’s a psychopath…

  6. Frankie says:

    Just use your hump as an airbag, Igor. You’ll be ok.

  7. Ritoru Bushi says:

    Let’s face it, he’s just doing what all other supers don’t have the stomach for. Granted, it’ll make the creators come up with even worse villains that the ones Jeff has shown us, but he’s a rather effective super hero if you think about it. If Batman had deep-sixed the Joker from the start so many lives would have been spared. If Superman had been more concerned with melting Lex’s head with his heat vision than what kind of trouble Lois was in on a daily basis the planet wouldn’t have had to face such perils. Had Hal Jordan put Sinestro between a couple of asteroids and put a vice grip on that set there wouldn’t even be a Yellow Lantern Corps! I could go on with the examples, but I think you folks get the idea I’m pressing here. Discover how dangerous your foes are, eliminate them if they pose a danger to the people you’re supposed to be protecting, and make it back home for coffee and late night skinamax.

  8. Skarchomp says:

    @Ritoru Bushi
    Maybe, but when those villains come back with a vengeance due to comic-book reality, it’s not going to be pretty for anyone involved. There are several arguements for killing and not killing criminals, but I don’t want to go into it here.

    Anyway, as for the panel? Heh, I always think of Billy and Mandy in cases like this. “Let him go. he seems to have forgotten this classroom is on the third floor.”

  9. thejay says:

    @Ritoru Bushi
    What makes them super is not their powers, eventually. It’s their morals. Otherwise they are either supervillains, anti-heroes or vigilantes.

  10. knight1192a says:

    Technically most superheroes are vigilantes. When’s the last time you saw Batman or Spider-Man catch a two-bit bank robber and read them their rights? Heck, forget the two-bit crooks, how often do they do so with supervillians? Seems mostly they catch ’em and tie ’em up for the cops or else they take ’em straight to jail themselves. Or how about Superman getting a search warrant before usig his X-ray vision to find some criminal? Seems most superheroes aren’t affiliated with law enforcement and if they are it’s some self appointed law enforcement unit that covers the whole universe.

  11. Ritoru Bushi says:

    @thejay
    What makes them “super” is/are their powers. What makes them “heroes” are their high/strong morals. And comics are riddled with superheroes who have killed before; both willingly by choice, and by force of circumstance.

    We can’t turn the universe of comic books into a political smear campaign by saying that a super hero is evil because he killed some two-bit hood with a scientific gimmick, or some city-wide psycho with a pasty pale complexion and a grim resemblance to a playing card icon. That’s what real-life politics and Obama are for! 🙂

    Keep the politics in reality, and keep the comic books ideology free! 😀

  12. Jeff Hebert says:

    I don’t think you can wave away people murdering others by labeling it “political ideology”, Ritoru Bushi.

  13. Ritoru Bushi says:

    Not quite what I was getting at, Jeff.