| Posted: 27 February 2015 at 12:32am | IP Logged | 9
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DC Comics actually does have an Ultraa!
Marvelites who condemn DC sillier characters rarely take into account the idea that DC used to publish multiple genres, from a wide variety of creators, answering to a number of different editors to create entertainment for young readers. Rex, the Wonder Dog was an example of a canine adventure series, in the same vein as Lassie or Rin Tin Tin, neither of whom is considered intrinsically silly simply on the face of them being canine adventurers.
Detective Chimp was similarly intended as a light-hearted feature, answerable to no other strip or character for its whimsical, kid-friendly nature. His "intrinsically silly" name perfectly summarizes what you're getting with that strip. The character's name is actually Bobo, but hey, when you're raggin' on DC, actually knowing what you're talking about is completely beside the point, I know.
Matter-Eater-Lad is, well, the Legion, and the Legion was a place where the editors and writers seemingly conspired to see if ANY idea or concept at all would ever prove to be a bridge too far for their readership. To the best of my knowledge, nothing ever did. In the case of M-E Lad, his introductory story was all about the fact that his power was ridiculous and that he earned his place among the others despite that.
Once on the membership rolls, in a nod to that upcoming kontinuity kraze your hero and his Stan Lee would soon use to such amazing effect, M-E Lad remained there for a long time to come, until fans-turned-writers found his continued presence unbearable and got rid of him. Even later fans-turned-writers would find this injustice against a long-time Legionnaire just as intolerable and bring him back, laboriously finding some explanation to include him no matter (!) what it took. Maybe he's not really a member. Maybe he works in the cafeteria. Whatever.
Because, hey, that's the nature of the Legion! Every jot and tittle is pored over, loved by someone, and expanded or reinvented whenever possible.
It's only when you Marvel-ize everything and try to cram it all together; humor features, adventure stories, far-future teenage super-heroics; into one single, expansive, self-referential narrative that enjoyable concepts like Angel and the Ape or Ultra, the Multi-Alien stand out as ill-fitting oddballs among the crowd, rather than being seen as the interesting, experimental, imaginatively child-oriented, stand-alone features they originally were intended to be.
Edited by Brian Hague on 27 February 2015 at 12:33am
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