Discworld Read-Along #22: The Last Continent

Continuing my occasional series as I work my way through Terry Pratchett’s delightful Discworld series, one book at a time.

Today’s entry is on the 22nd novel, The Last Continent.

Slightly Misplaced Comics Hero Case File #22: Tasmanian Devil

In American comics, for obvious reasons, most superheroes are Americans.  If other countries even have superheroes, they tend to be few enough that you can count them on the fingers of one hand, and many are blatant weird stereotypes to boot.  Big crossovers will show teams of superheroes going all over the world, but local heroes often seem to be missing.

As a result, every so often, DC or Marvel will attempt to create more international heroes.  Some of these efforts are more successful than others. While the original X-Men line-up was entirely American, the “All-New, All-Different” team was composed of mutants from Africa, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Germany, and Soviet Russia. The two Americans there were a leftover from the original team and a Native American.  Half of those characters would stick around.  Marvel has also introduced a couple international superteams, most notably Alpha Flight and Excalibur, with special mention made to the Soviet Winter Guard.

One of DC’s attempts to follow suit was the Global Guardians.  They were a team of international heroes, most a stereotype of their native country, and among their number was the Tasmanian Devil.