Non-Geek TV From The Geek Perspective: House MD

There’s a lot of TV out there, and Jenny swears some shows are the greatest show in the history of television after Breaking Bad.

Yeah, she meant House MD.  It’s as iconic as Madame Xanadu.

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Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #54: Gypsy

When you look this good, you don’t want to be invisible.

The Justice League has been DC’s all-star team from its earliest founding.  That is, unless you’re aware that the original purpose was to give exposure to the company’s lesser-known heroes, which would be why Superman and Batman only made sporadic appearances in the early missions because they were too busy to actually attend missions and meetings.

Some days I wish I could use that excuse to get out of meetings.

But, you know, in retrospect, the League was the all-star team.  Then, around 1984 or so, Aquaman told the big names to take a hike if they were too busy to help and recruited some new heroes to fill the ranks for a period while operating out of Detroit.  Those new recruits included Gypsy.

The Benedict Cumberbatch Song

Jenny, stop drooling!

Some people (hi, Jenny) really love Benedict Cumberbatch.

Sing praise to this future geek icon, a Madame Xanadu in the making, with the video after the cut.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #29: Ragman

Shouting out a serious crime will, of course, not create more witnesses. Some murderers are dumb.

DC Comics loves a good legacy hero.  What better way to explain how the same superhero name has been used by different people?  Names are passed along like Grandma’s most worthless paperweight that no one really wants and no one is willing to throw away either.  And while some hero names are famous for this, with many Flashes and Green Lanterns, even obscure heroes are sometimes legacy heroes.

That would be where Ragman comes into play.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #28: Madame Xanadu

Look! It’s an iconic hero!  No, it’s not Wonder Woman!

Once upon a time, many moons ago, the Gabbing Geeks held their first Watercooler discussion to talk about iconic characters who hadn’t gotten a movie yet or had one in development.  Jenny, for some reason, chose Madame Xanadu.

Now, I don’t know how Jenny defines “iconic”.  I would define it as a character that is so recognizable that even people outside the fan group recognize the character.  Superman is an iconic hero.  So is Batman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman.  Iron Man probably is thanks to Robert Downey Jr.  Other characters may be recognizable to people who are fans of comics in general, but not necessarily of the character itself.  Aquaman, the Flash, and Captain America probably all fit that group.

But Madame Xanadu?  Well, Jenny had offered to fill in a Misplaced Hero file during my vacation for this character, so Jenny believed that Madame Xanadu is somehow both misplaced and iconic…

Which is she?  Check after the cut.

Not Just A Pixar Character! The Original Elasti-Girl

“I’ll just put this down somewhere.”

Gabbing Geek Jenny has, in the past, stated her belief in Madam Xanadu as an iconic character.  I tried one before to to suggest that maybe Phantom Lady had a better claim to that title under her criteria (does not have a male version, has not cameoed in a movie or TV show, has an origin story older than the mid-90s, and has been read by Jenny).  Jenny said Phantom Lady’s costume sucked (which, to be fair, it does), but maybe for my weekly “This one died!” column we can try a different character with a better claim than Madam Xanadu.

Let’s talk about Elasti-Girl.  And I do not mean the one in The Incredibles.  Pixar actually asked DC for permission to use the name, and it was granted so long as the name was never used in the marketing.  If you get that action figure from The Incredibles line, her name will be listed as “Mrs. Incredible”.

But let’s talk the original.