On Monday, the Hour Cosmic welcomed the team behind “Knuckleheads” onto the show (Episode 75: Double Boner with Robert Wilson IV and Brian Winkeler). We had a blast talking Sonic, crossovers, and various other topics. The crux of their book is the story of roommates, so we thought we’d use this space to talk about our favorite roommates in comics.
Listen to the show below, and check out our favorite domestic partners in all of funny books.
[audio: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thehourcosmic/~5/gqIlrOJpDNQ/75%20Episode%2075_%20Double%20Boner%20with%20Rob.mp3]Chad’s Pick: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Like most of you, I was watching cartoons long before I discovered comics. So it’ll come as no surprise that one of the greatest disappoints in my young life was picking up my first Spider-Man comic and learning he didn’t live with Firestar and Iceman anymore. Even more devastating, maybe, was the realization he’d never lived with them. Television had made up and fed me a bunch of lies.
Laugh if you want, but just about everything I knew of young adult life I’d picked up from reruns of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. By seven years old, I was pretty sure time travel and robots were common place, every other woman had red hair, and dogs were a lot smarter than I was giving them credit for. Oh, and most importantly, if I ever had roommates, we’d all be best friends. And I think that’s the big take away from Amazing Friends, and the idea that really separates it from the comics that inspired the show — being friends AND superheroes would be pretty amazing.
But the Peter who lived with Bobby “Iceman” Drake and Angelica “Firestar” Jones just about had it all. A cool pad that transformed into a command center. An Aunt May who, while feeble, was rarely ill to the point of concern/plot point. Villains who were more of a nuisance than a threat to anyone’s life. And he had two amazing friends he could share his civilian and his superhero life with, and he didn’t have to hold anything back. They had it all, and they had it all together. When have we ever been able to say that about 616 Spider-Man?
Of course, I’ve gone back to the show in my adult life and watched some episodes with my 4 year old son. I will freely admit, it’s not anything special. The animation’s rough, and the stories are bland as can be. Compared to just about any Spider-Man comic of the last 30 years, it’s a softball of a show. But even today, whenever I think of those three roommates — Spidey, Firestar, and Iceman — I feel a kind of idealistic energy that I don’t necessarily associate with the comic versions of those guys. I remember how excited I was about the future, and the thrill of growing up and having friends that I could share a place with, and all that stuff.
But mostly I think about that couch that turned into a super computer.
Brian’s Pick: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
I have a brother who is three and a half years younger than I am, and while we were growing up, I was not a very good brother. I didn’t want to hang out or play with him for a good chunk of our childhood, something I now regret seriously. He seemed so little to me at the time – what could a 5 year old possibly bring to this 8 year old’s world? No, I didn’t want a little brother – I wanted three brothers my own age that I could share a room with.
Continued belowThat’s right, I wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Specifically, I wanted to live in their sewer apartment from the animated series / “TMNT Adventures” comic.
They seemed to have the best possible living situation – and yes, I know that sounds weird to envy folks living in the sewer – and they seemed like ideal roommates. Raph kept everyone in check, made sure they were all taking turns doing their chores; Donnie would rig up some sweet electronics so that they could get better cable channels; Leo made sure everyone got along; and while all those guys liked to party, Mike was the party.
Sure, tensions could flare up – as they can in even the best living situations – but they genuinely cared about each other. Those are some good roommates.
Matt’s Pick: the Justice League International
I would never in a million years call the classic “Justice League International” comic a ‘hidden gem’ or an ‘underrated run’, or any other number of boiler plate platitudes that often get thrown around towards books of yesteryear when we look back fondly upon them. However, as long as we’re going to talk about roommates in comics, while I respect my co-hosts opinions, they’re clearly wrong for not picking the assembly of heroes under one roof that made up the Justice League International.
Now, other people at the site make fun of me for how often I mention it, but I don’t read DC Comics anymore. I know, I know; cool brag from a hot shot, right? But the reason I don’t read DC is because they don’t do fun comics like this. I could go on for hours about how great “JLI” was, as I’m sure most of us can, but it’s great because we have a group of unlikely heroes all hanging out and being buds and living together and pulling pranks on one another in between all the boring superheroics. I mean, who reads superhero comics to see them fight crime? Not this guy! I read superhero comics to see men and women in costumes playing pranks with non-Oreos:
Granted, that’s from a “Martian Manhunter” comic, but the group remains the same. With the assembled JLI team we had such an amazing group of personalities that all played off one another and allowed for the creative teams of the various books that featured them to feature honest, sweet and humorous interactions between larger than life entities. The way that Booster Gold and Blue Beetle interact, for example, stands above and beyond to many fans as the pinnacle of superhero friendship; it’s perhaps one of the most organic and honest relationships in comics, and one that many people can relate to. Spin that out into a house full of people who stop being polite and start getting real and you’ve got yourself a great premise.
The JLI were never fully roommates in the traditional sense, I suppose. If anything, they’re roommates in the way the New Avengers were roommates — they shared a space to hang out, have breakfast, have meetings and, if needed, crash. But I think that the intimacy between the team fostered by having them largely set-up within a central location (something that many DC heroes do, admittedly) helped make their bond stronger, and it was something that always stood out to me in the comics. The Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Avengers, the X-Men: all of these characters share a home, but it never felt like they really shared it with one another. But with the JLI, the characters clearly liked being around each other especially in their off hours, and that’s when the book was the most fun to read.
On the show last week, we talked about Rob and Brian’s project, “Housewives of the 405,” where they did ads for an “electro spa” – below are two of those ads, presented for your viewing pleasure.
We are taking a break from the game show for a week to welcome in an old friend, Walter Richardson, sitting in for Matt. We will be discussing San Diego Comic Con, and some of the bigger issues of the comic world right now. We are also hoping to answer your questions, so make sure to tweet anything you want us to discuss to @TheHourCosmic.
Thanks for checking us out, and listen to the new show on Monday at 1pm!
