What, you're his buddy now or something?

[thebitterguy]

There are weird things to be seen online among people who talk about comic book characters. Particularly those of us who enjoy the long underwear set.

The strangest thing is the way people refer to the characters. I, personally, refer to them by their codename. That's how the book sells, right? You don't read "Invincible Daniel Rand" or ""James Barnes". You buy Iron Fist and Captain America.

It just strikes me as... strange when I see someone refer to a character by their secret ID instead of as the character. It belies a certain belief of intimacy with the character that is really not possible. Seriously, if John Byrne poops himself when people call Superman "Supes", how do you think he feels when they call him "Clark" or "Kal"?

I really don't care. That was entirely hypothetical.

In any case, yeah, I'm sure I've slipped and referred to a charatcer by non-standard nomenclature on occasion (if I ever refer to Ambusy Bug as "Irwin", shoot me in the face, m'kay?), but as a habit, or an affectation, it just seems weird. And yes, weird compared to reading funnybooks about guys in long johns punching each other.

Comments

[tfbretz.livejournal.com]

Honestly, for me it depends on the character. I tend to think of the X-Men by their given names rather than their codenames because, especially after Claremont got his hands on them, you as the reader were privy to who they were behind the mask, something I believe was intentional and key to the book's success ("New Teen Titans" successfully aped this; the turning point for the book early on was an issue in which nothing momentous happened and none of the Titans appeared in costume).

There's another element to consider. Geek Insider Syndrome. Referring to a superhero by their secret ID name is something that only other folks who know the character will immediately grok. Special knowledge makes one feel special.

And it's hardly unique to comics. Music snobs are far worse in this respect. If I never hear someone refer to Iggy Pop as "Jim" again, it'll be too soon.

And don't even get me started on the SCA...

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

When I was little I thought it was weird every time someone on Star Trek referred to Captain Kirk as 'Jim'. It was weird in the same sense as finding out that your teacher has a first name and has a life outside of the classroom.

As a bit of an outsider to superhero stuff, I think it would all depend on whether a particular story was trying to make me get inside a character's head. Does Bruce Wayne still think of himself as Bruce even when he's running around being Batman, or is it assumed that there's a more fundamental internal identity shift when someone puts on a costume?

Considering that so many superheroes start out as normal people living normal lives, and then undergo a change that makes them become super, I've just always thought that they would still think of themselves by the names their parents gave them.

[absinthe-dot-ca.livejournal.com]

Just a guess, but this is in part a side effect of the press' tendency to use the "familiar" when referring to people in stories. For example, when you read a story about Keanu Reeves (assuming you'd be so inclined as to read a story about him, versus, say, drinking bleach), they refer to him as "Keanu", not "Mister Reeves". As a result, everyone talking about his latest blockbuster improbability around the watercooler also tends to use the familiar name, and this extends to more fictitious characters as well.

Just my $0.0215342. (At current exchange rates)

[zenten.livejournal.com]

As a bit of an outsider to superhero stuff, I think it would all depend on whether a particular story was trying to make me get inside a character's head. Does Bruce Wayne still think of himself as Bruce even when he's running around being Batman, or is it assumed that there's a more fundamental internal identity shift when someone puts on a costume?


I think you just named one of the few superheros that likely doesn't think of himself by his real name at all :)

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

Daniel Rand? That's so formal. I call him Danny. ;)

I do call Superman Clark, but that's because he's more Clark to me. And hey, I have known the man for at least 45 years.

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

I know it's not canon, but there was an episode of Batman Beyond where somebody was trying to make Bruce Wayne (because the villain didn't know his identity) think he was going insane by broadcasting a voice into his brain. Batman isn't having any of it and gets the new Batman to investigate it, who is a little leery because Bruce Wayne's really old and it's _possible_ he's just going insane, but of course eventually does and finds the culprit and yaddayaddayadda. Eventually he asks Bruce if he ever started to doubt his own sanity, and he says no.
The exchange went something like this:

"How could you be sure?"
"The voice in my head called me Bruce."
"Yeah, so?"
"That's not what I call myself."
"What do you call yourself?"
(gives him just _a look_)
"Ah. Well, you're not Batman anymore."
"Tell that to my unconscious."

Really loved that bit.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

Aah, brilliant. ^^;; I should have known better than to go with one that I did know had mental issues.

Then... someone else. Spider-Man or Peter? Mister Fantastic or Reed?

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Like said above, it does depend somewhat on the character. For example, I think characters on team books where they're a lot like a family, the real names are just as good as the code names. X-Men characters, for instance (with the exception of a few). I find it more natural to call Kitty Pryde that, rather than Shadowcat. Same with Jean Grey and Marvel Girl/Phoenix, even if she's currently using one of those names.

Another thing you have to take into account is legacy heroes: It might be more exact to say, for example, "Barry Allen would never do that!" rather than "The Flash would never do that", because there have been several Flashes.

For icons that aren't legacies, it does seem more natural to refer to them by their code names, and a little odd to go obsessively about referring to them by their real names. Of course, one well-known creator's run on Green Arrow was remarkable for never referring to him by that name. ;)

Incidently, I think Byrne is dumb for objecting to people calling the character Supes, and so if calling him Clark annoyed him even more, I'd be more than happy to do it, even though my inclination for him is to say Superman unless I'm talking about the secret identity.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

Also, I have to ask... is it a girl thing? Do female fans do it more often than male fans?

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Peter Parker/Spider man is a tossup to me. Calling Reid Richards Mr. Fantastic just sounds weird to me.

[thebitterguy]

It's an internet thing, and on the internet I've really stopped trying to tell.

[thebitterguy]

I was actually thinkin after I posted about the very thing you mentioned. I can see someone saying Hal, John or Kyle vis a vis the GLs as there are a lot of those. "That seems out of character for Green Lantern" is a phrase that would necessarily need clarification. Ditto for the Flashes.

The X-Men also are a strange case; there was even a miniseries about Shadowcat & Wolverine entitled "Kitty Pryde & Wolverine".

[thebitterguy]

There's another element to consider. Geek Insider Syndrome. Referring to a superhero by their secret ID name is something that only other folks who know the character will immediately grok. Special knowledge makes one feel special.

Bingo. I think you've hit the bullseye with that one.

[shara.livejournal.com]

Reed Richards and Tony Stark fall into that category too, though. Nobody calls Reed "Mr. Fantastic" except, possibly, in mockery. And I'm not even sure Tony Stark is really called "Iron Man" anymore. He's Tony Stark, the guy who runs the Iron Man program at S.H.I.E.L.D.

I call most superheroes by their supernames, though, because their real names are always so bloody common. Nobody would know who I was talking about! "Ever since ol' Steve got shut down by those aliens..." Um, who?

[kynn.livejournal.com]

She wasn't Shadowcat yet at the time! Kitty had pretty bad luck with choosing a codename.

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

I remember on Batman: The Animated Series, when Batman referred to a villain, he would often call them by their given name, not their assumed name (with the exception of The Joker). I assumed he did this because it was a form of belittling the ego of the villain by not addressing them at the same level. I thought that was neat.

When you're talking about different people that have portrayed the same hero, such as the Flash, I can completely understand the clarification.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I assumed he did this because it was a form of belittling the ego of the villain by not addressing them at the same level.

Or, conversely, trying to get through to the person under the mask/makeup/campy persona/horrible deformity. He always called Two-Face "Harvey", for instance. Sometimes, it was a way of saying, "you don't have to take this path, no matter what life's done to you."

It'd be interesting to make a list of who he called by their real names vs. code names. For some reason, I don't recall him ever calling Poison Ivy "Pamela" or even "Isely".

...of course, he almost always called Mr. Freeze "Freeze/Fries", so it's hard to tell there. =D

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I refer to my current favourites by their real names for reasons which vary between each of them.

Kyle Rayner is one - if I call him Green Lantern, well, there are four people still alive in the DCverse from Earth alone who go by that name, and countless others.

Roy Harper is the other. He's been Speedy (again, a heriditary title now), Arsenal, and is now Red Arrow. It's just easier.

[thebitterguy]

Was she still Sprite? Or was it Ariel?

[kynn.livejournal.com]

She was kind of in between names. As I recall, she got the Shadowcat name during or at the end of the mini.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

Kyle Rayner is one - if I call him Green Lantern, well, there are four people still alive in the DCverse from Earth alone who go by that name, and countless others.

Five, you mean.

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

Alan Scott goes by Sentinel now, when he's not just Alan Scott. That leaves Hal, Guy, John, and Kyle.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

He gave up the Sentinel identity and is back to Green Lantern now. (And formerly, White King of Checkmate.)

[artbroken.livejournal.com]

This is actually my big problem with Brad Metzer's DC work (well, other than the incoherent plotting) - his characters always refer to each other by first name, even during missions/adventures/whathaveyou.

Obviously he does it to show that the heroes are all friends, even when that makes no sense - Robin is not going to think of Superman as 'Mister Kent' - but the effect is to make his comics (especially Justice League) feel like fanfic rather than a 'proper' comic. (The incoherent plots do that too, actually.)