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Look, up in the sky! It's bird, it's a plane!

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:45 pm    Post subject: Look, up in the sky! It's bird, it's a plane! Reply with quote

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I have an amusing idea for a different kind of superhero.

He has powers similar to Superman (heat vision, invulnerability, super-strength, and he can fly), and he has a colorful costume with a cape.

The difference is his basic attitude and his personal nature. He’s extremely gentle and unassuming — in fact, he’s actually very shy! His body language suggests a timid nature (standing slightly stoop-shouldered with his head bowed a bit). His hair is always a messy from the wind after he flies around the city, and his costume seems just a bit too big from him.

Even though he manages to kick the crap out bad guys whenever he has to, he apologizes profusely afterwards to the villain!

“Gee, I’m really sorry I had to hurt you, Count Von Catastrophe, but I just couldn’t let you blow up that bridge and hurt all those people! Gosh, let me get you some ice for those bruises, okay? I’ll bet you’ll feel much better after a quick trip to the hospital . . . which I’ll pay for, naturally. Heck, it’s the least I can do.”

When the authorities arrive on the scene and start gushing praise for the brave superhero, he blushes and shuffles the dirt with his toes as he replies with things like, “Oh, now come on, guys . . . it was nothing, really. I’m sure any of you fellas could have done just as well. All in a days work, right?”

And off he flies, to head back to the major metropolitan newspaper he works for, the Global Trotter, to assume his secret identity as Rex Seabolt . . . a brash reporter who constantly annoys his co-workers because he’s such an obnoxious, egotistical jackass — tall and handsome and impeccably dressed. He brags about his own accomplishments, and he makes insulting comments about “that wimpy so-called superhero we keep hearing about."

"This guy is a complete wuss! If I had superpowers like his I’d clean up this city in twenty-four hours flat! And there'd be none that crap about turning over the villains to the authorities, either! I'd drop those bastards into the nearest volcano and give ‘em a free cremation! You can’t pussy-foot around with creeps like that. You just gotta take out the trash and be done with it!”

Also employed by this famous newspaper is a shy and timid young reporter named Delores Lame, who writes the paper’s “lonely hearts” column, offering hope to those hopeless readers who are looking for love in all the wrong places, their souls craving soulmates, their hearts yearning for love, and their beds desperately in need of a comforter — and I don't mean the kind they can buy at [/i]Bed, Bath, and Beyond[/i]! Shocked

Delores is deeply in love with ace reporter Rex Seabolt, despite his brash behavior and his condescending treatment of her and all the other women at the office!

But Rex’s attitude is simply an act to maintain his secret identity, and he's just as in love with Delores as she is with him!

However, his truly humble and unselfish nature prevents him from endangering sweet Delores by exposing her to the wrath of his enemies, so he refuses to acknowledge his true feelings and he continues to alienate her with his phony superior attitude.

Ah, but what, you may ask, is the name of this unassuming champion of justice, this unselfish hero to the common man, this unassuming visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man!

Why what else would he call himself but . . .



Humbleman!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Dec 18, 2018 9:52 am; edited 1 time in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There were a couple of superhero series that showed up during the "Biff-Pow" Batman craze that fit your profile.

One was CAPTAIN NICE starring 1776's own John Adams , William Daniels.





Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved police chemist Carter Nash (William Daniels), a mild-mannered mama's boy who discovered a secret formula that, when taken, transformed him in an explosive burst of smoke into Captain Nice.



Captain Nice didn't behave much differently from Carter. In fact, the Captain ran around in a white, red, and blue pajama-like costume, complete with cape, lovingly sewn by his domineering mother who had basically bullied him into his crime-fighting career. He was christened Captain Nice on his first appearance by a bystander who noticed that his belt buckle was monogrammed "CN." On that occasion the explosion that transformed him blew off most of his clothes, leaving him in long underwear and with the remnants of his shirt suggesting a cape.



His superpowers included superhuman strength, invulnerability and the ability to fly, but he was nervous about doing the latter as he was afraid of heights, and his natural clumsiness was increased exponentially whenever he drank his super serum.

Carter had a would-be girlfriend in the police department, meter maid Sgt. Candy Kane, although he seemed mostly oblivious to her obvious attentions.

The other series that was very similar was MISTER TERRIFIC.





Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved gas station attendant Stanley Beamish (Strimpell), a mild-mannered scrawny youth who secretly worked to fight crime for a government organization, "The Bureau of Secret Projects," in Washington.

All he needed to do was to take a "power pill" which gave him the strength of a thousand men and enabled him to fly, much like Superman, albeit by furious flapping while wearing the top half of a wingsuit. To the often-lamented misfortune of the Bureau of Secret Projects, he was the only person on whom the pills worked.

It was established that, although the pill would give him high strength levels, he was still vulnerable to bullets. Furthermore, each power pill had a time limit of one hour (like Underdog and DC Comics's Hourman), although he generally had two 10-minute booster pills available per episode.

Much of the show's humor revolved around the tendency of the amiable yet gullible Beamish to lose Mr. Terrific's powers at inopportune times, before he completed his given assignment.

Beamish's government employers were Mr. Barton J. Reed and Mr. Harley Trent, and his day-job partner at the service station was Hal Walters. Beamish was sworn to secrecy concerning his alter-ego and super-powers.

Alan Young, who had just completed his run as Wilbur Post on Mister Ed, was the original choice to play Stanley H. Beamish, and appeared in the original 1966 unaired version of the pilot, which featured a different supporting cast (Edward Andrews as The Chief, All Checco as Dr. Kramer, Dick Merrifield as Tony Lawrence, Sheilah Wells as Gloria Dickinson, and Jesse White as Mr. Finney).

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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Captain Nice was a funny show. The theme song was a hoot,there was an elaborate opening with the apartment building,the supporting cast was quite funny.

It had a wit & humor that made it the superhero version of Get Smart. I believe Buck Henry was involved with CN as he had been with GS.

Mr.Terrific was not terrific at all. The comedy was lame,the humor forced & no one was funny on that show.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's my general recollection as well, Pow.
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