What's with mini-heros?

By trfan01
Posted on: Nov 13th 2008 at 3:45 PM

Replies: 6

After perusing all the toons on this site, I have to say there's at least one thing that I can't understand.

What is the appeal of mini-heroes? I mean, those heroes that are either small to begin with or can shrink to that size, like Ant Man and The Fly. I don't get what benefits an extra-small size can give to a superhero, apart from a very quick and easy getaway. The only ones I can see the small size working for are Mighty Mouse, since he's got other great superpowers, and the Inch High Private Eye, because it allows him easier access everywhere.

Can anyone help me on this?

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Comments:

Posted by: trfan01

Posted on: 2008-11-13 at 03:47:11 PM

Sorry, this topic was supposed to go in the "Toons in Print" section. Can it be moved?

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-14 at 07:41:23 AM

I'm not sure if it can be moved. I'm not an expert at manipulating the goofy software my site managers, BBB Systems, used in making this forum. They insisted on reinventing the wheel, i.e,, making custom software instead of going for tried-'n'-true, off-the-shelf forum software you can find anywhere. And if I ask them to teach me, our three-year contract says they can charge me a fortune. Not that they're very good at explaining things.

I could probably figure it out if I set my mind to it, but things are pretty hectic right now. (When are they not?) Can you live with this being in the wrong place? I hope so. It is, after all, site feedback.

Now, the answer to your main question is a resounding -- I don't know. But they do have visual appeal. I mean, Doll Man flying around in a toy airplane, The Atom getting washed down a drain -- those make good images, don't they? I can see why artists night like to draw them, even if they don't necessarily make fighting crime very easy.

There are, of course, some advantages to being very small, even if there aren't enough to provide a credible reason to put on tights and bash evil. I guess you pretty much summed it up with Imch High. But Fruitman could do all that, and people were supposed to laugh at him.

I notice that many of them retain their normal strength, which seens like a pretty formidable power at that size. I mean, an ant as strong as a man? Not just in proportion, like I learned in Julie Schwartz's science pages, but for real? Woo!

Of course, they don't address the problem of leverage. If the ant-size man tried to pull a guy down by the pants leg, why does the guy come down instead of the ant, who weighs so much less, going up? They tried to address this with The Atom, by making him strong only when his weight control was set to his normal 180 pounds, but still -- how's he going to grab a guy by the collar? He may get an occasional opportunity to sock someone in the jaw, but how often can you set that up without losing the readers?

I guess there's a reason The Atom didn't last as long as The Flash or Green Lantern. But then -- how can we explain Doll Man, who lasted the entire 1940s?

So like I said, I don't know. Anybody have any ideas?

Quack, Don

Posted by: J.A.Patterson

Posted on: 2008-11-18 at 08:03:53 AM

Yet Gail Simone made 'The All-New Atom' a hit, even getting the 'best read' award from Entertainment Weekly!

J.A.P.

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-19 at 06:40:23 AM

Haven't seen it, but then I'm hopelessly behind the times on Superhero stuff. Still, it's been a while (hasn't it?) since any little bitty ones had a series. Maybe it's been long enough for their novelty value to have been renewed.

Quack, Don

Posted by: J.A.Patterson

Posted on: 2009-01-01 at 02:45:29 PM

AC has Microman, which was their 'micro-hero' character!

J.A.P.

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2009-01-02 at 09:16:57 AM

Is he one of their "historical" heroes? I don't know that one.

Quacl. Don