The Worst Golden Age Superhero Costumes
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2024
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The Golden Age of Comic Books tried a lot of wild ideas. Many of them didn't last. This is a look at some of the worst costume ideas from Spider Widow to The Face to The Vagabond.
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The thing about the Vagabond is that hobos were a stock character for clowns in the 1940s, popularized by figures like Emmet Kelly's "Weary Willy" character (of course they pre-date that as a figure of comedy, but clown makeup tended to follow Kelly's specific design at the time). So, what we recognize only as a clown would probably have been much more recognizable to contemporary readers as a caricature of a hobo.
Yes, I've seen early 20th century cartoons of vagabonds who looked very clown like.
For those who are curious to see some examples from Denmark, do a search for *Storm P vagabond* (full name of the artist was Robert Storm Petersen)
I was going to say the same. When I was a kid in the 70s, some adults still dressed up as hobo-clowns on Halloween.
And often hobo clowns would have fancy pants names like Chauncey as an added gag.
True. There are probably a lot of looks that were iconic in the Golden Age that lost have lost their context. Like, do people realize that Superman's enemy the Toyman was dressed as the cliche "kindly old toy-maker", or do they just see him as a guy in a corny suit?
Later on, Emmett Kelly, Senior sued Emmett Kelly, Junior for stealing his act. Kind of a sad ending to the career of one of the classic “sad clowns.”
I desperately need a reboot of "The Vagabond" set in modern times. Instead of a homless clown, the DA should dress up as a Juggalo from the Insane Clown Posse. He can call his alter-ego "Chauncey Thug-Nutts."
Kevin Feige is taking notes as we speak.
That would be insane!
Son of Chauncey Throttlebottom the III
The mostly forgotten superhero Captain Triumph, created in 1943, literally just wore a red shirt, white pants, brown boots, and a belt when he did hero work. Kinda hard to call this a costume at all, but it’s what he wore when he was crime fighting, so this is technically his hero getup.
A weird amount of characters actually just wore shirts and a belt. It was.... a thing.
His ace in the hole was to call up the spirit of his twin brother by rubbing the 'T' birthmark on his wrist. The ghost possessed his body and increased his strength.
Despite the goofy costumes and storys the artwork was pretty good espacially on the spider widow. Weird stuff anyway 😄
@@cheritripp9470JoJos?
@@cheritripp9470that's actually pretty cool
The Vagabond deserves a revival. The world needs the dark, gritty story of Chauncey Throttlebottom, the travelling clown, entering the hostile hell-scape of Middleton to liberate them from narcotics-dealing extraterrestrials.
And he's from timely... aka future marvel... maybe he could be in deadpool?
He'd be very effective in Portlandia LOL
I don't know why, but I see him in a Grant Morrison story. 😅
@AngusJo makes sense morrison likes his deep pulls. Like that issue of green lantern that required you having read a single issue from the 50s.
I'd like to see Scorsese's take, Taxi Driver 2: The Throttlebottom.
The name "Spider Widow" works. It works in the same way "The Princess Bride" works using the first noun as a descriptor. She is a bride who is a princess. She is a widow who is a spider.
I was kind of expecting the lovely face to be the mask. That she was The Crone underneath.
Yes. It's a pity people have forgotten how to parse a sentence.
Except she’s not a spider, and as far as we know, she’s not a widow.
@@censusgary I think it's a damn shame she isn't a young and beautiful woman who is a spider's widow.
That would allow for a swell origin story.
@@johnburt7935 Yes, Indeed!
Spider Widow seems to be a female take on the pulp hero, the Spider. In the pulp stories Richard Wentworth would eventually wear a face mask with grizzled hair and a false hunchback. For more fun, check out either of the movie serials based on the Spider; the serial makers chose a very different look for the Spider but modern audiences will find something rather familiar about the look.
Heh, ISWYDT.
Super impressed with the Spider Widow art. There are some really great panels in there, this guy was pretty amazing especially considering this was still early days for comics.
Agreed!
A civilian adopting a witch gimmick just because she was thrown into a situation and that's the disguise that was available could be a fun explanation for a weird concept. I can't for the life of me understand why she's called the Spider Widow instead of, like, the Spider Witch or something more sensical. It's interesting to see her cross over with one of my personal favorite Golden Age heroines in the Phantom Lady, though.
I feel like the implication is that she's literally a rich widow living by herself in a big manor.
@@casanovafunkenstein5090 You're probably right, but her being a wealthy widow is far from the most interesting thing about her character, haha.
Considering the time when these stories were written, the only but very remarkable thing to point out is that she had a butt-load of spiders under her costume. Since I didn't see it established by the story that she could create them as a power, I can't help but imagine a woman stuffing a long coat with hundreds of spiders and then pulling it onto her body. Or maybe she already wore the coat and just poured the spiders into her sleeves shortly before going into contact with the gangsters?
That seems like the part that needs more exploration...and images.
@@Kijinn it was established that she has learned to train them to follow commands
Spider Widow: "She weaves a web of justice to trap the insects of corruption." ... Oh my. My expression is like yours after seeing the Captain America Halloween costume!
The other issue with the Golden Age is some of those comic artists and writers who went to war might not have had the opportunity to come back cause they died during the war!
I do love it when you talk about golden age wackiness!
@@simonbrehm358 Considering that moral panics over comics are not new thing, we are again riding one phase of the wave until we get to new one.
My favorite videos 😅
The Vagabond is clearly the hero we need
but we dont deserve him
These are closer to Mystery Men/Women. It's a mystery why these choices were made by writers, editors and artists. It can work though -The Spirit by Eisner was as bare bones as possible in the costume department, but excellent writing and great art made it work.
Stories weren't necessarily even about Spirit himself. Sometimes he was just side character who was either in the sidelines punching criminals while "protagonist" was going through their own Odyssey. At least the ones I know most vividly are more about criminal itself or someone else who gets tied up to Spirit's current case.
They're certainly closer to the film *_The Mystery Men_* . . . .
To be fair, the color reproduction on "The Vagabond" is excellent!
I think he just photographed the originals, no reproduction.
One of my "favorite" bad superheroes had a really bad costume, but not even in a " it's so bad it's good" way. I'm talking about "Just N Right" (aka Justin Wright), whose only costume was wearing his mother's scarf over his face. He's another character that had no powers or anything else special. He didn't last long. I'm sure as soon as he said his superhero name, everyone instantly figured out his secret identity, so some mob boss probably had him killed off.
He’d be a really easy Halloween costume to do, though.
I sort of love the fact that his alter ego’s name was an exact homophone of his real name, just spelled differently.
I was disappointed that Just 'N Right wasn't two characters.
@@johnburt7935 Good point!
@@censusgary What if Justin Wright split into two people, Just and Right...?
I actually like the Spider Widow! That artwork looks beautiful and had a noir feel to it! If we really wanna talk about bad costumes, let's talk about Batman's earlier concept before Bill Finger! Now that was HILARIOUS!😂
That artwork is flippin' *_awesome,_* and the premise is spectacular.
I love that The Raven was defeated by getting shot in the back while watching a cat fight. Classy 1941, lol. Wouldn't it have been great if he was never seen again after that? lol. Also, I think it's funny that the "FBI agent" in the last story had a more interesting costume than all of them put together.
The "Oh Hi!" intros never get old.
"We'll call him 'Doll Man'"
"Perfect. No notes."
All the Golden Age stuff is my favorite, it's such a fascinating look at all the bizarre beginnings of the genre
Borth understood the whole "every line on a face adds age" concept.
I really hope The Face doesn’t use “fainting in terror” as his dating technique.
The Vagabond is a Heroic Bum Clown we need instead of the Usual Monster Clown.
The Vagabond is by far the most amusing golden age story I've heard of, especially with the fancy way he talked. That was one classy Hobo-Clown.
Poverty is no excuse for bad manners!
Today I learned that "alley oop" comes from the French expression "allez houp." Thanks, Chauncey Throttlebottom!
My son loves unknown/underdog characters. One year (he was 13yo), he dressed as Forbush man. Easy costume as in the comic he wears red long johns with the letter F on the front, blue cape, black galoshes and a cooking pot with eye-holes on his head. He loved what we did, and he loved explaining to people whom he was dressed like.
We loved this video with obscure and funny characters.
Your son rules.
A lot of costumes from this time give the impression of authors projecting their own phobias onto villains. Spider Widow and witches. The Mask and a mask. Vagabond and clowns. Batman and bats. I'm just grateful nobody designed a costume projecting their fear of Hitler.
I love these Golden-Age characters. They're just so wild and out there.
I'm familiar with the Face thanks to the Dynamite series Project Superpowers. In that series the mask becomes permanently bonded to his face and he gains the power to instill fear, even hallucinations in anyone who looks at him. So now if someone faints it makes perfect sense.
I love it when you put a spotlight on obscure Golden Age characters. Your video on Midnight inspired me to do a deep dive on the character, and his stories are a lot of fun, especially in the Jack Cole era.
C'mon, let's demand Marvel revive Chauncey Throttlebottom the 3rd!!
Across the board, this has been your best voice-acting for the page-readings. Had me laughing throughout. Is this something you've been working on? Either way, great work, lol! So much fun.
4:22 Forget The Spider Widow! I want to read a comic about Bob Ableson! Just that name alone is filling my head with amazing adventures that Bob could end up having! His sidekick could be nammed Gary Goodnuff! They could even start a group of crime fighters called "The Averagers"!! Seriously. These are comics that need to exist!
Oh man, he looks like when Roger Moore had that clown disguise in Octopussy 🤣🤣 except he kicks butt without any consequences to himself. Oh Chris you make these dives into golden age characters so much fun. Happy Halloween 🎃
There is that weird section of clowns that look like hobos. They have the 5 o'clock shadow and shabby cloths.
Spookiest episode yet! I think I fainted about three times while watching!!
You are right, Borth's artwork is excellent. That witch has a lot of detail. I really like it. Did he do anything else in comics ?
Mostly newspaper comics.
He did some stories of Phantom Lady for Quality.
I enjoyed the added sound effects. It got into the Golden Age feel of the comics. These episodes on little known/forgotten heroes are fun!
Halloween AND a Golden Age Comic Tropes episode?! It's my lucky day!
Yes, Spider Widow's art was great. The power to command spiders is also a great power. But like the others you featured, when a superhero lacks a plausible origin, everything else that follows will lack plausibility.
My costume this Halloween was Jay Garrick's Flash! Made the helmet myself and I'm really proud with how it turned out!
The Spider Widow and Mr. Whiskers could make a pretty good couple, if you ask me.
Why not just premiere it live?
I like the idea of a female superhero dressing up to be purposely ugly.
I'm not against how they dress right now or anything like that. I just like how opposing the idea is, she would defiantly stand out in the catalogue, though not necessarily be popular.
That 'car racing away from the scene' panel is just *beautiful*!
I saw that Frank Borth worked for Treasure Chest, a comic book that was distributed to Catholic schools, as a Catholic student during the 1960's I probably saw his work.
He and other fine artists contributed to TC ; I've enjoyed reading TC on the website Comic Book Plus which presents them in their "Newsstand" selection time lines of the 1950s- 60s.
The Spider Widow is goofy but the concept is pretty impressive for the time, a woman who takes fighting corruption into her own hands, but they ruin it by turning her into another Superhero's love interest and becoming a sidekick in a revealing outfit who has cat fights over him.
I would pay to hear you read out loud golden age comics with your voices, Chris. Good video! Well done!
The language of The Vagabond is epic, and your voice! 😂
I appreciated the usage of the Tim Allen grunt on this one 😆
I've finally collected a large amount of the Usagi Yojimbo series. Thank you for getting me into it!
Is that the rabbit Samurai from TMNT?
yeah@@blackphillip8486
@@blackphillip8486 yep
@@blackphillip8486 yep
Sub-par food is one thing but to intentionally get poisoned food is just that extra bit of evil.
Reminds me of Moriarty in the 2nd RDJ Sherlock, where he buys not just ammunition in anticipation of the War but also buys up the linen to be able to also profit from the treatment of the wounds caused.
Now I want to see him talk about Funnyman.
Chauncey Thottlebaum, I love it!!! He can loudly exclaim ,"evildoers beware" lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣
"Chauncey ThrottleBottom III" has to be one of the top worst alias names I've ever heard of in a long time even in comics from way back when. Like where in the world did they pull that out of? xD
This was a really fun and silly episode, from the costumes to your presentation. You had me cracking up a bunch and I needed that. And I appreciate the Halloween theme for this one too! Keep up the good work Chris!
I can't comprehend how if you could go back in time and convince your mother to name you something else it wouldn't be Chauncey Throttle Bottom.
It wasn't his name. He was one of the three lawmen we saw earlier. Chauncy was his hobo name.
I really like The Face. There's a kind of Ditko-esque charm to him, like he really seems kind of unstable and causes more trouble than he stops.
love, love these videos about golden age comics, they're the best!
Happy Halloween, and congratulations on your nomination! You certainly deserve it.
Not gonna lie. I liked the spider widow so much I did a fan art of her. But updated. I love these golden aged heroines. The sillier the motif the better. You're right, athletic doesn't mean a whole lot. She wasn't very, except the sword skills.
And the horse riding.
My favorite is Phantom Lady.
Sadly, doing a fan art of spider widow is completely indistinguishable from the most commonly used depictions for folklore witches. Nothing unique about her. Even the spiders fit with the common witch theme.
They need to bring back Vagabond!
I spurted water out of my nose when I heard, 'Chauncey Throttlebaum III.'
Spider-Widow and Mr. Whiskers should have met up. They would have been an interesting team--criminals think they're an elderly couple, when instead they're spry 30-somethings (of 20-somethings--I'm not sure how old the characters usually are supposed to be). Makes me think of two other characters who were young people and dressed up as elderly people--Cat Man (created by Tarpe Mills, not related to the later Cat Man, or DC's even later Cat Man), who dressed as an old lady; and Madam Fatal, who also dressed as an old lady. Two different crossdressing heroes who dressed up as old ladies in Golden Age comics, both now in the public domain. To complete the mix, we need a couple young women who dressed up as old men (I mean, it's possible that such stories happened).
But at least these characters had memorable costumes. There were quite a few characters who wore nothing of consequence. Better to be memorable, really.
The "arouse" sound bite made me LOL 🤣🤣🤣
Hpi Spooky Mama Day, My Dood! 🎃🖤🇵🇭
The Face reminded me a lot like a de-powered The Mask, particularly the scene when the main baddie stole the enchanted mask and used its power for his purposes.
God that Spider Widow comic!
"I don't mind shootouts with the cops! But I can't stand spiders!"
LOL
And the mobster yelling "Howling Hitler!"
That's hilarious!
Vagabond has to be satirical to some extent.
Throwing two guys into a pit with a ladder, only for the ladder to be made of razor sharp steel is absolute nonsense and I'm all for it 😂
Always love these "worst of " videos/lists
For Halloween I dressed as Wesley Dodds “The Sandman”. Happy Halloween
THE FACE legitimately has the most potential here as long as you make a few tweaks. What if his mask was actually supernatural and causes people to confess, freeze, faint or straight up drop dead by taking form of the thing they fear most instead of just being kinda ugly looking??
OK, the Vagabond is officially my new favorite Golden Age Hero! Just wished Roy Thomas had added him to the Invaders.
Picked up an all-sales-final, rubberoid InfoTram mask at Spirit Halloween. Since I was the one who fainted, I'd appreciate the FDA taking a bigger interest in Big Rubberoid and where it comes from. In all seriousness, quality episode. I liked the art in all of these stories, didn't know much about Borth but he had a great line. Heartbreaking to hear about not getting his job back after serving, but at least it looks like he eventually got some comic strip work.
The Spider Widow is like what would happen if a rejected EC horror comic host was transferred over to a superhero comic.
Been binge watching your channel love your takes!
I would not have commented who about the Vagabond. During 2019, but especially in 2020 and 2021, I was so in to researching Marvel that I read up on various Golden Age heroes, including him.
Great video chris, it's been a long time since your last Golden age video
The thing that's amusing to me about the Face is ... he's a radio announcer. So people know him primarily as a voice. You'd think that pretty quickly somebody would say "Hey, if that Trent palooka what reads the news on the radio ever got a sore throat or somethin', he could get the Face to sub for him and nobody would even know the difference, haw haw" and then the person he was talking to would say "hey, wait a minute ...."
the art in the spider widow was pretty good for its time
Hobo clowns are a legitimate form of clowns. One of the last tv clowns (aside from Bozo) was Blinky, host of Blinky's Fun Club, that ran from the 60s to the 90s (he had an earlier show with pretty much the same format that ran on another station from 58-65).
Blinky was a hobo-themed clown.
How can anyone not love the Vagabond?
not gonna lie, if your superpower is to get a bunch of spiders to jump on my face, i'm instantly surrendering too. This is like the most terrifying version of Squirrel Girl.
This was a real treat, something completely different!Loved this one.
I remember reading Phantom Lady comics when I was younger. If I remember correctly, she ride a motorcycle with a special Black Light that caused complete darkness to form around the criminal's car, or wherever they were. Still a cool idea.
i'm kind of obsessed with the way you read the dialogue for the fight sequence in spider widow. top tier work.
We need the Vagabond in the MCU
I like the art in this spider widow one
This was hilarious. Thanks for the great video, Chris!
I think that a lot of classic clown stuff is actually related to old archaic ideas about vagrants and drunks, but just it's been so long that nobody really remembers the details and we all just accept clowns as being a thing unto themselves.
I don't think The Face was calling the bad guys 'turkeys,' just the...actual turkeys. The poisoned turkeys. God, it's so gloriously stupid. 😆
I demand to know what retail corpse was possessed to become that Spirit Halloween.
Also, I don't trust ANYONE called "Dollman" unless they're played by Tim Thomerson.
i'm a day late, but in answer to your end-of-video question, i jerry-rigged a _yurei_ (Japanese ghost) costume for this Halloween, just a white bathrobe (if i could find a white yukata i would've worn that instead) with a white headband from a sports store and a simple bit of fabric folded and hand-sewn into a triangle for the "ghost crown". most people thought i was dressed as a doctor, though :P if i ever wear it again, i'll definitely be adding some makeup to give myself a ghostly pallor.
I legit love the Spider Widow. She's one of my top heros of the era, right up here with Red Bee.
I found a mention of a sheet roofing material called Rubberoid, made by GAF. But I doubt that it existed in the early 1940s, and roofing felt seems like a pretty undesirable mask material.
I was a Witch this year lmao
Ok, I’ll be THAT guy. The US wasn’t in the war for most of 1941. Just the last three weeks, so it was even more impressive that we knew we’d eventually be fighting Hitler.
Along with
Casually Comics and Comic Pop, this is one of my absolute favorite comic book channels. I'll definitely give you a vote!
A neat reworking of the Vagabond as a legacy character would be for him to be a hero who protected the homeless. Just no clown makeup this time.
I love the episodes were you goof on Golden Age comics that are just beyond funny. I watched most of them multiple times
Edit: also really enjoy the themed lighting in this episdoe. Maybe working with lighting could be interesting for standard episodes too? You look good btw.
Do you think The Vagabond is like The Phantom, where the mantle is passed down generation to generation? Tell me the tales of Chauncey Throttlebottom the 1st.