An Explosion of Thought Balloons

It has been said in the past that the reason why super-heroes have side-kicker is so that they have someone to talk to, to express their thoughts, deductions and feelings.

 

However, with the advent of Spider-man, it would seem that a lot of Peter Parker's conversation takes place in thought balloons.

 

Is this true?  Is he one of the first superheroes to hold exposition in thought balloons?

Or did Stan Lee also make Daredevil a wisecracking swashbuckler to get away from the need for thought balloons?

 

Who was the first hero to use thought balloons extensively?

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  • Oh, I used to think in the 60s that they were standard also.

    I certainly understood what they represented.

    However, I've recently gotten the impression that Marvel used them alot more with their solo heroes than DC did.

    But I can't confirm this.

  • I think they stood out for Spidey in particular because his thought balloons often were at odds with what he said. He was cracking wise while he was panicking in his thoughts. That contrast was one of the appeals.

    A quick flip through some Archives show that both Superman and Batman used thought balloons back in the GA. How "extensive" it was is hard to say, and it probably varied between writers. Especially for Superman, who used to expositorily worry about protecting his identity all the time, I think thought balloons were pretty standard.

    Nowadays, I think thought balloons are on the way out. Everyone seems to use caption boxes colored different to represent different characters. There's almost no internal thought unless its the POV character. It would probably be annoying if I read very many current super-heroes.

    -- MSA

  • I never saw or read any Ms. Marvel books at all, so all the above characters are strange to me.



  • Kirk G said:

    I never saw or read any Ms. Marvel books at all, so all the above characters are strange to me.

     

    Deathbird from Claremont's X-Men? AIM soldiers with their bucket helmets? MODOK, the lol-inducing internet joke of the last decade? Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel of Perez's 2 great stints as Avengers artist?

     

    You have led a sheltered comics reading life, Kirk!

  • "Everyone seems to use caption boxes colored different to represent different characters."

    I HATE that. It makes everything seem to "detached". I think it actually makes it harder to relate to the characters on the paper as real people. they become nothing more than static images, with separate narration, as if whoever's doing it is ashamed of the "cartoon"/"comic-book" format, and prefers prose fiction AND art illustration, but not together. It's STUPID, it's B***S***!!!!!

    "Someone decided thought balloons weren't cool anymore and the rest followed that decision like cattle."

    And THAT sums it up TOTALLY , PERFECTLY.

    Into the rotating knives... ("Is it your proposal to slaughter our tenants?" "Does that not fit into your plans?")

  • Ironically, I was there for the first appearance of Modok, in Tales of Suspense. And I thought he should have ended there also.

    As for Deathbird, I always wondered where she had come from. Such a strange character...

    Ms. Marvel only showed up on my radar scope when she reappeared from being kidnapped by Michael.  And yes, I do recall the aftermath of the abduction and "rape". Wasn't that Avengers Annual #10?

    A.I.M.... well, yes, earlier in Tales of Suspense, as I recall.  The ol' beehive uniforms.

  • I'm sure the Beekeeper outfits made perfect sense in Kirby's head.

     

    Deathbird is the sister of Lilandra, the Empress of the Shi-Ar Galactic empire.  Which is a big whoop thing to be, post-Silver Age.  (Lilandra's people are descended from birds, by the way...)

     

    My first period of reading Marvel Comics ended just shortly after Ms Marvel headed off into the sunset with that guy.  Such a strange thing to do to a character that bore the name of the company!?!  Even if they thought in some muddle-headed way they were doing right by her, why get rid of her?

  • They were doing a lot of "Final Fate" stories at that time: Ghost Rider, Nova, Spider-Woman, Morbius, Giant-Man II, Son of Satan and Ms. Marvel had their "ends" told. Of course, they all came back.

    As for Carol Danvers, her leaving with Marcus Immortus was supposed to be romantic, a happy ending for her. That was how I saw it at the time, I am ashamed to say. It took Avengers Annual #10 to open my eyes to what really happened and I did reread Avengers #200 and was shocked to see it all there, in print and stated matter-of-factly. Someone at Marvel felt threatened by a super-strong woman because afterwards the Scarlet Witch left, the Wasp returned to get smacked around and Tigra joined as a nubile sex-kitten who couldn't handle being an Avenger! Luckily this disturbing trend ended when both She-Hulk and Captain Marvel II joined!

  • As for Carol Danvers, her leaving with Marcus Immortus was supposed to be romantic, a happy ending for her. That was how I saw it at the time, I am ashamed to say.

     

    Same here!  I wasn't much for subtext back then.  But as you say, it was probably more like text, in hindsight.  It does look like someone feeling threatened by strong women.

     

    I'm not sure if I've read Avengers Annual #10...

     

    Interesting that it was part of a pattern of clearing the decks.

  • Gee, when Capt Marvel II joined, and She-Hulk..... hmmmm, would that have been the Roger Stern years?

    Well, we saw what happened when he would ruin her, didn't we....

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