The Superhero Subject
 

A repository and superb little archive for anything and everything pertaining to the Caped Crusader, as well as any of his subordinate super-powered stars.

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the bat

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Batman in the Real World

Unlike Superman, Batman never professes to be doing what he does for truth, justice, and the American Way. I’m not sure Batman believes in any of those things—except his truth and his justice.

And, oddly enough, that makes him the most American of all the superheroes. And the most terrifying.

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... and everyone else.
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Heroes and Villains by Jack Teagle

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[source.]

Even a superhero has to make some dough to eat... we can't all be Bruce Wayne.

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by the way... batgirl above is very hot. I now have a new kink to explore. ;)

I have a pointed topical response to both of the intriguing issues you raise in your post, Charlatan, but for clarity and coincidences' sake, I'll tackle them one at a time, if you don't mind.


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The original Batgirl, from the original live-action television series

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and even more of little miss "Barbara Gordon", courtesy of pour15minutesdamour

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Sarah Silverman

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Marcos Martin's Batgirl

and to borrow from another topic...
even Superheroes nowadays find it impossible to avoid staying connected, so they turn to the next big thing.

Superhero Facebook Status Updates

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Misguided Darkness meets Dark Justice in. . .
 

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by Dave Dorman

[geekorthodox.]

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Superheroes by Andrew DeGraff

Sibling Power!!

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and, I suppose, now is as good a time as any to address the other issue I saw as very appealing in your first post to add to:
superheroes that need to support themselves and their cause.

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Superheroes by Dulce Pinzón (showing only 5 photographs of a 16-image gallery)

It's a tough life being a superhero. Sometimes keeping the facade of the work a day life separate from your costumed self can be too much. A secret not shared is a heavy burden. Some superheroes break under the pressure...

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(c)-Allan-Sanders-2008-The-Superheroes


[loopland.]

Wolverine vs T-rex
 

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by nJoo (click image to view full-size)

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“Wolverines Playing Poker” by Paolo Rivera

Featured in The Amazing Spider-Man #590.


[robot6.]

V
 

Why do we never see our heroes doing the mundane?

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Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass Poster (above) and Trailer (below)

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This is a scene from Watchmen, no?

Deadpool

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"Sundays with Skeletor"
 

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by Kiersten Essenpreis

The New York Times. A bagel. A cold glass of Tang. When Brooklyn-based artist Kiersten Essenpreis
was asked to contribute a few pieces to a show inspired by The Masters of the Universe, she pictured the guys on their day off.

To see additional work, or to find out when and where you can find and/or buy the prints, click here to discover more.

"Batman in the Rain"
 

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by Miguel Ángel Ruiz

Jack Kirby’s Heroes in Waiting

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{Jack Kirby working in 1971. Photo: Bill Bridges (c) The New York Times Company}

The characteristics of a Jack Kirby illustration are easily distinguished: extravagantly costumed heroes and nefarious villains locked in titanic struggles; foreshortened fists, feet and muscles that seem to pop off the page; intricately detailed settings meant to conjure the ancient past or suggest the distant future.

His style made Mr. Kirby a sought-after talent at DC Comics, now a piece of the Time Warner empire, and at Marvel Comics, a recent acquisition of the Walt Disney Company. At Marvel in particular he played a crucial role in creating superheroes like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men — work that is now at the center of a property dispute between the heirs of Mr. Kirby, who died in 1994, and Marvel and Disney.

Those same signature design elements are also vividly on display in hundreds of illustrations for never-produced cartoon shows and toy lines that Mr. Kirby created in the 1980s for the animation studio Ruby-Spears Productions — work that thus far does not belong to any of the media conglomerates and that has been seen by few people.

Now, a partnership between that studio’s founders, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and Sid and Marty Krofft, the longtime children’s entertainment producers (“H. R. Pufnstuf,” “Land of the Lost”), is planning to revive these unseen Kirby characters in as many forms as possible. It’s a proposition that faces challenges as the studios scour the landscape for the next comic book or cartoon character they can transform into a franchise, but also one that has piqued the interest of some powerful Hollywood players.

“I love comic books, but this is a treasure,” said Ariel Z. Emanuel, the co-chief executive of the William Morris Endeavor Entertainment agency, who is representing these Kirby works for Ruby-Spears and the Kroffts. “It’s like a boat sank at the bottom of the ocean, and all of a sudden you’ve uncovered it.”

VIEW A SLIDESHOW of the soon-to-be-seen Characters, developed by Jack Kirby.


[NYTimes.]

a revival of the teenage mutant bad-ass crime-stoppers
 

If you didn't know anything about The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before this small sampling of epic bone-crunching illustrations that are prevalent in the majority of the stories in the comics and TV series (toned-down, though), then you can thank the above three sketches for giving you an impetus to search out this totally tubular franchise.

Redesigned comic book covers
 

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by Steven Finch, aka 'Fonografiks'

see them here: Watchmen; Fantastic Four; Hulk; Daredevil: Born Again.


[kirby-vision.]

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Astonishing Tales #1 variant cover by Marc Silvestri

"Versus"
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[amazingsuperpowers.]

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"Neon Heroes", by Rob Wilford


[formatmag.]

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Amazing Spider Man 630 colors by *TimTownsend

back from the grave, it's...
 

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The Phantasmal Four by Genesischant

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A Taiwanese man wanted to build something practical for his house while also pleasing
his son, who is a huge Transformers fan. Well, nothing says “practical household item”
like a 14-foot-tall clothes drying rack made from $1,600 worth of scrap metal. Does it
sound crazy to you? Did I mention it looks like Optimus Prime? Not so crazy now, is it?



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[gammasquad.]

Here's an article you may enjoy about the above...

Spider-Man Will Wash Your Windows... FOR A PRICE - ComicsAlliance

Spider Style, a 'Specialist Cleaning Services Entity and Rope Access' facility company recently opened an office in the UAE. With offices based in France and Qatar, Spider Style is not your ordinary large-scale cleaning company. They send a dedicated team of abseiling 'superheroes' to inspect, fix, and clean building facades from the top down and they'll even do it "Spidey" - style by donning Spiderman suits... Visitors to the area were noticeably amused by the aerial acrobatics of Spider-Style's cleaning technician, who used his 'spider-sense' to abseil with grace along the hotel's exterior while occasionally waving to admiring spectators.

[article] Guess who shows up at the top (bottom?) of the listing?
 

The 5 Best (and 5 Worst) Marvel Characters at What They Do | Topless Robot

quick synposis:
Many Marvel heroes aren't just defined by their superhero status or their powers; they've also got other interests and aspects of their personality that define them far more than their costumes. For instance, Nightcrawler is a teleporting mutant and member of the X-Men, but he is also a priest. Maybe. Actually, that's kind of a confusing subject. But the point is, many of the Marvel superheroes have jobs outside of their duties as superhumans -- some of whom are good at them, some of whom aren't. So this list is a look at who you might want to hire and who you should stay away from if you suddenly ended up running a temp agency in the Marvel Universe.


"I'm the best at what I do and what I do ain't very nice."

— Wolverine

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Fallen Son, cover by Leinil Francis Yu ; part of the 'Civil War Saga'.

We always knew they'd bring him back... but I kind of wish they'd left him for dead a lot longer.
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"Heroes"
 

[dff.] + [flickr.]

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NO MORE HEROES by BANKSY ; (Click HERE to view large)
seen on Melrose, in Hollywood, LA.

originally featured in the Short Subjects thread, this is. . .

and the original parody of a spin-off of those Mac v. PC ads...

[Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC.]

and one last tête-à-tête super-powered humorous juxtaposition, courtesy of some random guy, wouldn't you know?

Author's comments:
2009 brings the release of "Watchmen" for Rorschach, and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" for Wolverine. They'll have to share the spotlight...but that doesn't mean they'll have to like it.