You're a Good Man, Chuck Taine

Today is April 5th (unless you're reading this on a day other than the day I wrote and posted this, in which case it isn't).  A number of years ago, DC Comics put out a calender which contained fictional birthdays of their various characters, at this time they chose April 5th as the birthday of my favorite Super-Hero, Chuck Taine, otherwise known as Bouncing Boy.  Coincidentally, it also happens to be my Mom's Birthday.  That reminds me, I need to give her a call.  I'll be right back...okay I'm back, did you miss me?  Anyways, as it is Bouncing Boy's birthday, I thought I'd talk a little bit about him and why he is my favorite.

His first appearance was in Action Comics # 276, where he was applying for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes, a 30th Century Super-Hero club.  He did not make it in at this time, but by his second appearance, he was a member.  A little more than a year after his first appearance, he was one of the first Legionnaires to be given a real name and origin. 

In the story, "The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy," it was revealed that Chuck Taine was an assistant to a scientist.  Chuck was given the job of delivering a "Super Plastic Formula," to the science council.  On the way he decided to stop and see a robot gladiator tournament (if you saw the movie Real Steal, it was kind of like that, except instead of boxing, the robots were hitting each other with weapons).  Chuck ordered a soda and put it down right next to the bottle of Super Plastic Formula.  As fate would have it, Chuck drank the Super Plastic Formula by mistake and gained the ability to inflate into a ball and bounce.  

Chuck then decided to try to join the Legion as Bouncing Boy, but as we already know from his first appearance, he was turned down.  The Legionnaires then followed him around for a week, laughing at him.  Eventually, Chuck ended up stopping a criminal who had incapacitated Saturn Girl, and he was finally allowed into the Legion.

Later on, the writers weren't sure what to do with Chuck, and so they had him loose his powers and be moved to reserve status in the Legion.  Eventually he got his powers back, and under the writing young Jim Shooter (who was 13 when he started writing the Legion) Chuck finally found his place in the team.  Shooter wrote him as the self-appointed morale officer of the Legion.  Chuck would use Humor (often self-deprecating) to make other Legionnaires laugh.  One of my favorite lines of Chuck's that was written by Jim Shooter is, "I'm about as stealthy as a near-sighted Hippopotamus on roller skates."  It was also during Shooter's tenure as writer that Chuck started spending time with Lurornu Durgo, the Legionnaire known as Duo-Damsel (previously Triplicate Girl).

After Shooter left the Legion.  The writers again seemed to have a hard time writing Chuck, so in Superboy #200 he lost his powers again and proposed to Duo-Damsel.  They were married in the same issue.  Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel would make occasional appearances after that, and Chuck would eventually get his powers back, yet again.  Chuck and Luornu would eventually become teachers at the Legion Academy, which trains kids with Super Powers how to use them.

Around 1990 or so, there was the so called "Five Years Later" period, where the story jumped forward five years.  The earth was now controlled by an alien race called the Dominators, and the Legion had been disbanded.  Chuck and Luornu were now instructors at the United Planets Militia Academy.

In the mid-90s, the Legion of Super-Heroes was completely rebooted, so that the characters were just starting out.  Chuck Taine did make appearances, but not as Bouncing Boy.  Instead, he was a young apprentice architect who was in charge of rebuilding the Legion Headquarters after it was damaged by super villains.  Chuck dated both Triad (the rebooted Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel) and Shrinking Violet (which inspired the following drawing that I commissioned Legion artist Jeff Moy to draw)

The Legion was rebooted again, but Bouncing Boy didn't show up at all.  Then there was a sort of "retroboot" that instead of rebooting the Legion yet again, it took it back to the status quo from the comics from the 1980's.  Bouncing Boy was then again a member of the team (though after Paul Levitz took over the title again, BB was in charge of Legion Academy again instead of being a full member).

At around the same time as the "retroboot," Kids WB had a Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon that lasted two seasons.  Bouncing Boy was a regular on the show and near the end of the first season became the leader of the Legion.  Unfortunately, the second season took place a couple of years later, and Bouncing Boy was no longer the leader.  He was still a major part of the show though, so I shouldn't complain.

I guess the reason I like Bouncing Boy so much is that I think of him as being a lot like me.  We're both overweight and both strongly rely on our senses of humor.  I also liked that he got the girl.  I first became aware of Bouncing Boy in 1990, but at the time (it was during the aforementioned "Five Years Later" period) he wasn't really appearing much in the comics.  Eventually I would get into the Legion in the reboot, and would read the really old Legion comics in the Legion Archives reprints.  Oh, and here are a couple of my favorite comic book covers featuring Bouncing Boy:

There's No Fool Like An April Fool!

Ah, April Fools Day!  As a merry prankster, I love April Fool's Day.  Now I don't always do a prank, I only do one if I am truly inspired.  This year, I am more inspired to talk about pranks themselves and what makes a good prank.  As an example I'm using one that Star Trek's George Takei posted on Facebook this morning.

Friends, I'm thrilled to share this news with you today. As announced at Emerald City Comicon, where I'm appearing this weekend, Paramount Pictures has green-lit a new Star Trek Movie entitled "Excelsior" in which I will play the captain. This announcement is part of Paramount Studio's 100th-year anniversary campaign. The studio has acknowledged the fan enthusiasm for this concept ever since I appeared in command of the vessel in "The Undiscovered Country." J.J. Abrams will direct, with Robert Orci again writing the screenplay. My co-star in Allegiance, Paulo Montalban, has been cast opposite me to play the mercurial "Agha," the grandson of Khan (played by Ricardo Montalban in the Second Star Trek Movie). Also featured are Gilbert Gottfried (playing a wily Ferengi First Officer) and Lisa Lampanelli (as a Bajoran security officer). More to come on this breaking story soon. Thanks again for the years of support, and I'll see you on the Bridge of "Excelsior."

Absolutely Brilliant!  Here's why it works.

1)  There is a small amount of truth in it.  Takei was in fact at Emerald City Comicon this weekend, like he said, and comic book conventions are places that announcements like this one do take place.  J.J. Abrams is in charge of the Star Trek franchise currently so it makes sense that if this were to happen, that he would be the one to direct.

2)  There is a slow build from reasonable to ridiculous.  It starts of fairly normally, Paramount green-lit another Star Trek movie to be made after the one currently in production.  Okay, I can buy that, especially since Star Trek is big enough that you don't need to see how well the next one does to greenlight the one after that.  Someone that I've vaguely heard of with the last name of Montalban playing the grandson of one of the best Star Trek villains ever, Khan Noonien Singh, yeah, I could see that.  Gilbert Gottfried playing a Ferengi...um okay...if there was any Star Trek race that Gottfried could play, I suppose it would be a Ferengi.  Lisa Lampanelli as a Bajoran Security officer...okay this is definitely a hoax.

3)  You kind of wish it was true.  Hell, I know I would be there on the first day to see a movie about Sulu as captain of the Excelsior battling the grandson of Kahn.

4)  It's Funny.  This is the one thing that a whole lot of pranks miss, once you realize that it's a prank, you laugh your ass off.  A lot of the pranks I see are just designed to fool you and are only funny to the person who made the prank in a, "Ha, ha, I fooled them!" kind of way.  But Takei's prank is actually funny.  What makes it funny?  Probably has something to do with a combination of all the points that I mentioned.  If you really want to pull a prank next year, try to follow Takei's example and make it funny.