Tag: comics

“I’m the best there is at what I do. But what I do isn’t very nice…”

From: X-Men

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Logan/Wolverine

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from Wolverine, everyone’s favorite yellow spandex wearing, cigar chomping Canadian mutant. He is probably the most popular and most recognizable X-Men character in the world today. Which is kind of astonishing since, originally, his first appearance was in Hulk #181 (as an opponent to both The Incredible Hulk and Wendigo). It wasn’t until much later that Logan joined a new group of X-Men to rescue the original members.

Logan pretty much acknowledges that he is a vicious killer and will do things that may seem unnecessarily violent. But he does recognize that his skills do serve a purpose as noted by his catchphase.

Wolverine Quote

Geek wisdom: Everyone has his or her own special talent and, no matter what it is, it’s something that you should be proud of. There may be times when you feel your special gift should be hidden away or it should be something you should be ashamed of. But everything you’re good at has to be shared with everyone… because it deserves to be shared with others.

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

From: Batman, specifically, The Dark Knight

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Alfred Pennyworth

The story behind the quote: It seems that I can’t stop getting quotes from Batman media. But this time, it’s from Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler, Alfred.

The quote comes from The Dark Knight, the 2nd film of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman movies. Bruce Wayne has been investigating a series of violent (and videotaped) actions of the Joker. Bruce has been reviewing the Joker’s actions and is having difficulty understanding why he does the things he does.

Alfred then tells the story about the time he was in Burma. His group was hired to bribe tribal leaders to get their loyalty for the government using valuable stones and gems. During this time, a “bandit” was wrecking havoc in the area and it was assumed that the “bandit” took the stones. One day, Alfred notice a child playing with one of the stones and realized that the bandit took the stones but threw them away. This is when he knew that the bandit didn’t care for money, he just wanted to wreck as much havoc as he can.

Geek wisdom: Like Alfred said, there are going to be people that you cannot reason with, no matter what you do. They will just do whatever they want, forgetting the consequences of their actions. We have to accept the fact that we will not be able to convince them with logic.

At the same time, we cannot let these kind of people run around doing anything they please, especially if it will lead to anarchy. The act of doing nothing about something is going to be the wrong thing to do in these cases. Sometimes, it will be necessary to step in and do something… especially if we believe it’s the right thing to do.

“Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

From: The Incredible Hulk

Genre: Television, Comics

Who said it?: “David” Bruce Banner

The story behind the quote: The Incredible Hulk television series was based on the comic book character of the same name. However, the TV series differs greatly from the comic version. While the origin for the Hulk is pretty much the same (the hapless scientist gets bombarded by gamma rays which alters his DNA), every thing else is different. Even the scientist’s name was changed from Bruce Banner to David Banner (Bruce became his middle name). The plot was altered so that The Hulk (played by Lou Ferrigno) is being hunted for the alleged murders of the scientist that was helping Banner. This causes David Banner (portrayed by Bill Bixby) to drift to different towns to escape law enforcement as well as trying to help people he meets along the way.

The quote actually comes from the very first episode, where David Banner catches a tabloid reporter snooping around near the place where the experiments had taken place. David Banner catches the reporter and delivers the quote, stating that he should stop looking into the story or else.

Geek wisdom: Don’t poke the bear! We all have the tendency to be bullies (yes, even the bullied will bully people even weaker people). We think there are going to be no consequences to teasing and riffing on people; we think they won’t do anything. We may think that but we have no way of thinking what they’ll do in the future.

We’ve seen movies, television shows and comics where the person being bullied becomes someone extremely powerful and then take it out on those who bullied them. In fact, we have even seen people just snap and go on shooting rampages just so they can get some form of “revenge” on society. We have no idea how they’ll focus their anger in the future. Sure, they may be in control of it now. But we have no idea how they’ll deal with it in the future.

David Banner may seem like a weakling but, well, don’t get him angry. That goes for other people as well. We have no idea if they will just Hulk out one day.

“You can kill a vampire however the fuck you want because vampires don’t fucking exist!”

From: The Death and Return of Superman (Youtube)

Genre: Comics, Internet

Who said it?: Max Landis

The story behind the quote: Sorry for the profanity in the title, however, it was the best way to convey the wisdom from the entire video that Max Landis made. The video is essentially a 15 minute tirade regarding DC Comics’ handling of the Superman “final” battle with Doomsday, his death after the battle with the monster and his eventual resurrection.

The video is extremely well made. If you know the Death and Return of Superman story arc, the video is a pretty exact (but given a comedic spin) retelling. If you’re not familiar with the story, well, the video does give a negatively bias opinion of the storyline. Also, it’s pretty entertaining whether or not you have some knowledge about it.

Also, Max managed to use his contacts to get high-caliber actors such as Elijah Wood to play Cyborg Superman and Mandy Moore as Lois Lane. It makes it extremely fun to watch, especially if you can manage to identify all of the actors and actresses who made cameo roles.

You can go to 15:24 for the quote but it’s much better if you watch the entire thing (especially if you want to get Max’s hilarious view of the story arc.

Geek wisdom: We sometimes let our own creativity be stifled by so-called “conventions” of life. Remember, people believed a long time ago that there was no way we could fly. Well, the Wright brothers didn’t let “conventional” wisdom from creating the first airplane. Now, we can fly from continent to continent quickly without a second thought. Even before that, people believed that the world was flat and that you could go over the edge. It seems hilarious now but that was what people thought of before and you would be an idiot to think otherwise.

Allow yourself to be creative and break the rules sometimes. That’s the only time real innovation can come out.

“The whole world is watching us now. We must be nothing less than fabulous.”

From: X-Men

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Emma Frost

The story behind the quote: When Emma Frost first appeared in comics, she was a villain, fighting against the X-Men. However, after numerous battles with them, she eventually joined the X-Men and actually took over as headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and she took her job of preparing the student of the school seriously.

During one of her speeches to the student body, Emma announced that they will be changing the way they will be taught but they will be educated on how to deal with a world that shuns mutants. During the end of her speech, she comments that the students who are complaining about the harsh teaching methods of Wolverine/Logan are wasting their breath. She then delivers the quote as she expects them to be ready for anything.

Geek wisdom: The worst things can happen at any time, especially when you least expect it. Rather than scramble and jump in to fix it, it’s always a good thing to be ready for it.  Like Emma Frost said, the training that the students are doing may be difficult but it is actually for their own benefit as people are looking at them closely. If they’re going to slack off and not be able to control themselves during something that’s planned, it’s going to be much worse when real danger rears its ugly head.

“It always ends. That’s what gives it value.”

From: Death: The High Cost of Living

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Didi/Death

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from Death, one of the characters from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. Specifically, the quote comes from the miniseries, Death: The High Cost of Living.

Essentially, a suicidal boy named Sexton meets a girl named Didi who claims to be the personification of Death. Didi explains to Sexton that, in order to appreciate taking away the lives of people, she is reincarnated every 100 years to experience one day of walking among the living. Sexton is amazed (and strangely) drawn to Didi as she expresses such joy in simple acts, such as eating a bagel or riding a taxi. He decides to follow her around and tries to see if there is a meaning to his life.

By the way, MASSIVE SPOILERS ARE AHEAD! Please read the series since the quote will have a deeper significance when you really appreciate the story. Don’t worry. The story is deep and I think non-geeks will love the story.

The quote comes from the end of the miniseries where Didi has a conversation with Death. Death asks how it felt to be alive and Didi beams and exclaims that it felt so wonderful to be alive and wished it didn’t have to end. Death then delivers the quote, explaining that life has to end, making every minute precious.

Geek wisdom: We take life for granted. Even the simple joys of eating a bagel is lost when we don’t realize that we’re lucky to be alive to eat the bagel. The sad thing is, we also take the big things in life, like family and friends, for granted.

We shouldn’t have to wait for our time to be up before we start appreciating life. We should be living and enjoying what little time we have left on this earth now.

“It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy… let’s go exploring!”

From: Calvin and Hobbes

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Calvin

The story behind the quote: Calvin and Hobbes is a very creative comic strip from Bill Watterson. Unlike most comic strips, the jokes and stories never patronize the intelligence of the audience and can be read (and enjoyed) by kids and adults alike. Calvin is a very active kid and is best friends with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Since he is just a kid, he is very imaginative and constantly dreams of impossible adventures, such as being in outer space in his Spaceman Spiff persona. Most of the stories and gags usually revolve around Calvin’s imagination and how it gets him into trouble. However, there are a lot of philosophical ideas as well. Calvin and, by extension, Hobbes observe things with remarkable insight for a little boy.

The quote comes from the very last strip that was released. It has Calvin and Hobbes walking in the new fallen snow and exclaiming that the day is so full of possibilities. They then both ride on their bobsled, eager to look around the world and find new and exciting things.

Geek wisdom: We have to treat each day as a new adventure. As Calvin said, the day is always full of new possibilities. A lot of us have become cynical and actually dread and worry about what tomorrow will bring. There’s a lot of things the world can offer us and we sometimes close ourselves to the possibility of actually going out and enjoying ourselves.

All of us should take the time to remember that each day brings us new opportunities. We should not hide from these opportunities. Rather, we should chase after the chance a new day brings us.

“Face it, tiger… you just hit the jackpot!”

From: Spider-Man

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Mary Jane Watson

The story behind the quote: Wow, when it comes to comics, I seem to either go to Batman or Spider-Man… but this is a bit different since it isn’t the hero that gives the quote. Rather, it’s the love interest of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson.

We have to get into a lot of backstory regarding this quote to really get the full impact of the wisdom from it. Prior to her first (official) appearance in the comics, she was just this faceless girl that Aunt May kept on trying to set Peter Parker up for a date (initially mentioned in Amazing Spider-Man #15). Peter kept blowing it off since he assumed that, since his aunt liked her so much, he wouldn’t really like her. This actually kept on for a really long time and it became somewhat of running joke of the series.

Finally, in Amazing Spider-Man #42 (around two years after she was initially mentioned), Peter does meet Mary Jane, who turns out to be a bombshell of a red-head who jokingly mentions how lucky he is.

Geek wisdom: You shouldn’t be afraid to try new things once in a while. Sure there’s going to be a chance that the experience is awful. However, unless you try it, you’ll never know if its something that’s plain god-awful or something given from God. Imagine if Peter Parker never met Mary Jane. He wouldn’t have had met the love of his life. Remember, you may hit the jackpot, too, if you try something new.

“I’m the goddamn Batman!”

From: Batman

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Batman

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin, a sort of reimaging of Robin’s origin. In the very first issue of the comic series, Dick Grayson’s family is murdered by a hit man while performing their circus act. Orphaned, Dick is supposed to be placed in the custody of the police. However, Batman steals Dick from them (Batman suspects that the cops are corrupt)  and speeds him away in the Batmobile.

The police start to chase after Batman (he is kidnapping someone, after all) and the Dark Knight starts ramming the squad cars that come after him and they eventually escape. However, Dick is afraid of everything that’s happening and he asks Batman what right he has to be doing this. Batman is apparently offended by this and questions Dick’s mental capacity before uttering that famous line.

This quote, along with the All Star Batman and Robin series, has been heavily criticised by both critics and fans alike. While there were a few who liked the new direction Frank Miller was going for, most people didn’t appreciate the fact that the characterization of Batman was too different from previous incarnations. Here, Batman is more sadistic and appears to get some form of pleasure in inflicting pain and he cares less for injuring innocent bystanders. This line has been recorded in infamy because of the idea that Batman would even refer to himself in this way.

Geek wisdom: You have to be proud of who you are and what you’ve become. You can be a badass dark knight or just an ordinary joe. It doesn’t matter and it shouldn’t matter: you are who you are. In fact, all of the events that you’ve experienced in life created and molded you into the unique individual that you are, and that by itself makes you special.

It is difficult to accept sometimes, especially if you’re in the dumps and you feel life doesn’t feel worth living. However, if you don’t respect yourself, no one will respect you. The goddamn Batman knows this, and you should, too.

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

From: Spider-man

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Uncle Ben

The story behind the quote: Although the quote is usually attributed to Peter Parker/Spider-man’s Uncle Ben, this is actually wasn’t true in the first appearance of  the web-head in Amazing Fantasy #15. In the original version of the story by Stan Lee, this was the moral lesson that Peter Parker took away since he let a mugger get away and this same mugger killed his Uncle Ben. If he only stopped the man earlier, his uncle wouldn’t have died. Also, the original quote was actually “With great power, there also must also come… great responsibility.”

Later versions of Spidey’s origin revised the story. The story now is Uncle Ben would usually tell a young Peter Parker this lesson while he was alive and Peter Parker would remember this. These revisions also shorten the quote to the current version, which comes off as more poetic.

Geek wisdom: A lot of people think that, once they have some form of power, they can usually laud it over people and abuse it. History has a lot of people showing them becoming corrupted because of great power: Napoleon and Hitler are just a couple to name a few. Even in a small scale, we do see powerful people beat down on the weaker ones. Bullies, abusive spouses, and corrupt politicians are just a few examples of the kinds of people we see every day that use their power the wrong way.

“With great power comes great responsibility” has a simple meaning; if you have the ability to do something, make sure that you do it for the good of others. Highly admired people like Ghandi and Ninoy Aquino have done things that follow the spirit of this message. If you can stop something bad from happening, do it. You don’t have to be a superhero to follow those words of geek wisdom. It’s possible to do small actions that have a big impact in the world.