Superman's "Mopee" Tales

[Super Monkey]

Behold the errie origin of MOPEE!!!

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/weeklyplanet.php?issue=4

[Klar Ken T5477]

And yes I have that issue...even eerier. :shock:

[JulianPerez]

Reading the John Broome/Gil Kane Green Lantern showcase, the thing that strikes me as the most interesting and distinctive thing about DC in this period is that there was a sort of science fiction, rationalist vibe about the entire way the universe works: GL helps in astronaut training and the army with experimental missile tests, and there are references to "bollides."

Many heroes have powers that work by magic, without consequence; the Flash wasn't like that. He had an explanation for why he wasn't harmed by friction, for instance.

Thus, a detail like Flash getting his powers from a "Heaven Helpmate, Tenth Class" is totally inappropriate for the Flash's fundamentally rational world, and while I wouldn't say his world is "grounded," because the Flash could get pretty out there sometimes, his context was nonetheless science fiction. Mopee maybe would work in something like a living acid trip like the Golden Age Captain Marvel. In other words, it just wasn't a FLASH story.

Mopee is now a poster child for bad ideas. He is largely forgotten, and those who remember loathe to consider him part of continuity. While other stories have enraged fans over the years (such as Emerald Twilight), Mopee's remains one of the most infamous.

You ain't kidding, Mike. I hate that little imp so much it's not even funny.

I've been going in frenzy to rationalize this entire story away somehow. Maybe the Trickster laced the Central City police water supply with LSD that day, and this absurd episode took place. The Flash, being a bow-tie wearing conservative that probably goes into bars to order milk, no doubt would be unable to recognize that he's under the influence, and would experience something this weird. Though there is a mental image there, of the Flash zipping about getting chemicals, mumbling about how he has to let the invisible elf give him his speed back.

Geez, Barry, you should BE so lucky, if this is the least that you do under Lucy in the Sky. I knew a friend that took a sledgehammer and smashed a toilet because he said there were snakes coming out of it.

Actually, this explanation can work. Acid can make you menaced by Elves!

I'm just waiting for Mopee to be revealed as one of MY hallicinations, though.  

[Gary]

Maybe Mopee was real, but didn't actually have anything to do with Flash's origin. He could be a prankster a la Mxyzptlk making up this story just to waste Flash's time.

[Uncle Mxy]

He could've helped out a different dimension's Flash than the Earth-1 was talking to.  He might've just been a little confused, like Larry/Nosyarg Kcid from the Teen Titans cartoon.

[dmat]

I don't know if this qualifies, but in Action #265 (reprinted in Superman #207), Superman meets his exact double from another world, Hyper-Man, and we learn that Red Kryptonite could, theoretically, kill Superman!  I always thought Red K was a relatively harmless source of goofy stories (Superman as a Super-Ant and so on).  Were its deadly properties ever mentioned again after this issue?

Then again, when I first saw the heading Superman's Mopee Tales, I thought you meant the following:

http://www.comicbooktidbits.com

[MatterEaterLad]

Well, it was more of an extrapolation based on the fact that Blue Zoronite acted that way on Hyper-Man, I don't think the theoretical concept was ever mentioned again, and its doubtful Superman would leave a chunk of Red Kryptonite on a shelf without shielding like Hyper-Man did with Blue Zoronite...

[dmat]

That's true.  Still, in fairness to Hyper-Man, he never had encountered Blue Zoronite before, and he was virtually invulnerable.  When you're invulnerable, you could suffer lapses in safety judgement, especially when encountering something new.  Heck, most people suffer occassional lapses in judgement, and we're certainly not invulnerable.

It certainly would've added a different flavor to all those Red K stories if Superman believed he was risking death each time, though.