Tag Archives: Dimwits

The Dimwits and the Thinker

The Thinker (Golden Age)After almost 1½ years, my Golden-Age back-issue hunt finally netted a relatively cheap copy of All-Flash #12, the first appearance of the Flash villain, the Thinker. It’s an odd read, because the origin of the Thinker (a mob boss who plans his heists very meticulously) is interwoven with a slapstick story of the Three Dimwits.

All-Flash #12 (Fall 1943)The Thinker story is played more or less as a straight super-hero vs. organized crime story. I’d summarize it, but the Comics Archive has already written it up in their article on the Thinker [archive.org]. Now, imagine the first five paragraphs over there interwoven with a Three Stooges film and you’ll get the idea. The Dimwits end up buying a restaurant heavily in debt to the mob, and accidentally make salads out of an alien plant that make people turn invisible.

It’s incredibly silly, but it ties into the other half of the story: The original mob boss’ henchmen are caught robbing the Dimwits’ restaurant, so he calls in the Thinker to solve his problem before they can rat on him. And of course, once the Thinker takes over, he’s mighty interested in these salads that turn people invisible.

And yet, the feel is so completely different that it seems like two different stories.

The Three Dimwits: Winky, Blinky and Noddy

An unexpected discovery was a reference to the planet Karma, where the alien plant comes from. I’d seen two other references in other Golden-Age Flash stories, so it’s clearly part of the background mythos. This is one reason I’ve been looking for the source material. It’s relatively easy to find info on the leads, or the major villains, but the minor supporting characters who appear in three or four issues—Deuces Wilde, Evart Keenan, Dr. Flura, Ebenezer Jones—are mostly forgotten.

On a related note, while looking up the Thinker’s other appearances, I discovered that one of the non-Flash titles I’d been looking for, All-Star Comics #37, was reprinted in The Greatest Golden-Age Stories Ever Told—a book I already had. I felt bad that I hadn’t actually read the entire book, but that meant I could cross off two items from my wantlist instead of just one.

Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings

Speed Reading: Archenemies, SBP, CFJ, Smallville, Art, and More

Some weekend linkblogging.

Commentary

The Speedster Site Forum wants to know: Who do you consider the Flash’s archenemy?

The Weekly Crisis posts thoughts on comics for November. Regarding Superboy Prime’s upcoming appearance in Adventure Comics #4 (a Blackest Night tie-in), Ryan says, “The only way this won’t make me even more annoyed with the end of Legion of Three Worlds is if the Superboy Prime scenes are actually just him ranting on message boards.”

ICv2’s Confessions of a Comic-Book Guy discusses two events in Justice League: Cry For Justice #2: one now infamous among comics discussion circles, the other the less-commented-on off-panel killing of Jay Garrick’s three dimwitted sidekicks.

Update: IO9 talks to Mark Waid about The Unknown, science, and death, and has the first issue online for free. The Unknown has been an excellent miniseries, and I’m really looking forward to the conclusion on Wednesday.

Art

Photon Torpedoes looks at the use of ghost images to show the Flash’s speed in Blackest Night.

Adventure Comics artist Francis Manapul has posted photos of several convention sketches he’s done this year, including the Flash and Kid Flash! Elfgrove posts a scan of another Francics Manapul Kid Flash. Update: Manapul has posted a follow-up with more sketches after asking fans to send in their scans.

Update: Former Impulse artist Craig Rousseau shares a sketch of Bart Allen.

Television

Geoff Johns drops a hint about his upcoming Smallville episode, “Society:”

The Justice Society will be heroes that come out of ‘retirement’ to see how the current generation operates. Can’t say much more than that right now. Sorry! 🙂

Superhero Shows spotlights the Flash’s TV appearances in cartoons and live-action, from the early Filmation cartoons of the 1960s through to recent appearances on Smallville and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Conventions

Long Beach Comic-Con (October 2-4) is running a “Why Long Beach?” series on life outside the convention. So far they’ve posted nearby attractions and a restaurant guide.

Please help identify these Unknown Cosplay Characters from various conventions! I’ve got a few of my own photos in there of people who had interesting costumes, but I still have no idea who they were dressed as!

Minor Site Updates: Appearances, Covers, Dimwits, Josh

I finally made an effort to catch up a little bit on my waaaaay-behind Flash reference site, Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning. This afternoon I’ve accomplished:

Added the fourth printing of Flash: Rebirth #1 — yes, fourth printing! — to the Variant Covers catalog.

Updated Winky, Blink and Noddy, also known as the “three dimwits.” They were the Flash’s sidekicks during the Golden Age, then disappeared for almost 60 years. They got a mention in the recent Justice League: Cry for Justice #2.

Updated Josh Jackam. Somehow I never got around to adding the significant events of Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge.

Renamed “Crisis Era” as “Legacy Era” based on this discussion.

Started updating appearance lists for the last…um…year. So far: Barry Allen, Jay Garrick, Iris Allen and Gorilla Grodd. I still need to index “This Was Your Life, Wally West,” though.

I’m going to make it a goal to do at least some work on the site each week from now on, and with luck I’ll have everything up to current status by the time Flash: Rebirth wraps up.