Comic Books

Notice that this bonus comes with suggested hints for many questions. In this era, teams called separate Hour Bonus Hint Lines to verify answers and beg for mercy and assistance.

1. Every comic-book hero has a secret weapon. In hand-to-hand combat, what is the feared attack mode of Cerebus the Aarvark?
   Hint: What does he look like? What kind of creature is he?
   The dreaded Earth Pig Snout Punch!

2. Everyone knows that Bruce Banner became the Incredible Hulk through irradiation by gamma rays. Name all of Marvel's other characters empowered by gamma radiation, and tell us what their powers were.
   Hint: Think first of green characters, then of people close to Banner.
   
   1. The Leader; intelligence
   2. The Abomination; strength
   3. The Harpy (Betty Ross Talbot); wings, force blasts
   4. She-Hulk; strength
   5. Doc Samson; strength (and green hair)
   6. Sasquatch; strength (and orange fur)
      (Credit for any four)

3. Why is the Legion of Super-Heroes limited to 25 active members?
   Hint: Think corporations or businesses of hero-ing.
   For tax purposes.

4. Which Avenger has, at different times, exhibited two different artificial super-powers or abilities?
   Hint: This character is married.
   Clint Barton, normally Hawkeye, but once used Hank Pym's growth serum as Goliath.

5. We all know that the Fantastic Four gained their powers as a result of cosmic ray irradiation during the flight of an experimental rocket built by Reed Richards. What WE want, as exactly as you can tell us, is where did that rocket crash land?
   Upstate New York-- north of Ithaca in the Finger Lakes region, at the Seneca Army Depot.

6. Sergeant Rock's Easy Company is one of the few examples of a DC comic being more believable than its Marvel counterpart, in this case, Sgt. Fury's Howling Commandos. Please tell us all of the regular members of Easy Company. Excepting Rock, of course. There are seven.
   Bulldozer; Four-Eyes; Wild Man; Little Sure Shot; Jackie Johnson; Zack; the Ice Cream Soldier.

7. We all know that Daredevil (aka Matt Murdoch) is blind, perceiving the world through his remaining enhanced senses, plus his "radar sense." Name the other super-characters who are blind, and how they make up for it.
   Tagak the Leopard Lord--- seeing-eye leopard; Destiny--- precognition; Libra--- psychic training; The Shroud--- psychic training; Aquarian (Wundarr)--- cosmic cube-given psychic senses; Dr. Mid-Nite--- infra-red glasses

8. The uncanny X-Men is an organization of super-powered mutants. Or is it? Name the members of the X-Men, past or present, who are or were not mutants.
   Hint: Think of short-term X-Men.
   Calvin Rankin, the Mimic.

9. Comic book artists, if they're really good, shine for a few years and then fall into triteness, going from high demand to near obscurity. One artist, however, took advantage of his early fame and secured a lifetime contract on a major comic book. Who is this still-active artist, and what book does he draw?
   Curt Swan -- "Superman."

10. What super-people have run for, or have been elected to political office in the United States? Tell us the candidate, and if applicable, the political party involved.
    
    1. Howard the Duck, President '76, the All-Night Party;
    2. Captain America, President '80, unwilling candidate of the Populist Party;
    3. Kyle Richmond, President (Other-Earth);
    4. Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Mayor of Central City;
    5. Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), U.S. Congresswoman from New York
    6. Batman and Penguin, Mayor of Gotham City, Penguin's party was the Grand Order of Occidental Nighthawks (G.O.O.N.)-- TV
    7. Bruce Wayne, temporarily appointed U.S. Senator

11. All people are vulnerable to something, and most are susceptible to poisons. Tony Stark, the first Iron Man, had a special invulnerability to a certain poison. What type of poison, and why?
    Hint: Why did Tony put on the armor?
    Tony has an artificial heart, and is therefore immune to heart-poisons.

12. Name all the members, past or present, of the Fantastic Four!
    Hint: Think of possible substitutions for regular members.
    Mr. Fantastic; the Thing; Invisible Girl; the Human Torch. Then, Crystal (of the Inhumans); Luke Cage, Power Man; the She-Hulk; and Medusa (also of the Inhumans).

13. What happens to members of The Hand, the mysterious ninja organization, when they are killed?
    Other than dying, they dissolve into a mist.

ULTRA BONUS COMICS QUESTION

Who was the first mutant Charles Xavier ever met?
Storm (Ororo Monroe) as a child. This was when she was a thief employed by the evil mutant telepath Farouk, in Cairo. Xavier met and killed Farouk at the same time he met Ororo. His mind touching hers alienated Farouk! Xavier met Magnus/Magneto soon after this, and these encounters, together with his defaet of Lucifer (which cost him his legs) convinced him to found the X-Men. Scott Summers was his first recruit for that orgnaization, of course.