For those interested, Yank and Doodle are the kid sidekicks of the Black Owl, a superhero who wears blue and red and therefore makes no sense. The Black Owl is a suburban family man and Yank and Doodle are his sons, but Yank and Doodle are not aware that the Black Owl is their father for some reason the Black Owl never adequately explains. This also makes no sense. In fact, the Black Owl is so concerned with keeping his identity a secret from his sons that he actually makes them meet him on the other side of town from their home in an abandoned lot. This continues to make no sense. Also, the Black Owl has a supercar that can transform into a plane, and is not somehow a millionaire of any type but instead basically Ward Cleaver in spandex, which makes the least sense of all.
Ah, Golden Age comics! Thank god Alex Ross was born so that you could be dug out of justifiable obscurity!
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You can get a Yank and Doodle special for about fifty bucks from this tranny on South Street. Or so I’m told . . .
I think Black Owl wearing blue and red is par for the course in the Golden Age. Alan Scott’s Green Lantern uniform is red for chrissakes. Essentially it took 20 year of comics before creators figured out that the color in the name should be visible on the costume.
Any pictures of Black Owl? Sounds like a real treat for the eyes.
And did he know his sons are Yank and Doodle or was a double-deception?
Damn. I wanted to do the “Yank and Doodle Special” joke.
I can’t help but feel that the more I think about this, the more distressing it becomes. Ignoring the fact that the sidekicks have no thematic relationship with the superhero – after all, bats and robins are only tangentially related in that they are both flying creatures – there’s the obvious question of ‘well, if they don’t know he’s their father, why are these two lads hanging out with a guy who makes them call one another ‘yank’ and ‘doodle’?’ It’s like the teletubby superhero team from hell.
Which is where all teletubbies are from, but I digress.
Also, is it just me or is the ‘Yank and Doodle Special’ just Yank and Doodle punching people? I mean, I grant you they seem to be punching people simultaneously, but that’s not exactly a special move. I think ‘special’, and I think, say.. ‘fastball special’. Where one person throws another person (who usually has claws or suchlike) at a third person.
Then again, I suppose ‘This is the Yank and Doodle Punching Dudes In the Face Move’ lacks a certain poetic ring to it.
And they like to have dinner at Milliways.
Can we get a Rex Rating on this Black Owl guy?
It just seems incomplete without one.
Seeing as how they’re not DC, I doubt it.
The Black Owl that was the father of Yank And Doodle was actually the 2nd Black Owl. The first one was a millionaire who got bored with it after a couple years and decided to fight in WWII. For some reason he passed on his costume (and other gadgets) to Yank and Doodle’s father.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Owl
If he’s not a DC property yet, he will be as soon as they see this post. 🙂
He’s a very understanding father. So many would have issues with their sons doing that in that day and age.
Yank and Doodle were also two members of the American Eagle Squadron on the cartoon “Roger Ramjet”. I doubt there’s a connection, though…
The Black Owl’s name? Walt Walters.
Yank & Doodle? Rick and Dick Walters.
Oy. Not a-plus work, there.
I wonder if anyone is going to look back on the forgettable junk from the 90s seventy years from now and be like “hey, we should do a limited series of this “Bloodwulf” character and get the cover painted by (whoever is most like Alex Ross in the future)!”
Great. Thanks a lot, gek. Now I have this image of a greying and flabby Bloodwulf running around killing people with his walker, whining about how he should have been nicer to Youngblood back in the day.
Gek:
It’s already happening. Just look at “Image United” 🙂
LightlyFrosted:
Yank and Doodle started adventuring years before their father did (a few issues after the original Black Owl, appeared, actually). They call themselves that because, well, they wanted to be patriotic and all the cool patriotic names were already taken by that point.
Also, Yank and Doodle’s mother was killed by Hitler. Seriously. It’s in Prize Comics #24.