Comic Book examples of Serious Business.
- One issue of Atomic Robo shows that Robo and his Action Scientists treat appearing at the National Science Fair as celebrities as a life-or-death mission. Come to think of it, they treat it more seriously than a lot of their life-or-death missions.Robo: Status report.
Jenkins: We lost Jeff.
(cut to Jeff getting swarmed by children fanboying over him)
Robo: We don't leave agents behind. Take Julie and get him back. - The Batman comics - and, by extension, almost all Batman media - have this as their unspoken premise. Other cities are plagued merely by gangsters, drug dealers and riots; Gotham City has all those problems and a relatively large segment of the population consisting of the most psychopathic and vicious men and women on the face of the earth - who also have childishly costumed alter egos. In a way, it's sad when you think about it: not only are the lives of Gothamites constantly in danger, but their innocence has also been destroyed. They will never be able to find clowns funny, to think penguins are charming, or to consider riddles an entertaining mental exercise. (And in the Burton/Schumacher movies, too: How will those people ever again be able to see a parade balloon or a Christmas tree-lighting without suffering psychological trauma? How can they ever even watch TV, now that they know that some megalomaniac could literally be using their cable box to read their brainwaves?) And all the while, Batman and the Gotham police alike have to treat all of this very seriously, perhaps at the risk of losing their sanity. Harvey Bullock once pointed out that it was a miracle they all weren't as crazy as the nutjobs they fought. Commissioner Gordon once suggested that various members of the Rogues Gallery (in this instance, Maxie Zeus, who literally believes he is a Greek god) would be really absurd and even pathetic if they weren't so dangerous. And Batman himself has remarked that, as cheesy as the concept of Ra's Al-Ghul destroying the world might sound, he is dead serious about doing just that - and one terrible day, he might succeed.
- According to the Batman: The Animated Series "Mad Love" comic, The Joker takes comedy very seriously. Only he gets to tell jokes during his crimes; he throws a tantrum if anyone else makes a crack. And if people don't understand one of his gags and he has to tell them why it is funny, that takes all the fun out of it - even if it involves killing Batman.Joker: (angrily, to Harley Quinn) My jokes are elegant in their simplicity. You see them, you get them, you laugh - end of joke! You should have remembered when I told you that a long time ago; it's one of the few real truths of comedy!...You're always taking shots from folks who just don't get the joke! note (strikes Harley repeatedly with a large fish, sending her crashing through a high window and down to the street far below, nearly killing her)
- There's also the Adventures of Batman & Robin (a Saturday morning spinoff show of the above) episode "Make 'Em Laugh." The Joker is outraged because a panel of three comedians won't give him the annual trophy for best comic in Gotham City (despite the fact that he wasn't even eligible to compete because registration had already ended), so he 1) steals the Mad Hatter's mind-control microchips at Arkham and puts the Hatter himself in a microchip-induced coma from which he might never wake up; 2) kidnaps and brainwashes the three comedian-judges, turning them into super-criminals and indirectly getting one of them sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries; and 3) replaces the judges with three of his own men, forces the emcee to introduce him as the only contestant, and terrifies the audience by juggling grenades until Batman and Robin show up. Batman scolds him for ruining so many people's lives just because he couldn't get a cheap trophy.
- According to the Batman: The Animated Series "Mad Love" comic, The Joker takes comedy very seriously. Only he gets to tell jokes during his crimes; he throws a tantrum if anyone else makes a crack. And if people don't understand one of his gags and he has to tell them why it is funny, that takes all the fun out of it - even if it involves killing Batman.
- Bookhunter takes place in an alternate-universe 1970s where books and libraries are so important that a branch of the police is devoted to investigating library-related crime.Agent Bay: In many respects the American Library has become the most basic First Amendment institution. We are guards, yet we guard no less than the sum of human knowledge. We are the library police.
- Chew takes place in a universe where chicken is illegal and the FDA is the most powerful government agency. As a result, people sell chicken meat illegally like it's a drug.
- One Cthulhu Tales comic had an unnamed "Maine Cheetahs" baseball fan (according to Google, no such team exists) for whom baseball was such serious business, he went so far as to invoke Cthulhu in order to win them their first World Series in seventy years. It doesn't appear to end well for anyone concerned.
- DC Comics had a Golden Age hero called Manhunter, then bought another Golden Age hero called Manhunter. In a Retcon, the two men had an argument over who got to keep the name, and they settled it by having one of them go to another universe. This a Lampshade Hanging on how writers in comics loved to remove problems by having them turn out to take place in alternate universes.
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe examples:
- For magic users, Association Football:
- Magica De Spell made the Midas Touch her life goal and for that she needs to steal Scrooge's #1 Dime, but if Italy's national team is playing she'll leave Scrooge alone (to the point that Scrooge knows The World Cup is a safe period... Except in 2018, when Italy failed to qualify). In the 1994 edition she had decided to fix the tournament and went to Duckburg only because the team was residing there... And completely forgot about Scrooge until right before he (thinking she was attacking) opened fire on her. She did not retaliate, as she had more important things to do.
- Magica's attempt at fixing the tournament failed because every team had one mage or witch trying the same for them and they were neutralizing each other. She was told that by an archmage that had come to America specifically to insure that such tricks failed (and was very pleased he could enjoy the tournament without neutralizing the various magics).
- In a later occasion Magica gets in hot waters with the archmage Mondor, that decides that the best way to make an example out of her is to have her coach Scrooge and family for a football match against eleven champions taken from various times and places on pain of being stripped of her powers - and choose that specific method because part of what got Magica in trouble with him was the series of humiliations she had just inflicted on him in normal and table football before finding out who she was dealing with. Magica proves herself such an amazing coach that Mondor has to resort to cheating... And for cheating in the Beautiful Game he gets stripped of his position and powers by the other archmages.
- Scrooge loves money. He'll always try and spend as little as possible, he'll always try to make more money, and at one point he decided that since money moves everything and everyone a rocket propellant made from it would be incredibly powerful (and he was right).
- Gus Goose is one of the nicest persons around... Unless you try and deny him food, or, even worse, try to take it from him, with a bear that tried the latter being beaten up and forced to flee. The only one who can get away with denying him food is Grandma Duck... As she's the one who cooks for him most of the time and she's the best cook around, and she only does it if there's health concerns anyway.
- Scrooge once tried to become a sponsor for the Formula One team Perrari, a Ferrari Expy. At first the management was willing... Then Scrooge suggested to replace their famous red paintjob with one similar to the one of his product, on the logic that it's a common thing in American auto racing (and done by many Formula One teams). Perrari's CEO and the racing team's engineers try and lynch him on the spot, chasing him out of their workshop, as you do not touch the red paintjob.note
- For magic users, Association Football:
- The food and restaurant industry in Get Jiro! are treated as this. L.A. is ruled by two warring culinary moguls — International and The Farm — who run the city like competing mobs, Jiro decapitates a foodie for asking for a California roll in his sushi restaurant (and the cops, who witnessed the whole thing, do nothing about it), a street of fast food joints act as the Red Light District, Rose kills one of her chefs for serving a tomato dish out of season and so on.
- Beef is Serious Business in the Crapsack World of Give Me Liberty. Fast-food restaurants wage wars for farmland, people commit suicide for hamburgers, and there's even a 94th Amendment outlawing red meat.
- The people of a Hannoverian village who want to celebrate the birthday of their ex-king (Hannover was conquered by Prussia in 1866; some people nursed a grudge because of this, and pro-Prussian Wilhelm Busch wrote this story as a Take That!).
- The Immortal Thor: In the recounting of young Thor and Loki's journey to Utgard, on arrival the Utgard-Loki challenges them to any contest they can name. Loki, who was starving hungry, immediately declares an eating contest, much to Thor's irritation. Before he can finish chiding him brother, Utgard-Loki accepts, and agrees with Thor; it is serious, for all trials are one trial, and if they — who purport to be Asgard's representatives — cannot manage, then how do they expect to defend their realms?
- Marvel Adventures: The Avengers:
- Giant-Girl will not let that creep, Ego the Living Planet, romance Earth. He's clearly some kind of planetary pickup artist who doesn't have her best interests in mind.
- In Issue #33, we see the last half of a conversation between Wolverine and a hot dog vendor that treats a crazy food idea like a technological leap forward for humanity.Wolverine: ...all I'm saying is that if we can put a man on the moon, and send spacecraft to Mars, it seems like we ought to be able to get this job done.
Vendor: You mean... create a deep-fried sausage pretzel? I don't know. Maybe this is one boundary man was not meant to cross.
- The "Sorry Cake" in Issue #3 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW):Pinkie Pie: Luckily, I always travel with an "I'm sorry" cake! I also have "I am sorry" goodie bags!
Twilight Sparkle: Uh, Pinkie, I don't think we have time for cake... we are only an hour away from the Changeling kingdom...
Pinkie Pie: EAT... THE... CAKE. - PS238:"You have wronged innocents, Charles. I formally challenge you to a game of four-square
. The loser will be given over to the lords of this realm to do with as they please!" - Robin (1993): When Tim is transferred to Brentwood Academy by his father as punishment for not trying out for football, and supposedly lying about having done so even though Tim was intentionally vague when his dad asked, he's amused to hear that the school doesn't have a football team. Brentwood is a soccer school he's told, all other sports be dammed, and students that display physical aptitude for soccer can be forced onto the team.
- Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman: In "Generations" Philippus organizes a party for Hippolyta and treats it like a military operation. Hippolyta seems to find it endearing, and Philippus is quite obviously flirting with the queen at some points. Evidently this is how Philippus treats all parties she organizes as Diana is determined to avoid it for just this reason.
- During the election for Class President in SpyBoy, Schweitzer's father hires a hitman to take out both Alex and his ex-girlfriend. Even Schweitzer thought this was an overreaction.
- In Welcome to Tranquility Captain Cobra and Mongoose Man are not just enemies, but "enemies to the DEATH." Unfortunately, their advancing years are actually bringing them pretty close to that goal line and they have both retired from super-activities, heroic and villainous alike. So, what is left for them to be enemies over? Why, the apple tree that looms over both their properties, and who has proper ownership over the apples that fall down on either side of their fence. Just ask Sheriff Lindo, apples are serious business.
- In the German comic Werner: Brewing beer, tuning bikes
- When Wonder Woman was stuck working at Taco Whiz in Wonder Woman (1987), she took the job very seriously. Then again, she takes everything seriously, except Batman's brooding.
