Just imagine Green Lantern's origin this way: Abin Sur lays dying in the wreckage of his ship imploring Hal Jordan to carry on his work. Before he can pass Hal the ring, the ground beneath the ship collapses, and Hal barely escapes. He has the dedication to carry on, but not none of the power of his predecessor.

That's roughly the situation of Ted Kord and the passing of the mantle of the Blue Beetle. Talk about rising to the occasion!

Good point, Larry. I've always been a sucker for the stories where somebody loses their powers and we see how heroic they are in our shoes.

Most heroes without powers, though, have some kind of advantage. Kord has his scientific genius, Bruce Wayne has his wealth, etc. I think Hal would have stil been fearless and honest, but could he have taken on the GL villains?

But see, with no advantages, they would simply...

...lose.

I enjoy stories that include hapless joes who just stumble onto heroism thanks to their purity-of-heart -- a la the divine Melody from JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS -- but rarely find such stories terribly persuasive.

Far more compelling is a singleminded person with a special skill who, despite compromises all around, devotes herself to doing well the one thing she does really, really well.

<< edited for spelling>>

The great thing about "average guy" heroes is that we discover their skill or strength along with them, and they are revealed to be not so average after all.

Now that's something different.

Is it really? Unless someone does something heroic by pure accident, they had to be using some ability they already had--courage, willpower, intelligence--or develop a new one for the situation.

Haven't studied up on your JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS, eh?

Melody often ruled supreme not by demonstrating any skill but by revealing there was never any real conflict in the first place. She would treak an attacking monster as a playful animal, only to have it inexplicably behave as a playful animal.

The Beatles' goodness of heart melted all resistance by The Blue Meanies in YELLOW SUBMARINE.

Jiminy Cricket was a great advocate for such heroes, who made reality conform to their wishes simply by wanting it very, very much.

This character type -- who solved problems simply by dreaming, not even using magic, neither exercising nor developing any skill -- was commonplace in kids' fiction in the '60s and '70s. I thought STAR WARS was kinda the consumation of the type -- "the force" did all the work -- although Jedi knights had the common decency to PRETEND to practice.

I saw the Josie movie long ago (and liked it) but when you used Melody, I didn't realize the type of character you were referring to. I think that would involve the accidental type of heroism I mentioned before, which I really don't think is heroic at all, although it still gets results.

Larry's example of Ted Kord or a ring-less Hal Jordan is different, though. Balls and skill are still necessary.

Right. So in a case like you're talking about, the character at first appears to have no advantages, but advantage (special skills or qualifications) emerge.

I'm down with that. In fact, I love that because it encourages useless punks to work hard as a character-building exercise (even when the job at hand seems pointless, Daniel-san).

I'm speaking as a formerly useless punk, now a valuable punk and (according to some) a skilled catburglar.

(Gentleman catburglar.)

Well, for those of you who read the first
SUPERMAN/BATMAN: GENERATIONS miniseries
(& if you haven't, what's wrong with you?),
you saw that Hal Jordan turned down the GL
ring because he thought he could do more
good as a politician & he eventually became
President of the U.S.A. So I guess he felt
there were different ways to be a hero.

Yeah I know he becomes GL at the end but
that's not the point. . .