Something only we can do

[q99]

Fight for great justice, Smell Lad!




From the webcomic Three Panel Soul

Comments

[icon_uk]

In the "Superman: Last Son of Krypton" novel it's mentioned that Earth is known throughout the universe, but only really because it's the place that they make Xerox copiers. Apparently no other race has produced such an efficient way of producing two dimensional facsimiles of documents, and it's why so many Xerox machines (which are usually only leased, not sold) go missing each year.

[q99]

Heh :)

In Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire, we're a reasonably equipped species as things go, but what we're famous for is our popsicles.

[crinos]

And we have the best water slide parks of any species we have contact with.

[blake_reitz]

I just finished Last Son of Krypton yesterday, and man! All of a sudden, two pages on how Xerox copiers are wonders of the universe. Strange, but awesome.

Also from the book, we're one of only two species in the universe without the ability to properly smile. The next human legionnaire can be Sad Boy.

[michael_ellis_day]

It's a long time since I read the book, but isn't it the other way around? Wasn't it that we and the Guardians' race were among the very few races in the universe that could make the expression we call smiling?

[icon_uk]

I thought it was the other way around, that humans are said to be one of only two species who DO have a philtrum, and thus can smile.

[freezer]

I remember a Marvel Comics Presents story where Earth was the only planet in the universe that produces ice cream.

[salinea]

Heehehehe

[q99]

"Worry not citizens, I smell!"

[auggie18]

I've never seen Ben 10, but I heard about this and I liked it, so let's go with this: human beings have the special power to mate with aliens and still somehow produce offspring. Bam, our power is super f*cking!

That or our wussy molecular structure is so wimpy that tiny things (getting hit by lightning, gamma radiation, bitten by spider) can change it entirely.

[naebler]

that was the premise of old school DC's Invasion! storyline.

[icon_uk]

That and the fact that we have a basic genetic diversity on a scale no other species has.

[crinos]

Yeah. They somehow mated with an alien made of FIRE. and produced a KID.

[auggie18]

...what did the kid look like?

This is the icon I use for science!

[terrykun]

Dragonball GT took it a step further, if you stop to think about it.

Let's suspend genetic disbelief and first get past the matter of Half-Saiyans.

Gohan isn't just a hybrid, he's a FERTILE one. *pause for snickers* Horses and burros are so damn close to one another that they can make sweet equine love and produce mules or hinneys, but those hybrids are sterile.

This would imply that either humans or Saiyans are some kind of genetic master key. I know I've seen this come up in other sources as well, the hybrid grandchild of an alien race, but nothing's coming to mind...

[darkblade]

Also the origins of half the species in any given fantasy RPG.

[bruinsfan]

I've never seen Ben 10, but I heard about this and I liked it, so let's go with this: human beings have the special power to mate with aliens and still somehow produce offspring. Bam, our power is super f*cking!

OMG, Charlie Sheen and Paris Hilton are super heroes!

I speak the words, and the dread gates of unholy Internet domains open...

[glprime]

Humans Are Special

Humanity Is Superior

Although the truth in this scenario is likely Puny Earthlings

Souls, souls for TV Tropes. MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Re: I speak the words, and the dread gates of unholy Internet domains open...

[crinos]

Personally, I've always had a theory that humans are one of those warlike species on par with Klingons and Khund.

I mean, we produced the National Hockey league. Nuff said.

[cleome45]

:D

My week is officially made, at just about the last possible moment.

Honestly, though. Without hand-waving a certain amount of shit, I couldn't enjoy the Legion or anything else. I tell myself that super-powers (wherever you're from in comic/scifi land) are like other skills that real humans have in the real world. That is, when you describe "musical skill," you could mean somebody who has perfect pitch and writes amazing songs. Or you could mean somebody who doesn't do much creative stuff alone, but is a reliable bassist and works happily as a studio musician their entire life. Or you could mean a passionate amateur who loves to sing in choirs for charities on their days away from their "real" job. Or, at the very bottom, you've got somebody like me, who can hum on key, barely-- even though they love and appreciate music.

Just because we all have a skill doesn't mean we're all good for it to the same degree, or that it's going to be meaningful/useful in every setting.

[silicondream]

As far as the Legion's concerned, DC humans are special in two significant ways.

First, as naebler and icon_uk pointed out, our exceptional diversity and our metagene allow us to manifest unique superpowers at the drop of a hat. This has resulted in lots of Earthborn superpeople who've played important parts in galactic affairs, plus many of the humanoid alien races in the DCU are descended from metahumans...at least in some continuities. Half the Legion has human ancestry in one way or another.

(When Morrison's writing, far-future humans eventually learn to control this ability and everyone has designer superpowers, but that hasn't shown up in the Legion era.)

Second, DC humanity produces lots of individuals who aren't quite superhuman, but are insanely talented in one area or another. The biggest example is martial arts; the average human can't fight worth a damn compared to a Khund or Thanagarian, but nobody fights like Karate Kid, the Legion's token baseline human. Even the "second-tier" fighters like Richard Dragon, Shiva, Constantine Drakon and the Batclan are still way more skilled than almost any alien character. The only really good non-Earthborn martial artists I can think of are Karate Kid II and the reboot Emerald Empress, and they might both have had human ancestry.

Similarly, the average human isn't nearly as smart as the average Coluan, but individual humans or human descendants have still rivaled the Brainiac lineage: Rond Vidar, Frances Campbell, probably Lex Luthor and Michael Holt as well. (Even though the DCU doesn't really have a rival to Reed Richards!)

[bruinsfan]

The only really good non-Earthborn martial artists I can think of are Karate Kid II and the reboot Emerald Empress, and they might both have had human ancestry.

Tamaranian warriors and the Okaaran Warlords are supposed to be skilled martial artists, but it does see to be a rarity among alien species.

[eaglet_auditore]

I believe what makes humans special is the power of small talk. That, or I haven't met enough aliens that like to talk about the weather.

[eaglet_auditore]

Read, I really meant ''read'' instead of ''met''.

[q99]

They might just have different topics of small talk on their worlds?