Line #15 YouNoTakeCandle/ComicBooks


1	* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
2	** Nearly every incarnation of Bizarro and Bizarrogirl. "[[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries You no am Superman!]] ''Me'' am Superman!"
3	** Subverted in the ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'' storyline: characters have come to learn 'Bizarro Speak' as a recognized language. Bizarro isn't stupid, just complicated (and homicidal).
4	*** Extremely complicated as it's practically impossible to say which parts of the phrase are to be inverted or misconjugated. He says the opposite of what he means, but DependingOnTheWriter, that would mean "You no am Superman." could mean "You are Superman.", "''I'' am not Superman.", or "I am Superman.", or even "I am Bizarro." (because Bizarro is the opposite of Superman, you'd expect him to switch their names.) And since even the comic has more than one version of the character, it can even mean "You are not Superman."
5	** In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' episode "The Great Brain Robbery", Bizarro is the only member of the Legion to figure out that the guy claiming to be Lex Luthor wasn't Lex Luthor. However, telling everyone... that's a different story.
6	--->"Ever since you plug into monkey's head, you act perfectly sane and rational... am you Bizarro's mommy?"[[note]]Bizarro was originally created by Luthor in an attempt to create a loyal Superman clone.[[/note]]
7	** In ''ComicBook/TheComingOfAtlas'', Krypto has his thoughts presented to the reader this way to emphasize the difference between the thought processes and language uses of dogs and humans.
8	* The Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse version of [[Characters/GreenLantern1941 Solomon Grundy]] (who at first glance seems a CaptainErsatz of the Hulk, complete with "Grundy crush!" replacing "Hulk smash!") talks in Hulk-speak but is capable of full sentences, though he'd been speaking in third person since long before the Hulk's first appearance.
9	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGQEAiZJMco Solomon Grundy want pants too!]]
10	* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Hulk, though he doesn't do as much talking as most other incarnations. Count on at least one of the people he's trying to "Hulk Smash" at the moment to tell him third-person speaking is a sign of conceit.
11	** This is parodied frequently in ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre''. "...You know Hulk's grasp of language tenuous at best."
12	** Miek from the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' storyline; Though strictly speaking he actually ''doesn't'' speak English and his speech is just translated by Sakaaran talkboxes, he can't seem to grasp verb conjugation at all; "is [verb]ing" is the form he uses for pretty much every verb in every context. In general, his lack of aptitude for speech is implied to be due to his people not naturally communicating verbally, but by "chemming".
13	*** Miranda Cross from ''ComicBook/{{Ruse}}'' uses this variant, too. [[spoiler:Considering she's with the Negation and possibly a [[EldritchAbomination Lawbringer]], [[ObfuscatingStupidity it's probably deliberate]].]]
14	* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'': Grimlock is even specifically ''noted'' to not be dumb, at least in comics when [[AuthorAppeal Furman takes over]]; he just has problem with speech circuits. [[ObfuscatingStupidity He uses underestimation by others for his own good.]]
15	** Note that his original toy lists his intelligence as a 7 out of 10 (compared to poor Sludge's 3), decently above-average.
16	*** To put this in perspective, if Optimus Prime is sidelined, Grimlock's generally accepted as the next most-capable leader in the good guys, across almost all media in which he appears. Someone else got the job in the movie, and gets gunned down in the next fight, while Grimlock isn't only the most prominent old school survivor in the movie, he led an army in revolution in a subplot.
17	* Played straight in ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'': Natalya Zamyatin is a Russian secret agent whose English is described as being "beyond broken", making her sound somewhat stupid. However, whenever she has a chance to speak in Russian, she waxes loquacious. While not explicitly {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d, she is well aware of the overall effect.
18	-->'''Natalya''' (in Russian): "<Thank Christ! I sound like a ''retard'' when I try to speak English!>"\
19	'''Agent 355''' (an American, also speaking Russian): "<Slow down. Who ''is'' you?>"
20	** In the epilogue, decades later, one character remarks on meeting Natalya and being impressed with her excellent English. An older character who knew her during this time laughs at this.
21	* Subverted in the post-Zero Hour ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' with [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Chameleon]], who starts out speaking none of the languages the other characters use, and spends quite a while gradually learning the language and speaking it very brokenly... right up until [[WhamEpisode the payoff]] of an {{Arc}} which [[TheReveal reveals]], among other things, that he's been perfectly fluent for quite a while and was simply [[ObfuscatingStupidity concealing it]] so that nobody would suspect him of impersonating certain key figures.
22	* Corollary: [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Starfire]] of Creator/DCComics can leap over the whole hurdle of communication by kissing someone to learn their language. Any brief physical contact will do, but kissing is the method she prefers.
23	* Vlad in ''ComicBook/HackSlash'' talks in broken English, thanks to being brought up in isolation by a reclusive Czech-American butcher who didn't speak English very well.
24	* In later ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' comics, the Black Widow speaks English this way, [[spoiler:until it's revealed she's actually Natasha Romanova impersonating Yelena Bolova, and consequently imitating her comparatively lacking grasp of the English language.]]
25	* Yondu Udonta, of Creator/{{Marvel\|Comics}}'s sadly-defunct ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' spinoff ''Comicbook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', originally spoke like this. However, as of when the Guardians got their own series, he'd become quite articulate... even as he [[CharacterDevelopment became more of a believable alien tribal shaman]] and less of a NobleSavage in blue body paint.
26	** In the revamped ''Guardians of the Galaxy'', a telepathic Russian dog named Cosmo conveys his thoughts to others in a thick Russian accent, despite the fact that Cosmo is only directing his thoughts, and can convey them to people perfectly no matter what language they speak.
27	* In ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', Superman notes that Overman speaks English this way because on his world (where the Nazis won World War II because they had the most powerful superheroes on their side) it's a dead language that he only knows due to his top notch education; he's never had occasion to speak it before, so he speaks it slowly and carefully enunciates every word.
28	* Cleaner Slugs from ''Comicbook/GreenLantern'' comics are used by other species as literal organic garbage disposals. They'd probably get more respect if they could use pronouns.
29	* One short story from ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'' had [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe princess Arkashia]] and a HuskyRusskie-like guy who talked that way.
30	* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2152242.html story]] has Amadeus Cho drugging Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of destruction, turning her into Hathor, goddess of love... who talks like a [[WebOriginal/LOLCats LOL Cat]] (someone [[SadlyMythtaken confused her with Bast]])! PlayedForLaughs.
31	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Dex-Starr from the Red Lantern Corps does this, although his thoughts are usually verbalized by his ring.
32	* Ting-a-Ling, the Polynesian Stunt-Girl from ''ComicBook/JetDream and Her Stunt-Girl Counterspies'', has this speech pattern in early stories, but speaks perfectly fluent and colloquial American English in her last CharacterFocus story.
33	* Mek-Quake from ComicBook/TwoThousandAD. He also talks in the third person and makes, often pointless, declarative statements for further emphasis, along with a frequent cry of the catchphrase 'BIG JOBS!'. It is not an accident he also happens to be a massive robot Bulldozer.
34	* ComicBook/TheEyeOfMongombo: Jumballah, the WitchDoctor who turned anthropologist/adventurer [[ForcedTransformation Cliff Carlson into a duck]], tends to talk like this.
35	* In the ''Comicbook/{{Asterix}}'' album ''Obelix and Co.'', this is how Caius Preposterous talks to people who didn't study economics ("'If you not able make big heap menhirs, me not able pay big heap sestertii"). This leads Obelix to conclude that this is how businessmen talk, and soon everyone's doing it.
36	* In ''{{ComicBook/Violine}}'', Kombo, an African witch doctor, tends to talk like this.
37	* [[Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau Dr. Moreau]]'s hybrid monsters in the second volume of ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' are shown to have a tenuous grasp of grammar at best. In particular, H-9 (a more ferocious take on ComicStrip/RupertBear) says things like "You not to talk" and "You come with us, see master".
38	* In ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'', Preservers, the ancient race of fairy-like bug people, speak like this. Used to show just how different they are from the "highthings", aka the elves. Much of their vocabulary is made more verbose, ie: "beesweets" for honey, or "growler highthings" for the Wolf Riders. Mostly seen with Petalwing, the closest equivalent of a leader in Preserver culture, and the forced sidekick of Cutter and the other elves.
39	* Cassandra Cain, the third ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}, has trouble with speech processing because [[GuineaPigFamily her dad's twisted experiments]] mean the language centres of her brain are filled with fighting skills.

Context YouNoTakeCandle / ComicBooks