History TotallyRadical / ComicBooks

* In the early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], Snapper Carr was essentially the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica's collective {{sidekick}}. He spoke in constant slang and was always fixing hot rods, going to baseball games, and so on. Acknowledged in the ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' CrossOver when Marvel's Rick Jones says that Carr is an okay guy "no matter how he talks".
* There's a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' issue where Rick Jones becomes the Hulk instead of Bruce Banner. This youthful Hulk mixes HulkSpeak with the early 60s version of this trope to hilarious effect:
-->''"Don't '''jive''' Hulk with fancy lingo, bug-man! Hulk doesn't '''dig''' it!"''
* Rick Hulk reappears in ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions2015'', where he still talks like this.
* Bob Haney's work on the original ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' comics. The least subtle display takes place within one such issue, which features Robin deducing that a message from an adolescent is a forgery based on its "vernacular". Daddy-O.
* The canceled ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' 2020 line-up included a hero named Screentime, described as a "meme-obsessed" teen hero whose brain was connected to the internet thanks to experimental "internet gas". Two of his teammates went by the names Snowflake and Safespace, common internet buzzwords, with an apparent interest in livestreaming their heroics. All of this made it painfully apparent that the writers were trying to appeal to late-2010's teen culture, and the ensuing mockery (and backlash, since "snowflake" and "safespace" are usually used online to mock liberals and minorities) is largely suspected to be the reason why the series never got released.
* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' gets [[SelfDeprecatingHumor mocked]] in a 1990s story in ''ComicBook/TheFlash 80-Page Giant'', which exactly duplicates the ludicrous slang from the original stories. It turns out to be a tale the former Kid Flash is spinning to Impulse. Bart points out that nobody ever really talked like that - and even if they did, [[ComicBookTime it wasn't when the twentysomething Wally was a teenager]].
* [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ComicBook/SpiderMan comics deserve special mention. While the original Ditko comics were pretty good as far as slang went, when Peter enters college and gains a social life, the characters' slang gets crazy out of hand. [[http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/30.jpg Mary Jane is particularly impossible to understand]].
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Aunt May and Aunt Anna also speaking in this manner, on a [[http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/91.jpg splash page]].
** An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' spoofed this when the title character time travels back to the 1960s and encounters the then-current versions of ComicBook/SpiderMan's cast. Their constant overuse of inexplicable 60s slang is a running gag throughout the issue, with Mary Jane being the worst offender. And upon hearing Harry Osborn speak, Deadpool actually asks if he is having a stroke. This isn't the only time Deadpool's travelled back in Marvel history and made fun of slang. Brian Posehn's run has featured an 80's issue with alcoholic Tony Stark & a 70's issue (complete with afro-wearing Deadpool) trying to join Heroes For Hire and fighting an albino pimp called "White Man". As one would imagine, there's PLENTY to make fun of.
* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' addresses this when the titular character seeks to reinvent himself after being given the cold shoulder by a girl for his over-use of early-90's cliches and expressions. However, all this accomplishes is trading sunglasses for bug-eyes (which were never seen again), a leather jacket for a PVC one, losing the piercings for a scruffy goatee, ditching his belts altogether, and saying "Word. Reprezent." instead of "Don't Mess with the S!"
* [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Superman]]'s robot [[Characters/SupermanSupportingCast Kelex]] (a new robot built in the likeness of Jor-El's robot with the same name), who looks after the Fortress of Solitude for him, went through a phase of talking in amusingly awkward slang. This phase seems to have passed.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim Drake had a habit of using exceedingly outdated slang in his civilian persona when doing things to cover up his secret ID, like intentionally messing up in gym. As none of his friends did this Ives in particular often came off as though he was very sarcastically putting up with a friend's bizarre eccentricities and disconnect with his own age group.
* A large portion of [[TagalongKid Tyler's]] dialogue from ''ComicBook/JurassicStrikeForceFive'' consists of him stating how everything is "cool" and "awesome." He says "totally" so many times that it's a borderline VerbalTic.
* In ''{{ComicBook/Nextwave}}'', Boom Boom uses phrases like "Oh noes!" and "ZOMG!" in both everyday conversation and periods of extreme stress. However, this is due to her actually being completely brainless, in the most literal sense of the word. Creator/WarrenEllis, the comic's writer, practically lives on the Internet and was taking the opportunity to lambast some of its stupider members.
* The acid overdose survivor Arkady in ''Freakangels'' apparently starts talking in lolcat when drunk. "I can has vodka" indeed.
* Creator/DCComics's miniseries ''The Weird'' from the late eighties had the "son" of its eponymous character speak in terribly inaccurate slang -- flying with his pseudo-father is apparently "bogus" and The Weird's abilities are "the dudest". Jim Starlin: good writer, terrible slangologist.
* The front cover of [[Creator/DCComics DC's]] ''ComicBook/{{Raven}}'' miniseries proudly states, "Finally in Her Own Emo Series!". Someone at DC is apparently unaware that emo, when applied to a person, is generally considered an insult.
* ''{{ComicBook/Fray}}'''s anning hab of abrevving half of the words in every sent she speaks has a sim eff to the more comm vers of this tro on a lot of peep; that is, making it both hard to under and frustringly diff to igno[[labelnote:translation]]''Fray[='=]s'' annoying habit of abbreviating half of the words in every sentence she speaks has a similar effect to the more common version of this trope on a lot of people; that is, making it both hard to understand and frustratingly difficult to ignore[[/labelnote]]. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[ComicBook/BuffytheVampireSlayer Buffy Season 8]] story arc ''The Time of Your Life'', where Buffy is thrust forward in time and actually meets Fray. Upon hearing Fray speak, Buffy's response is, "Uh....English?" Later, after hearing more of Mel's FutureSlang and such, Buffy makes a comment amounting to "[[BuffySpeak I should have been kinder to the English language when I had the chance]]".
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' is notorious for this trope. For example, one late-80s story has a lifeguard tell a surfing Veronica, "I really dig the way you attacked those waves with your rad moves". A contemporary in-house ad for an ''Archie'' calendar features a cartoon teenager, sporting a ridiculous multi-colored mohawk, oversized shades that Elton John would reject, and mismatched-color clothes telling the reader, "I ordered mine!" Like gnarly, daddy-o, if a rad hepcat teen like him bought one, I better slap down the bread too, yo yo yo.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', despite advertising itself as "The world's most [[CatchPhrase way past cool]] comic!", isn't actually terrible about this when it comes to its title character. Vector, on the other hand, sounds like he's having a stroke in a good half of the panels he's in. This was eventually toned down, then hand-waved as his initial attempt to hide his [[LandDownUnder Downunda]] accent.
* During the 80s crossover series ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'', most of the cast is notoriously guilty of this. In particular, ComicBook/SheHulk, when punching the Enchantress, declares "Oh wow! That was, like tubular, you know -- TO THE MAX!" This example is even more absurd when considering the fact that She-Hulk is a [[GeniusBruiser high-end attorney]].
* ''2000 AD's'' ''ComicBook/DRAndQuinch'' written by Creator/AlanMoore has the title characters describe literally everything as "totally amazing," "unbelievably awesome," or, like, "incredibly stupid."
* Subverted by ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMysteryGillen'' (which used to be ComicBook/TheMightyThor), where Kid-Loki has gotten his hands on a [[BlandNameProduct Stark-Pad]] and is casually surfing the internet. One hopes he won't go TotallyRadical on us, and then not only does he use the same formal grammar as any Asgardian while typing, but he explains what he has discovered on the internet in equally archaic terms, making for great one-liners:
-->'''Loki:''' [[InternetJerk The humans of the Internet are uncouth!]]\\
'''Loki:''' I've primarily discovered that [[TheInternetIsForPorn mortals like to rut and chronicle the experience pictorially]].
* Later in ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'', Kid Loki displays some shades of the trope because he tries to fit in with a bunch of Midgardian children [[spoiler:and also body snatching, so technically he isn't Kid or even a kid anymore]]. He loses it when he gets an age-up, though... and replaces it with occasional BuffySpeak.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': In the 1980's and 1990's, ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}} was guilty of this just about anytime she spoke. She even says "totally like radical" in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #247. It's so much worse in ''ComicBook/GenerationX'', where pretty much all the teens on the team were guilty of speaking this way.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'': One story revolves around Tails visiting a hypnotist to make him cool like Sonic. It works too well and Tails ends up becoming a backwards baseball cap wearing, sunglasses sporting 90s cool kid. Sonic is the only one who dislikes the "cool" new Tails.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''ComicBook/{{Revolutionaries}}'' with its portrayal of [[WesternAnimation/SgtSavageAndHisScreamingEagles Sgt. Savage]]. Once a SuperSoldier from 1944, an accident involving a magical artifact teleported him to 1994, where he promptly became ''obsessed'' with 90s culture. He's now a [[Creator/RobLiefeld Liefeld]]-style hero who fights ninjas and skateboarders while spouting one-liners like "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons eat my shorts!]]" and calling things "totally tubular". Even after being teleported further into the future (to 2017), he continues to talk this way, much to the confusion of the Revolutionaries.
* Used as a plotpoint in an issue of ''The Brave and the Bold'', the first appearance of the ComicBook/TeenTitans (though the team would be officially formed some time later). Robin (Dick Grayson) realizes that the letter from the children of the town that were kidnapped must have been written by the villain - Because any ''real'' teenager would never say music, they would say Jives.

* Comicbook/Superman's robot [[Characters/SupermanSupportingCast Kelex]] (a new robot built in the likeness of Jor-El's robot with the same name), who looks after the Fortress of Solitude for him, went through a phase of talking in amusingly awkward slang. This phase seems to have passed.

* In the early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], Snapper Carr was essentially the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica's collective {{sidekick}}. He spoke in constant slang and was always fixing hot rods, going to baseball games, and so on. Acknowledged in the ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' CrossOver when Marvel's Rick Jones says that Carr is an okay guy "no matter how he talks".

* [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Franchise/SpiderMan comics deserve special mention. While the original Ditko comics were pretty good as far as slang went, when Peter enters college and gains a social life, the characters' slang gets crazy out of hand. [[http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/30.jpg Mary Jane is particularly impossible to understand]].

** An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' spoofed this when the title character time travels back to the 1960s and encounters the then-current versions of Franchise/SpiderMan's cast. Their constant overuse of inexplicable 60s slang is a running gag throughout the issue, with Mary Jane being the worst offender. And upon hearing Harry Osborn speak, Deadpool actually asks if he is having a stroke. This isn't the only time Deadpool's travelled back in Marvel history and made fun of slang. Brian Posehn's run has featured an 80's issue with alcoholic Tony Stark & a 70's issue (complete with afro-wearing Deadpool) trying to join Heroes For Hire and fighting an albino pimp called "White Man". As one would imagine, there's PLENTY to make fun of.

* The front cover of [[Creator/DCComics DC's]] ''Comicbook/{{Raven}}'' miniseries proudly states, "Finally in Her Own Emo Series!". Someone at DC is apparently unaware that emo, when applied to a person, is generally considered an insult.

* Later in ''Comicbook/YoungAvengers'', Kid Loki displays some shades of the trope because he tries to fit in with a bunch of Midgardian children [[spoiler:and also body snatching, so technically he isn't Kid or even a kid anymore]]. He loses it when he gets an age-up, though... and replaces it with occasional BuffySpeak.

%%* ComicBook/XMen: In the 1980's and 1990's, ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics and ComicBook/KittyPryde were guilty of this just about anytime they spoke.

* The canceled New Warriors (2020) lineup for the most flak for this, with the superheroes names either being “woke” buzzwords as was the case of the twins Snowflake and Safespace or a fundamental misunderstanding of what’s current which happened with Screensaver, a superhero who somehow got Internet powers from experimental “internet gas.” Needless to say the lineup was quietly swept under the rug after the backlash.

* The canceled ''ComicBook/NewWarriors2020'' lineup for the most flak for this, with the superheroes names either being “woke” buzzwords as was the case of the twins Snowflake and Safespace or a fundamental misunderstanding of what’s current as was the case with Screensaver, a superhero who somehow got Internet powers from experimental “internet gas.” Needless to say the lineup was quietly swept under the rug after the backlash.

* During the 80s crossover series ''ComicBook/SecretWars'', most of the cast is notoriously guilty of this. In particular, ComicBook/SheHulk, when punching the Enchantress, declares "Oh wow! That was, like tubular, you know -- TO THE MAX!" This example is even more absurd when considering the fact that She-Hulk is a [[GeniusBruiser high-end attorney]].

* Rick Hulk reappears in ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions (2015)'', where he still talks like this.

-->'''Loki:''' The humans of the Internet are uncouth!\\\
'''Loki:''' I've primarily discovered that mortals like to rut and chronicle the experience pictorially.

* In the early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], Snapper Carr was essentially the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica's collective {{sidekick}}. He spoke in constant slang and was always fixing hot rods, going to baseball games, and so on. Acknowledged in the ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' CrossOver when Marvel's Rick Jones says that Carr is an okay guy "no matter how he talks". And when Rick Jones thinks your slang is outdated, brother, you got problems.
* Speaking of Rick Jones, there's a ''[[ComicBook/{{What If}} What If?]]'' issue where Rick Jones becomes the Hulk instead of Bruce Banner. This youthful Hulk mixes HulkSpeak with the early 60s version of this trope to hilarious effect:

** Rick Hulk reappears in ''Comicbook/ContestOfChampions (2015)'', where he still talks like this.
* Bob Haney's work on the original ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' comics of the mid-to-late 1960s could be the archetype of this trope. The least subtle display takes place within one such issue, which features Robin deducing that a message from an adolescent is a forgery based on its "vernacular". Daddy-O.
* ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' gets [[SelfDeprecatingHumor mocked]] in a 1990s story in ''Comicbook/TheFlash 80-Page Giant'', which exactly duplicates the ludicrous slang from the original stories. It turns out to be a tale the former Kid Flash is spinning to Impulse. Bart points out that nobody ever really talked like that - and even if they did, [[ComicBookTime it wasn't when the twentysomething Wally was a teenager]].
* Although it appears to be taken for granted, [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Franchise/SpiderMan comics deserve special mention. While the original Ditko comics were pretty good as far as slang went, when Peter enters college and gains a social life, the characters' slang gets crazy out of hand. [[http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/30.jpg Mary Jane is particularly impossible to understand]].

* Amusingly early in ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' Tim Drake had a habit of using exceedingly outdated slang in his civilian persona when doing things to cover up his secret ID, like intentionally messing up in gym. As none of his friends did this Ives in particular often came off as though he was very sarcastically putting up with a friend's bizarre eccentricities and disconnect with his own age group.

* Subverted by ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' (which used to be ComicBook/TheMightyThor), where Kid-Loki has gotten his hands on a [[BlandNameProduct Stark-Pad]] and is casually surfing the internet. One hopes he won't go TotallyRadical on us, and then not only does he use the same formal grammar as any Asgardian while typing, but he explains what he has discovered on the internet in equally archaic terms, making for great one-liners:

%%* ComicBook/XMen: In the 1980's and 1990's, ComicBook/{{Jubilee}} and ComicBook/KittyPryde were guilty of this just about anytime they spoke.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', despite advertising itself as "The world's most [[CatchPhrase way past cool]] comic!", isn't actually terrible about this when it comes to its title character. Vector, on the other hand, sounds like he's having a stroke in a good half of the panels he's in. This was eventually toned down, then hand-waved as his initial attempt to hide his [[LandDownUnder Downunda]] accent.

* Franchise/ArchieComics is notorious for this trope. For example, one late-80s story has a lifeguard tell a surfing Veronica, "I really dig the way you attacked those waves with your rad moves". A contemporary in-house ad for an ''Archie'' calendar features a cartoon teenager, sporting a ridiculous multi-colored mohawk, oversized shades that Elton John would reject, and mismatched-color clothes telling the reader, "I ordered mine!" Like gnarly, daddy-o, if a rad hepcat teen like him bought one, I better slap down the bread too, yo yo yo.

* Amusingly early in ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' Tim Drake had a habit of using exceedingly outdated slang in his civilian persona when doing things to cover up his secret ID, like intentionally messing up in gym. As none of his friends did this Ives in particular often came off as though he was very sarcastically putting up with a friend's bizarre eccentricities and disconnect with other's his own age.

** An issue of ''{{Deadpool}}'' spoofed this when the title character time travels back to the 1960s and encounters the then-current versions of Franchise/SpiderMan's cast. Their constant overuse of inexplicable 60s slang is a running gag throughout the issue, with Mary Jane being the worst offender. And upon hearing Harry Osborn speak, Deadpool actually asks if he is having a stroke. This isn't the only time Deadpool's travelled back in Marvel history and made fun of slang. Brian Posehn's run has featured an 80's issue with alcoholic Tony Stark & a 70's issue (complete with afro-wearing Deadpool) trying to join Heroes For Hire and fighting an albino pimp called "White Man". As one would imagine, there's PLENTY to make fun of.

* Although it appears to be taken for granted, [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] {{Spider-Man}} comics deserve special mention. While the original Ditko comics were pretty good as far as slang went, when Peter enters college and gains a social life, the characters' slang gets crazy out of hand. [[http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/30.jpg Mary Jane is particularly impossible to understand]].

** An issue of ''{{Deadpool}}'' spoofed this when the title character time travels back to the 1960s and encounters the then-current versions of {{Spider-Man}}'s cast. Their constant overuse of inexplicable 60s slang is a running gag throughout the issue, with Mary Jane being the worst offender. And upon hearing Harry Osborn speak, Deadpool actually asks if he is having a stroke. This isn't the only time Deadpool's travelled back in Marvel history and made fun of slang. Brian Posehn's run has featured an 80's issue with alcoholic Tony Stark & a 70's issue (complete with afro-wearing Deadpool) trying to join Heroes For Hire and fighting an albino pimp called "White Man". As one would imagine, there's PLENTY to make fun of.

* ''{{ComicBook/Fray}}'''s anning hab of abrevving half of the words in every sent she speaks has a sim eff to the more comm vers of this tro on a lot of peep; that is, making it both hard to under and frustringly diff to igno. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[ComicBook/BuffytheVampireSlayer Buffy Season 8]] story arc ''The Time of Your Life'', where Buffy is thrust forward in time and actually meets Fray. Upon hearing Fray speak, Buffy's response is, "Uh....English?" Later, after hearing more of Mel's FutureSlang and such, Buffy makes a comment amounting to "[[BuffySpeak I should have been kinder to the English language when I had the chance]]"

* In the early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], Snapper Carr was essentially the JusticeLeagueOfAmerica's collective {{sidekick}}. He spoke in constant slang and was always fixing hot rods, going to baseball games, and so on. Acknowledged in the ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' CrossOver when Marvel's Rick Jones says that Carr is an okay guy "no matter how he talks". And when Rick Jones thinks your slang is outdated, brother, you got problems.

* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' addresses this when the titular character seeks to reinvent himself after being given the cold shoulder by a girl for his over-use of early-90's cliches and expressions. However, all this accomplishes is trading sunglasses for bug-eyes (which were never seen again), a leather jacket for a PVC one, losing the piercings for a scruffy goatee, ditching his belts all together, and saying "Word. Reprezent." instead of "Don't Mess with the S!"

* In ''{{ComicBook/Nextwave}}'', Boom Boom uses phrases like "Oh noes!" and "ZOMG!" in both everyday conversation and periods of extreme stress. However, this is due to her actually being completely brainless, in the most literal sense of the word. WarrenEllis, the comic's writer, practically lives on the Internet and was taking the opportunity to lambast some of its stupider members.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieSonicTheHedgehog'', despite advertising itself as "The world's most [[CatchPhrase way past cool]] comic!", isn't actually terrible about this when it comes to its title character. Vector, on the other hand, sounds like he's having a stroke in a good half of the panels he's in. This was eventually toned down, then hand-waved as his initial attempt to hide his [[LandDownUnder Downunda]] accent.