Markup View

Author: OmarKarindu

Oct 1st 2011 at 10:43:52 PM

Comic Books
* This was a popular trope in The GoldenAge Of Comic Books, with several heroes getting goofy cliques of "allies" or sidekicks who were mostly PlayedForLaughs.
** The Golden Age [[TheFlash Flash]] had the Three Dimwits, [[Expy Expies]] of TheThreeStooges who helped him fight crime on occasion. Later in the 1940s, the Flash sometimes had adventures that involved the Liars' Club of [[CityOfAdventure Keystone City]].
** The GoldenAge Daredevil, not to be confused with the MarvelComics character, has the L'il Wiseguys. Evnually they got popular enough to take over his comic entirely.
** The gimmick of the Newsboy Legion was an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]: the goofy kids were the protagonists, but most of the battles were won by their ally-turned superhero adult friend, Jim Harper, in his role as the Guardian. In the BronzeAge Of Comic Books this trope was played straight as youthful [[DependingOnTheWriter sons/clones]] of the original Newsboys were treated as much less important to the plots than the Guardian. Once TheModernAgeOfComicBooks rolled around, the Guardian simply began appearing without them.
* In ''TheAdventuresOfTintin'', Tintin and Captain Haddock have a group of quirky allies including Professor Calculus and the DefectiveDetective pair of Thomson and Thompson.
* This is how Keith Giffen usually portrays [[LegionOfSuperheroes the Legion of Substitute Heroes]], who are otherwise treated as underpowered but basically "straight" superheroes.
* As befits its {{Retraux}} aesthetic, ''TomStrong'' features this. While Tom's wife Dahlua and daughter Tesla are played straight, [[TagalongKids the Strongmen of America]], the robot Pneuman, and talking gorilla Solomon are generally PlayedForLaughs with only occasional moments  of seriousness.

Video Games
* ''{{Earthbound}}'' has the Runaway Five. The sequel, ''Mother3'', has {{Expy}} versions in the DCMC.