Line #60 ComicBook/BigBangComics


1	[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/big_bang_comics_tpb.jpg]]
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3	''Big Bang Comics'' is an American comic book anthology series, designed to be an homage to [[UsefulNotes/{{TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks}} Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks}} Silver Age]] comics. Most stories in Big Bang Comics take place either on "Earth-A," during the 1960s, or on "Earth-B" during the 1940s, with characters like Ultiman, Thunder Girl, and Dr. Weird.
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5	''Big Bang Comics'' first appeared in 1994, with a five-issue limited series (numbered 1–4 and 0), published by Caliber Comics. A second series lasting 35 issues was published by Creator/ImageComics from 1996 to 2001, followed by seven one-shot comics. As of the 2010s, Gary Carlson self-publishes ''Big Bang Presents''. Like its predecessor series Big Bang Comics, this is an anthology featuring a rotating cast of new and established characters in a self-contained fictional universe.
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8	!!Big Bang Tropes:
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10	* ActuallyADoombot: Ultiman hints that he has never actually met his archenemy Cortex, and that Cortex commits all his crimes by way of a series of robotic doubles. This isn't a secret on Cortex's part, and he tends to destroy the doubles himself by having them self-destruct upon their capture.
11	* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Christie Kelly becomes Ultragirl after an explosion appparently kills her father Ultiman. Meanwhile Gwen Randall, the daughter of Galahad and Knight-Watchman's grand-niece in ''The Graveyard Shift'', desperately wants to be this but her entire family is pretty strict on keeping her out of the superhero lifestyle. Though it's implied at the end that she has impressed Reid who might train her under the condition both her parents agree.
12	* AlliterativeName: In keeping with the stories they are homaging, many of the faux golden age characters have alliterative names. These include:
13	** Roger Ryan a.k.a. The Badge. Applies to Trooper and Bobbie as well — Rick and Roberta Ryan.
14	** Reid Randall a.k.a. Knight Watchman
15	** Chuck Cox a.k.a. Mr. Martian
16	** Chris Kelly a.k.a. Ultiman
17	** Christine Kelly a.k.a. Ultragirl
18	* AllLovingHero: Ultiman is this, which makes sense considering he's based on the most famous example of this in all of comics. He even cares for robots that he had designed to manage and protect his Secret Citadel, and when one is destroyed he makes a grave for it and tries to kill himself as he had believed he had committed the crime at the time. However most characters fall into this trope considering the comics are primarily based on Silver Age adventures of DC heroes.
19	* AlternateUniverse: There is Earth-A, which is the setting of the Silver Age heroes and the Round Table of America in the 1960s, and Earth-B, the setting of the Golden Age heroes and the Knights of Justice in the 1940s. According to Thunder Girl there is a twenty year difference between the two universe as in one issue she says that while it is 1964 on Earth-A it is 1944 on Earth-B. Some characters, like Ultiman and Knight Watchman, exist on both Earths while other characters, such as the two different versions of the Beacon, only exist on one. There is also a third universe where Art/TheSphinx originates from where AncientEgypt conquered the world.
20	* AmbiguouslyGay: As Reid Randall, the Knight Watchman funds his crime fighting by running a business that makes women's clothing while living with his mother and putting on a more foppish personality. The {{Mockumentary}} comics imply that since he never dates anyone this leads everyone to assume he's homosexual, therefore nobody would suspect he is the Knight Watchman. However the MetaFiction references a female hero was introduced to act as his love interest in the 50s when it was suspected that he wasn't pretending and was a poor role model for children, reflecting the real world suspicions and backlash Batman comics faced at the time. By the time of ''The Graveyard Shift'' Reid never married while it is pretty much confirmed that his archenemy the Pink Flamingo himself was gay with it being implied that he had a sexual interest in Reid, who's reaction leaves plenty up to interpretation considering the relationship between their inspirations.
21	* AppropriatedAppellation: Reid Randall created his blue and grey costume and equipped himself with a pair of nightsticks to defend his family's garment factory against mobsters who threatened to burn it down. Confronting them in the warehouse, one of thugs said "It's some kind of night watchman". Reid immediately decided to adopt that as his superhero name. Recalling how he and his brother used to play knights as kids, he announced [[MyNaymeIs "That's Knight Watchman...with a 'K'!"]]
22	* AwfulWeddedLife: Ultiman ended up in one when he married, with his wife Arlene Arliss finding herself hating the precautions Chris took to keep her safe such as living in a seclusion from the rest of the world as he felt he couldn't protect her once his powers started to fade, especially since she refused to marry him under his secret identity as his brother Carl and instead married his public identity. When he later tried searching for ways to renew his powers this led to their divorce, with Arlene taking their daughter Christie with her as she worried about what could happen as a result of his experiments.
23	* BackwardsFiringGun: When MadScientist Dr. Doomkopf attempts to shoot Super-Frankenstein with his [[DeathRay sub-atomic annihilator]]. His assistant points out the annihilator has not been tested, Doomkopf dismisses this, saying he will test it on Frankenstein. The ray backfires and disintegrates Doomkopf, leaving everything else untouched.
24	* BatmanParody: The Knight Watchman is an overt pastiche of the Caped Crusader, looking almost exactly like Batman except for a different chest insignia as well as the lack of a scalloped cape and bat ears on the cowl.
25	* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS:
26	** Ultiman has a large gold 'U' on the chest of his blue costume.
27	** The Badge has a yellow 'B' on the forehead of his cowl.
28	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In ''Protoplasman'', the hero-to-be confronts the villain, declaring that the villain killed his brother. (It would soon turn out that he wasn't dead, just kidnapped. And shrunk, because why not.) The villain's response: "I've killed ''thousands'' of people! You can't expect me to remember them ''all''!"
29	* ByThePowerOfGreyskull: Thundergirl had the word "Alakazam!" Her evil Nazi counterparts (who more closely resemble the rest of the Marvel family, with another Mary thrown in for good measure) have "Gotterdammerung!"
30	* CastOfExpies: Most of the characters are thinly disguised versions of golden and silver age Creator/DCComics characters (including charters from Fawcett and Quality that DC later acquired), although some others are {{Composite Character}}s. Particular equivalents are:
31	** The Absolute = Manhunter (the 1970s Paul Kirk version)
32	** The Atomic Sub = ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} (with some elements of Golden Age ComicBook/HumanTorch)
33	** The Badge = [[ComicBook/{{Guardian}} The Guardian]] (with some elements of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica)
34	*** The “Silver Age” incarnation of the Badge, meanwhile, is a combination of Captain America and ComicBook/NickFury
35	** The Beacon = ComicBook/GreenLantern
36	** Blackjack and His Flying Aces = ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}
37	** The Blitz = ComicBook/TheFlash
38	** Bluebird = ComicBook/BlackCanary
39	** The Bog = ComicBook/SwampThing (with elements of ComicBook/TheHeap and ComicBook/ManThing)
40	** Cyclone = Kid Flash
41	** Dr. Weird = ComicBook/TheSpectre with some elements from ComicBook/DoctorFate.
42	** The Hummingbird = ComicBook/TheAtom with a bit of ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}
43	** Kid Galahad/Galahad = ComicBook/{{Robin}}[=/=]ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}
44	** Knight Watchman = Franchise/{{Batman}}
45	** Mighty Man = [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]
46	** Mr. Martian = ComicBook/MartianManhunter
47	** Mr. U.S. = ComicBook/CaptainAmerica (the only character to specifically be based on a Marvel character) with some elements of Commander Steel.
48	** Moray = a {{Gender Flip}}ped version of Aqualad (with some elements of ComicBook/WonderGirl)
49	** Protoplasman = ComicBook/PlasticMan
50	** Shadow Lady = ComicBook/PhantomLady
51	** The Sphinx = ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}
52	** Thunder Girl = ComicBook/MaryMarvel
53	** Ultiman = Franchise/{{Superman}} while his Golden Age/Earth-B counterpart has some elements of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica due to being rejected from the military for poor eyesight
54	** Ultragirl = ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}
55	** Venus = Franchise/WonderWoman, with aspects of ComicBook/TheMightyThor and [[ComicBook/NewGods Orion]] in “later” stories.
56	** Vita-Man = ComicBook/{{Hourman}}
57	* ClarkKenting: Ultiman’s identity as Chris Kelly is public as he works for the government, but in order to have a break from his life he uses the identity of Carl Kelly, his twin brother who died and who Lori Lake hates. As Carl he acts far more selfish and flirts with Lori directly while wearing a fake moustache, with everyone wondering how the two of them could be related. While the TropeNamer is often described as having a silly disguise, Ultiman's disguise is far more ridiculous as Lori spends pretty much every day with both Ultiman and "Carl", and when he needs to change into Ultiman all he would do is go into his office as "Carl" and come out in his superhero identity with no one wondering why they never see the siblings together.
58	* ComicBookTime: According to the {{Mockumentary}} comics, during the 60s the owners of the company came up with the idea of having their characters age in real time. This allowed the real life writers to show the characters throughout their entire lives and the consequences of them getting older, such as how Ultiman's powers slowly faded and how Reid Randall retired in 1990 once the writers started to question how effective he could be at his age.
59	* CompositeCharacter:
60	** Ultiman's Golden Age origin on Earth-B shows him being rejected by the army due to poor eyesight prior to getting his powers makes him similar to Captain America.
61	** The Knight Watchman's enemy Mr Mask is a composite of three Batman villains: having had his face mixed with an experimental rubber while planting a bomb at a novelty factory, he can change his appearance like Clayface; his ShapeshifterDefaultForm resembles the Joker; and at one point in his origin, half his face reverts to the Joker-form, creating an effect similar to Two-Face.
62	** The Knight Watchman's archenemy, the Pink Flamingo, is a composite of the Joker and the Penguin (being the resident BatmanParody's nemesis and prone to grinning a lot like the former and having a bird motif like the latter).
63	** The Badge is primarily based on the Guardian, but has a number of elements cribbed from Captain America.
64	** Mike Merlin, the Round Table of America's mascot, is based on Snapper Carr, but in stories set in the Bronze Age Mike becomes the Zatanna stand-in: ''Miss'' Merlin.
65	** Robo-Hood is an odd cross between ComicBook/GreenArrow and the golden age Robotman.
66	** Thunder Girl’s foe Dr. Hy Q. Binana is a cross between Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind.
67	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Knight Watchman: The Graveyard Shift'' is this due to being a copy of ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', showing the character and his allies decades in the future with everything having become far more brutal and violent. However it is nowhere near as dark as the original comic due to being a {{Reconstruction}}.
68	* DeathByOriginStory: Reid Randall's brother and sister-in-law are killed by a [[ExternalCombustion car bomb]], inspiring him to become the Knight Watchman to avenge them. This is also the origin for his nephew Jerry, who became Kid Galahad and Reid's sidekick.
69	* DefectorFromDecadence: The Sphinx comes from an AlternateUniverse where AncientEgypt conquered the entire world; becoming a technologically advanced [[TheEmpire empire of evil]] that eliminated all dissent. The man who would become the Sphinx was a member of the scientific branch of the military and assigned to locate new worlds for conquest by bridging the dimensional planes. He used the transdimensional equipment to escape to Earth-A, and destroyed all records of his experiments to prevent the Memphian Regime from trailing him.
70	* DentedIron: ''Knight Watchman: The Graveyard Shift'', unlike the comic it is a homage to, shows the consequences if Knight Watchman attempted to fight crime again after a few years of retirement. Yes, Knight Watchman is incredibly athletic for a man his age but he still struggles fighting multiple opponents and makes numerous mistakes due to his age which ultimately forces him to use special armor to just keep up with his enemies. In comparison, while Batman made some mistakes he was still the BadassNormal he always was in TDKR.
71	* EmergencyTransformation: This is the origin of the Human/Atomic Sub. The aged Dr. Noah Talbot designed a sophisticated robot body as a prosthesis for injured soldiers, but when Nazis came to steal his research he suffered a heart attack and was forced to transfer his own mind into his creation before he died. It wasn't a decision he would regret, even though an oversight in developing the body's artificial "blood" meant it had to be submerged in water once every hour or so.
72	* EraSpecificPersonality: Taking advantage of the idea of having both Silver Age and Golden Age versions of the same characters, the writers showed there were differences between how the characters were presented to better fit the times this comics are supposed to be set. For example the Golden Age Lori Lake is far more professional and serious than the Silver Age version, who was obsessed with getting Ultiman to marry her to the point it seemed to be her only goal. Meanwhile the Golden Age Knight Watchman was shown to be willing to kill, or at least not try as hard to save, criminals while his Silver Age counterpart was an upstanding member of society though ''The Graveyard Shift'' showed this version transitioning to the more cynical and aggressive personality Batman had during the 80s and 90s.
73	* EscapedFromHell: Bog (their AlternateCompanyEquivalent to ComicBook/TheHeap, ComicBook/ManThing and ComicBook/SwampThing) is a demon who escaped from Hell, and nearly killed the Devil in the process. He now dwells in a swamp on Earth and fights any attempt by the forces of Hell to drag him back.
74	* EvilCripple: The Sphinx's foe the Doomsayer is an EvilGenius who is confined to a wheelchair. He considers himself an 'artist in evil' who commits crimes ForTheEvulz. He is working towards a masterpiece he calls "The End of All Life on earth".
75	* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: In #4, the Temptress points a ray gun at Venus who prepares to block it with her shell. However, Temptress actually fires it at the Liberty Bell behind Venus, which starts tolling and the noise knocks her into unconsciousness.
76	* ExternalCombustion: Reid Randall's brother and sister-in-law are killed by a car bomb by mobsters who wanted to take control of the family's garment factory. [[DeathByOriginStory This inspires Reid to become the superhero Knight Watchman]].
77	* EyeObscuringHat: The Beacon is a CaptainErsatz version of the Golden-Age ComicBook/GreenLantern. However, unlike his inspiration, he doesn't wear a mask — instead his identity is concealed by the shadow his miner's cap casts on his face.
78	* FormerlyFit: In ''The Graveyard Shift'' the Knight Watchman is this, as while in incredible shape for a man his age he is way past the prime of his life. Ultiman is an even bigger example of this due to his powers fading, leaving him out of shape and losing his hair.
79	* FunWithAcronyms: The Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} counterpart was founded by the Badge and is, inevitably, the '''B'''ureau for '''A'''dvanced '''D'''efense and '''G'''lobal '''E'''spionage.
80	* GeniusBruiser: Super-Frankenstein was created not only to be super-strong but super-smart as well. He has a doctorate in biological science, and is working towards degrees in medicine, physics, and English literature.
81	-->''With the mind of a genius, the strength of a titan and the heart of a giant, Frankenstein decides to devote his great powers to defending the innocent and combating crime, injustice and terror!''
82	* GenreShift: An InUniverse example with Thunder Girl with the {{Mockumentary}} material explaining how due to a legal issue Thunder Girl comics ceased publication during the 1940s and she therefore wasn't reimagined for the Silver Age era like Ultiman. When the Golden Age comics were established to exist on Earth-B this was explained to be the home of Thunder Girl, who ended up trapped on Earth-A following the crossover between the two universes. However her magical origin means that when she transforms back into Molly Wilson on Earth-A she loses her memory and she is forced to be in her Thunder Girl form all the time while using a disguise to go around as Molly. The "original" comics were described as too cartoony for modern readers and therefore Thunder Girl was reimagined as part of Ultiman's supporting cast, and unlike in the original comics where she was an orphan she now lived with the Earth-A versions of her parents who were alive while dealing with a younger sister who was aware that Molly wasn't her actual sister, who went missing while searching for the fountain of youth which provided an explanation for why she was so young.
83	* HistoricalDomainCrossover: In "The Ghost Robbers of the Wax Museum!!" in #6, Knight Watchman's adversary and MasterOfDisguise Mr. Mask commits a series of robberies while adopting the identities of some of history's greatest villains: Jesse James, Blackbeard, Attila the Hun, Adolf Hitler, and Jack the Ripper.
84	* ICallItVera: Galahad's tonfa/taser SwissArmyWeapon is named 'Excalibur'.
85	* ImpaledPalm: In #10, [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage Shredder]] nails the assassin Headhunter to a table by driving a sai through her hand into a table.
86	* IncredibleShrinkingMan: The Hummingbird, who was shrunk by an alien ray that was destroyed before he could be re-enlarged. As such, he's stuck [[ModeLock permanently at a maximum height of six inches]], though among his powers is the ability to temporarily shrink even smaller.
87	* IntercontinuityCrossover: The tenth issue of the Image comics had Galahad encounter [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Splinter and his four sons]] while fighting Shredder and the Foot Clan. It's also established that Hamato Yoshi trained the Knight Watchman.
88	* JunglePrincess: Zhantika, Princess of the Jungle is the Big Bang universe equivalent of ComicBook/SheenaQueenOfTheJungle.
89	* KnightInSourArmor: Knight Watchman becomes this by the time of ''The Graveyard Shift'' after decades of crime fighting and then retiring. While even more cynical and brutal he stays true to his ideals and refuses to give in to his violent impulses not out of fear of what he would become, but because it's the wrong thing to do and he just wants to help people who can't help themselves.
90	* LightEmUp: The Beacons, CaptainErsatz versions of the Franchise/{{Green Lantern}}s whose powers are even more directly light-based — different colored beams of light from their prisms have different effects. The Golden Age Beacon had his prism in a mining cap, even.
91	* LighterAndSofter: ''The Graveyard Shift'' is this in comparison to ''The Dark Knight Returns'', especially when considering all the sequels and prequels the comics got which fleshed out the world and the characters. Unlike Batman the Knight Watchman maintains a close bond with his former sidekick, he is still friends with Ultiman and doesn't fight him, the story ends with the heroes beating the villain with little personal cost and Knight Watchman proves he simply wants to help the innocent as opposed to the KnightTemplar and SociopathicHero attitude the TKNR Batman shows. Also while Knight Watchman's city has a ban on illegal vigilantes, with Galahad being accepted since he works with the police, the rest of the world didn't force its heroes into retirement and the Round Table of Justice is still active.
92	* LodgedBladeRecycling: In #11, the Absolute is shot in the shoulder with an arrow. When one of his attackers grabs him from behind, intending to slit his throat, the Absolute kills him by driving the arrow all the way through his shoulder and into the attacker's chest.
93	* LovesMyAlterEgo: Ultiman is really Chris Kelly, but this isn't a secret to his co-workers, because he works for the government in his capacity as Ultiman. However, he keeps another identity on the side: that of his own deceased twin brother, Carl Kelly. "Carl" is a shiftless womanizer, despised by the Ultiman-crazed Lori Lake.
94	* MagicMeteor: Ultiman gained the superpowers that made him 'the ultimate man' when a meteor crashed into his car.
95	* ManiacMonkeys: Thunder Girl's ArchEnemy is Dr. Hy Q. Binana: a MadScientist talking chimpanzee who styles himself "the most brilliant chimpanzee on the planet!"
96	* MasterOfDisguise: The Knight Watchman's enemy Mr Mask. Having had his face mixed with an experimental rubber while planting a bomb at a novelty factory, he can change his appearance like Clayface.
97	* {{Mockumentary}}: ''Big Bang Comics'' published a two issue ''History of Big Bang Comics'', which detailed the fictional history of the comic book publisher whose [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] stories they were supposedly reprinting.It also showed how the real world was affected by these characters and the films made about them. Apparently, after they completed the ''Film/DollarsTrilogy'', Creator/ClintEastwood and Creator/SergioLeone made the 1969 film ''Knight Watchman: Year One''. The next few films however starred Creator/RonHoward and Leone only directed the second film, after which the franchise became more comedic and light hearted.
98	* ModeLock: The Hummingbird, who was shrunk by an alien ray that was destroyed before he could be re-enlarged. As such, he's stuck permanently at a maximum height of six inches, though among his powers is the ability to [[IncredibleShrinkingMan temporarily shrink even smaller]].
99	* MoneyMauling: In #11, the Absolute kills a woman who is holding him at gunpoint by flicking a dime at her her with enough force that it [[EyeScream penetrates her eye]].
100	* MyBrainIsBig: The Pantheon of Heroes mirrors the Legion of Super-Heroes; their equivalent of Brainiac 5 is Brain Boy, whose bald head holds a huge brain. Thinking hard enough makes it get even bigger.
101	* MyNaymeIs: Knight Watchman's name has a silent 'K': being a combination of 'Knight' and 'Watchman'. Unlike most examples of this trope, neither word is misspelled: they are just not usually combined like that.
102	* NonHumanSidekick:
103	** Mr. US, the equivalent of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, had a dog sidekick named Dogtag in his original incarnation. Dogtag was originally just a stray who wouldn't leave him alone -- Mr. US made the name up on the spot when the dog followed him into a bad guy hideout. ("Uh, that's my sidekick... Dogtag!")
104	** In the other instance, Hummingbird, a combination of ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} and ComicBook/TheAtom, had Edgar the raven. Of some note is the fact that Edgar is ''larger'' than Hummingbird, who [[ModeLock is permanently stuck at a maximum height of six inches]].
105	* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Mighty Man faces off against a superintelligent mind controlling Nazi caterpillar who is cut in half at the end of the story; Naturally, Mighty Man states that he probably won't hear from this villain again. [[spoiler:A later story shows two worms as part of a Legion of Doom plotting against the Round Table of America, implied to be the two halves regenerated.]]
106	* TheNudifier: A ray that destroys fabric featured in the Shadow Lady story that ran in #17, #21 and #26, allowing the sexy heroine to sustain copious ClothingDamage.
107	* OlderAlterEgo: The ComicBook/MaryMarvel {{expy}} Thunder Girl is an inversion. Like the original Mary Marvel, Thunder Girl was the same age as Molly Wilson ... originally. But Molly aged in real time (except for a timeskip when she travelled from Earth-B's Golden Age to Earth-A's Silver Age), and Thunder Girl, who only exists when she's summoned, didn't. The result is that Molly is now a middle-aged woman who finds transforming into a fourteen-year-old superheroine disconcerting.
108	** Played straight with Mighty Man (who is originally from ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon'').
109	* ParodyAssistance: ''Big Bang Comics'' sometimes got assistance from the creators of the works they were pastiching, such as Creator/CurtSwan drawing a cover featuring two incarnations of Ultiman, or Creator/DaveCockrum drawing the cover for the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperheroes'' pastiche the Pantheon of Heroes.
110	* ThePenIsMightier: In #11, architect-turned-supervillain 'Faulty' Towers uses technical pens filled with poison as a weapons; hurling them like darts.
111	* PhlebotinumBattery: Ultiman is a CaptainErsatz version of Superman, but his powers come from a meteor that struck his shuttle when he was an astronaut. Today, he keeps it in a safe in his Secret Citadel, and exposes himself to its rays every now and then to recharge. However it is eventually shown that he builds up a tolerance to the meteor's rays and kept having to expose himself to them for longer and longer until he got radiation sickness and had to quit the superhero game. His powers gradually faded away due to the lack of exposure to the meteor, forcing him to use robot replacements to protect the world before eventually trying to regain his powers which caused an explosion that empowered his daughter while seemingly killing him.
112	* PhlebotinumPills: Vita-Man is research scientist Will Wheeler, who discovered a new vitamin that gave him superpowers, which he named "Panacea Pills", the name given to the vitamins after his father created them. With this, he became the superhero Vita-Man.
113	* PracticallyJoker: The comics' BatmanParody Knight Watchman, fittingly enough, has two adversaries influenced by the Joker, both of them being a mash-up with another Batman foe.
114	** Mr. Mask is a shape-shifter like Clayface, but has green hair and pale skin in his default form and has an origin that involves being transformed into his current state by exposure to chemicals.
115	** The Knight Watchman's archenemy the Pink Flamingo is essentially a fusion of the Joker and the Penguin, with the manic energy and lanky build of the latter, and the bird resemblance/fixation of the latter.
116	* {{Reconstruction}}: In many ways ''The Graveyard Shift'' is a reconstruction of the Silver Age Batman after ''The Dark Knight Returns'' [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] that version of the character. Sure the Knight Watchman is more brutal and violent in response to how much darker the villains got and he has a more complicated relationship with Ultiman and Galahad as a result of his insistence of working outside of the law while they worked with it. He even admits to doubting whether he could trust either of them because of this and has some resentment due to all the powers Ultiman has. However despite this he still fights for the right reasons and cares about people, he and Galahad still have a strong bond with the latter not believing for a second that he could be guilty of the crime he was framed with, and he respects and admires Ultiman who like him is facing the reality of growing old with the two parting amicably instead of fighting. The story ends with the Pink Flamingo, the Big Bang version of the Joker, almost being killed and saved at the last minute by the Knight Watchman, who notes that he could just let his greatest foe die but reminds himself that he is not an executioner and just wants to help people.
117	* {{Retraux}}: Is a pastiche of Golden and Silver Age DC, with the artstyle and writing to match.
118	* RevealingReflection: In "The Ghost Robbers of the Wax Museum!!", Knight Watchman sees Mr. Mask seeking up on with a knife in the reflection in the mirror in the Sherlock Holmes exhibit in the wax museum.
119	* SamusIsAGirl: In #10, Galahad is hunting an assassin named Headhunter. Having learned that Headhunter will be in a certain hotel room, he crashes in through the window and surprises a couple in bed. He tells the woman to flee and gets in a fight with the man. When the man doesn't recognise the name of one of his victims, Galahad realises he has made a mistake and that Headhunter isn't the man, but rather the woman. Just as he comes to this realisation, the now-clothed Headhunter re-enters the room and fires an arrow at him. The man is actually a local crimeboss who was to be her next target.
120	* ShockStick: Galahad's SwissArmyWeapon Excalibur is a tonfa that includes a taser setting.
121	* SkullForAHead: Dr. Doomkopf, ArchEnemy of Super-Frankenstein, was formerly a top scientist for a hostile foreign power. He was testing an invisibility serum but only succeeded in making the skin, flesh and hair on his head invisible.
122	* TheStraightAndArrowPath: Robo-Hood is a robot archer superhero (a composite character of ComicBook/GreenArrow and the GoldenAge Robotman).
123	* SuperheroTrophyShelf: Ultiman is headquartered out of the Secret Citadel, which is hidden in an active volcano. Being that it's based on the Fortress of Solitude, it's naturally packed to the gills with souvenirs, trophies, and just plain ''exhibits''. As if the writer was going down the 'stock superhero hideout amenities' checklist, he's got (among other things) the shrunken lost city of Atlantis in a huge fishbowl, a giant dollar bill, and a rubber Apatosaurus.
124	* SupernaturallyYoungParent: The goddess Venus looks maybe 28, and has for thousands of years. For some reason her son Cupid, equally immortal, is white-haired and balding, looking twice his mother's apparent age if not older.
125	* SwissArmyWeapon: Galahad's weapon 'Excalibur' is a combination tonfa/taser/swing-line/weighted chain.
126	* ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks: The Badge--who is an CaptainErsatz of the ComicBook/{{Guardian}} with elements of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica (both creations of Joe Simon and Creator/JackKirby)--sometimes throws his shield (although it does not generally return).
127	* TrickArrow: The robot archer Robo-Hood wears a high-tech quiver that can manufacture whatever trick arrow he needs when he needs it.
128	* WeaponizedLandmark: In the origin story of the Knights of Justice, MadScientist Dr. Henry Hyde converts the Washington Monument into a missile and fires it at the White house in an attempt to kill both UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill (who was inside the monument at the time) and UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. Ultiman saves both leaders and restores the Monument to its proper place.
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Context ComicBook / BigBangComics