Well, why not go back to the very beginning, eh? Batman and the Joker? Pshaw--50 years too late. Lex and Superman? Amateurs.
No, we're going back to the very debut of the concept of arch enemies in Western literature. (Don't qubble--it's Friday Night Fights, not Friday Night Algonquin Round Table...)
Yes, I'm talking Holmes and Moriarty.
We're in Switzerland, at Reichenbach Falls. And after Holmes has smashed Moriarty's criminal empire, the Napoleon Of Crime shows up, seeking revenge:
Well, that's it for Holmes, right?Nope. Because Sherlock Holmes was a master of Street Fighter!!
Sherlock wins--no shit!!Spacebooger bet all his rent money on Moriarty winning that fight, too...
Western literature's very first retcon was brought to us by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as adapted by "Mr. Dennis J. O'Neil & E.R. Cruz, Esquires" in DC's Sherlock Holmes #1 (1975).
Look, there's money on this, and there's stuff I want to buy on Amazon. Therefore, it's only logical that you vote for me, no? So vote!!
Yeah, they teach some pretty good baritsu at Starbucks. Oh...no...wait...
ReplyDeleteSuperb choice of stoush, as we say in Australia, or at least as we used to say before we all just gave up and spoke American.
ReplyDeleteHere's a quote from good old Wikipedia:
Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England during the years 1898–1902. In 1901 it was immortalised (as "baritsu") by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories
I remember raising an eyebrow during the brilliant BBC 2010 Sherlock series when it was mentioned that Watson had just come back from Afghanistan. Only to check and discover that this was also the case for the character in the original Conan Doyle stories.
What does that teach us? 1. Conan Doyle set the template for pretty much every non-superpowered comic hero and 2. Afghanistan has had the crap bombed out of it by foreign powers for a long long time.