Keeping with my recent 2020 tradition, I have gone with the Chinese New Year/Zodiac animal to decorate my site’s header art. Unlike oxen (bulls) or rats, there are numerous, famous tigers to choose from. I chose the ones I prefer and have familiarity with. Tony for Kellogg’s frosted flakes who I recently learned wasn’t the original spokes-animal. As per Business Wars covering the battles between Kellogg’s, Post, Quaker Oats and General Mills (the top corporations), Tony and a now-forgotten kangaroo were both introduced in the Fifties through animated ads. It was up to kids to decide who they preferred in the long run. Not much of a contest I’d say. What does a frequently horny marsupial native to Australia have to offer as a catchphrase?
Then there’s Shere Khan from The Jungle Book but he’s a more effective semi-villain in Tale Spin in the Nineties. Can’t overlook Hobbes, the thoughtful, rational companion to sociopath Calvin. Tigger had to be included now that the whole Winnie the Pooh franchise has been liberated from the Evil Mouse as the property’s copyright expired, putting the whole crew into the Public Domain. Hope you’re sucking it in Hell Walt Disney.
My last choice is there to also honor Black (American) History Month, the Eighties incarnation of superhero Bronze Tiger when he was a member of Suicide Squad, before it became DC’s attempt at a whole team of Deadpools via the sluttified Harley Quinn. Suicide Squad‘s main writer John Ostrander gave the Denny O’Neil creation much more depth, character and badassery which made him a favorite of mine to this day. The Batman: the Brave and the Bold cartoon gave him a cool arc in Batman’s past (they were martial art students in their youth). Arrow didn’t make good use of him in my opinion, especially when the show gave him snap-on claws to give him a Wolverine vibe. During Ostrander’s tenure of planting the seeds to make Suicide Squad the anti-(super)hero comic you know after it had been a WWII title from the Fifties, Bronze Tiger was a core member. Since he was a “good guy,” Amanda Waller often made him co-leader and in charge of keeping the real villains in line as their exploding bracelets were a last resort.
What really impressed me about Ostrander’s decision to incorporate Bronze Tiger was how he never rebooted the character’s semi-cheesy and villainous past. The hero’s secret identity is Ben Turner, a young man from an affluent Black family in Central City. He was introduced as the Black best friend to Richard Dragon, star of a comic lazily named Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter during the Kung Fu craze in the Seventies thanks to Bruce Lee’s success. When the fad ended, Ben resurfaced later as a villain because he had been captured and brainwashed by the League of Assassins; the same one founded by the immortal Ra’s al Ghul). He eventually fights Batman when he was assigned to kill Batwoman. Bronze Tiger fails the mission yet goes on to be one of only three people to kick Batman’s ass in martial arts. If you’re curious, the other two are Deathstroke (lame!) and Kobra (the crazy cult leader trying to usher in the Kali Yuga, the Age of Chaos). Amanda Waller rescued him and got him deprogrammed, making him the hero we now love.
Let’s hope the Chinese Zodiac picked an animal capable of bringing this CV-19 shit to a complete finale too.