The Best Superhero Gadget: Reader Nomination

In lieu of the Weekly TBOE Comment Roundup-- which, as you know, comes every Sunday, unless on Sunday I happen to be obsessing over the end of a certain television program that shall remain nameless, but which rhymes with Shmattlestar Shmalactica-- I'm going to instead focus on one reader comment this week. The Comment Roundup will be back -- let's just say that due to inaccurate counting of leap seconds, there was no "real" Sunday this week.

Th new nomination for Best Superhero Gadget was left as a comment on the Wordpress compilation blog I had for a while, a blog where I'd post sort of a "Best Of" from all my blogs. I've since discontinued that, so if you read me on Wordpress, then you haven't read anything in a while, and you should just bookmark this page.

On to the Nomination: Reader Sio, who read The Best Superhero Gadget, and had this to say:

The Green Lanterns, and their power rings, were either consciously or unconsciously, cribbed from E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen, and the power ring itself from the Lens of Arisia. The Lens was the ultimate badge of authority -- unforgeable, unquestionable, it defied analysis by the bad guys and could not be copied or duplicated. It could only be worn by the one for whom it was made, would only glow for them, and would kill a usurper who tried to wear it to impersonate a Lensman. It was a perfect telepath, universal translator, and rendered the Lensman instantly able to understand any form of communication, however encoded or obscured, and in whatever form. Its abilities were limited only by the inherent level of development of the mind of the wearer -- the more developed the mind, the more they could do, eventually making mind control, clairvoyance, killing with a thought, mental invisibility, and even interdimensional travel, a power the Lens could confer.

The beings who made the Lenses resided upon the planet Arisia, and called themselves the Guardians of Civilization. They fought against the Eddorians, who, through their dread organization of Boskone, threatened to bring darkness to the galaxy. To this day, two science fiction conventions are called Arisia and Boskone. The power rings are made by the Guardians of the Universe, upon OA, and they guard against The Blackest Night.

And, after denying it for years, the creators of the Green Lanterns finally acknowledged the influence of the Lensmen...and created two Lanterns. Lantern Arisia, and Lantern Eddore of Tront.

The power ring is one of the greatest superhero gadgets. But it owes it's existence to the Lens.

Sio makes a compelling case -- not for copying (or tribute, as you'd say if you're being charitable) but instead for what we now know is simply reporting the truth. Isn't that a nicer way to say it than "I might have unconsciously sort of copied more or less everything I did from someone else?"

So this week has seen the revelation-via-imitation of two universal truths: The Bathtub Spacesuit Creation Story, and now, the revelation that there are, in fact, Guardians of the Universe who create nearly-all-powerful devices that, in the wrong hands, could dominate society cruelly, but in the right hands, protect us all from evil.

But we know, too, that until they find a way to download "apps" onto those power rings, they'll never catch on with the public.

In any event, there's your second nomination for Best Superhero Gadget: The Lens.



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