It's not the Greatest Boner... but it is BATMAN'S Greatest Boner.

March 17, 2005 2:43 PM

"BATMAN - We've got to stop the joker! Those boner crimes are making us look bad! And I'm worried about the boner he's readying for YOU!" (slightly related) (Via Radosh.net)
posted by soyjoy (27 comments total)

LOL
posted by driveler at 2:51 PM on March 17, 2005

Crap! Links not working!
posted by Specklet at 3:03 PM on March 17, 2005

Mommy, why is Batman's suit pink in the first panel?
posted by gottabefunky at 3:03 PM on March 17, 2005

This was fifty years ago. Don't be so hard on them.
posted by cortex at 3:16 PM on March 17, 2005

Metafilter: Let's continue our study of the greatest boners of all time.
posted by joe lisboa at 3:17 PM on March 17, 2005

Outdated slang sounds funny! Details at eleven!

(Does anyone else remember the newspaper comic Boner's Ark? It was still running in the Ann Arbor News through the late 80s. Thanks to them, I learned "boner" as a word for "mistake" long after everyone else stopped using it that way, which led to some awkward situations at summer camp...)
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:29 PM on March 17, 2005

Damn your hide, soyjoy. I just StumbleUpon'ed this last night.
posted by loquacious at 3:31 PM on March 17, 2005

It is funny cause "boner" now means "an erection."
posted by TwelveTwo at 3:36 PM on March 17, 2005

Of the penis.
posted by TwelveTwo at 3:37 PM on March 17, 2005

Okay, I'm intrigued. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, "boner" would have sounded a little off-color even in the 1950s, although I have to believe the writers were innocent of its swelling popularity.

And according to this source, "in one of the panels a newspaper headline reads "Wrong-Way Batman! Lawman Aims For California, Winds Up In England!" This is a reference to Wrong-Way Corrigan, an aviator who wanted to fly solo from New York to Dublin but wasn't given permission to do so. So on July 17, 1938 he took off for California and 'accidentally' went the wrong-way and ended up in Ireland."

/old comics exegesis
posted by killdevil at 3:42 PM on March 17, 2005

I'm sorry but any time an older man named Bruce takes on a younger, uh, "ward" named Dick fercrissakes there's gonna be boners everywhere.
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:53 PM on March 17, 2005

Dr. Seuss also bonered.
posted by sageleaf at 3:53 PM on March 17, 2005

Is there some kind of subtext to Robin's pose in this panel, or is he pretending to be on the phone? "What does he mean, Bruce? How can he force you into a boner?"
posted by kirkaracha at 4:28 PM on March 17, 2005

kirkaracha - it looks to me like he's pulling on his ear/scratching the side of his head as a sign of confusion. For some reason, it seems (to me) like a rather feminine pose, for some reason...
posted by PurplePorpoise at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2005

It's great to see mefi re-hashing stuff we saw on other websites 2-3 weeks ago...
posted by nightchrome at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2005

"Hear, hear! Well spoken, Bruce"!

"Right, let's get some Sheilas."
posted by loquacious at 4:41 PM on March 17, 2005

nightchrome has posted no links 124 comments to MetaFilter
and no threads and 1 comment to MetaTalk
and no questions and no answers to Ask MetaFilter

When you aren't part of the solution, etc.
posted by swell at 8:48 PM on March 17, 2005

Batman's got his boner but that Superman Is a Real Dick
posted by RecordBrother at 8:58 PM on March 17, 2005

When they outlaw boners, only outlaws will have boners.
posted by arto at 9:14 PM on March 17, 2005

Not to toot my own horn… I mean blow my own… stroke my ego - I mean…
Anyway, this topic kind of hit home for me.

Peace.
posted by Neosamurai85 at 9:38 PM on March 17, 2005

Doh! Umm Looks like i was a little slow on the link there, sorry loquacious i didn't check your link before posting mine ooops
posted by RecordBrother at 11:44 PM on March 17, 2005

kirkaracha writes " Is there some kind of subtext to Robin's pose in this panel, or is he pretending to be on the phone? 'What does he mean, Bruce? How can he force you into a boner?'"

PurplePorpoise writes "kirkaracha - it looks to me like he's pulling on his ear/scratching the side of his head as a sign of confusion. For some reason, it seems (to me) like a rather feminine pose, for some reason..."

Both Batman and Boy Blunder are wearing headphones.

(Remember it's the love that dare not speak its name, so I assume they're using ear-protection so they can't hear it either.)
posted by orthogonality at 11:55 PM on March 17, 2005

RecordBrother: So you think your kung-fu is pretty good, eh? ;)
posted by loquacious at 12:42 AM on March 18, 2005

I hope this isn't the inspiration behind Batman Begins.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:04 AM on March 18, 2005

Looks like very early Frank Robbins art. Anyone know for sure?
posted by Shane at 6:00 AM on March 18, 2005

Can anyone who actually knows about this era answer gottabefunky's question? It's not just the first panel - in that one and the one where Batman's pulling the book out, his torso is the same color as his face. But when they're talking to commissioner Gordon his torso is the correct lavender (cough) color. Especially in that book-selecting frame, he looks for all the world like he's just walking around shirtless (but caped) with his Boy Wonder. Is it just a coloring glitch? Were they cranking these out too fast to notice this stuff? Is it just a boner? Or is it... something more sinister???
posted by soyjoy at 6:46 AM on March 18, 2005

Is it just a boner?

Sometimes, after all, a boner is just a boner.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:37 AM on March 18, 2005