April 20, 2006

Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie

by Mike Chary

I'm rather a large man, and so intoxicants of whatever stripe don't really affect me. However, today is April 20 (4/20) and in the spirit of the day, I have to wonder which comics characters induldge.

The obvious candidate in most of the cast of Doonesbury.

We know Speedy and Harry Osborne had the drug issues.

Leaving aside the self-evident fact that nobody in the Silver Age DCU would try anything stronger than warm milk...

Jimmy Olsen would, of course, try anything.

I'm going to guess Bruce Wayne must have done some stuff in his travels.

Ollie Queen? Maybe.

Swamp Thing, John Constantine and Zatanna? I would think so.

Lois?

They did comics stories on Hour Man's addiction.

And Ray Palmer was a college professor in the 1960's and 1970's, do not try to tell me...

And as for Snapper Carr and Rick Jones.

Deadman?

On the Marvel side, it's somewhat harder. I find it difficult to imagine Parker or Cap or Stark or Pym or any of the FF including Johnny doing anything. Dr. Strange, maybe? Thor? Nick Fury?

Posted by Mike Chary at April 20, 2006 10:10 AM | TrackBack

Comments
#1 ::: Danil ::: April 20, 2006 11:05 AM ::: link

Hezzreth's son leaps to mind.

Scooby-doo and Shaggy.

#2 ::: Rob B ::: April 20, 2006 11:29 AM ::: link

I'm thinking Booster Gold and Blue Beetle shared many dimebags.

Martian Manhunter probably indulged a bit, too - why else would he eat all those oreos?

I'm sure Wally West tried some stuff, to. He was pals with Speedy.

Over at Marvel, Speedball. I wouldn't doubt Luke Cage and Iron Fist experimented.

#3 ::: Greg Morrow ::: April 20, 2006 11:38 AM ::: link

We've seen Constantine and Zatanna getting high together.

And Swampy produces hallucinogenic tubers, which his wife eats.

Batman's been affected by hallucinogens often, particularly the Scarecrow's fear toxin. Not good trips, of course, nor voluntary. I would imagine that hallucinogens pop up in superhero comics quite often.

#4 ::: Chris Durnell ::: April 20, 2006 11:41 AM ::: link

Wouldn't Ray Palmer come from the Physics Department? Not known for drug use - even in the 60's and 70's. Since there's no other indicator, he'd seem to be a no.

I also don't see Wayne having done anything even in his early travels. Seems to be a guy who wants his head clear.

Pym might have been on certain drugs for medication, but not have abused them or taken them recreationally.

We know Stephen Strange was once a bad drunk, so it's plausible he did other drugs during his time as "arrogant surgeon" or when he hit bottom after his accident. It is unlikely however he did any drugs once he found the Ancient One despite the term Ditko's artwork. While it's possible to argue that certain drugs might "aid" a potential sorcerer, Strange was never seen having to imbibe anything, so let's respect that and maintain that Ancient One type sorcery does not require drugs (and probably frown upon it).

Someone may mention Stark given his past alcoholism, but I think any drug use would be limited to that.

Wolverine has the metabolism to handle a lot of drugs, and is probably the only character to be regularly seen smoking and drinking heavily. It's at least conceivable he did try something during his long life time.

Diablo is a likely candidate among the villains although any drugs would be of his pseudo-alchemy variety.

I think it's been established that the Absorbing Man has done cocaine.

The Mandarin and similar old Chinese villains like the Yellow Claw might have used opium when they were younger (but not heavily.)

It is likely that DC's Scarecrow did LSD.

In any case, I prefer this type of discussion among the BS discussed among fans rather than seeing any depiction in comics.

#5 ::: Doug ::: April 20, 2006 12:27 PM ::: link

There was the Green Lantern back-up in Flash in which Ollie made Hal some chili that didn't quite go right. They made some excuse about a bad can of mushrooms or too long in the fridge or whatever, but it was 1974, and we knew what O'Neil and Adams meant.

I find it hard to believe that Tony Stark's alcoholism in the '70s wouldn't have included at least a couple of run-ins with coke, as well.

And Daredevil and the Black Widow in San Francisco? DD might want to keep his radar senses sharp, but I imagine Natasha was good for a little bit of experimentation.

I agree that Batman doesn't want anything to cloud his mind, but it seems a stretch to believe that Dr. Strange hasn't had a little help in expanding his consciousness from time to time.

And different versions of the same character might have different experiences. I can't imagine that Ditko's Question would've been anything but virulently anti-drug, but the O'Neil version of the '80s and '90s might've been more interested in exploring alternate states of consciousness.

Speaking of Ditko characters, the Creeper has had various relationships with drugs. His origin story gave him an off-balance personality while in costume. Although there didn't seem to be drugs obviously involved, drug-like effects were certainly in play. This aspect of his origin has been expanded or downplayed over the years, depending on who the creators are.

#6 ::: Jason Fliegel ::: April 20, 2006 2:18 PM ::: link

Jay and Silent Bob, obviously.

(By the way, speaking of Jay and Silent Bob, Kevin Smith has been blogging about Jason Mewes drug addictions -- it's pretty intense stuff. But I digress.)

Karen Page was a heroin addict.

It seems like there were several Vertigo or prot-Vertigo comics that featured comics ingesting hallucinogenic drugs to enable themselves to go on journeys of self-discovery. Did Milligan do that in Shade, maybe?

Moving past the things that have been made explicit in the text, Mary Jane, approriately enough, has smoked marijuana.

Simon Williams used to party a lot, back before he became Wonder Man.

I assume Spider Jersualem did a ton of drugs, since he's basically Hunter S. Thompson as written by Warren Ellis.

#7 ::: Dan Coyle ::: April 20, 2006 3:33 PM ::: link

G0dland villain Basil Cronus is a disembodied skull floating in a glass helmet over a robot body.

Early on in the series, he captures an alien creature, sticks a tube from its vein into his helment, pumps the blood in, and gets high off it.

I'm serious.

#8 ::: Jeff R. ::: April 20, 2006 3:46 PM ::: link

Animal Man was the vertigo (well, proto-vertigo at the time) character who took peyote to expand his consciousness.

I vaguely think that there have been hints and intimations about the Ultimate Aunt May and Uncle Ben. At the least, they attended Woodstock, where breathing the air without a mask probably qualified them...

Batman used, and then later kicked Venom, the super-steroid that powers Bane, which has some intoxicatingish side effects. Unless Superboy punched that story away. Pretty sure that The Cult had him fed on a druggy diet, also, with the same caveat.

Steve "Mento" Dayton probably mixed coke with his booze.

#9 ::: Robby K. ::: April 20, 2006 7:31 PM ::: link

I'm pretty sure that Mr. Nobody was injected with some pretty powerful drugs while in the isolation chamber.
Not that that is really recreational.

#10 ::: Chris Durnell ::: April 20, 2006 7:53 PM ::: link

Tony Stark could easily have had access to cocaine if he wanted, but alcoholism does not imply a tendency to do other drugs. Stark started drinking heavily because he was under stress and needed to relax, not because he wanted a cocaine-like high or was "experimenting." Cocaine's bad effects on the heart, given Stark's old medical conditions, is another reason why this was unlikely.

#11 ::: David Van Domelen ::: April 20, 2006 9:04 PM ::: link

Oh, yeah. Spider Jerusalem did an awful lot of drugs. There's a line about him slamming heroin into the flesh between his toes because his only uncollapsed veins were there, IIRC.

Man-Man's ganja breath was "used" by many characters in the normalman comic.

Most "feet of clay" stories, like the Marshal Law books (to take an extreme example) have pastiches of mainstream heroes (or even the heroes themselves) doing loads of drugs.

#12 ::: Jonathan Miller ::: April 20, 2006 11:19 PM ::: link

Timber Wolf got hooked on some wild and wacky future drug in an Action Comics backup, didn't he?

#13 ::: Abhijit ::: April 21, 2006 10:01 AM ::: link

A lot of the underground comix (many of which were semi autobio) had characters doing drugs. The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers come to mind.

#14 ::: Abhijit ::: April 21, 2006 10:08 AM ::: link

Oh, and that clean cut epitome of good living Tintin actually visits an opium den in disguise in one of Herge's early stories (The Blue Lotus). In order to keep the disguise up, he actually puts an opium pipe in his mouth, but at least in the English language version, he doesn't inhale.


#15 ::: Doug ::: April 21, 2006 11:51 AM ::: link

Speaking of opium dens, Mina Murray removes Allan Quatermain from one when she recruits him for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, And since we're on the subject, what exactly is in the potion that turns Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde?

And in a more clean cut but still Alan Moore vein, Tom Strong and his family make a lot of use of the Goloka root.

#16 ::: Jim Caldwell ::: April 21, 2006 1:33 PM ::: link

Was Hourman ever considered a Miraclo addict before James Robinson?

If so, then I suppose his "prescription drug" addiction counts. (If you consider Golden Age an Elseworlds - and I never chose to - you can probably ignore it)

#17 ::: Jeff R. ::: April 21, 2006 3:45 PM ::: link

I think that the "Whatever happened to Hourman" DCCP backup introduced, or at least flirted with, the Miraclo addictiveness bit. But memory isn't perfect.

#18 ::: Phil ::: April 21, 2006 5:58 PM ::: link

If you're including Vertigo, there's a lot of drug use in Preacher. Jesse does peyote for religious reasons on one occasion, Cassidy is a sometime junkie and deliberately gets Tulip addicted to downers, not to mention all the stuff Jesus De Sade does.

#19 ::: Tony Goins ::: April 24, 2006 4:08 PM ::: link

Physics students always had the best drugs, at least at my school. I never knew one who wasn't high. Ray Palmer's a lock for using drugs.

And Captain America's super soldier serum wasn't exactly Kool-Aid, let's not forget.

#20 ::: Jake ::: May 3, 2006 4:52 PM ::: link

In Grant Morrison's JLA run, he established that Batman tested hallucinogens on himself, as well as hypnosis/conditioning.

Unless Kyle Rayner is on record as being drug-free, I'd assume an artist of his stripe gets high now and again.

Iceman seems a likely candidate. And all of the New Mutants, I'm sure. Boom-Boom's probably done as many drugs as Dazzler.

Boston Brand is probably right up there with those two... I can see him having a right proper head-session with Bones, Pip, Cerebus, and the DNAgents...