"Some ideas are just too smart to work". Who said that? Me. Right now. Put it on my tombstone and someone might get a chuckle. But my point remains that some writers may have ideas that simply fall through because its an idea only interesting to a small demographic. Case in point today's Z-Lister Danny The Street.
Created in the pages of "Doom Patrol Vol. 2 #35" in 1990, this non-humanoid character was created by the notorious Grant Morrison. If you're not familiar with his work Morrison is well renowned in the comic book industry for his out-of-the-box storytelling. Non-linear stories, counterculture stories, stories that breach the fourth wall and create parallels to real life subjects. Morrison wrote a story called "Multiversity" which was basically "There's a Monster at The End of This Book", but with superheroes, alternate realities, and probably a barrel of marijuana. This guy wrote "Final Crisis" a story in which creatures made from "existence" itself voluntarily corrupted every universe too feed off their negativity. Basically Morrison was calling comic book editors money-sucking vampires who care more about profits than storytelling. Can you blame the guy? But we're not just here to talk about Grant "What The F-" Morrison, we're here to talk about one of his earliest and weirdest creations.
Danny is a street. He's a sentient street. I guess the same way trees are alive, but Danny can actually do stuff other than stand there and be in my way while I'm driving. Danny is recognizable for empty buildings and decorations that are always part of his appearance. And yes, Danny The Street is a male. Well, kind of. You see Danny is male, but he is flamboyant and homosexual. How a street decides it's sexual preference I don't know. That's Tumblr's department. If your British theater game is on point you might catch on to the fact that Danny The Street is directly based on a British performer named Danny La Rue. Danny was well known for his expertise at cross-dressing and performing as women, so those traits were carried onto Danny The Street. Also "La Rue" means "The Street" in French!
Danny The Street's gimmick is that he can teleport and integrate into any environment. At night, Danny will disappear from one location and show up in another, wherever he shows up the location will adjust to fit him in. Entire buildings, streets, and addresses will be moved out of the way and Danny The Street will fit into his city of choice like an extra puzzle piece. Danny does this to help those who have no home since his buildings are mostly empty and he can power his water and electrical sources from the city he's sitting in. Danny can communicate to others by creating patterns in the shape of letters. Smoke, signs, newspapers, shards of glass, basically any part of him can be used to say something. Danny has housed heroes like The Doom Patrol and Flex Mantallo, as well as homeless folks who travel with Danny to protect him.
Danny's ability to set himself up wherever he chooses has gone from the U.S. Pentagon to an alternate version of Earth. Expanding on the latter, yes Danny The Street was once Danny The World and watched over the people of that Earth. A character known as Mr. Nobody was once responsible for the leveling of Danny The Street and the only part of him to survive was a brick. From there The Doom Patrol carried Danny The Brick along with them with Danny still able to communicate by carving letters on himself.
In The New 52 Danny The Street was a secret member of Red Robin's Teen Titans. He's a teenager too, by the way. He was usually given spy missions from Red Robin, but one story saw Danny being transported to an island where he was trapped as Danny The Island, but Danny seemingly sacrifices his life transporting the stranded Teen Titans back to civilization. However, it is suggested he still exists as Danny The Alley.
Danny The Street is one of those comic book characters who seems like an untapped resource by DC Comics. You essentially have a character that can double as a headquarters. Not only that, but he's another awesome comic book location. Atlantis, Gorilla City, Dinosaur Island, The Phantom Zone, Themyscira, The House of Mystery, these are all interesting locations with lore behind them and Danny is one of those cool locations. Unsurprisingly there's a lot of personality to his design. Just the idea that a character like Batman could wander into a part of Gotham he's never seen-even after decades of studying his city-and be all like "Hello, Danny. How have you been?" is so cool and fascinating and makes the DC Universe feel so much more mysterious. Danny doesn't even have an origin, you know. He's not some newsboy who died from a disease, but his spirit lived on within the streets he grew up on. It's all there to craft an origin, but DC is too busy fluffing Harley Quinn's booty-shorts to take notice of this awesome character. Hopefully DC does some more stuff with Danny. Otherwise Grant Morrison's going to be the only man living on that street.
Thanks for reading.
Would you live on Danny The Street? Comment below!
Danny is a street. He's a sentient street. I guess the same way trees are alive, but Danny can actually do stuff other than stand there and be in my way while I'm driving. Danny is recognizable for empty buildings and decorations that are always part of his appearance. And yes, Danny The Street is a male. Well, kind of. You see Danny is male, but he is flamboyant and homosexual. How a street decides it's sexual preference I don't know. That's Tumblr's department. If your British theater game is on point you might catch on to the fact that Danny The Street is directly based on a British performer named Danny La Rue. Danny was well known for his expertise at cross-dressing and performing as women, so those traits were carried onto Danny The Street. Also "La Rue" means "The Street" in French!
Danny The Street's gimmick is that he can teleport and integrate into any environment. At night, Danny will disappear from one location and show up in another, wherever he shows up the location will adjust to fit him in. Entire buildings, streets, and addresses will be moved out of the way and Danny The Street will fit into his city of choice like an extra puzzle piece. Danny does this to help those who have no home since his buildings are mostly empty and he can power his water and electrical sources from the city he's sitting in. Danny can communicate to others by creating patterns in the shape of letters. Smoke, signs, newspapers, shards of glass, basically any part of him can be used to say something. Danny has housed heroes like The Doom Patrol and Flex Mantallo, as well as homeless folks who travel with Danny to protect him.
Danny's ability to set himself up wherever he chooses has gone from the U.S. Pentagon to an alternate version of Earth. Expanding on the latter, yes Danny The Street was once Danny The World and watched over the people of that Earth. A character known as Mr. Nobody was once responsible for the leveling of Danny The Street and the only part of him to survive was a brick. From there The Doom Patrol carried Danny The Brick along with them with Danny still able to communicate by carving letters on himself.
In The New 52 Danny The Street was a secret member of Red Robin's Teen Titans. He's a teenager too, by the way. He was usually given spy missions from Red Robin, but one story saw Danny being transported to an island where he was trapped as Danny The Island, but Danny seemingly sacrifices his life transporting the stranded Teen Titans back to civilization. However, it is suggested he still exists as Danny The Alley.
Danny The Street is one of those comic book characters who seems like an untapped resource by DC Comics. You essentially have a character that can double as a headquarters. Not only that, but he's another awesome comic book location. Atlantis, Gorilla City, Dinosaur Island, The Phantom Zone, Themyscira, The House of Mystery, these are all interesting locations with lore behind them and Danny is one of those cool locations. Unsurprisingly there's a lot of personality to his design. Just the idea that a character like Batman could wander into a part of Gotham he's never seen-even after decades of studying his city-and be all like "Hello, Danny. How have you been?" is so cool and fascinating and makes the DC Universe feel so much more mysterious. Danny doesn't even have an origin, you know. He's not some newsboy who died from a disease, but his spirit lived on within the streets he grew up on. It's all there to craft an origin, but DC is too busy fluffing Harley Quinn's booty-shorts to take notice of this awesome character. Hopefully DC does some more stuff with Danny. Otherwise Grant Morrison's going to be the only man living on that street.
Thanks for reading.
Would you live on Danny The Street? Comment below!
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