The Most Memorable Gadgets in Comics

POSTED BY , 31 July 2007

Gadgets are fundamental components to the world of comics. Any superhero or supervillan worth its weight in super powers, has some bit of technology that makes his or her life easier (while sometimes making the lives of others more challenging).

Contained here are 10 of our favorite comic gadgets. These are the things that inspired us as kids, the cool devices that perhaps compelled us to grow into the giant dorks that we are today. The criteria was simple and wholly scientific: we went with our guts to pick the gadgets that seemed to inspire our imaginations the most.

1)Anything Batman Owns
Batman is the winged king of all gadgeteers. I guess being a multi-millionaire has it's benefits. Batman has got the art of Branding himself down to a science. Look at the guy: He has a batmobile, a batcave, a batsuit, a bat(insert-any-other-bat-object-here).

But the total coolness lies within his Bat Utility Belt. He has an array of cool Bat Things like: Bat Screwdrivers; Bat-A-Rangs; Bat Shark Repellent; and those cool Bat Poof smoke screen pellets. Ah, I can't help but considering all of the day-to-day troubles I could avoid, if I had me some of those Bat Poof pellets.

2) Dick Tracy's Wristwatch TV/Radio
In January of 1946, comic strip readers were introduced to Dick Tracy's cool 2-way Wrist Radio. The device was worn by other members of Tracy's police force as well and became one of the strip's most popular and recognizable items.

Dick's Wrist Radio was upgraded twice. In 1964, it became a 2-way Wrist TV while 1987 saw a 2-way Wrist Computer.
I wonder what network Dick was using back in 1946 — I hope it wasn't Verizon — "Can you hear me now?" Not really.

3) Iron Man's Suit
The Iron man Suit was originally designed as a huge pacemaker for Tony Stark. The suit didn't just prevent his pulse from flat-lining, it gave him various powers (yea, it turned a guy on life support into a super hero) like hand fired repulsor rays and the ability to fly.

I hope if I ever get a heart attack and require the aid of a pacemaker later in life, that the pacemaker will be as amazing as Iron Man's suit.

Who am I kidding? I just really want the Hand firing repulsor rays.

4) Calvin's Transmogrifier
Our hero, Calvin, invented the Transmogrifier, a cardboard box turned upside down with the word “transmogrifier” scrawled on the side in permanent marker. There is a dial on the side of the box, also drawn in marker, that can point to one of many settings (*also written on the box). In order to add more settings, all you have to do is write them around the dial. There's a button that begins the “transmogrification”, turning whatever is under the box into whatever setting the dial is set on. This is usually followed by a loud “zap!” after activation.
Calvin has turned himself into various animals including a tiger, an elephant, and even a dinosaur.

If given the opportunity to ever transmogrify myself into any creature, I think it would be a tie between a platypus or a pterodactyl — perhaps both? A pteropus? Platydactyl?

5) Barry Ween, Boy Genius' Teleportation Device
This next comic book character, and his cool gadget, was created by comic creator Judd Winick, who also happened to star on the San Francisco Season of the Real World in 1994. (Back when eMpTV used to actually be good and reality shows were actually about real people).

Imagine if Dexter's Laboratory and Jimmy Neutron had a gangbang with South Park. The result would probably more than likely be Barry Ween, Boy Genius. Barry Ween swears like a trucker, and has the smarts to put Stephen Hawking in his wheelchaired place.

Barry creates all sorts of cool things, such as jet packs and wallet sized nuclear devices. Like every kid genius, Barry has an immense Secret Lair underneath his suburban dwelling filled wall to wall with weapons, robots, and lots of futuristic transports.

My favorite gadget of Barry's, however, has got to be his teleportation device which opens up portals into parallel dimensions. It's my favorite cause it resembles a specific part of the female anatomy, and it glows.

Barry also gets extra kudos for creating his own Lightsaber. If only I was that cool at 10 years old (or now).

6) Spidey's Web Shooters
Spider man's web shooters are perhaps his most well known gadget, and for good reason.

When the itsy bitsy spider bit Peter Parker and gave him spidey powers, it forgot to give him the ability to spin webs naturally, so Petey had to improvise.

It's a good thing the lad had a keen mind for science, as he built himself a pair of wrist mounted Web Shooters that fire off an adhesive, artificial webbing through a threaded adjustable nozzle. The trigger for the shooters rests high in the palm area and requires a double tap from the two middle fingers to activate.

This kinda makes him look like he's unleashing the devil horns of doom and or the power of sign language Love.
You can't see it, but I'm unleashing the Devil Horns of Doom dedicated to Spider Man for having such a cool gadget. Oh Wait! You can.

(Yea, I know I'm pretty)

7) Green Goblin's Junk
All right, I'm on a Spider Man kick right now for some ungodly reason, so I thought I'd hilite a few of his arch enemies' cool gadgets too.
Green Goblin has some pretty neat goblinified goodies up his green sleeves. First off, his mask. That rubber mask is an intricate piece of work, did you guys know it has remote cameras, scanners, and 'glider-cam' vision abilities? I didn't.

It also houses a maniacal-laugh device. Everytime ol' greeny puts it on, it delivers a massive electrical charge throughout his body, giving him a super villainous boost of power. But that's not all he has, he also has arm and leg power bracers, and mini-jets installed in his boots. One of the coolest gadgets the Green Goblin owns is his glider, a long, bat-shaped platform that is propelled by jets. With it he can easily go from hovering in mid-air, to terrorizing the city. The glider also has a camera installed in its nose.

Honorary mention goes out to the Green Goblin's explodey pumpkin bombs, his glove blasters, gas ghosts, and razor bat blades.

8) Doc Ock's Tentacles
Oh Doc Ock. My roly-poly little scientific madman friend. Let me count thy ways I lovest thou. Four!!!!

Four is the exact number of shiny 24-foot long titanium tentacles attached to your butterball of a body.

Originally, our doctor used the tentacles on a harness as a means of handling dangerous radioactive chemicals in the lab. Then an accident happened, fusing the harness to his body and giving him mental control over the tentacles. Each one of those tentacles can carry around three-to-eight tons, can move up to 90mph, and can extend roughly 24-feet each — just don't ask him about his testicles — I hear he lost one in a boating accident last spring.

9) Green Lantern's Ring of Bling
Once upon a time, the Guardians of the Universe created some bad ass green rings. Each of these bad ass rings have so much power packed into its little green ass-kicking-self, that the person who is in possession of the ring can create anything they imagine in the known universe. You want your ring to project a giant fist and bash the crud out of a tiny spaceship? OK! Bam! You got it. It's like the intergalactic green version of Burger King. “We make it. Your Way”. OK, maybe not quite, but it's pretty damn close.

There's a few catches to owning these rings, tho':

A) You gotta be a member of the Green Lantern Corps. They're kinda like an intergalactic police force (or Burger King).
B) The rings can only be given to you by the Guardians of the Universe, if they deem you a worthy candidate, of course. And their only given to those with superior willpower.

If that's the case, I'd already fail, cause Burger King sounds a pretty great right about now. Either way, the Green Lantern Ring of Bling would make a cool wedding ring.

10) Aeon Flux and the Bio-Punk Elements
Aeon Flux was created by Calarts Animation Grad, Peter Chung. Influenced by artists like Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, (two artists your girlfriend might have hanging up on her ivy-league dorm room walls), and fueled by complex surreal storylines with amazing Cyber Punk visuals, Chung's brainchild was perfect for that era in MTV's Animation History.

The gadgets were bizarre, yet memorable. Most of them fell into the domain of body modifications and and Bio-Punk elements, such as external spinal cord implants, leg jumping implants, eye implants, conversions of limbs, and compartmentalized bodily storage areas.
(Do you guys remember that Billy Idol Cyberpunk album?)

This was actually a coin-flip between Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, and Aeon Flux.

Wonder Woman was a little boring, seeing as that all she had was her Golden Lasso of Truth, and her Bulletproof Armor Bracelets.

Bionic Woman, although I love me some hot Lindsay Wagner action, didn't quite hold up to the visual richness of Chung's Aeon Flux. (Although, the terrible live action turd starring Charlize Theron was almost enough for me to change my mind, I still hold on to my nostalgic heart strings for the Animated Series.)

I still haven't seen the film. Maybe one of you out there can persuade me to rent it on Netflix.
Should I bother wasting my money?

For the record, I'm very excited about the New Bionic Woman Series coming out soon.

p.s. I hate you Charlize Theron.

-Jeaux Janovsky, Pulp Secret Keeper