The naming of those fantastic (and hideous) creatures that routinely crawl from the earth's dark chasms or slither from the depths of its briny seas is a process both mysterious and (occasionally) spontaneous. Granted there are some, like this chap, who (after traversing the icy wastes of space) announce themselves to a petrified world…1
Doubtless "Groot", in a moment of vivid self-awareness, thought to himself, "I'm a root (well, sort of) and I'm giant…I SHALL BE GROOT!". He then imposed this self-appointed moniker on those he set out to terrify and obliterate. It's a bit rich really - like those tedious "characters" who tell you what they want their nickname to be.
Unlike the plucky little feller in the bottom left I'd have defied/antagonised Groot by continually getting his name wrong. Tree-Man-dous! Oak-God-Almighty! Plant Chap! He'd go mental.
The tactic adopted by many of the most memorable monsters, however, is simply to turn up, start opening cans of whupass, and let the fleeing hordes slap a label on you. For example:
This is standard practice in Godzilla movies, where exchanges like the following are par for the course -
A: Look there!
B: It's a horse!
A: It's enormous!
B: It's Enormohorse!2
Not sure that the etymology behind "Droom" is as easy to pick apart as all that though.
Dinosaur + Doom?
Death + Room(y)?
Droom retains his secrets (rather than broadcasting them).
And then there are those behemoths that are actively sought out rather than enthusiastically avoided. Instead of dashing far away, or staying to stick out one's jaw and defy, these are the monsters we just want to "know" (phnarr). We raise money, we organise, we form expeditions to track 'em down. And then…
A classic "Oh shit…we've succeeded!" moment. The fury on the face of the Yeti (I use the less offensive term) can perhaps be understood when one considers the "abominable" tag that's long attached itself to its good name:
Like the legend itself, the origin of the term "Abominable Snowman" is rather colourful. It began when Mr Henry Newman, a longtime contributor to The Statesman in Calcutta (using the pen name "Kim"), interviewed the porters of the "Everest Reconnaissance expedition" upon their return to Darjeeling. Newman mistranslated the word "metoh" as "filthy" or "dirty", substituting the term "abominable", perhaps out of artistic license.
If Tales to Astonish is anything to go by we'll soon be blaming Newman's "artistic licence" as the starting point for the 1000 year Yeti/Human war.
Fucking eejit (I call him).
Maybe Groot’s Dutch, and his name rhymes with “rote”, which likely describes how they created the monsters in your post. You know, Jack Kirby drew his share of thickoes, lunkheads, and heroes with giant tooth, but he also gave us Devil Dinosaur, and that basically does what it says on the tin. DD would have kicked these losers’ asses six ways to Sunday.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 amGroot also falls headfirst into the hubris trap - declaring himself invincible and daring anyone to defy him. That always ends in tears and egg on the face.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pmSo ‘Droom’ is a “living Lizard”, is this implying that all regular lizards are dead?
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:22 pmIf, by “all regular lizards”, you mean “the red tegu my neighbor asked me to care for while he was away in summer camp”, then yes.
Captain Obvious in the lower left is not afraid to put too fine a point on the news that Droom is alive, so I suspect that the import of the distinction will be revealed within. Erm, you buy it, Fustar.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:20 pmniall/devo,
I too was struck by Droom’s strange description (”the living Lizard”). A bit redundant, on the face of it, like a superhero called “Hu-Man - The actual, Living Man!!”
Wow!
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pmI think I have a copy of that yeti comic somewhere, must dig it out (by that I don’t mean give it stg£5,000).
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 pmAre these monsters any lamer than Super-Hip?
Darwin,
Dig! Dig as if your very life depended on it. Though the tone of the post might suggest otherwise, I do dearly love Jack Kirby (who doesn’t?). I wanna see what happens to yer man who though about to be mashed by a giant boulder continues to keep the camera rolling.
No. No they definitely are not…
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 pmNo luck digging. Actually, I think I picked up a 70’s reprint.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:48 amOn checking up a bit further, I found that Kirby’s Abominable Snowman was changed to Gorgilla(?) for some reason. Go figure.
I like the tabloid sensibility {”I found! I survived! I took a shitty cellphone picture of, after he came out of the men’s toilets rubbing his nose!”} aspect of the Yeti comic. It guess it was commonplace.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:48 amDamn the synchronicity of the internets!
April 8th, 2008 at 9:27 pmGreen Ink, There isn’t an original thought out there - even for a fleeting moment.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:46 pmDamn, that would have been a good project.
April 8th, 2008 at 11:22 pm