Logistics

Anyone know if there are any stories that actually go into detail about how heroes get their stuff? Headquarters, equipment, vehicles, costumes, medical, repairs, etc?

>inb4 BUT THAT'S BORING. ME WANT SEE PUNCH THINGS!
Yeah, before you even start, go fuck yourself. Exploring the logistics of hero work can easily make for a story in itself, and it's a good way to create some drama when they're low on funds or lose their sources.

And before you start on suspension of disbelief, that Grant Morrison quote that you're about to spam is regressive whoreshit, and only proves Alan Moore right about capes being childish. Don't let the beard wizard be correct about something.

So with that out of the way, pick a hero (not one who's rich) and speculate about how they keep up their operation.

It's hard to list that kind of stuff because most of it is just shown through small snippets in other stories.

Kate Spencer Manhunter has some memorable bits that show about the lifestyle of henchmen.

Simone loves to but that kind of thing in her stories as well, especially in Birds of Prey which you yourself posted.

I wish we'd get a "I don't give a fuck" writer like Priest to do a Damage Control or Damage Control-esque book about how the rest of the world operates in response to superheroes.

I don't know about heroes, but I do know that there's two DC villains that have showed up occasionally who only exist to provide infrastructure for other villains: the Tailor makes all their custom uniforms, and the Carpenter builds their lairs.

And there's the Broker, a villain who specializes in finding real estate including hideouts and lairs for other villains. Mostly just works in Gotham.

Gambi works primarily with the Rogues and other Central City villains. You're also leaving out Great White Shark, who supplies equipment, the Broker, who does real estate, and Calculator, who is villain Oracle. Those are just the exclusively supply side people, Intergang deals in alien weaponry and Lex Luthor has been known to sell equipment.

I mean.


Spider-Man.

>Simone loves to but that kind of thing in her stories as well, especially in Birds of Prey which you yourself posted.
This is why I miss Oracle. She used to be the answer to that question. "Hey, where do all these heroes get their stuff?" "Barbara sets them up."

>So with that out of the way, pick a hero (not one who's rich) and speculate about how they keep up their operation.

The problem is that most non-rich superheroes tend to have powers that reduce the need for external sources of supply.

>medical
>costume repairs
>information
>training equipment
>transport for non-flyers/non-speedsters
Yeah, unless your power set includes the ability to pull everything you need directly out of your ass, no.

There's an issue of volume four of Legion of Super-Heroes where the team visits a bunch of aliens who are specialised in tailoring to get their uniforms designed and fitted. The same aliens show up every now and then and several members of the team really don't like them.

I feel like there's no specific run about it, but generally stories will drop hints like that in regards to specific heroes or teams and over time you gain an understanding of how things work in that world.

>And before you start on suspension of disbelief, that Grant Morrison quote that you're about to spam is regressive whoreshit, and only proves Alan Moore right about capes being childish. Don't let the beard wizard be correct about something.

Fuck off, the Morrison quote is about people who dismiss stories just because the premise can't happen in real life. He is not against stories that actively seek to answer those questions nor is he against fan theories.

Outside of super-strength, enhanced durability/healing is probably the most common superpower. Costumes are usually handcrafted, implying they're easily affordable on a regular salary. Superheroes also tend to be reactionary, so they're less reliant on needing information and any sort of telepathy, technopathy, or super-senses cover for it. Most non-marital arts superheroes have little training and only a few are heavy equipment users. Most use mundane methods of transportation or, due to the reactive nature of most superhero comics, are already present. It's one of the reasons why most superhero comics are set in urban areas.

Interestingly enough, the character who ignores most of your points is the Punisher, who can eat through hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars worth of bullets, bombs, and equipment in a single story, all the while doing very little on-screen training, relying entirely on information from torture, a van for transportation, and walking off hospital worthy wounds.

The context of the quote is him dismissing people asking for a reasonable amount of verisimilitude. It's entirely a strawmanned argument, no one is asking "who pumps the Batmobile's tires" because the obvious answer is that it's either Batman, Robin, or Alfred.

Seriously. Where the fuck does Frank get all that shit? It has to be black market or else he could be easily traced through the paper trail.

He raids the armories of the gangs he takes out. 100 dead gang bangers and guns smugglers are going to do fuck all with a warehouse full of bullets. California Senator Leland Yee could have gotten you a rocket launcher for a big enough donation. Such hardware is not unknown.

Fair enough. Where does he keep all of that stuff though? Hidden storehouses with skulls painted all over the walls, yes? You could probably get a nice story out of some poor idiot accidentally bumbling across one and taking a bunch of hardware.

Takes the drug money he recovers and either buys property through an LLC setup by a third party, or rents out storage units. I'd go with the former personally, it would also give him safehouses from which to operate, but the latter is more gritty.

Vans, Trucks and run down apartments in bad neighbourhoods. Typically when he's used them up he discards them.

I like the former as well. It's annoying when Frank portrayed as a one-note "RAAARGH KILL GRRR" type. No way anyone could this for so long unless they were fairly intelligent.

Gotta assume he's got his own medical training, or visits back alley doctors for more serious injuries.

Bump.

Once in a while you get a story about that but for the most part, it gets in the way of the punching & shipping which is all anybody seems to want to write since its easy.

And yes Morrison is being a cunt about the Batmobile's tires.

>And yes Morrison is being a cunt about the Batmobile's tires.
First, Alfred pumps the tires. Duh. Second, it's just a shitty attitude to have, because again, exploring the logistics of the character's operation can easily open up avenues for more stories.

Is the source of their stuff a person? What kind of relationship does the hero have with this person? Do they accept money, or do they demand favors in exchange for services? Are they trustworthy?

Does the hero make the equipment themselves? Where do they get their materials, and is it difficult to acquire them, prompting a mini-adventure? They must be technically skilled to do this, what misadventures did they have during their education?

See? I could go on and on with how much you can mine from this, so it's really sad to see people so uninterested.

Bump.