Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: Difference between revisions

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* Taking this in a new and strange direction, the demon [[Etrigan]] in the DC Universe speaks in ''rhyme''. This is taken by one of the Endless as a sign he has been promoted in the demonic ranks. And when [[Alan Moore]] wrote him, he actually ''did'' speak iambic pentameter. One incarnation of him accidentally forgot to rhyme in haste, meaning it's a conscious effort on his part rather than automatically how speech comes to him.

** An issue of "Excalibur" told from the point of view of Lockheed featured him flying around spouting bad rhyme. Which is interesting, as it's been suggested on more than one occasion that, being an alien life-form, his vocal apparatus just can't cope with English.

** Played with in the miniseries ''[[~~Arkham Asylum Living Hell|~~Arkham Asylum: Living Hell]]'' when it turns out that not only do many demons speak in rhyme, anything not in rhyme is incomprehensible. Thus, the human/demon interpreter job is left to Humpty Dumpty, who speaks fluent Poetic.

** Played with in the miniseries ''[[Arkham Asylum: Living Hell]]'' when it turns out that not only do many demons speak in rhyme, anything not in rhyme is incomprehensible. Thus, the human/demon interpreter job is left to Humpty Dumpty, who speaks fluent Poetic.

** In ''Shadowpact'', it was revealed that rhyming demons are considered as part of the underworld's upper class and one has to earn the privilege to become one. However, it must be a lower rank than being (a) Lord of Hell, as Neron was furious to be promoted to rhyming demon. Yes, a lowering of rank is called being promoted. They're demons. The lower they are, the more powerful and evil they are. Yes, it's stupid. But they discuss it at length when Blue Devil got his demotion and started rhyming.

** Garth Ennis's ''[[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]]'' also played with this, with a lower ranking demon named Baytor who, due to his inability to rise in Hell's ranks, could only say, "I am Baytor!"

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* [[Alan Moore]] [[Author Appeal|really loves]] his iambic pentameter; in The [[League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]] book ''The Black Dossier'', the final passage features Prospero explaining at length(and in iambic pentameter) the importance of fiction. Makes sense, after all he ''is'' a character from Shakespeare.

** It comes back in Century: 1969. There's really no excuse for why a punk rocker in a seedy nightclub is singing in perfect iambic pentameter.

* A recent [[All There in the Manual|supplemental comic]] for the most recent comic incarnation of the [[Transformers]] explains [[The Scrappy|Wheelie's]] habitual rhyming as due to a glitched translation device that only works reliably in rhyme.

* In ''[[Fables]]'' spinoff ''Jack of Fables'', Lady Luck speaks in Iambic Pentameter.

* In ''[[Empowered]]'', the Caged Demonwolf combines this with [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]] and [[Purple Prose]] (also, thesaurus abuse) for some truly remarkable dialogue.