Noodle Incident/Comic Books
Examples of Noodle Incidents in Comic Books include:
- Averted in the Batman story arc "Prodigal"... eventually. Dick Grayson assumed the role of Batman while Bruce Wayne left Gotham to work on a case, the details of which were not made clear for some time. Several years later, in No Man's Land, the "case" was revealed as an excuse for him to secretly set up several mini-Batcaves throughout Gotham.
- In another comic where The Joker is on death row (for a crime he didn't commit, ironically) and a preacher tells him to confess his sins, the last one we the end of he says "...And that's the last time I ever used glass" whatever he did with the glass was so horrible it causes the priest to flee in terror.
- The 'One Year Later' circumstances that saw Jim Gordon once again become Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department and Detective Harvey Bullock returned to duty despite having been kicked off the force previously, along with a shake-up of the department which saw the previous commissioner removed from office, ended up becoming one of these. Reportedly, it was supposed to be explained in 52, but the authors of that series ended up following completely different plotlines.
- The purpose of Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck was intended to round up all of the Noodle Incidents mentioned in the stories by Carl Barks and create a biography for the character out of them. Rosa refers to these as "Barksian facts", and he has only had to leave out very few that are completely against the rest of the story.
- In the second volume of Scott Pilgrim, one is implied in reference to Scott living with Wallace, though the story is somewhat explained later.
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Kim: How'd you end up living with that guy anyway? |
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- In Transmetropolitan, "The Terrible Night of the Telephone" is an apocryphal story of how journalist Spider Jerusalem caused half a dozen politicians in Prague to commit suicide over the telephone. No other details are given, but the incident is referred to several times over the run of the comic.
- This is almost repeated on screen, as he also manages to talk a TV show host into attempting suicide in a live broadcast. One presumes that the original incident was something similar, or else he simply threatened to reveal some serious dirt on the politicians.
- On a more serious note, when asked later in the series how many people he's killed, he says soberly, "Thirteen." He also notes that all of them were in self-defense, except one. The one he considers to be Vita Severn, but what about the others?
- In Astro City it remained unexplained for a long time why the statue of the Silver Agent was inscribed "To our eternal shame." It was finally revealed that he had been unjustly executed for a murder he committed under mind control because the government wanted to make people know they still had control over metahumans... and he still returned to save the world several times afterwards.
- The British newspaper strip Bristow, set in an office, often included references to "the great tea-trolley disaster of '67", since moved up to 2002 to cover the current occupants.
- In addition, there is the "Great Luncheon Voucher Swindle of ?68", possibly involving a younger son of Sir Chester Perry. This is spoken of in hushed tones and never referred to when the Boss is around.
- In Alpha Flight #5, Puck mentions the affair of the Brass Bishop. Never explained further by the original creator, but two different (and contradictory) Brass Bishops have shown up since. (The original story still isn't told, though.)
- Also, in his first appearance, he was released from prison by Guardian, and promised Guardian he would never kill anyone again. Exactly who he had killed or why he was in prison (assuming the two are related) is unknown, but again, it may have had something to do with the Brass Bishop. Indeed, there is a big gap in his history previous to the team being formed that stretches back about 50 years that has never been explained.
- Brian Michael Bendis likes to use the line, "You still owe me eight dollars from that thing that time."
- Watchmen does this a little bit in the early chapters, like Hollis's reference to the Screaming Skull, but some references (like "Rorschach's nuts. He's been nuts ever since that kidnapping he handled three years back.") are revealed in full later on...and are downright horrifying, probably worse than most people imagined.
- Two Thousand AD's Caballistics, Inc. worked one into Lawrence Verse's backstory; all that is known about his past is that he had to leave the Catholic priesthood after using a chainsaw during the Rite of Exorcism, the details of which are never clearly or fully known to the reader.
- The Intimates' signature info scrolls at the bottom of most pages contained many of these concerning virtually every character at one point or another. The details behind Commander Presence's divorce, Dashman's nervous breakdown/super speeding accident, Sgt. Stomp's PTSD, the numerous arrests of Travis Duke by his sherriff half brother, Kefong's relationship with the Asia's youngest female assassin, and the future event where erectile dysfunction might ruin both of Punchy's marriages (to name but a few examples)... are all never expounded on.
- The X-Men has had several during a year long gap between the end of Uncanny X-Men #381/X-Men #99 and Uncanny X-Men #382/X-Men #100: the story of how Psylocke and Jean Grey switched powers, how Sage joined the X-Men after they freed her from Elias Bogan's minions, the resolution to the Baby Version of "Age Of Apocalypse" Apocalypse's take-over of the Mojoverse....
- At the start of D.R. & Quinch Go Straight, the eponymous duo were found guilty of, among other things, "thirty-two offences so unusual and horrible they do not have names. "
- D.R. & Quinch Get Drafted begins at the tail end of one and immediately Hangs A Lampshade on it.
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Waldo "D.R." Dobbs: I have no idea how I came to be in this incredibly strange, confusing situation. Actually, it has nothing to do with the following totally awesome story and I'd advise you to forget it, man. |
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- In The Goon noodle incidences are discussed frequently by the main characters, sometimes involving a man actually named Charlie Noodles who is never seen by the reader.
- The nuclear war that provides much of the backstory in Strontium Dog isn't detailed much further than, "Nobody ever knew who fired the first missile--but suddenly the whole world went crazy!"
- A particularly literal case is found in volume 6 of XXXenophile, after the villainess' main henchman is found trussed up and suspended. "Forgive me, Mistress. They had... macaroni."
- Several cases in Empowered. Thugboy cosplaying, Thugboy wearing Empowered's suit, etc. Reason: Several storylines were (presumably temporarily) cut from the books, moved between books, etc.
- A Super Mario Bros.. comic in the Nintendo Comics System has Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2 kidnapping King Toadstool. It's then implied that this has happened before:
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Mario: Adding it all up, it's perfectly clear - Wart snatched the king... again! |
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- Twisted ToyFare Theatre had Iron Man and Robert Downey, Jr. in court at the beginning of the story.
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Judge Quintesson: In the case of Stamford, Connecticut, The Chuck E. Cheese Corporation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, The Kingdom of Atlantis, The Night Thrasher Estate and the Hooters on Route 9, versus Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr., the jury finds the defendants guilty! Your drunk and disorderly reign of terror is over! |
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- In an issue of The Simpsons comic book, Krusty the Clown founds his own country. When he and Bart try to come up with a name, Bart suggests "Krustyland", to which Krusty replies, "No, too many bad memories."
- As an aside, Krustyland is the second stage of Konami's 1991 beat-'em-up Simpsons arcade game.
- Krusty's "bad memories" actually had been explained earlier, but in a different comic book (specifically, the one-shot Krusty Comics, which ran only three issues under the title "The Rise and Fall of Krustyland"). Krusty built the amusement park on a Native American burial ground and ignored the height restriction for the roller coasters stipulated in the deed to the land, causing vengeful supernatural forces to descend on the park on opening day and generate gale-force winds that blew everything down. Additionally, Krusty borrowed money to fund the park from a Mafia don but didn't pay him back in time, causing the don's goons to try to kill him.
- In Asterix and the Cauldron, the Gauls mention to visiting chief Whosmoralsarelastix that the Romans only tried collecting taxes from their village once. The unspecified treatment the Gauls gave to the tax collector apparently scared him away to the point where neither he nor any other tax official will dare enter the village. Vitalstatistix fondly reminisces: "What fun we had! Remember when we..." Unfortunately, the sentence is never completed, as a hysterically laughing Getafix drowns out the rest.
- another one in Asterix: Obelix isn't allowed to drink any magic potion as he fell into a cauldron of it as a kid and nobody knows what might happen. This is event is referenced a lot but never documented any further..
- Until a very late book (this troper thinks that the series had gone bad about two or three albums before it) tossed that rule and did a short story on exactly this topic.
- Also, apart from a few drops(Cleopatra), he's been off the potion for most of the albums - and then he finally snaps and drinks a whole cauldron of it, so we find out what happens. Again, later album...
- Phoney Bone's schemes. The only one described in detail was the disasterous campaign picnic, which resulted in an out-of-control giant balloon, and a town-wide case of indigestion caused by cheap food.
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Fone Bone: Maybe you'll think twice before you build an ORPHANAGE on a HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDFIL!! |
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- A Bloom County strip had the middle two panels interrupted for an "editors note", leaving only the first and last panels free. The last panel had opus yelling "Turnips! Turnips and Antifreeze!" with portnoy yelling "Not with Donny Osmond he wont!"
- Has come up several times in Fantastic Four usually with Johnny Storm as the cause of it. After Johnny suggests time traveling in issue 501:
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Mr. Fantastic: This had better not involve Davey Crockett again. You`ve already given that man too much trouble. |
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- PS238 has a few, seeing how there are a lot of super- and not-so-super- heroes with interesting past. And then there was that accident with the cow.
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