Section 8 (comics)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Publication information
Section 8
Panel from Hitman #18. Art by John McCrea.
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Hitman #18 (September 1997)
Created by	Garth Ennis (writer) John McCrea (artist)
In story information
Base(s)	Gotham City
Member(s)	Sixpack (leader) Bueno Excelente The Defenestrator (deceased) Dogwelder(deceased) Friendly Fire (deceased) Jean de Baton-Baton (deceased) Phlegm-Gem (deceased) Shakes (deceased)

Section 8 is a fictional superhero team published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in Hitman #18 (September 1997), and was created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea (with some slight, uncredited aid from Steve Dillon).

1 History
2 Members
3 Character origins
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The team is based in The Cauldron, the Irish section of Gotham City and is led by Sixpack. They apparently have some sort of heroic history (though this is complicated by the fact that several of their members seem prone to complicated hallucinations) prior to the events of Hitman. As of the start of the series, the team is split up, although they are all still located within Gotham City.

The team reforms to provide critical support for Tommy Monaghan and his crew during the "Ace of Killers" storyline, and later aid Tommy during his encounter with the Czarnian mercenary anti-hero Lobo.

Their attempt to fight with the demonic entities known as the Multi-Angled Ones was less successful, as most of the team died or accidentally killed themselves. Sixpack had a statue built in his honor after saving the day through his apparent sacrifice, though he may have secretly survived the fight and cleaned himself up. Bueno Excelente was off-site, doing other unmentionable things and consequently survived. A recent story (2007) suggests that Excelente may still roam Gotham City.^[1]

[edit] Members

Sixpack: Team leader, whose special ability is grotesque drunkenness and beating villains with broken-off liquor bottles.

Bueno Excelente: An obese, sweaty, and bald Latino in an overcoat who "defeats evil with the power of perversion." Generally, the only thing he says will be "Bueno", often preceded by a creepy chuckle. It is strongly implied that he violated Kyle Rayner in some way.^[1]

The Defenestrator: A large, burly man in a denim jacket, black sunglasses, with black hair who obsessively carries around a window through which he forcefully throws criminals and the occasional unlucky policeman. His assaults on police officers landed him in Arkham Asylum.

Dogwelder: A thin, silent man in a welder's mask who spot welds dead canines to evildoers, resulting in extreme burns and general horror. The question of how exactly one can weld a flesh and blood animal to a person is not answered by the series.

Friendly Fire: A large, hapless man in a red cowl, Friendly Fire would easily be the most powerful of Section 8's heroes if he were to shoot anything other than allies with the potent bolts of energy he fires from his hands.

Jean de Baton-Baton: A bizarrely gaunt walking French caricature who defeats enemies with "the power of Frenchness," as expressed by savage beatings with a baton and occasionally blinding others with rings of garlic and onions.

Flemgem: A sickly, thin, bald man in a green suit and a purple domino mask who has the ability to produce and expel large volumes of phlegm, which can blind, suffocate, or simply gross out evildoers.

Shakes: A thin, hairy vagrant who upsets people through stutters and an overall shaking palsy. He is a frequent, accidental target of Friendly Fire.

[edit] Character origins

The most likely source for the group's name is the section of the Army Code which permits discharge from the service due to insanity (Section 8); the reference is deeply appropriate due to the psychological maladjustments of the characters and Ennis's tendency toward using military references throughout his writing. (Other theories suggest the name of the team is a reference to Section 8, a low-rent program supported by the US Federal Government to help the impoverished find affordable apartments. Since the team is "low rent" (little respected), the title is appropriate.)

The character of Bueno Excelente was inspired by a Spanish pornographic movie in which the star's entire dialogue consisted of the word "bueno" repeated frequently, and then "Bueno... excelente!" upon the moment of climax. This was related to Ennis by a friend who had seen the film in Denmark.

The Defenestrator, in both name and appearance, is a blatant parody of the various Terminators Arnold Schwarzenegger has played, especially the one from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The character of Dogwelder was created by Steve Dillon (and an unspecified friend) in a pub when Ennis dared him to find a dumber name than Green Lantern. Whether his name also derives from "spot welder" (Spot being a common dog's name) is unclear.

Phlegm-Gem was likely named after a throw-away comment that comedian Bill Hicks made in Sane Man.

The Multi-Angled Ones who ultimately killed the majority of the team are assumed to be derived from the Many-Angled Ones, who were based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.