Borobudur, the Biggest Buddhist Temple in the Ninth Century

Borobudur, the Biggest Buddhist Temple in the Ninth Century

Who does not know Borobudur? This Buddhist temple has 1460 relief panels and 504 Buddha effigies in its complex. Millions of people are eager to visit this building as one of the World Wonder Heritages. It is not surprising since architecturally and functionally, as the place for Buddhists to say their prayer, Borobudur is attractive.
Borobudur was built by King Samaratungga, one of the kings of Old Mataram Kingdom, the descendant of Sailendra dynasty. Based on Kayumwungan inscription, an Indonesian named Hudaya Kandahjaya revealed that Borobudur was a place for praying that was completed to be built on 26 May 824, almost one hundred years from the time the construction was begun. The name of Borobudur, as some people say, means a mountain having terraces (budhara), while other says that Borobudur means monastery on the high place.

Borobudur is constructed as a ten-terraces building. The height before being renovated was 42 meters and 34.5 meters after the renovation because the lowest level was used as supporting base. The first six terraces are in square form, two upper terraces are in circular form, and on top of them is the terrace where Buddha statue is located facing westward. Each terrace symbolizes the stage of human life. In line with of Buddha Mahayana, anyone who intends to reach the level of Buddha's must go through each of those life stages.
The base of Borobudur, called Kamadhatu, symbolizes human being that are still bound by lust. The upper four stories are called Rupadhatu symbolizing human beings that have set themselves free from lust but are still bound to appearance and shape. On this terrace, Buddha effigies are placed in open space; while the other upper three terraces where Buddha effigies are confined in domes with wholes are called Arupadhatu, symbolizing human beings that have been free from lust, appearance and shape. The top part that is called Arupa symbolizes nirvana, where Buddha is residing.
Each terrace has beautiful relief panels showing how skillful the sculptors were. In order to understand the sequence of the stories on the relief panels, you have to walk clockwise from the entrance of the temple. The relief panels tell the legendary story of Ramayana. Besides, there are relief panels describing the condition of the society by that time; for example, relief of farmers' activity reflecting the advance of agriculture system and relief of sailing boat representing the advance of navigation in Bergotta (Semarang).
All relief panels in Borobudur temple reflect Buddha's teachings. For the reason, this temple functions as educating medium for those who want to learn Buddhism. YogYES suggests that you walk through each narrow passage in Borobudur in order for you to know the philosophy of Buddhism. Atisha, a Buddhist from India in the tenth century once visited this temple that was built 3 centuries before Angkor Wat in Cambodia and 4 centuries before the Grand Cathedrals in Europe.
Thanks to visiting Borobudur and having supply of Buddha teaching script from Serlingpa (King of Sriwijaya), Atisha was able to improve Buddha's teachings after his return to India and he built a religion institution, Vikramasila Buddhism. Later he became the leader of Vikramasila monastery and taught Tibetans of practicing Dharma. Six scripts from Serlingpa were then summarized as the core of the teaching called "The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment" or well known as Bodhipathapradipa.
A question about Borobudur that is still unanswered by far is how the condition around the temple was at the beginning of its foundation and why at the time of it's finding the temple was buried. Some hypotheses claim that Borobudur in its initial foundation was surrounded by swamps and it was buried because of Merapi explosion. It was based on Kalkutta inscription with the writing 'Amawa' that means sea of milk. The Sanskrit word was used to describe the occurrence of disaster. The sea of milk was then translated into Merapi lava. Some others say that Borobudur was buried by cold lava of Merapi Mountain.
With the existing greatness and mystery, it makes sense if many people put Borobudur in their agenda as a place worth visiting in their lives. Besides enjoying the temple, you may take a walk around the surrounding villages such as Karanganyar and Wanurejo. You can also get to the top of Kendil stone where you can enjoy Borobudur and the surrounding scenery. Please visit Borobudur temple right away...
Text: Yunanto Wiji Utomo

Prambanan, the Most Beautiful Hindu Temple in the World

Prambanan, the Most Beautiful Hindu Temple in the World

Prambanan temple is extraordinarily beautiful building constructed in the tenth century during the reigns of two kings namely Rakai Pikatan and Rakai Balitung. Soaring up to 47 meters (5 meters higher than Borobudur temple), the foundation of this temple has fulfilled the desire of the founder to show Hindu triumph in Java Island. This temple is located 17 kilometers from the city center, among an area that now functions as beautiful park.
There is a legend that Javanese people always tell about this temple. As the story tells, there was a man named Bandung Bondowoso who loved Roro Jonggrang. To refuse his love, Jonggrang asked Bondowoso to make her a temple with 1,000 statues only in one-night time. The request was nearly fulfilled when Jonggrang asked the villagers to pound rice and to set a fire in order to look like morning had broken. Feeling to be cheated, Bondowoso who only completed 999 statues cursed Jonggrang to be the thousandth statue.

Prambanan temple has three main temples in the primary yard, namely Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva temples. Those three temples are symbols of Trimurti in Hindu belief. All of them face to the east. Each main temple has accompanying temple facing to the west, namely Nandini for Shiva, Angsa for Brahma, and Garuda for Vishnu. Besides, there are 2 flank temples, 4 kelir temples and 4 corner temples. In the second area, there are 224 temples.
Entering Shiva temple, the highest temple and is located in the middle, you will find four rooms. One main room contains Shiva statue, while the other three rooms contain the statues of Durga (Shiva's wife), Agastya (Shiva's teacher), and Ganesha (Shiva's son). Durga statue is said to be the statue of Roro Jonggrang in the above legend.
In Vishnu temple, to the north of Shiva temple, you will find only one room with Vishnu statue in it. In Brahma temple, to the south of Shiva temple, you find only room as well with Brahma statue in it.
Quite attractive accompanying temple is Garuda temple that is located close to Vishnu temple. This temple keeps a story of half-bird human being named Garuda. Garuda is a mystical bird in Hindu mythology. The figure is of golden body, white face, red wings, with the beak and wings similar to eagle's. It is assumed that the figure is Hindu adaptation of Bennu (means 'rises' or 'shines') that is associated with the god of the Sun or Re in Old Egypt mythology or Phoenix in Old Greek mythology. Garuda succeeded in saving his mother from the curse of Aruna (Garuda's handicapped brother) by stealing Tirta Amerta (the sacred water of the gods).
Its ability to save her mother made many people admire it to the present time and it is used for various purposes. Indonesia uses the bird as the symbol of the country. Other country using the same symbol is Thailand, with the same reason but different form adaptation and appearance. In Thailand, Garuda is known as Krut or Pha Krut.
Prambanan also has panels of relief describing the story of Ramayana. Experts say that the relief is similar to the story of Ramayana that is told orally from generation to generation. Another interesting relief is Kalpataru tree that - in Hindu - the tree is considered tree of life, eternity and environment harmony. In Prambanan, relief of Kalpataru tree is described as flanking a lion. The presence of this tree makes experts consider that Javanese society in the ninth century had wisdom to manage its environment.
Just like Garuda, Kalpataru tree is also used for various purposes. In Indonesia, Kalpataru is used as the logo of Indonesian Environment Institution. Some intellectuals in Bali even develop "Tri Hita Karana" concept for environment conservation by seeing Kalpataru relief in this temple. This tree of life is also seen in the gunungan (the puppet used as an opening of traditional puppet show or wayang kulit). This proves that relief panels in Prambanan have been widely known throughout the world.
If you see the relief in detail, you will see many birds on them; they are real birds as we can see on the earth right now. Relief panels of such birds are so natural that biologists can identify their genus. One of them is the relief of the Yellow-Crest Parrot (Cacatua sulphurea) that cites unanswered question. The reason is that the bird only exists in Masakambing Island, an island in the middle of Java Sea. Then, did the bird exist in Yogyakarta? No body has succeeded in revealing the mystery.
You can discover many more things in Prambanan. You can see relief of Wiracarita Ramayana based on oral tradition. If you feel tired of enjoying the relief, you can take a rest in the beautiful garden in the complex. Since 18 September 2006, you can enter zone 1 area of Prambanan temple. The damage caused by the earthquake on 27 May 2006 is being reconstructed. Please come and enjoy Prambanan temple.
Text: Yunanto Wiji Utomo

Aku Berjalan Melintasi Daerah Temaru

Aku Berjalan Melintasi Daerah Temaru

Jika saja angin memberi tahu, kisahnya tak dapat kusimpan dalam lautan dan gemuruh batin. Engkau, semerbak bunga dalam pangkuan surga. Kini, semua hanya menjelmakan aku dalam beribu harap memandang wajahmu. Andai saja waktu dan rasa terpaut, andai saja matahari belum terlanjur terbit, andai saja waktu bisa diputar kembali.

Aku berjalan melintasi daerah Temaru. Temaru, tempat nongkrong anak muda, merupakan kawasan yang selau dikunjungi para remaja. Dan pada saat itulah, aku melihat dia, seorang wanita yang bahkan tak terpikirkan olehku untuk mencintainya. Dia berjalan bersama sahabatku, Demetri, sahabatku yang paling setia bagi temannya, tetapi tidak untuk pacarnya. Saat itulah dia, namanya Kleni, diperkenalkan kepadaku sebagai pacar sahabatku.


Sejak saat itu, kami semakin sering bertemu, bukan sebagai teman, tetapi sebagai pacar dari sahabatku. Tetapi, tentunya hal itu tidak berlangsung lama. Demetri, seorang playboy yang tidak pernah mencatat sejarah memacari seorang wanita lebih dari satu bulan. Dua minggu pun berlalu, dan kami tidak pernah bertemu lagi.


Tetapi, hidup ini tidak pernah datar. Tahun ajaran baru dimulai dan akupun sekelas dengannya. Di kelas, dia hanya duduk dibelakangku. Hari demi hari berlalu dan kami pun semakin dekat. Aku bahkan sudah melupakan bahwa dia adalah mantan pacar sahabatku. Kalaupun aku mengingatnya, aku bahkan tidak mempersoalkannya lagi. Tentu saja,, bukan karena aku jatuh cinta kepadanya, tetapi aku hanya merasa aneh jika mengingat bahwa dia adalah mantan pacar sahabatku.


Satu semester pun berlalu. Dan tepat pada hari itu, hari Sabtu, aku merasa aku kehilangan sesuatu. Tidak ada canda tawa, tidak ada saling mengejek di kelas. Hari itu, Kleni tidak masuk sekolah karena sakit. Sulit untuk dikatakan, bahwa aku mungkin mencintai dirinya. Bagiku hal itu adalah sesuatu yang mustahil. Bahkan lebih mustahil dari mendapat nilai sepuluh untuk ulangan biologi. Kau tahu, aku tidak pernah lulus untuk mata pelajaran ini.


Aku berjalam melintasi daerah Temaru. Hati itu hari Kamis. Aku mulai teringat akan peristiwa itu. Peristiwa ketika aku diperkenalkan dengan dirinya sebagai pacar sahabatku. Aku tersenyum mengenang peristiwa itu.

Dua semester hampir berlalu dan liburan kenaikan kelas sudah di depan mata. Hari ini hari Sabtu. Hari itu Kleni tidak masuk sekolah. Aku merasa setiap kenangan mengenai Kleni mulai terulang kembali. Aku mengingat kembali hari itu. Aku menginat apa yang pernah kupikirkan. Aku pernah berkata bahwa mencintai Kleni bahkan lebih mustahil daripada mendapat nilai sepuluh untuk ulangan biologi. Tetapi, kini aku sadar bahwa mencintai Kleni bahkan lebih nyata dari tidak lulus ulangan biologi.
 
Hari itu pengambilan rapor dan aku bertemu Kleni. Aku tahu bahwa ketika memandangnya sekarang, sangatlah berbeda ketika aku memandangnya satu tahun yang lalu. Jika bisa, aku ingin terus memandang dirinya. Tetapi, apakah kau tahu? Suatu keegoaan dalam diriku yang terus memaksaku untuk berpura-pura bahwa aku tidak pernah mencintainya. Suatu keegoaan karena dia adalah mantan pacar sahabatku. Aku memang bodoh.


Tahun ajaran baru pun dimulai. Dan aku kembali kehilangan. Bukan untuk satu hari, bukan untuk satu minggu, tetapi mungkin untuk selamanya. Sebenarnya, aku bisa saja menanyakan kemana Kleni pindah sekolah. Tetapi, keegoaanku tidak berkata demikian. Sepertinya, keegoaan telah menguasai diriku.

Aku berjalan melintasi daerah Temaru. Ketika semua kenangan mengalir dibenakku, dan ketika semua akal sehatku mulai kembali. Mungkin saja aku terlalu ego. Bukan mungkin tapi pasti. Aku tersenyum sendiri.


Angin mungkin tidak akan memberi tahu. Kisahnya memang tidak dapat kusimpan dalam lautan dan gemuruh batin. Matahari telah terbit, dan waktu tidak pernah akan diputar kembali. Tetapi aku tahu, bahwa pasti ada jalan keluar dari setiap masalah. Aku juga tahu bahwa setiap manusia pasti bisa berubah. Dan inilah aku saat ini. Aku mulai menekan tombol ponselku dan kuharap aku bisa mengatakan kepada dirinya bahwa aku mencintainya.

Nb:

Cerpen yang dibuat untuk tugas bahasa Indonesia saat masa-masa SMA 2 tahun yang lalu. Tugasnya berupa lanjutin satu paragraf pertama diatas dan bikin judul sendiri. Dan setelah dibacanya ceritanya kog terasa aneh dan agak gak nyambung ya.. Ha.. Ha.. Tetapi emang dulu tugas w salah karena harusnya ceritanya ceweknya meninngal, tapi punya w ga.. :)

Posted by Weini Tandiyanti

Tentang Kebahagiaan

Tentang Kebahagiaan

Pernah menghadapi situasi ketika masalah seolah sulit dan tidak memungkinkan untuk diselesaikan? Ya, semua orang mungkin pernah mengalaminya. Atau pernah merasa bahwa hidup terasa kurang berwarna? Ya,  semua orang merasa pernah mengalaminya.

Apa tujuan hidupmu? Pertanyaan yang terkesan sederhana, tetapi sulit untuk menemukan jawaban yang tepat. Tetapi jika diganti dengan, Apa yang penting dari hidup ini? Jawabannya bisa berupa orang-orang yang kita cintai, tentang mimpi, kebahagiaan, tawa, ataupun hubungan dengan orang lain. Apakah tujuan hidup ini sama dengan apa yang penting dari hidup ini? Apakah hanya sesederhana itukah? Jawabannya Iya. Sesederhana itu saja.

Jika dibawa dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari, banyak masalah yang kita hadapi yang terkadang membuat kita lupa akan apa yang penting dalam hidup ini. Maksudnya, ketika kita mengejar satu kepentingan dalam hidup kita kita mulai merupakan kepentingan kita yang lain yang jumlahnya jauh lebih banyak dan bahkan lebih berharga. Memang untuk mewujudkan suatu impian, kita harus fokus pada tujuan kita. Tetapi, fokus bukan berarti buta bukan? Contohnya, ketika kita punya impian untuk mendapatkan posisi pada pekerjaan yang kita impikan, tetapi resikonya kita harus mengorbankan kebersamaan kita dengan orang yang kita cintai, mengorbankan waktu kita dan hal lainnya. Jika kita mengambil kesempatan ini berarti kita telah mengejar suatu yang kita anggap penting dalam hidup kita, dan meninggalkan kepentingan kita lainnya. Kembali lagi pertanyaan. Apakah tujuan hidup kita? Apa hanya untuk mengejar impian sajakah? Bagaimana dengan lainnya? Memang ketika kita ingin mencapai sesuatu, banyak hal yang harus kita korbankan. Tetapi, suatu kesempatan layak untuk diambil jika kesempatan itu layak untuk diperjuangkan, dan layak untuk menggantikan hal-hal lain yang penting lainnya dalam hidup kita, dimana bisa berarti kesempatan itu lebih penting dari hal-hal lain dari hidup kita.

Jika dihubungkan pernyataan paragraf terakhir dan pada paragraf pertama, masalah. Masalahnya adalah ketika kita dihadapkan pada pilihan untuk memilih mana yang lebih penting dalam hidup kita, mana yang harus dipilih dan mana yang harus dikorbankan. Pertanyaan yang sulit dan bahkan sepertinya tidak memugkinkan untuk diselesaikan. Jawabannya sederhana saja, Apakah Kita Bahagia?

Bahagia, sungguh kata sederhana yang mempunyai banyak makna. Bahagia, ketika kita mencapai impian kita. Bahagia, ketika bisa bersama dengan orang yang kita cintai. Bahagia, ketika kita bisa melakukan apa yang kita senangi. Bahagia.

Ingatlah, ketika kita mengambil suatu kesempatan, Apakah kita akan bahagia dengan keputusan yang kita ambil? Ketika kita menghadapi masalah, ingatlah tujuan hidup kita, apa yang penting dari hidup kita. Jangan biarkan masalah tersebut merusak sesuatu yang penting dalam hidup kita, seperti kebahagiaan.

Apakah kebahagiaan akan membuat hidup lebih berwarna? Jawabannya iya.

Kebahagiaan adalah ketika kita bersama-sama orang yang kita cintai, dan bagaimana hubungan kita dengan mereka. Jadi, kebahagiaan itu tidak mementingkan diri sendiri.

Kebahagiaan adalah tentang mencapai sesuatu yang kita impikan dalam hidup kita. Jadi, kebahagiaan itu tidak tanpa usaha.

Dan yang terakhir, Kebahagiaan adalah ketika kita sadar akan Tuhan dalam hidup kita, karena Tuhan selalu ada untuk kita.

Quote:

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” 
― Dalai Lama XIV

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters.” 
― Audrey Hepburn

“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” 
― Jonathan Safran Foer

“The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.” 
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” 
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Posted by Weini Tandiyanti

Make a Good Life

Make a Good Life

Everybody say, “Live your life to the fullest.” Yeah, I hope everybody will enjoy their life, and really make the best on every single thing of their life. Live your life to the fullest can be said as make a good life. So, these are some points to make a good life.

1. Know yourself

Know yourself is about to understand the point of your life. Knowing youself also about accept your life whatever you are. After you have accept your life and also yourself, so you can know yourself. It could be your passion, your dream and even your hobbies. We spent most of our life in our job, so pick for the job that you love about. To pick for the suitable job, we must know our passion. To know our passion, we must try to understand ourself. How to understand ourself? Understand yourself is about knowing what you love to do, knowing what you like the most. If you know what you love to, so you can find your passion. Remember, passion is something that you like the most, not something that you can do the best. So after know and understand yourself, you have done one point to make a good life.

2. Be kind to everyone

We live in social life, so we can’t live without each other. So people are a part of our life, how we react and act to the other can effect our life. So, just remember this, be kind to everyone. Even they are so mean, don’t like you, or annoyed you, just be kind to them and help them if they need. To be ,kind to the other will help us interect to the other, and also make us happy. Believe this, you’ll happy if you can help the other.

3. Have Faith

Have faith in God. This is the most important point. Those two points above can’t be complete without this point. If you have faith in God, there’s no such a problem that can make you so down. Remember, we have a big and amazing God, He always love us.

So, if you have faith in God, know and understand yourself and be kind to everyone, you just have made a good life for yours. Just that simple. :)

Posted by Weini Tandiyanti

Top 10 Scariest Lists for Halloween

by Ryan Thomas

Another Halloween-themed meta-list, here are top ten scariest lists that make for delightfully creepy reads guaranteed to make you close all your blinds and sleep with all the lights on (that is, if you can actually manage to sleep afterwards). Ranging from tormented artwork and scary recordings, to haunted slabs of earth, to terrifying monsters which may or may not exist, this frightening sampler platter of Listverse lists from years past will undoubtedly help get you into the spirit of the Spirit World.

10

Terrifying Creatures

List: 10 More Terrifying and Mysterious Creatures
This list by “Stephen King” from November 2010 takes a look at some creepy creatures upon which myths are built. Do they exist? For some, they are just as real as the countless cryptozoological textbooks based on their elusive likenesses. Most curious examples: Owlman, the Jersey Devil, and Pope Lick Monster (and many more that sound like comic book superheroes/names of sports teams).

9

Eerie Recordings

List: Top 10 Eerie Recordings
Not necessarily intended, these recordings are creepy by implication. Example: a deranged-sounding Santa Claus on one of the earliest phonograph recordings. Santa isn’t primarily known for going off on Charlie Sheen-esque rants, and that’s for good reason. More notables include a poem with creepy gun-shot percussion blasts, noisy space recordings, and Aleister Crowley himself.

8

Historical Monsters

List: Top 10 Historical Monsters
This list is your field guide to the cultural origins of the most beloved of horror creatures, with shout-outs to zombies, mummies, vampires, werewolves and many more beloved which have been adapted many times over through the years (centuries). Read this list from October 2007 and learn a little bit about where your Halloween costume came from.

7

Terrifying Paintings

List: Top Ten Terrifying Paintings by Great Artists
Here is some truly frightening artwork. Depicting Hell, murder, and other matters that make you wince at the thought, these paintings, in LordZB’s list from September 2011, are made all the more effective for having been painted by true masters of the canvas, including the likes of Robert Blake, Edvard Munch (famous for “The Scream”), and Francisco Goya.

6

Horrifying Roads

List: 10 Roads That Will Scare You Stupid
If you think traffic jams are the worst times to be in a car, think again. By ianz09 and Jamie Frater from October 2009, here is a list of roads upon which mysterious things have occurred, been witnessed and experienced, including but not limited to ghost sightings, Satanist gatherings, and, yes, ghosts that actually get into your back seat. Your best bet? Take the train, or find a detour.

5

Scary Museums

List: Top 10 Museums That Will Scare You Silly
Museums house vast collections of artifacts which serve to link us to our historical upbringings. And they can also just be creepy as hell. Take one step into the ventriloquist museum (yes that exists) and you’ll be scarred for life, learning how to throw screams in lieu of your voice. Also disturbing and mentioned in the list: old psychiatric wards, wax museums catering to the dead, and a Purgatory museum.

4

Creepy Victorians

List: Top 10 Creepy Aspects of Victorian Life
Victorian England was a stuffy, stolid time and place, and it was also the source of our best gothic literature (Dracula, Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde). Graphic literature aside, the habits and details of this society were far more irking: photographing the dead, dressing up the family in costumes for amusement, and the rampant hooker-murders by Jack the Ripper in the flesh. See what else they did that was completely freaky in Jamie Frater’s list from August 2009.

3

Spooky Travel

List: Top 10 Spooky Travel Destinations
Don’t add these locations to your bucket list, because you just might die upon arrival. These sites are strewn with dead bodies, mysterious ghastly presences and suicidal traditions, as well as disturbing histories chock full of torture, murder, plague, and child-maiming. Read at your own risk in Jamie Frater’s list from September 2009.

2

Capuchin Catacombs

List: 10 Residents of the Capuchin Catacombs
The Capuchin Catacombs are home to enumerable corpses and skeletons posing and dressed as if undead. Like a twisted kind of still-life, monks, infants, and families are dying to welcome you to their humble abode, as if they had any place better to be. Meet all the permanents residents here in this list by MouseintheHouseMI from November 2009.

1

Terrifying Places

List: 10 Most Terrifying Places on Earth
If you love a good haunting, these hell-scales are for you. Riddled with drifting spirits in the form of murder victims, priests, psych ward patients, trapped miners, and children, all the parts of a diverse society are accounted for in these places where life shares the misty interior of a Venn diagram with the afterlife. Read all about them in this list by ianz09 from July 2010.

Top 10 Worst Superheroes

by Gareth May

We all love superheroes – when we were kids we wanted to be like them – actually – I guess we still want to be like them when we are adults! Listverse has features many lists on heroes, villains, side kicks, etc. but never before have we explored the realm of the worst superheroes; the superheroes we don’t want to become and, worse still, the ones we don’t want to help us in a tough situation. Enjoy.

10

The Red Bee

First appearance: Hit Comics #1
He-Man had the ma-hussive Battle Cat complete with sparkling orange saddle; Doctor Who had K-9, the robotic dog that could fly; and The Red Bee had a trained bumble bee called Michael. Hmmmmmm, you can see why he never caught on as a childhood hero can’t you? Making his first appearance in the 1940s The Red Bee was a vigilante with a utility belt, a stinger gun and the ability to call upon a swarm of bees… just in case he was gripped with the sudden urge to make some honey.

9

Arm Fall Off Boy

First appearance: Secret Origins Vol. 2 #46
Isn’t that the name of a band? Uh, no. Arm Fall Off Boy was a bona fide superhero. Albeit a superhero so rubbish even the Legion of Superheroes turned down his membership application – this from the team who had Matter Eater Lad in their ranks, whose sole power enabled him to eat any substance on Earth. So was A.F.O.B’s power really so bad that he was effectively outdone by one man’s eager pursuit of obesity? Yes, it was. He could pull off his arm and use it as a bludgeoning tool. What a waste of spandex.

8

Skateman

First appearance: Skateman #1
Vietnam veteran Billy Moon lasted just one issue before getting sent back to the roller disco for some superhero seasoning. And is it really any surprise? Picture the scene. You’re on your way home from work when you decide to take a shortcut through a dark alleyway. All of a sudden you’re accosted by two muggers carrying flick-knives who can’t keep their shifty eyes off your spangling new Rolex. But who’s this coming through the shadows? Who’s this coming to your aid? Skateman! Oh god. Save yourself the time and just hand over the watch.

7

Razorback

First appearance: Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #12
Spiderman. Check. Batman. Check. The Wolverine. Check. Pigman. Sorry?!? Did you just say ‘Pigman’? Chances are when Buford Hollis decided to take inspiration from the humble farmyard animal he’d had a few too many brandies. Why else would you think dressing up as a pig and fighting crime would be a good idea? Why Hollis? Why? Oh and did we mention his superpower was the ability to drive any vehicle? Seriously, Hollis. Even Truckman’s a winner when compared with Razorback.

6

Color Kid

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #342
Don’t we all have this superpower? Colouring in? Oh wait. Color Kid can change the colour of anything. Ahhhhhh… and that’s useful for fighting bad guys how? Perhaps his origin story is a little better? Ulu Vakk, from the planet Lupra, became Color Kid when he was struck by a rainbow coloured ray of light from another planet. Perhaps not. How about any cool story lines? In the Silver Age of comics (early 1950s) Color Kid was infected by Infectious Lass, of all people, with ‘Grandin Gender Reversal Disease’. The result? Color Kid became Color Queen. Probably best to leave it there…

5

Squirrel Girl

First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes Vol. 2 #8
Here’s the thing with Squirrel Girl. By all rights she should be awful but look at her CV of defeated super villains and you’ll find Doctor Doom right at the top of that list. The superhero world surely must have been her oyster after that monumental W? Nope. She moved to New York city and became the protector of Central Park.

4

Manikin

First Appearance: Alpha Flight #44
This guy might just be the most complicated superhero of all time. Whitman Knapp can summon three future and past ‘selves’. The kicker? These genetic relatives are handpicked from varying shifts in the evolution of the human being. There’s Proto, a primeval goo (seriously); Ape-Man, a Neanderthal with brute strength; and Highbrow, an intellectual being from the future with the ability to teleport. Confused? You’re not the only one.

3

Krypto the Superdog

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #210
The only good thing about Krypto was that he was effectively Superman’s dog sent to Earth by the great superhero’s pops, Jor-El, as a test run for the capsule he’d later use to send his son to the planet… and take a deep breath. Being used as an experiment for his masters probably didn’t make Krypto particularly chuffed but he was soon cheered up by the arrival of The Legion of the Superpets which included Beppo the Supermonkey, Streaky the Supercat and Comet the Superhorse. No room for Harry the Superhamster just yet.

2

Leather Boy

First Appearance: Great Lake Avengers #1
Believe it or not, you’d be right in thinking this is what it sounds like. A BDSM hero, Leather Boy wore a studded collar; leather chaps; a leather flat cap; and even had a ball gag in his mouth. Think The Village People on a night off. Although that’s probably doing The Village People a disservice. His best claims to fame were murdering Monkey Joe, dressing up as Doctor Doom and getting caught by Big Bertha, who captured our fetishist hero by sitting on him.

1

Doorman

First Appearance: Avengers West Coast #46
Sadly Doorman doesn’t have the ability to deny anyone entry to a nightclub just because they’re wearing trainers.. In fact, Doorman’s real ability isn’t much better than that. He can teleport another person anywhere they want to go in the world… as long as it’s only into the next room. A great party trick to pull when someone needs a beer from the fridge, but good enough to fight crime? Not really. Doorman was frequently undone by his namesake, The Door.

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