When Moon Maid first came to Earth, the other characters were more baffled by what she could do. That was because Gould treated her abilities more as a special talent rather than as super powers. This is a subtle difference.
She was unique only in context of Earth people. She did not think of her abilities as “powers” that I can ever remember. Coming from a civilization where everyone had the same abilities, she did not think of herself as being particularly more powerful than anyone else. In fact, rather than putting on her costume to fight crime (“This looks like a job for Moon Maid”) she went on tour frying eggs in her hand and then freezing water into ice as entertainment.
Under Gould, her abilities were considered somewhat of a nuisance. She unknowingly disrupted telephone communication with the electricity constantly shooting from her horns. Even though this was inadvertent, she was considered a menace rather than some kind of super hero and was taken into government custody.
Moon Maid first appeared in 1963. At first, Tracy et. al. seemed more amused than amazed at what she could do. Tracy utilized her abilities to freeze crooks in their tracks or make them confess. However, in 1966 the Supreme Court passed the Miranda Ruling and freezing crooks without giving them their rights became illegal. (Tracy groused that it seemed the crooks now had all the rights).
When she married Junior, she promised not to use her powers on Earth. This promise was a bit hollow. Her abilities were more like a sixth sense. Could you promise never to use your innate abilities? Could you, for example, promise never to use your sense of smell again? If you went to another world, would you refer to your sense of touch as a “power?” I don’t recall Gould ever referring to Moon Maid’s abilities as “powers.”
Gould gleaned a lot of humor from her difficulty in trying NOT to use her natural talents—more like Samantha in Bewitched—using her generated heat to cook a turkey behind Junior’s back, etc.
Occasionally, Tracy would call her in to help on a case but it was usually to electronically open a safe or locked door—more like a talented safe-cracker than a super hero.
Instead, I believe Gould went to lengths to show that despite their strange abilities, Moon People were logically and emotionally pretty much like humans. They fell in love, they could be both benevolent and treacherous, they could display greed and anger, they like to watch television, they liked sports, etc.
Although Mike is the world’s greatest Superman fan and Joe comes from a Super-Hero Comic background, I was hoping that because of their experience they did not turn Mysta into some sort of super hero. Super heroes have a flamboyance as seemed to be shown in the last panel on Sunday (“Mindy can’t do it, but MOON MAID CAN!”). The original Moon Maid was not flamboyant in the least. She was more naive and shy (refusing to let people photograph her, etc.). The charm of Moon Maid was focused on these qualities rather than becoming a super crime fighter. Even when MM helped Tracy, he was the one in charge. There was no mistake that Moon Maid’s abilities, no matter how fantastic, took a back seat to Tracy’s deductive abilities.
When Moon Maid first came to Earth, the other characters were more baffled by what she could do. That was because Gould treated her abilities more as a special talent rather than as super powers. This is a subtle difference.
She was unique only in context of Earth people. She did not think of her abilities as “powers” that I can ever remember. Coming from a civilization where everyone had the same abilities, she did not think of herself as being particularly more powerful than anyone else. In fact, rather than putting on her costume to fight crime (“This looks like a job for Moon Maid”) she went on tour frying eggs in her hand and then freezing water into ice as entertainment.
Under Gould, her abilities were considered somewhat of a nuisance. She unknowingly disrupted telephone communication with the electricity constantly shooting from her horns. Even though this was inadvertent, she was considered a menace rather than some kind of super hero and was taken into government custody.
Moon Maid first appeared in 1963. At first, Tracy et. al. seemed more amused than amazed at what she could do. Tracy utilized her abilities to freeze crooks in their tracks or make them confess. However, in 1966 the Supreme Court passed the Miranda Ruling and freezing crooks without giving them their rights became illegal. (Tracy groused that it seemed the crooks now had all the rights).
When she married Junior, she promised not to use her powers on Earth. This promise was a bit hollow. Her abilities were more like a sixth sense. Could you promise never to use your innate abilities? Could you, for example, promise never to use your sense of smell again? If you went to another world, would you refer to your sense of touch as a “power?” I don’t recall Gould ever referring to Moon Maid’s abilities as “powers.”
Gould gleaned a lot of humor from her difficulty in trying NOT to use her natural talents—more like Samantha in Bewitched—using her generated heat to cook a turkey behind Junior’s back, etc.
Occasionally, Tracy would call her in to help on a case but it was usually to electronically open a safe or locked door—more like a talented safe-cracker than a super hero.
Instead, I believe Gould went to lengths to show that despite their strange abilities, Moon People were logically and emotionally pretty much like humans. They fell in love, they could be both benevolent and treacherous, they could display greed and anger, they like to watch television, they liked sports, etc.
Although Mike is the world’s greatest Superman fan and Joe comes from a Super-Hero Comic background, I was hoping that because of their experience they did not turn Mysta into some sort of super hero. Super heroes have a flamboyance as seemed to be shown in the last panel on Sunday (“Mindy can’t do it, but MOON MAID CAN!”). The original Moon Maid was not flamboyant in the least. She was more naive and shy (refusing to let people photograph her, etc.). The charm of Moon Maid was focused on these qualities rather than becoming a super crime fighter. Even when MM helped Tracy, he was the one in charge. There was no mistake that Moon Maid’s abilities, no matter how fantastic, took a back seat to Tracy’s deductive abilities.