Sidekick

The sidekick is usually of a younger age than the senior hero and in many cases is a teenager or only slightly older, the general use of sidekicks such as Robin, from batman and robin seen above is to be “a counterpoint to the hero” (5) either performing comic relief to lighten darker moods in comics as is the case with Robin, or to counterbalance the heroes powers or style as is the case with S.T.R.I.P.E who is one of the few sidekicks who is older than the teenage hero and performs the role of protector for the physically weaker hero. Robin the wonder boy, is renowned as DC comics first teenage sidekick, who’s main job in the famously dark comic book seroes was to lighten the mood and add a sense of humour to the series, so as  “to soften up the gritty Detective Comics’ stories of Batman. The character was an instant hit with young readers”(5) this led to a large boom of comic book teenage sidekicks until superhero comics began to lose popularity in and around the 1950’s until they made a comeback in the comic books “silver age” in the early 1960’s. in other media the sidekick follows much the same format helping the hero and performing a somewhat lighter tone on events, there are sidekicks in such classics as Don Quixote with Sancho Panza and Doctor Watson in Sherlock Holmes, each of these characters and sidekicks in general are there to shore up certain shortcomings of the protagonist/hero.

(4) McNamera, Mary

(5) Jones, Geppetto. "Snuff, Sidekicks, and the Apocalypse Suite," http://archive.is/MgJUq#selection-493.61-493.172