Issue 117 - Elastigirl Capes On the Couch - Where Comics Get Counseling

 Issue 117 - Elastigirl


Intro Shoutout to Down to Folk - Chad & Ariel give you folk tales with a twist - dtfstories.com Background (01:54) Elastigirl (Helen Parr) created by Brad Bird in The Incredibles (November 2004) Helen Parr has the power of flexibility  Married to Mr. Incredible, Bob Parr - have 3 children - Violet, Dash, and Jack Forced into retirement after a man trying to commit suicide got saved by Bob, but was injured in the process - superheroes then banned for approximately 15 years Bob goes off and begins surreptitiously superheroing in private - Helen discovers what he’s doing, and has to go rescue him The whole family then battles Syndrome, a former fan of Bob’s who’s going to use technology to give everyone superpowers, thus making supers useless They defeat Syndrome, and come together as a family In the sequel, two wealthy businesspeople - Winston & Evelyn Deavor - use Helen as a public face for their company to get people to trust heroes again This leaves Bob at home with the kids, while he struggles with Jack’s nascent powers Helen encounters the Screensaver, who uses hypnotic imagery on TV screens to control people Screensaver turns out to be Evelyn, who reveals that her father died from burglars while waiting for superheroes to show up - Helen captures Evelyn, and heroes remain legal

Issues (06:00) Being a spouse while being super Being a parent while being super (12:25) How does her powerset impact her choices and adaptiveness? (21:16) Body image issues (28:15) Break (35:31) Plugs for Geek Peak, Ignorance was Bliss, and Al Ewing Treatment (36:44) In-universe - Create a secret lair for supers to have individual therapy, just work on gaining their trust Out of universe - Focus on interpersonal therapy Skit (43:08) Hello Mrs. Parr, I’m Dr. Issues. - Well hello Doctor, it’s so nice to meet you. Gosh, I just love your office. Tasteful decorations, and *gasp* did your child make this? My daughter, yes. - It’s beautiful. My daughter Violet is very creative. My sons… are more into destruction. Oh my daughter can wreck stuff with the best of them, don’t let the artwork fool you. - That's children, I suppose. Especially when you have 3 of them. And with powers to boot. One minute they're playing nicely, the next minute there's a literal tornado in the kitchen, the bathroom is sealed with a force field, and the lawn is on fire.  That sounds like a lot to handle. How do you manage? - Well the older 2 I can talk to about things. It takes a while, but they get it eventually. Jack-Jack, though, he's still a baby, and figuring out his powers. And bless Bob, he tries his best to wrangle them while I'm gone, but he gets frazzled so quickly.  Have you tried a babysitter? - Once. It did NOT go well.  Well, I’m not a couples therapist, but I am a happily married man, and I’ve learned that an open and honest discussion about expectations can help drastically reduce the stress in a marriage. You two need to be on the same page. - Oh, we are. Well, some of the time. That’s better than none of the time. When does it work best? - When we’re out there fighting the bad guys. Even after we took some time off to raise the kids, when we got back to it, it was like no time had passed. We were totally in sync with each other. Then we get home, and… And you’re off-base. - Yep. You know, we both have powers, but sadly neither of us can read minds. That would make things a lot easier. I’m not sure it would. That could just lead to more unmet expectations. The fact that you’re both powered doesn’t mean anything when it comes to communication. You have to be upfront about what you need and are willing to compromise on. You’re not going to get everything you want, but unless you tell him what you’re looking for, you’re not going to get anything. - I know. But where am I supposed to find the time? And the energy? And how do I figure out which thing to tackle first