[Matropolis]

After reading so many golden age comics you often come across stories where the hero is knocked out at some point but I?ve noticed that it?s rare for male characters to fall to a chloroform soaked rag. You often see female characters fall to this but the guys usually get conked on the head. Why do you think this is? Wonder Woman is the obvious example compared to Batman.

Haven?t been on here in a while so I hope everyone is well 🙂

[crashryan]

I have a couple of thoughts about this. It could be that being chloroformed wasn't considered manly because if an assailant gets close enough to the hero to chloroform him, the hero should be able to fight back and overcome him. Knocking the hero over the head theoretically keeps the assailant out of his reach. Another possibility is that chloroforming a woman provides another excuse for eroticized violence. The procedure offers lots of opportunities for twisting bodies, out-thrust mammaries, and rent clothing. This sort of thing is an essential feature of American GA comics. A similar scene with a male figure doing the twisting and out-thrusting would not be as interesting to the (presumably) heterosexual male readership. Finally--and paradoxically--it might be that even in a comics universe teeming with tied, tortured, and strangled women, bashing one over the head seemed to the creators to "go too far." Crazier ideas have motivated editorial choices.

What I'd like to know is how so many bad guys manage to sneak up behind our super-capable heroes without being noticed. You'd think a trained fighter would at least hear the assailant at the last moment but be too late to avoid the blow. I grant that our man couldn't anticipate someone popping out of a wall panel, or that he might be too involved with fighting a dozen thugs at once to hear a bad guy creeping up behind. Otherwise I'd expect him to be on his toes. Maybe his perceptions are dulled by too many previous concussions.

[The Australian Panther]

it?s rare for male characters to fall to a chloroform soaked rag.

I think I remember a Kerry Drake Story where he was chloroformed. 
Having thought a few minutes, I think the counterpoint to that is that Women don't get hit over the head with blunt instruments and knocked out.
Maybe its a kinder, gentler thing? 
The other cliche is the knockout gas that is tossed through a window or under a door and takes out everybody in the room.

Cheers!

[gregjh]

This gimmick is also used in professional wrestling. To some extent, it has become a lazy way of writing to momentarily disable a hero.

[Andrew999]

What I want to know is where do they get the chloroform from. Do you walk into a pharmacist and say, "Excuse me, could I have a bottle of chloroform, please?"
"Certainly sir, would you like a packet of handkerchiefs to go with it?"

[Captain Audio]

What I want to know is where do they get the chloroform from. Do you walk into a pharmacist and say, "Excuse me, could I have a bottle of chloroform, please?"
"Certainly sir, would you like a packet of handkerchiefs to go with it?"

When I was a youngster you could buy Chloroform at hobby shops to use in a killing jar when collecting butterflies and other insects. Carbon tetrachloride was also available for the purpose though far more toxic to humans.
Ether was also easy to obtain. Local hot rodders mixed Ether in the fuel of their drag racers. My older brother stashed a large glass bottle of ether under the house, where of course it ended up breaking and nearly knocking out the whole family.

In Europe Ether was easily obtainable from a farmers co op. Most farmers did their own vet work on farm animals.
I learned that when researching a diesel power air rifle. The Ether came in tiny glass ampoules. The mechanism of the gun broke the ampoule feeding the vapors into the  air chamber to be ignited by the pressure of the piston going forwards.

[Matropolis]

I have a couple of thoughts about this. It could be that being chloroformed wasn't considered manly because if an assailant gets close enough to the hero to chloroform him, the hero should be able to fight back and overcome him. Knocking the hero over the head theoretically keeps the assailant out of his reach. Another possibility is that chloroforming a woman provides another excuse for eroticized violence. The procedure offers lots of opportunities for twisting bodies, out-thrust mammaries, and rent clothing. This sort of thing is an essential feature of American GA comics. A similar scene with a male figure doing the twisting and out-thrusting would not be as interesting to the (presumably) heterosexual male readership. Finally--and paradoxically--it might be that even in a comics universe teeming with tied, tortured, and strangled women, bashing one over the head seemed to the creators to "go too far." Crazier ideas have motivated editorial choices.

What I'd like to know is how so many bad guys manage to sneak up behind our super-capable heroes without being noticed. You'd think a trained fighter would at least hear the assailant at the last moment but be too late to avoid the blow. I grant that our man couldn't anticipate someone popping out of a wall panel, or that he might be too involved with fighting a dozen thugs at once to hear a bad guy creeping up behind. Otherwise I'd expect him to be on his toes. Maybe his perceptions are dulled by too many previous concussions.

Those are some good points! Especially the villain getting too close and the hero should break free so I suppose getting bashed on the head is quick and easy. Although there?s plenty of equality these days maybe women back then were perceived weaker and thus the rag came out. Although like you said, I?m sure many fantasies came out in the hands of the writers!

And yes, sometimes the hero is knocked out too easily and should notice thugs behind him

[Matropolis]

it?s rare for male characters to fall to a chloroform soaked rag.

I think I remember a Kerry Drake Story where he was chloroformed. 
Having thought a few minutes, I think the counterpoint to that is that Women don't get hit over the head with blunt instruments and knocked out.
Maybe its a kinder, gentler thing? 
The other cliche is the knockout gas that is tossed through a window or under a door and takes out everybody in the room.

Cheers!

That?s a good point with the role reversal (chloroform and head knockout) and yes knockout gas is the easiest option for both sexes!

[Matropolis]

What I want to know is where do they get the chloroform from. Do you walk into a pharmacist and say, "Excuse me, could I have a bottle of chloroform, please?"
"Certainly sir, would you like a packet of handkerchiefs to go with it?"

When I was a youngster you could buy Chloroform at hobby shops to use in a killing jar when collecting butterflies and other insects. Carbon tetrachloride was also available for the purpose though far more toxic to humans.
Ether was also easy to obtain. Local hot rodders mixed Ether in the fuel of their drag racers. My older brother stashed a large glass bottle of ether under the house, where of course it ended up breaking and nearly knocking out the whole family.

In Europe Ether was easily obtainable from a farmers co op. Most farmers did their own vet work on farm animals.
I learned that when researching a diesel power air rifle. The Ether came in tiny glass ampoules. The mechanism of the gun broke the ampoule feeding the vapors into the  air chamber to be ignited by the pressure of the piston going forwards.

You know way too much about this 😂😂😂

[Matropolis]

What I want to know is where do they get the chloroform from. Do you walk into a pharmacist and say, "Excuse me, could I have a bottle of chloroform, please?"
"Certainly sir, would you like a packet of handkerchiefs to go with it?"

I?ve often thought do the villains work with scientists or break into labs to obtain the chemicals because I?d have no idea how you?d obtain them otherwise? And how they make out knockout gas too!

[Andrew999]

But does knockout gas actually exist?

[Captain Audio]

But does knockout gas actually exist?

These days there are several known types of knockout gas. It may have been fictional during the time frame of most detective novels and comics but its a real thing in today's world.

[SuperScrounge]

Yeahhhhh... any gas that can knock a person out is technically a knockout gas, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, radon, basically anything that cuts off your oxygen, but doesn't immediately kill you, could be called a knockout gas, Andrew. 

[Andrew999]

True - but I was thinking of a gas that acted immediately. You know the scene, the bad guy tosses in a bottle that smashes and the gas knocks everyone out at once - even Sexton Blake and Napoleon Solo

I believe the Russians have something close to that - they used a fentanyl-based gas (exact formula a secret) to end the Moscow theatre siege - unfortunately, it had the side effect of not only disabling the terrorists inside but also killing more than a hundred of the eight hundred hostages (those with heart and lung complaints, the elderly etc) - so not the FSB's greatest success story (although arguably on the plus side, they did rescue around seven hundred)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_hostage_crisis_chemical_agent

[Andrew999]

Is it? Can you name one?

I am genuinely intrigued.

[Matropolis]

How odd is this? I found some Robin y el Murcielago comics online last night and one of them features Robin being Chloroformed with an ether soaked rag as he sleeps. So there was no ?manly? struggle, just drugged to keep him asleep. I guess it worked that way