I was reading one of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files books last week. He had a character gearing up to fight monsters with a special spear with a cross brace on it, and there was a little throwaway joke done where the guy mutters ‘spear and magic helmet’.
That immediately transported me back to the old Saturday morning cartoons – that classic Warner Brothers one with Elmer Fudd dressed in his bullet armor going after Bugs Bunny as Brunhilda and that fat white horse. That was one of the all-time classics they’d put out!
American kids got a solid grounding in classical music and opera, thanks to copyright free stuff they used at the time – we weren’t even aware of it (but I digress).
The words ‘spear and magic helmet’ said by Elmer Fudd stuck with me for 2 days. I even found myself semi-singing it. So of course I had to use it. It grew into two strips, one where he’s gearing up with the toilet brush for his trusty spear and an empty Doritos bag for head gear. After fending off the smaller cats he’s prepared to do battle with the dragon (the owner) and that ‘spear and magic helmet’ line gets used.
