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Famed DC Comics Editor Mike Carlin on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: “Just Donate Money, And Don’t Waste Water”

Mike Carlin, the editor who oversaw the Death of Superman event in the 1990s and became known to […]
Death of Superman

He cited the California drought as one reason not to pour a bucket of ice water over his head, a common critique of the Ice Bucket Challenge coming at exactly this time. That particular criticism has led to a number of modified challenges, including participants using smaller buckets instead of the garbage cans we saw in the early weeks or standing in a swimming pool, using a frozen bucket of recycled pool water.

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In Carlin’s case, he simply dumped the dry cat litter over his head, feigned being cold, and then nominated “Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince,” the secret identities of DC superheroes Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (both Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, who play Batman and Wonder Woman respectively in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, have already participated in the challenge) — but added, “But I also nominate each and every one of you to just donate money, and don’t waste water.”

Carlin, while no longer on the comics side, conitnues to work with DC Entertainment in Burbank.

Besides the water-saving variants referenced above, the growing trend of (and backlash against) the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has created a number of similar recent responses, including a memborable “challenge” by Sir Patrick Stewart, who simply wrote a check, put some ice in his drink and turned off the camera.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is intended to generate awareness of, and donations to help compat, ALS, colloquially known in the U.S. as “Lou Gherig’s Disease.” The Challenge has led to a significant rise in donation to ALS charities.