No Skyscrapers = No Super Heroes?

In my post, The Improbability of the British Super Hero, I noted many examples of British characters -mostly described as costumed or adventure characters because the UK tended not to use the term "super hero":
http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2016/11/terry-hooper-scharf-on-improbability-of.html

In fact, costumed, masked or special powered characters of this type in the UK go as far back as the 19th century. There were a number of anti-heroes in the old pulps as well as Penny Dreadfuls -UK 'comic historians' often cite, without fail, the 'fact' that anti-heroes in British comics did not appear until the 1970s.  Prime examples from the past are Spring Heeled Jack, Varney the Vampyre, The Monk, Krakos and, of course, Robert Lovett.

The question arises: did these characters require skyscrapers to be able to function?

The answer, obviously, is no.

Gustave Dore produced some fascinating, and depressing, yet very atmospheric illustrations of Victorian London -the location of so many adventures of The Springald (SHJ) not to mention others. Take a look atthese Dore illustrations.

Cramped, dirty alleyways, poorly constructed buildings almost ready to fall and yet this is where a wild living wolf (the Wolf of Camden) was found and where animal emporiums boasted everything from elephants, all species of wild cats and apes and more. Walk down the wrong alley and your body would be found next day....or you might be a floater (a body found in the River).  This was the time when King Cholera ruled some areas.

There were open heaths -some of these being home to cut-throats of all types. Empty houses werereported as haunted because of strange noises and lights -GHOSTS!!! (actually forgers who moved from empty house to empty house.  "The most haunted house in England" was situated at No. 50 Berkley Square.

Of course, none of this provides any sort of good or usable location for costumed heroes!

Another thing most people forget is that a lot of terraced housing have flat rooves or broad enough roof apex's for people to run across or walk across. Take Bristol for instance: "The city of churches" -any vigilante or villain could get a wide enough view of areas for whatever purpose. Alley wayssill exist you know -as do underpasses, bridges of all ages and types, disused factory complexes....I could go on and on.

We have airbases and military establishments. Naval bases.  Good grief -we are an island surrounded by water and covered in lakes and riverways. There have been mysterious explosions in the English Channel registering on a seismic scale (possibly WW I or WW II munition ships).  We have beaches with castles and towers overlooking them, The Maunsell Army Sea Forts....

There is the Spitbank sea fort

There are standing stones (not JUST Stone Henge!!) and megalithic sites across the UK. Old castles, massive cave complexes (Henbury Caves in Bristol for example), mountains, forests. Now if none of that gets your imagination going regarding scenarios.....

And, yes, towns and cities provide many locations and not just those with tower blocks. London Underground is vast and if you read my post on the Paranormals/Supernaturals you'll know what is down there.

Not much to work with? Billy and Katy the Cats were ahead of the Free Runner sports folk. If you want to see what I mean go to You Tube and search "Urban free Runners"

In fact, many building designs today favour a roof-top environment for any budding Billy or Katy!

So, if you ever hear anyone in comics state "You cannot have British super heroes because we don't have skyscrapers" you can bet they are pretty dumb or love spouting stale, warm air. I call them "Comic book farters" -they will still tell you, despite their having access to the internet, that Europe "has never had superheroes".