Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Great Fictional Sidekicks

There are so many great sidekicks in literature. I guess this is one of my favorites. It's not always easy to get it rights. Emma Peel may have been too divertingly pretty in THE AVENGERS. Iago might have been a lot more interesting than Othello.  Same for Lady MacBeth. Hap and Leonard (Lansdale) might be too evenly balanced to consider one a sidekick.

Who are some of the other great ones?

13 comments:

Rick Robinson said...

For me I think it's Watson as Holmes' sidekick, so I agree. Bill Pronzini edited a good collection, DETECTIVE DUOS that has a lot of great sidekicks in it. Recommended.

Randy Johnson said...

Joe Pike with Elvis Cole comes immediately to mind.

Hawk and Spenser.

Dana King said...

All of the above are great choices. I have a couple of lesser-knowns i like a lot: Gravedigger Peace from Sean Chercover's Ray Dudgeon books, and Tommy Owens from Declan Hughes's Ed Loy series. Both are not the usual, and their off-kilter relationships with their respective heroes makes them all the more endearing.

Unknown said...

re: Hamlet
Poor Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?

re: Colin Dexter's novels
Morse and Lewis were quite a team. (Poor Lewis.)

seana graham said...

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Not crime fiction of course, but might even be the prototype of the whole sidekick thing. I agree with Dana that Tommy Owens is an original. Although come to think of it, there is a passing resemblance to Magersfontein Lugg in the Margery Allingham Albert Campion books. And yes, I had to look up Magersfontein.

Gerard said...

Dan Rhodes has Speedo.

Jeff Meyerson said...

He also has Seepy Benton, Gerard, whether he wants him or not, generally the latter.

Watson has to be #1.

Anonymous said...

I always liked Xena and Gabrielle. Until the show changed from a tongue-in-cheek action-adventure-fantasy to a depressing soap opera.

Sticking strictly to crime fiction, I'd say Dr. Watson. But his sorta-kinda reincarnation, Jason Wilder, deserves a mention, too.

Does Mike Hammer's girl Friday, Velda, count? How about Della Street?

I always thought of Emma Peel more as an equal partner than a sidekick. Same with Nora Charles, Pam North, Illya Kuryakin ("The Man from U.N.C.L.E."), and Artemus Gordon ("The Wild Wild West"). Probably Tonto and Kato, too.

Cap'n Bob said...

Gabby Hayes.

Charles Gramlich said...

Meyer from the Travis McGee series.

Barry Ergang said...

Before he became "Gabby" when he left Psramount to sign with Republic Pictures, George Hayes portrayed "Windy" Halliday in all but a couple of the Hopalong Cassidy films.

Barry Ergang said...

Cisco's Pancho?

pattinase (abbott) said...

Went to his ranch in CA last year. Lots of fun!