In this feature, I spotlight five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Here is an archive of all the patterns we've spotlighted so far.

Perhaps the most iconic phrase in all of comics is "It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, It's Superman!" It is SO iconic that it is perfect for other comics to make fun of it. Here are five examples of comics doing just that.

In Justice League of America #104 by Len Wein and Dicks Dillin and Giordano, the Shaggy Man has kicked the Justice League's ass so badly on their satellite that he even crashed their ENTIRE SATELLITE! Green Lantern is doing his best to avoid letting the satellite crash to Earth.

Meanwhile, people on Earth are naturally surprised to see the big hunk of metal flying down to Earth...

In 1976's Superman #300 (by Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Curt Swan and Bob Oksner), the conceit of the comic is that it tells the story of what would happen if baby Kal-El had landed on Earth in the year 1976 and thus did not become Superman until the far off future year of 2001!

When he finally springs into action, the populace doesn't know what to think of him...

In Excalibur #8 (by Chris Claremont, Ron Lim and Joe Rubinstein), Captain Britain is in New York City. When Captain Britain goes to fly around the city to look for his missing girlfriend, Meggan, he is greeted by some onlookers, including a familiar couple...

In Power Pack #57 (by Michael Higgins, Tom Morgan and Andy Mushynsky), the villainous StarStealer shows up in Central Park and Power Pack shows up to fight him using their spaceship, Friday. Another familiar bespectacled man remarks...

Finally, in the third issue of the second volume of Amazing Spider-Man (by John Byrne, Howard Mackie and Scott Hanna), the crowd reacts to Spider-Man...

Okay, that's it for this installment! Feel free to mention other examples of this pattern (and not outright parodies of it like Mad Magazine or the countless web comics that spoof it or editorial cartoons that reference it - I mean just otherwise normal comic books that happen to have references to it, like the ones above).

Also, if you'd like to see another pattern in the future, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com with a suggestion!