The most recognizable man on the planet is able to disguise his identity from the best investigative reporter (who he happens to work beside) merely by putting on a pair of glasses. Bites from irradiated wildlife give superpowers instead of cancer.
If James Carlos Blake was correct that “a man who can laugh at himself is truly blessed, for he will never lack for amusement”, then the superhero genre doubly so. Because, let’s face it: superhero comics are silly.
That’s not meant as an insult, nor it is intended to apply to every single superhero story ever published. But on the whole, the genre does have a lot of ridiculous tropes and gimmicks baked into it. Cape comics have a wealth of comedic gold to be mined, and this month’s column looks at What The–?!, Marvel’s late 80’s attempt to mine it.
The idea came from an offhand comment by Comics Syllabus co-host Johnny Hall. We’d finished recording last week’s interview for Robots From Tomorrow and he casually mentioned plans for a What The–?! bind.
Now, I’d grown up with an issue or two of the book, so my brain immediately started rifling through images and bind permutations before he even finished that sentence. Even after that conversation, those little grey cells kept firing away at this task; a challenge unissued but accepted none the less! (Thanks Johnny!)
Since a What The–?! bind wouldn’t present much of an opportunity for technical binding wizardry, this column will focus more on its contents (or map) and some of the different permutations and avenues a book like this could take.
THE EC HOUSE OF IDEAS
I’m enough of a comics historian to say that humor in comics didn’t start with MAD, but it certainly hadn’t been around in such a potent and biting form before Harvey Kurtzman’s creation hit the stands in mid-1952. MAD‘s status as a magazine saved it from the Comics Code ambush that took out the rest of its EC Comics companion titles, but format particulars didn’t stop it from being a comics atom bomb. Of particular interest for this column is issue #4 and the Kurtzman/Wood strip “Superduperman”, featuring Superduperman fighting against Captain Marbles.
This strip in particular (which you can read at the above link) set the superhero parody template for all others to follow. No part of the superhero mythos, only slightly more than a decade into its existence, is safe from Kurtzman and Wood’s parody here. Everything from the character relationships to their powers to the inherent collateral damage to their very names is grist for the mill. You can draw a straight line from their deconstruction of the superhero for comedy to Alan Moore et al.’s deconstruction of the same for drama in Miracleman. And don’t just take my word for it; from 2001’s Kimota! the Miracleman Companion:
I remember being so knocked out by the “Superduperman” story that I immediately began thinking – I was 11, remember, so this would have been purely a comics strip for my own fun – but I thought maybe I could do a parody story about Marvelman. This thing is fair game to my 11-year-old mind. I wanted to do a super-hero parody story that was as funny as “Superduperman”, but I thought it would be better if I did it about an English superhero.
This was the mold that books like What The–?! and its company predecessor Not Brand Echh were made from.
TALES CALCULATED TO MAKE YOU GO ‘WHAT THE–?!’
Comic fans hitting their local shops just after April Fool’s 1988 were greeted by this cover:
The first of a four-issue limited series (though not labeled as such at the time), What The–?! #1 featured shots at The Punisher, The X-Men, Power Pack and Cloak & Dagger, and the company’s Secret Wars.
Even from this selection you can see the EC influence on display. And Steve Ditko???? What the f–?!
*ahem*
Those first four issues were packed with gags and artists getting a chance to strut their stuff in the Mighty EC . . . er . . . Marvel Manner. Some of my favorites included:
Issue #2
John Byrne doing his best ‘Superduperman’ impression while lampooning his own work on Superman and the Fantastic Four.
The best he is at what he does . . . by some of the best in the business. If that panel looks familiar to you, that’s because it was used as a header for Marvel’s mail subscription page of this era.
Peter David & Todd McFarlane on Bat-Man??? Punctuation matters, kids!
Part 2 of the “Mutant Beach Party” take on the “Fall of the Mutants” crossover. You thought Cypher had it rough when he died in the main book . . .
GOTTA KEEP ‘EM LAUGHING
I keep hitting on two problems when thinking about a What The–?!bind. The first is something it shares with all anthologies: consistency.
For me, the ratio of hits to misses in those first four issues and the next six or so after the book returns is pretty good. But after that it gets stale, and the caliber of creative talent takes a dive. This leaves me with a 10-issue run to bind, which is certainly doable.
But . . . what if I wanted to bulk it up a bit? What else could I fit in there?
As I mentioned earlier, What The–?! wasn’t Marvel’s first ‘funny’ funny book by a long shot. Not Brand Echh was the predecessor that made the biggest splash, giving the company a comedy mascot of its own in Forbush Man when it debuted in 1967. It ran 13 issues originally and saw a oneshot revival in 2017 as part of the Marvel Legacy initiative. The original issues might be a tad expensive given their vintage, but the whole series was collected in trade last year. Stripping and binding that trade is a much easier option for including these comics in a What The–?! bind.
These two all-humor issues of What The–?!‘s spiritual namesake series would fit, although the humor is a little more gag panel-driven here than the other series.
The series’ direct successor was this 2005 oneshot by Jim Mahfood and a slew of Marvel’s writing staff, including Brian Bendis, Matt Fraction, and Ed Brubaker.
MISSED IT BY *THAT* MUCH!
The other What The–?! problem is its tone, or rather, the specificity of its tone. When it works, it’s tapping right into that MAD/Kurtzman vibe in either straight execution or spirit. You can’t just throw in any old superhero funny; it has to be MAD superhero funny.
So books like these are worth your time and attention, and probably binds of their own later on, but don’t quite sync up with what I’m going for in a What The–?! bind:
When it comes to parodying comics and the capes&tights set, few people do it better than the folks at The Simpson. “Three Men and a Comic Book” was not only a hilarious episode, but it gave us Radioactive man and showed that Groening and company knew their parody target extremely well. Bongo has carried on that tradition with their various Radioactive Man minis and oneshots, and were it not for the difference of pace, would have made the cut.
These series from Marvel and DC should fit right in with What The–?!: top-talent cartoonists not known for Big Two work delivering skewed takes on classic characters. But their mandate didn’t force a comedic approach on the stories, so these end up not being the best binding companion (awesome as they are on their own).
Continued below
How could I not include Kurtzman working on Marvel characters directly?
This 88-page OGN clocked in at a magazine-sized 8.5 by 11 inches, making it simply too big to fit comfortably into a bind with standard-size comics. Which is a shame because the Marvel-specific chapter has Dave Gibbons doing his best EC-inspired work and BOY is it neat!
There is a saving grace in that the Marvel-specific chapter is only 8 pages, so extracting that and including it as a scan&print section into the What The–?! bind is possible . . . but an explanation for another day.
However, if you want to include it in a bind with other MAD reprints of superhero parodies, such as the MAD About Superheroes books, it will fit like a glove.
That’s All, Folks!
I’m not sure what form my What The–?! bind will ultimately take, but as you can see, thinking about it has given me ideas for at least two other ready-to-go projects, so it looks like I have time to figure things out . . .
That’s it for this month’s column! Shelf Bound comes out the third Tuesday of every month, meaning the next column will go up on March 17th.
I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen so far. While I have ideas for future binds and binding-related content, I really want to hear from you! Let me know what you thought of this bind! What did I get right? What did I get wrong? Give me some ideas about comics you think are shelf-worthy!
Shoot me an email about any of the above or more at greg@multiversitycomics.com or follow me on Twitter at @gregmatiasevich and let’s have some fun!
