It's not a rare thing for comic book publishers to make fun of themselves. Marvel Comics roasted not just their Distinguished Competition, but themselves in 1967-69's Not Brand Ecch. Many of those characters, including the title's unofficial mascot Forbush Man, would return in the self-parodying volumes of What The--?! that ran from 1988-1993.
DC Comics is more subtle when it comes mocking themselves. The House of Superman tends to let characters such as The Ambush Bug or Lobo make fun of the very comic universes that they operate out of. The comic book turned magazine known as MAD, turned self-parody into an art form. From calling it's team of writers and illustrators 'the Usual Gang of Idiots' to lampooning the magazine's buck-toothed mascot, Alfred E. Newman on every cover, nobody does self-deprecating better than William Gaines and Harvey Kurtzman's MAD Magazine. MAD is currently part of DC Entertainment.
In 1993, just a year after it formed, Image Comics put out this one-shot comedic issue. Stupid was written and illustrated by Hilary Barta; who was no slouch to self-parody, having worked on What The--?! previously. Along with co-writer Doug Rice (Plastic Man), Barta created a 26-page parody of Image's biggest ever star, Spawn.
The satire begins with failed comics artist Al Persimmon awaking on a stormy rooftop trying to remember just why he is in a spandex costume with a ridiculously long cape. Now known as Spewn, the character begins to recall that he sold his soul in order to get another chance to make his failed comic book a success. Only, he can't remember just what his comic book was about. A chance encounter at his old publishing company pits him with his arch-enemy, the Vile-ator! Maybe this demon knows what Al Persimmon's comic book was all about!
Along with the story of Spewn, this issue includes a 2-page Where's Waldo? parody called Where's Aldo?, also drawn by Hilary Barta. The comic concludes with a faux-letters page that promises that the Savage Dragon and Sam Keith's The Maxx would be the stars of issue #2. This however could have all been a part of the letters page joke as no further issues of Stupid would ever be forth-coming. In 2002, Image would release Stupid Comics, a 3-issue miniseries. Based on Jim Mafood's newspaper strip of the same name, Stupid Comics was not a follow-up to this work.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
Completing this review completes Task #46 (with a 1-word title) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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