By Dan Brown

Mad About DC is a new one-shot comic that parodies DC Comics and characters in the style of a Mad Magazine issue. 

It’s the brainchild of ubiquitous comic writer and artist Chip Zdarsky (DC owns Mad, which makes the collaboration possible).

When Zdarsky and his contributors aim quips at themselves, this comic is at its funniest.

When they aim them at DC characters and long-standing comic traditions, they are funny, but not quite as much.

When they make comic fans their target, they aren’t funny at all. But I guess it must feel edgy to bite the hand that feeds you.

In his opening letter from the editor, the Canadian creator calls himself a “comic-book auteur,” a winking way to indicate he knows he’s not too cool for school.

How disrespected are those in the comic industry? People are excited to meet Zdarsky since they assume he writes superhero movies for a living. They’re stunned to find out comic books employ actual writers, he tells the reader..
 
Only one publication is lower on the prestige ladder, and that’s Mad Magazine. Hence this special edition, which features parody stories about well-known DC characters like Superman, as well as such lesser lights as Matter-Eater Lad.

Most of the chapters run a page long, the longest stretches to three. The one that made me laugh out loud was a parody of Wonder Woman penned by Joanne Starer with art by Joe Quinones.

This creative team poses such eternal questions as, if Wonder Woman has bracelets that deflect flying bullets, why doesn’t she have an entire costume made of the same material? Is there really any reason for her bathing suit-style outfit? “We’re trying to sell comics here,” the Amazing Amazon explains.

There’s also a nod to the fact the heroine doesn’t really attract compelling villains: “Great Hera, grant me the strength to find a more popular rogues gallery!”

The same piece has the Dark Knight himself suggesting she stock up on sidekicks because “They expire quickly,” a reference to DC killing off one of Batman’s many Robins, Jason Todd, back in 1988.

In one panel in an earlier story, Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman wears a “New New 52” button, demonstrating the publisher isn’t afraid to laugh at its own habit of perpetually rebooting the DC universe. 

A Kelly Sue DeConnick contribution contains descriptions of the different kinds of comic enthusiasts, like the “Near-Mint Collector.” He’s the fan who is healing his “inner child with first printings and original art.” Or, the “Mint-Condition Fan” who lives to hear someone say, “Sure, Dad, I’ll read those with you.”

My feeling is Zdarsky should have shed sections like this, and expanded the Skottie Young-drawn gag about Absolute Batman: “ABSOLUTE is ABSOLUTELY crushing the entire industry in the sales department and you know what they say, WHEN IN DOUBT, ABSOLUTE IT OUT!” The accompanying illustration shows Absolute Batman, only the Caped Crusader’s pinhead is replaced by Neuman’s face wedged into the cowl. 

But here’s an idea. Instead of DC poking fun at itself, why not do a crossover that involves their biggest competitor?

That way, Marvel creators could make jokes about DC’s stable of characters, and the DC roster of talent could take a run at the likes of Wolverine, Spidey, and Deadpool. Readers would be the winners, since this switch would surely inspire some savage comedy.

Who knows – someone might even be brave enough to make a joke about how Stan Lee didn’t contribute much to all those characters he worked on with artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

Note: Mad About DC (comic-sized) is not to be confused with Mad Spoofs Superheroes (magazine-sized), a treasury edition of Mad parodies on store shelves now.

Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.