More Jokes About Absolute Batman Would Help
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.
POP-CULTURE COLUMN: I Hate To Say It, But Spaceballs Isn’t Funny
By Dan Brown As you may have heard, there’s going to be a sequel to Spaceballs, the Mel Brooks Star Wars parody that debuted a long time ago in 1987. Brooks and the cast (a mix of old hands and newcomers) have been doing publicity to drum up interest in the upcoming film, dubbed The New One, which will land in theatres April 23 next year. Providing movie theatres still exist. I suppose, as a sci-fi fan, I should be eagerly anticipating The New One, which promises to bring more Star Wars jokes and new pop-culture references to the big screen. But can I let you in on a secret? I don’t find Spaceballs funny. It might be familiar. It might even be fun to watch. But it ain’t funny. You likely have fuzzy memories of the gags written into the Spaceballs script. For instance: *Pizza the Hutt, the alien glutton who finds himself delicious.. *Barf, a half-human, half-dog alien hybrid who is his own best friend. *Dark Helmet . . . a villain played by Rick Moranis who has a giant helmet. *Daphne Zuniga’s Vespa is a Druish princess. *The Yoda figure is called Yogurt. *The Schwartz is a mystical power derived from merchandising dollars. And so on. Jokes like these are fine. Some of them even bring a half-smile to my face. But not a one of them is hilarious. Spaceballs has certainly achieved a kind of cultural staying power. Somewhere on this planet, on some channel or network, Spaceballs is playing right now. And by dint of ubiquity, it is one of those so-so motion pictures that we convince ourselves is remarkable. Like the Austin Powers films, it achieves influence just by enduring. But it’s not a comedy that achieves greatness. It’s not even the greatest Mel Brooks comedy. It doesn’t break new comedic ground like, say, Blazing Saddles. There’s nothing in Spaceballs to compare to the Blazing Saddles campfire scene where cowboy after cowboy farts until the joke is beaten into the ground, then they let more farts rip and it becomes funny all over again. Talk about audacious for the times! The Star Wars spoof also lacks a weirdly intense lead character, like Gene Wildern, who turned in such a great performance in Young Frankenstein. Besides, if Brooks had been itching to take on Star Wars, he wouldn’t have waited until four years after Return of the Jedi appeared in theatres. By then, the George Lucas trilogy was already retreating from the public consciousness. (Spoiler for younger readers: Star Wars came back!) It’s certainly not the greatest Star Wars parody, either. In fact, you could argue that the definitive comic spin on Star Wars still has yet to be made. There’s been a long history of attempts. The 1978 short film Hardware Wars was the first try, followed when the internet was in its infancy by the 1997 online short Troops. The slam against Lucas is that he takes his space opera too seriously. Look at the fact he never mocked his own creation the way the Star Trek brain trust does with its animated series Lower Decks. At least Trek’s producers realized the comedy potential of poking fun at themselves. (Granted, Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville beat Lower Decks to the punch by three years) Of course, some crusty Star Wars fans would likely say the Book of Boba Fett itself was an inadvertent self-parody! There’s no shortage of Star Wars material to work with, so how about it, Hollywood? Just mocking The Phantom Menace on its own could inspire so many laughs! 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.
