The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 793: Failed Universe #1, December 1986

(Contingency comic today. I'm still feeling crappy.)

I've often said that I think I must be one of the few fans of Marvel's early attempt at a new narrative universe, creatively referred to as the New Universe. In my defense, I was only 12 when it came out, and it was completely different from the Avengers and X-Men comics I was mainlining at the time. Or it felt like it was, anyway.

Older eyes saw something, well, not quite as different, as this comic attests. As with most of the Blackthorne parody comics (most, but not all), it relies on the Mad Magazine-esque style of humour, lots of crass jokes, and a complete disparagement of the idea that there might have been something of merit behind the New Universe.

I guess, once I get to it in the project, we'll find out for ourselves.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 702: Clint #2, January 1987

Really awful comic that consisted almost entirely of jokes at the expense of transvestites, with a few jokes at the expense of East Asian people thrown in for good measure. I've never read any of the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamster comics before, but if this is anything to go by, I'm not looking forward to it. I get that it was the 80s. But this is unacceptable regardless.

More interesting than anything in the comic was the really excellent editorial by catherine yronwode on the inside front cover, decrying the claims of a resurgence of the Wertham-style crack down on comics for their violent and sexual natures. yronwode produces a list of the far more pressing matters, mostly to do with corruption at a national political level (eerily appropriate), and cautions hysterics to keep in mind that there are far more urgent matters to attend to than whether or not a comic book shows boobs.

That aside, a disappointing comic for this morning. Onward.