Secret Origins #48: Ambush Bug, Stanley & His Monster, Rex the Wonder Dog, and The Trigger Twins

Four new stories! Three origins! Or, like, nine depending on how you look at Secret Origins #48. It starts when Ryan Daly and the Irredeemable Shag try—with little-to-no success—to crack the origin of Ambush Bug. Then Doug Zawisza and Ryan discuss the origin of Stanley & His Monster. Then Shag returns to talk Rex the Wonder Dog. Finally, Ryan enlists Bob Fisher to class up the joint by uncovering the origin of the Trigger Twins.

Secret Origins Podcast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/secretoriginspodcast

Secret Origins Podcast on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/httpsecretoriginspodcastlibsyncom/secret-origins-podcast?refid=stpr

Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com.

This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK.

Subscribe via iTunes as part of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-fire-and-water-podcast/id463855630

“Premonition” (Theme for Secret Origins Podcast) written and performed by Neil Daly.

Additional music: “Sunshine Superman” by Donovan; “The Puppy Song” by Harry Nilsson; “The Ballad of Paladin” by Johnny Western; “My Beloved Mad Monster Party” by The Eels.

Thanks for listening!

27 responses to “Secret Origins #48: Ambush Bug, Stanley & His Monster, Rex the Wonder Dog, and The Trigger Twins

  1. Ok, gotten further. I agree completely with Ryan about the merit of small dosages of Ambush Bug. About 6 months ago I found a reduced copy of the Showcase Presents Ambush Bug volume. I pounced on it as I thought to myself “I have odd issues of Ambush Bug, awesome, now I can read everything”. Now I pride myself on READING my comics, not letting them build up. I’m still trying to finish that volume. It’s impossible to read and enjoy in long stretches.
    Year None actually reads much smoother and spends a fair bit of time poking fun at Identity Crisis. The staffer who left was Janice Chiang, the editor responsible for getting the Tiny Titans book up and running (also wife of James Robinson for a bit, as seen in Airboy).

    So glad Shag mentioned Ambush Bug’s membership with Doom Patrol in his coverage. This was the volume that ended 5 months before the New 52. The final issue 22 of that book actually contains my all-time most favourite Bug moment where the action of the issue is suspended when Ambush Bug has a quick chat with another character (an identity I won’t spoil) and they murmur, “What’s a Flashpoint?” and both decide to get out of the comic before it’s cancelled.

    Ambush has popped up as an occasional and very deliberate background character in Justice League 3000 and 3001.

    I wonder if Kevin Smith’s Quiver story has left an indelible association on Stanley and his Monster the way Identity Crisis did for Doctor Light?

    I’ll echo the praise for the Gorilla Warfare Flash/Green Lantern crossover. Love the goofiness of Rex the Wonderdog and Detective Chimp in that one.

    I was never fond of the Chuck Dixon Trigger Twins and I never read the original twins apart from this story.

    Great guests as always, except for that shouty bloke at the start. Also that shouty bloke in the middle. Don’t use them anymore.

    1. I don’t think “Quiver” has had the same effect on, well, anybody or anything that IDENTITY CRISIS had on Doctor Light. In particular, I damn near forgot that Stanley & His Monster were in the story until I was prepping that segment.

      That “shouty bloke” is literally the worst.

    2. DC is getting ready to reprint the Mark Waid run of The Flash and unfortunately it looks like they are going to skip the Gorilla Warfare story.

      1. Don’t panic yet. Far off trade solicit info is often wrong. DC have been pretty good at being more comprehensive with collection contents lately. For example – the Suicide Squad Nightshade Odyssey trade included the Secret Origins tale for Nightshade without pre-listing it.

  2. Loved the Stanly and his Monster origin, but I’m a huge Phill Fagilio fan. What’s New was always my favorite part of Dragon (and later I forget the name of the MtG mag). I
    I’ve always loved Ambush Bug in all forms, so I loved the non origin, and I suppose the Trigger Twins are interesting.
    But my love for deep code caused DC weirdness mixed with dark humor, hits its peak with this Stanly and his monster story. It might not be the best story for other humans, but it’s my favorite story from this series.
    Loved this episode,
    Love this podcast.
    Bradleyman.

  3. GREAT episode!

    I can only assume this show has gone meta, and Ryan is taking a “WTF” approach to the series as it wraps up, as Mark Waid did. That’s the only explanation I can think of as to why you’d have Shag on for TWO segments.

    As much as I love(d) Ambush Bug, I agree, I think this story wears out its welcome. Maybe a one-pager would have been better, in keeping the with Bug’s penchant for thumbing his nose at fans.

    I found an old issue of STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER back in the early days of visiting comic shops–I was just learning about the rich histories of the major companies, and would pick up an issue of every weird DC book put out that I could afford, and there were a lot of them! (“‘Jason’s Quest'”–what the hell is this?”). I’ve always found SAHM charming, and have zero desire to see what Kevin Smith did to them in GA. Feh.

    I liked the TT entry, but then I am partial to Trevor Von Eeden. Ryan, have you ever read the GA mini series he drew around 1982, 1983? I think it’s best, most accessible work, plus the story is great. If you haven’t yet, give that a try and if you don’t like the artwork there, I think TVE is a lost cause for you. Also, great having Bob on the show!

    I took a drink every time Ryan tried to get a word in edgewise as Shag rambled on with endless stats about what book came out when, cover dates, and other minutia. I am now pretty hammered, and I still have half a day’s left of work. Thanks.

  4. Ugh. Ambush Bug. Total Daly character – a little goes a long way.

    Shag is always a delight! And Trevor Von D is a master illustrator.

  5. I have the Stanley & his Monsters stories, from after they pushed the always excellent Fox and the Crow out of their comic. They’re pretty good; not up to Fox and Crow levels, but good. DC actually handled comical stuff like this, in the Silver Age quite well and I find they hold up very well. Sugar ‘n’ Spike goes without saying; but, Fox and the Crow was fantastic, the Three Mouseketeers was always good, Inferior 5 was wonderful, as was Angel & the Ape and Stanley & His Monster. The only things I haven’t sampled are the Binky stories, and the licensed celebrity books, like Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis comics. Phil Foglio was the perfect choice, for this kind of material.

    Rex the Wonder Dog is always good and even though this is a total Captain America parody, it’s quite charming. I’m tellin’ ya’ WB, get a Rex and Detective Chimp cartoon on tv, stat! It’ll be like printin’ money!

    I have to agree with the general consensus, Ambush Bug is brilliant, in small doses. However, he was used to completely awesome effect (with Henry Winkler perfectly cast), in the finale of Batman The Brave and the Bold (especially the Ted McGinty gag!).

  6. When I was growing up, the fumes of westerns’ dominance of western culture were still in the air. On the networks, they tended toward Sunday family programs like Little House on the Praire, but they still were highly visible on UHF. You could actually read the pecking order of UHF channels based on whether they had black & white or color reruns (exempting the Bonanzas and Gunsmokes that lasted long enough to be in both formats.) Also, I was in Texas, so that played a part.

    Given my love of zombie/survival horror stories, you’d think I’d like westerns better. They’re just an outgrowth of siege narratives where a savage subhuman faceless other are coming over the walls, and can not only be slaughtered with moral impunity, but as an existential imperative. However, I like my flesh eating undead with a strong progressive undercurrent that satirizes the status quo, whereas westerns and their modern equivalent in the likes of The Walking Dead are firmly right wing.

    I like my westerns like I like my musicals: produced after the collapse of the studio system with an iconoclastic streak. I very much favored the bleaker spaghetti westerns to the white hats versus black hats B.S., but even that gets tedious after a while, so I like genre blending and subversion. Of the classic westerns, I probably like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance best, and of the more modern take, High Plains Drifter. All of the leads in those movies had nauseating politics, but one is an excellent play on perception and morality, while the other is basically a horror movie in an atypical period setting with an ending that does not get enough praise. A few others I dig off the top of my head are The Searchers, The Shootist, Silverado, and maybe even some that don’t start with an “s.” Aside from Deadwood, I love my TV gunslingers with sci-if in the mix, like Wild Wild West and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. I have very low tolerance for them played straight, as all that stuff ran together on afternoon TV in my childhood.

    Oh hey, The Trigger Twins? I was going to defend them until I realized the one story I really liked was actually a Johnny Thunder instead. The Secret Origin was a decent one-off for an anthology, but I couldn’t stand this schtick played out on a monthly basis. Bill Liebs did too good a job of making me hate Walt without Wayne offering anything as a character that could balance the scales. Trevor von Eeden is better here than in his other SO outings, somewhat recalling Gil Kane, but still not up to the standards he set earlier in the decade (his Batman Annual is his best showcase, with a captivating Mike W. Barr story.)

    I also thought the modern day revival of the concept wasn’t radical enough. They basically looked like the western version, except they were bandits in Gotham City? I’m sorry, but cowboy hats and six shooters were not going to cut it. Maybe do a play on The Toxic Twins and have them look and act like Mick Jagger and Stephen Tyler, but with Uzis or Gatling guns or something. I don’t know. Who cares? This is IP you can let go PD.

  7. Halfway through and when you were doing the synopsis of Ambush Bug, I actually thought that “We thought him up” WAS going to be the whole thing. So I was right there with you Ryan, almost got disappointed that it kept going.

    I will never get tired of Foglio, which is funny because I didn’t like my first introduction to him (which was as the guy who drew the goofiest looking Magic: The Gathering cards, how dare he not take the Cloud Pirates seriously!) But at this point I love pretty much everything of his that I’ve come across, and this is no exception. Which reminds me, I need to catch up on Girl Genius.

  8. After listening to the Rex the Wonder Dog segment, I have to say, what a couple of uptight humorless killjoy nerdlingers! It’s just a story, you guys! Don’t take your picture books so seriously!

    I don’t recall where I first encountered Rex, and my exposures have been limited. Off the top of my head, there’s the “Gorilla Warfare” crossover, the “Whatever Happened To,” and “The Origin of the Justice League– Minus One.” I think Rex is fun, and I relished this Secret Origin story, but then I can’t get hung up on specifics I don’t know. Gerard Jones’ script is acerbic, but I doubt a child would read as much into it as an adult to see the arguable offense (you pearl clutching paintywaists) but I absolutely see the benefit in teaching healthy skepticism about the government from an early age. I also adored Rex’s pre-augmentation thought balloons and his very mannered internal monologue thereafter. This is some of the best Paris Cullins art I’ve ever seen, and I’m just happy to have the chance to enjoy this piece. I only wish I had access to more Rex stories!

  9. Another great episode Ryan.

    I love Ambush Bug, even though the first time that I encountered him was in the pages of 52, when he was a member of the new Justice League, featuring Firestorm, Firehawk, the Bulleteer and Super-Chief. He immediately tore down the fourth wall, looking for plot and dialogue, and shouting “52!”. Soon after, I cam across his Showcase Presents volume which is basically all of his appearances in the 1980s. I loved the humour in the books and the in-jokes it presented. I did not manage to pick up the Year None mini-series, but enjoyed his semi-regular appearances in Giffen’s Doom Patrol.

    Stanley and His Monster I only know from his mini-series, which is hilarious – it takes elements from Gaiman’s Sandman, adds a faux John Constantine and Phantom Stranger, and just has a blast. Phil Foglio did a great job with that series. It would be great if he did more work for DC. The other time I came across him was in Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow series which was inventive in using such characters but was a complete 180 from the Foglio series.

    Rex the Wonder Dog – weirdly, although I did not collect this Secret Origins, I do remember this story once I saw the artwork. Maybe it was reprinted in a UK reprint volume somewhere? Anyway, interesting to hear Shagg and Ryan complain about the shoehorning of Captain America’s origin to Rex. I guess DC wanted a version of Captain America in their ranks, which resulted in General Glory a few years later in the pages of JLI.

    Trigger Twins – I remember their re-introduction during the Knightfall saga – was a funny start but they soon ended up being the lame villains of the week that would annoy Batman before the true villain came along. Was interesting to hear Bob and Ryan talk about the genre though – the one character I really followed in the Western genre was Jonah Hex. Whatever people may say about the New 52 initiative, they did try to bring Western and War comics back into play, and All star Western was an excellent series, in my opinion.

    Three more shows to go, but at least we have a new podcast series from Ryan on the horizon. Good luck with that Ryan and will be sure to subscribe.

  10. Great episode as always Ryan. It always seemed so far in the future that I never really thought Secret Origins would end, but listening to issue 48 being discussed makes the end seem all too soon. Of course, I’m sure you will be happy to move on to something new.

    Though I was previously unfamiliar with Stanley and His Monster, that was definitely my favorite part of the episode because Ruth and I have been big fans of Phil Foglio for longer than I can remember.

    We discovered him first for his excellent cover illustrations for the wonderful Myth Adventure fantasy comedy novels by Robert Asprin. Hilarious books fabulously illustrated. Phil Foglio even did a couple of comic adaptations of the first two books that are superb and worth seeking out.

    We also enjoyed his time on Angel and the Ape and What’s New and have been reading his long running online comic Girl Genius for years.

    Thanks for making us aware of this story with his art that we had missed. We will look for it.

    Darrin

  11. Phil Foglio I may have seen earlier in normal comics, but I– ahem– best remember making his acquaintance via XXXenophile (very much no relation to Xenozoic Xenophiles, unless they’ve started covering whimsical high fantasy pornography. Let’s all reference Shag & Ryan’s love of Cherry Poptart again ((who also has a podcast episode or two devoted to her on the Internet Archive.))) Obviously, Phil (and sometimes collaborator Kaja Folio) produces funny and good-natured books. My continuity-minded, overly serious fanboy instincts don’t compel me to follow Foglio to his mostly creator-owned titles, but I always enjoy his books when I do, and everyone should go read the all-ages Girl Genius for free on its eponymous website. I got a kick out of his Stanley & his Monster story, and beyond the humor, appreciated how well the story’s logic with regard to character action was criticism proofed. Of course the manhole cover would be left off by the Monster, and I totally buy an overly anxious grade schooler rushing into a sewer after a baseball if it meant approval from older boys that disregard him. I knew of the characters fairly early in my collecting days, because I made the completely random purchase of a DC Blue Ribbon Digest called “Neat Stuff” that reprinted older humor and funny animal strips (and its cover was used for a full page house ad.) I rarely bought digests (too small reproductions, a higher price point, and spotty distribution) and I almost never bought comics outside super-heroes or sci-fi, but this happened. It’s a mark of maturity when you reach the point where you realize being a “rebel” and offering a grimdark revival of a children’s property is actually extremely easy to get into print, but it’s impossible to ever scrub the stain of corrupted innocence off a property once it’s been adulterated. Let’s all continue to pretend “Quiver” never happened, m’kay?

  12. A great episode as always!

    I want to give a shout-out to Matt Feazell, who drew the stick-figure page of the Ambush Bug origin. Matt self-published (and by that, I mean photocopied and stapled together) Not Available Comics, starring Cynicalman and Antisocialman. They were all drawn in stick figures, and featured a dry sense of humor that I really enjoyed. His work was just popular enough to get a Cynicalman one-shot by Eclipse Comics, an appearance in Munden’s Bar, a 1/2 issue of Scott McCloud’s Zot! and, I guess, one page of this DC comic. Whenever I think of the 80s wave of independents from Eclipse, First, Comico, etc., my mind drifts to Matt Feazell, and I wish he had done more.

    I liked the Rex story, but I think it might have been better if written more from Rex’s or Danny’s POV. Lots of kids stories have a dark backstory, and finding joy out of that darkness is part of their appeal. But I agree that we spend too much time with the satire on WWII jingoism, and that sets the wrong tone. This story actually reminded me of an episode of American Dad.

    Other notes:

    1) Bob was a great guest, and I really appreciated his perspective on western comics.
    2) I have often said that I think Stan Lee and his Monster would have made a great Amalgam comic.

  13. Shag made me realize I may be less Bill Murray and more Melissa McCarthy, because even if you don’t add up my appearances in promos, my various cameos in segments like Johnny Thunder gets me into the 5.246 timers club!

    Speaking of promos, thanks for running the DC Bloodlines Podcast one, which I swear wasn’t a rip off of your last Secret Origins Podcast Promo (which I actually thought was swiping from me until I checked the upload dates. Parallel thinking, then.) For some reason, you and Nathaniel Wayne ran the same spot less than a week apart, and I like to think the show combines the jaundiced look at Chromium Age excesses of ’90s Comics Retrial with the spotlight character origin/career overview/more joyful analysis of DC characters of this program. I unintentionally allowed a half year gap in episodes because of my obsession with JLMAY as represented by The Idol-Head of Diabolu, and then returning to The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast and DC Specials across the summer super-movie season. I actually had one more completed episode that’s been sitting around since April, but I really liked “Argus & The Flash,” so I figured it would be an ideal season 2 premiere. It’ll be out this October, and followed by episodes devoted to Vixen, Hank Henshaw, The New Titans, Anima, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Ballistic, Lionheart, and a direct reflection/continuation of your Captain Comet origin show (but this time from the perspective of the original Strange Adventures. I’ve been getting a kick out of working on new editions, because it’s the easiest and most fun of my solo shows to put together, since large chunks of it are just me reading my old blog posts and long form message board comments on podcasts like yours. I’m a snake eating my own tail!

    By the way, I still haven’t commented on Ambush Bug. It’ll run for pages.

  14. Thanks for another terrific show, I especially enjoyed hearing Bob talk about telly Westerns, I went straight to YouTube and looked up Have Gun, Will Travel. I was expecting the hero to be much more handsome. So shallow. Off to grab my cap gun…

    And it’s always a pleasure to hear Shagg, but why does everyone see, to use just one ‘g’ i.e. ‘Shag’ rather than ‘Shagg’.

    Paul Hix, have you turned into one of those ‘FIRST!’ people? Anyway, wee correction, it’s Jann Jones who was wed to James Robinson, not veteran Marvel letter Janice Chiang.

    I loved this Ambush Bug (is an ‘ambush bug’ an actual thing?) story though I agree that nothing matches the title gag. I really like the cover too, I like lots of words.

    And I’m with Rob, the use of Stanley and His Monster in Quiver was not great. What next, New Sugar and Spike learning they grew up bad and became Stanley and His Mobster?

    The Trigger Twins story was OK, I like Von Eeden’ work here, it reminds me of Jack Sparling’.

    I’ve not read many Western books, though I read Jonah Hex and Scalphunter for years, I loved following their lives in nicely crafted comics.

  15. How long have you been waiting on assign “Sunshine Superman” to an appropriate character?

    I never asked about the Secret Origin of Ambush Bug because I knew Shag would have had his hand up on some Facebook thread I didn’t read probably before I even knew that Count Drunkula guy was going to spin this show out of his podcasting debut on Fire & Water #100 (which I was waiting to hear before asking him to do something for Rolled Spine to make sure he didn’t sound like a spaz.) Like a resigned understudy, I still secretly hoped near to curtain Shag would have some minor accident with his vocal cords (likely helium inhalation related) that he could promptly recover from but that would unfortunately only happen after his replacement was required to make curtain, even though I again never once voiced interest, and in such an event we’d most likely end up with other last minute fill-ins pointing at Ambush Bug going “what the frig is this?”

    I bought Son of Ambush Bug #2 at the neighborhood 7-11, and continued through 4 or 5, whenever that source stopped delivering. I found the last issue(s) at the first semi-legit comic shop I ever happened upon, in the indoor “antiques” section of a rather run down, mostly outdoor and dirt-floored flea market (but it had a door and posters up, so it counts.) In 1987, I was informed that I’d been living within walking distance of a comic shop for about a year within weeks of moving out of state, drinking as deeply of it as pocket change and time would allow. It was there I got the original 1984 mini-series and the Stocking Stuffer. In one of the issues, there’s a joke about having read an issue of Lois Lane so many times that it converted to a liquid. I came as close as I could to doing the same with those Ambush Bugs, and the few I still have are in loose brown pieces. In 1989, another neighborhood shop turned up, which is where I fished most (all?) of the Action Comics and DC Comics Presents issues out of the quarter bins. I had to pay full price for the Daring New Adventures of Supergirl appearance, which only aggravated my resentment at that off-brand, comedy free installment. This was before I had an Overstreet, so I think I required direct references to the specific issues of those early appearances in the mini-series itself to know where AB appeared. God bless editor’s notes and other metatextual asides.

    I don’t recall if I got the Secret Origins new or as a recent back issue, but I’ve preordered all of his other major appearances since the Nothing Special (excepting his being snuck into a Lobo mini-series I had to backtrack on in recent years. Most of these stories are collected in the Showcase Presents edition, so it’s a good thing the strip had a consistent creative team to allow for easy signage of the reduced royalty rate contracts required to bring it into existence. I also have “Don’t Ask,” one of the few RPG modules I ever purchased on purpose.

    Obviously I love Ambush Bug. His alter-ego was my first email address & nom du Internet, and I have the Eaglemoss miniature sitting on a shelf. I have an uncommon affection for Giffen’s Munoz period and the nine-panel grid, plus I have bought too many terrible comics by Giffen and others chasing the dragon of more material of this stripe. I started trying The Tick in ’89, and stuck around for the earliest issues that were the most obviously indebted to the Ambush Bug strips before it diverged into yet another Daredevil/TMNT riff (though I liked the cartoon and the few episodes of the live action show I caught.) The Tick definitely started out as a rip-off, but it did so after Ambush Bug was no longer a going concern, and it was obviously the more accessible, audience friendly option. Part of what I love about AB is that as an extension of Keith Giffen, it is exclusive, “inside baseball” and often caustically satirical. The creators are making jokes for themselves and their friends, not for the masses, and Giffen especially most likely doesn’t care if anybody else goes for it. Deadpool, Harley Quinn, and more owe him a debt, but they also succeeded in a way he never could by learning lessons he disregarded.

    While Irwin Schwab himself is a combination of Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck (initially more the former, eventually more the latter, with some Droopy Dog besides,) the humor of the series to me better recalls the adult skewing MGM cartoons that parodied themes like futurism and fashion without involving ongoing characters or an overarching narrative. That explains its nonlinear nature and its specifically targeting deeply nerdy Baby Boomers who would have grown up on Mad and early National Lampoon, but still had nostalgia for Leave It To Beaver. Despite only getting a third of the jokes at best on first read as a kid, I still thought it was hilarious. Like Mystery Science Theater 3000, it was cutting edge for its time, but as comedy stylings have evolved, it feels slow and clunky compared to the more rapid fire and ribald material that succeeded it. However, in their day, the Ambush Bug strips were the funniest stories available to mainstream comics audiences. I will defend it the way Trekkies and Whovians would their franchises, which were once rare genre finds, but now often face harsh criticism in a more refined landscape they pioneered.

    My suspicion is that Ambush Bug was another casualty of Crisis on Infinite Earths, as the whole point of the original strips centered on him showing up like Woody Woodpecker in an otherwise normal story to turn Superman and friends into nerve-wracked Elmer Fudds with his antics. It’s a major plot point in the mini-series that AB loses access to the core DC Universe and is increasingly marginalized until, by the end of Son, he’s reliant almost exclusively on concepts created by Giffen (and literally goes through Hell as a result.) There’s a whole subplot involving Argh!yle trying to build a master plan out of one piece of Superman’s footwear (a boot I think,) perhaps a reference to the strip itself scraping by in a restrictive atmosphere where Superman himself was so far off the table as to have left the entire building. Without Julie Schwartz as an editorial whip (especially in the increasingly hostile Superman office; see 5YL Legion,) Ambush Bug might as well have been Typhoid Mary.

    A point I’ll concede to critics is that Ambush Bug was best as a short strip in an anthology, with his stronger stories supporting an entire issue, but multiple mini-series in a short span being an overreach. Even the Stocking Stuffer acknowledges within the story itself that it couldn’t support the length of an annual, and goes down the tubes after the first half. As the anthology format died, I think the Bug would have been best served as a special (made up of several separate stories and features ideally worked on when the muse struck) every two or three years, and it would have been nice if he could have guest starred in other books books like Blue Beetle and Hawk & Dove (with Giffen & Fleming as a fill-in team.) The Tick and others showed the basic premise could survive and even thrive on analogues and the more conventional storytelling of the earlier strips.

    As for the specific SO story discussed, like Ryan, I kind of wasn’t into it at first, but it grew on me over the years. The strip is still mired in its burnout period where Giffen’s bitterness and obtuse storytelling overwhelmed the funny, which was dispelled by the Nothing Special and most of Year None. Giffen was obsessed with restrictive encroaching (Governmental? Editorial?) bureaucracy disallowing Ambush Bug’s antics, but at least we get the ridiculous revamps, the put upon Vril Dox, and other cute bits. Speaking of which, that’s Mutt & Jeff at the retirement home, with one trying to impress the newspaper strip syndicate in hopes of getting back on the funnies page. Context is very important for a lot of these gags, and I suspect the speculator boom was a juicier target than random DC offerings from 1989 involving short-lived boutique business like the brief ascendency of painted comics. Not only did you have to be there, but you had to be hip, and I only checked one of those boxes when the book was released.

    Finally, I’m surprised no one mentioned that Dan Didio commissioned a final issue of Year None that was muchly written and drawn by Art Baltazar. I would not be at all surprised if this was a Donner/Lester deal, where only the Giffen pages deemed appropriate were used and the rest was sewn together by hired hands. Who wants to bet Didio demanded changes after #6 was approved and at least partly produced that Giffen refused to do (overtly or just passive aggressively fobbed off?)

  16. Way behind on this one. This issue seemed to be the biggest “Let’s clear out the inventory drawer” compilation of the entire series.

    Quick rundown:
    Ambush Bug – Never got him. Sorry Shag.
    Stanley and His Monster – Sounds fun.
    Rex the Wonder Dog – Agree that he deserved better. He was in the proto-JLA!
    Trigger Twins – The conceit was clearly DC trying to deal with a new genre they weren’t quite ready to move into, since All-Star Western took over the JSA’s All-Star Comics with little to no notice. For a one of story, that’s fine…but how did they milk a series out of this?

    Despite the wobbly material, this was a great episode! Lots of great and interesting discussion, as always. Even with Shag!

    Chris

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *