- What The--?!
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title = What The--?!
caption = "Spider-Ham 15.88"
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publisher =Marvel Comics
date = 1988-1993
issues = 26
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sort="What The--?!" was a series of
Marvel comics parodying theMarvel Universe , similar in vein to the 1960s seriesNot Brand Echh . It was billed as "The Marvel mag of mirth and mayhem" and ran for 26 issues, with issue #1 having an August 1988 cover date and issue #26 being a 1993 "Fall Special." It typically contained a series of short stories with comedic takes on Marvel heroes and villains, such as havingSpider-Ham substitute forSpider-Man ."What The--?!" spotlighted some of the top artists and writers at the time. Many, such as
Stan Lee andJohn Byrne , contributed works that spoof some of their all-time greatest successes. For example, in issue #2 Byrne creates a tale pitting his work on the Fantastic Four franchise against his work withSuperman . The issue goes so far as to have theLex Luthor character to complain about the changes Byrne made to the Superman legend after Crisis.Though it carried the Marvel Comics label on the front left corner, "What" "The--?!" touted itself published by "Marble Comics." "What The--?!" parodied Marvel Comics institutions such as the legendary Marvel Comics fan mail page with staged articles called "The Marble Mailbag" and the "What The.. Mail". The title also did not contain any "true" advertisements. Instead, "What The--?!" hosted a number of fake advertisements which made fun of classic comic book advertisements such as
Charles Atlas and novelty by-mail companies."What The--?!" was originally published as a four-issue limited series. The last issue closed with an appeal from
Fred Hembeck for readers to write to Marvel if they wanted to see more of the comic. Several months later, "What The--?!" returned, resuming its numbering at issue 5. This is noteworthy, as Marvel Comics usually started a series spawned from a limited series with a new issue numbered "1" and would regard it as a "Volume 2".Table of What The--?! issues
References
[http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=95088358688&snumber=1 Mile High Comics] Accessed May 20, 2006.
External links
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