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This month, Im taking a break from pissing and moaning
about the current situation in the X-Books (and specifically
Cable, as I have the last few months), and have decided to piss
and moan about X-Books of the past. Nah, just kidding. This
is going to be general reminiscing about some stuff. Specifically,
X-Men and humour, since this is our April 1st edition.
Probably the most notable example of this was the first half
of Excaliburs run. This was a fun book. It had its own unique
voice in the - at the time - few number of X-Books. That voice
was one of fun. No matter what was happening in the book,
there was always a light hearted tone. The situations were never
too serious, there was a high goofiness factor, and the characters
were tossing one-liners left and right. Yet it never felt silly or
forced. It all seemed to work. Once Alan Davis left the second
time, the title never seemed the same, and the air of humour was
never quite as pervasive as it was, and the book lost a lot of its
uniqueness. Quite a shame, really.
Another example of Marvels excellence at poking fun at
itself was What The?! This series lasted about 25 issues, and
then passed away quietly. Every issue had a handful of silly
parodies of various Marvel characters, usually lampooning the
latest trend in comics, or the new hot storyline in their top
books. They even occasionally took shots at DC and other
companies. What The was the successor to a much earlier
series that was pretty much the same thing, "Not Brand Ecch",
which was originally printed back in the late 60s.
Back in the real comics world was Peter Davids X-Factor.
This book followed the Excalibur route of using mainstream
Marvel characters, in continuity, and just not taking things
seriously. With a character insisting that his codename be
"Strong Guy" how could you possibly take it seriously?
Finally, there was Marvel Riot. This was a one shot, much
like Brand Ecch, and What The, but instead of several spoofs
and parodies per issue, this concentrated on one. This mocked
the entire Age of Apocalypse storyline, and is one of the funniest
comics Ive ever read. Due to comics of this nature not being
very popular, it was under-ordered and hard to find. But if you
can find it, its cheap, since no one really wants it. I highly
recommend it to anyone who likes a good laugh, or liked AOA.
And its written by Scott Lobdell.
This is not a hoax, not a dream, and most definitely not an
April Fools joke. Im serious here (Oh, the irony.) This is one
of the few books Scott has written that I urge people to read.
He may suck at most writing, but this book was just too damned
funny.
I really wish Marvel would make a continuing humour comic,
but I highly doubt it, since Im the only person that reads the
damned things. Im a sucker for parody. Especially when its
the same folks who do the work poking fun at themselves. If
you cant laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right?
That pretty much wraps me up for this month folks. Next
month, is Great X-Pectations third anniversary, and Ive got
something spiffy planned. Hope to see yall there!
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