Maybe this'll be the year random exclamations come back as titles. From 1975,
Arrgh! #4, featuring "The Night Gawker" Written by Russ Jones, pencils by Jerry Grandenetti, inks by Frank Springer.
This was a short-lived horror spoof book from Marvel, that appeared to also lean heavily on the perhaps-not-yet-completely-hackneyed premise that the cities were crime-ridden, unlivable cesspools. If you ever read, say, a
Mad magazine from about the same timeframe, they were probably hitting that angle pretty hard too; although I think any given
Mad from 1975 is probably a stronger read and not completely dependent on pop culture references that are going to age terribly. For instance, the bulk of this issue spoofs the beloved yet largely unwatched cult TV show,
Kolchak: the Night Stalker. Which is pretty great, honestly: it's got
Darren McGavin, the dad from
A Christmas Story. But they had success with two made-for-TV movies, then went to series, and...crickets. Then they were released as late-night movies and popular again. Like people were willing to watch it for two hours, but not one? Anyway, the spoof pokes fun at the series' status quo: no matter what the monster of the week does or how many people see it, nobody's ever going to believe him. Even the cops are like, well, you've got the answers, you handle it, smart guy. (You can really see how the series influenced
the X-Files!)
Also this issue: a Hunchback of Notre Dame spoof, that at least isn't based on any version I recognize; and the very short "Bang!" Both of which were reprinted from old issues of
Crazy, which I'm not positive I've ever read an issue of? I read a fair amount of
Mad, but...
Never heard of this until now, but I can definitely see why they chose to spoof Night Stalker. I know X-Files creator is open about being inspired by the show, and even had the man himself appear on one episode, albeit as a former FBI agent who created the X-Files in the 1st place.
ReplyDeleteI also know they tried to bring it back in '05 but it didn't last long.
What I wouldn't mind, is maybe instead of a tv show, maybe do a movie where an investigator in the vain of Kolchak, tries to hunt him down, say he mysteriously disappeared decades ago & never resurfaced again. Maybe have it revealed he was turned into a monster himself, IDK. I know Gavin's dead, so they'd have to do it w/o him, but that is an idea.
Also wonder when will the X-Files be rebooted themselves. I know they briefly came back in the late 2000's, but at some point someone going to want to reboot & recast the whole thing again.
Marvel just didn't have a solid career in spoofing did they like MAD magazine did did they?