While looking through DeviantArt today, I found an interesting, relatively new webcomic by Ryan Valentine called Air Raid Robertson. The comic is done as a spoof of the old adventure strips at the dawn of comics, back when newspapers gave comics enough space to do such things. Air Raid Robertson is the buffoonish bi-plane riding hero; his bi-plane is shared with his handlebar mustauched comrade Ridley, who has kept him from dying since childhood. They get into various wacky adventures that typically involve them being in danger of being eaten alive, and often end up bickering with the omniscient narrator ( and normally I find regular 4th-wall breaking obnoxious, but since that kind of old-time caption narration was obnoxious in and of itself by describing EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE SEEING ON THE PAGE IN FRONT OF US, it's a welcome part of the satire ).
The current storyline has Air Raid and Ridley trapped on the Island of Misfit Supervillains, the most demented parody of the old adventure strips yet-- these are all the ethnic stereotypes from the old comics, diabolical Asians and thieving Mexicans and greedy Jews. They have been exiled to this island for their offensive traits, ( their leader The Claw bemoaning the fact that being evil isn't equal opportunity ), but I can say that from what 30's and 40's comics I've seen, they are not exaggerations of those stereotypes at all, and are actually somewhat tame by contrast. Hell, Iron Man's former arch-nemesis the Mandarin is much more offensive than the Claw, and he was created in the 60's and pops up to this date!
Hilarious stuff, and well worth a look.
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I think the Claw is more offensive than the Mandarin if only for his visual...by the way, you are aware that Fantomah & the Claw are actual characters from the 40s, right?
ReplyDeleteForgot, was in a hurry when writing this. I apologize and defer to your much greater knowledge on this era of pop culture.
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