| Too Many Long Boxes! |
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Thoughts at 3AM
- Letter Column
- Anything for a Laugh
- "I See Batman in a Dress!"
- Ambush Bug in Action!
- Hall of Justice - Captain Carrot
- Retconvention - Deadman
- Comics Cabana
- DC's Most Underused Characters
- Classics Revisited
- Vanishing Point
- Fiction - Who Do You Think You Are, Bruce Willis?
- Sector 2814 Art Gallery
- Art Challenge
101
To Drive You Buggy
by Simon Brown
The insane brainchild of Keith Giffen, Ambush Bug was primarily
an opponent of Superman. However, rather than challenge Truth, Justice and
The American Way like Luthor did, the Bug appeared to challenge sanity.
The battleground was originally the pages of DC's Superman team-up book,
DC Comics Presents, and eventually led to the Bug's own mini-series', where
he defeated Darkseid of all people. In the middle though, he managed to
land himself a headlining role in Action…. Much to Superman's annoyance.
Action Comics 560, cover dated October 1984 had the title "Ambush
Bug starring in Action Comics". Bug himself was doing the renovations
on the sign, and Superman was standing beside him, looking singularly
unamused. The story involved the just-released-from-the-nuthouse Bug starting
his own detective agency, and the first person to walk through his door
is Clark Kent. Clark is settled down to interview Ambush Bug, but the
Bug seems to recognise Clark's profile. He then sets about removing Clark's
outer layer of clothing to reveal Superman. Impressive that a character
who had to date only had a handful of appearances could do in seconds
what Lois, Jimmy and Perry couldn't do in 50 years.
At discovering Clark's secret, Ambush Bug laughs himself into a fit
over the stupidity of the disguise. Superman turns tail and runs, but
is constantly plagued by dreams (and news clippings) of the Bug. Bug meanwhile
decides that he should do the super-hero thing and arrest a Buick parked
illegally. Said Buick ends up at the police station.
The story finishes with Bug promising Clark Kent that he will commit
suicide after his sixth appearance. Clark tries to convince him to change
it to his first, but Bug refuses, and AB's first Action appearance wraps
up.
Ambush Bug is working on the electronic bugs he uses for teleporting
when a short-circuit kills all of his little bugs, and changes his costume
to red, then black. To make himself presentable, he puts on a pantomime
horse costume. Luckily, the fusing of the bugs has caused him to be able
to teleport anywhere without them. To get back to normal, Horse/Bug seeks
out Superman, who has just arrested a crook with a horse phobia. To help
Superman undestend better, Bug relates his origin story, whereby on the
distant planet Schwab a scientist Brum-El disregards a chain letter, and
brings about his planets destruction. His last act however is to construct
a rocketship, and save … his clothes. The rocket was bitten by a
giant radioactive spider in deep space (I kid you not), and crash landed
on earth, where young vidiot Irwin Schwab found a green suit, which he
adopte, and became Ambush Bug. New Adventures of Supergirl Ambush Bug Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer
Son of Ambush Bug Ambush Bug Nothing Special
Secret Origins Next is a gratuitous Kirby-style splash of The Inarticulate Bug, a rather
good Hulk rip off.
The next gust star is Batman. Bug teleports into the Batcave and lands
on the big penny, which rolls away and crashes somewhere off-panel. Batman
never actuall talks to the Bug, prefering instead to leave him in the
trash.
Another splash with the cover for Uh-Oh Squad #3½, leaves the squad
in limbo until Bug's mini-series.
The final solicitation is Wonder Woman who clobbers AB after he calls
her Sweet Cakes. Well, you would, wouldn't you!
With no guest stars for his upcoming mini-series, Ambush Bug is sitting
dejected on a park bench, when his Guardian Angel in the shape of an old
bum appears to remind him that team books sell.
The Titans said no.
If this all seems slightly disjointed, it's probably because it is.
But Ambush Bug is one of the funniest things to come out of DC ever. While
The Nothing Special that came out a few years ago wasn't very good, the
rest of Bug's appearances have been excellent, especially the Stocking
Stuffer. Nuff said.
Three months later (Action Comics #563), Bug was back in the lead
story. The front page shows a still unbalanced Clark Kent reporting on Yasir
Ambush Bug, a perplexed Jack Ryder slamming the Bug's antics, and Bethany
Snow from Teen Titans appearing to appeal to Titans fans (she's also drawn
either by Perez, or imitating Perez VERY closely)
By this time Superman has left, annoyed by the idiocy of the tale. That
is, until he realises that it's HIS origin story. Kinda..
Action #565 finds a non-black Bug in search of guest stars to help
promote his upcoming mini-series. First up is Superman, who agrees to appear
if Bug promises not to ridicule him. Bug agrees, and says he'll make it
a tribute : The time Superman turned into a caveman, the time he grew a
big third eye in the back of his head, the time he fell in love with a statue,
the time Supergirl fell in love with a horse….. Needless to say, Superman
is not amused, and boots Bug out of the fortress.
DC Comics Presents
Issues 52, 59 and 81
Issue 11 Action Comics
Issues 560, 563 and 565
Issues 1-4
Issues 1-6
Issue #48
Wanna laugh? Get Bug.
Layout and text © Fanzing 1998
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Updated 3/7/2007