Daredevil Resource Daredevil Resource

PARODIES/SPOOFS
- NOT BRAND ECHH! - WHAT THE -- ?! - MISCELLANEOUS - HOSTESS - WHAT IF...? -
- BULLPEN BITS - MARVEL AGE CALENDAR -


I'm going to try to include in this section DD items that have tickled my funnybone over the years. Some will be bits from Marvel parodies like What the -- !? and Not Brand Ecch starring "Scaredevil" or "Duh-devil", others may be amusing sketches or jokes...anything's fair game. Hope you enjoy.

Not Brand Echh!

Not Brand Echh! came out in the late 60s. And while the name sort of poked fun at the competition, the stories inside tended to ridicule Marvel's own universe to an unparalleled extent. Splat Murdock, aka Scaredevil, was featured along with the rest of Marvel's zany version of its own universe. A few examples are listed below.


Scaredevil closeup Not Brand Echh! #4
Nov 1967, 23 pgs., 12¢
"Defeated by the Evil Electrico" (pgs.2-9)
Lee, Colan, Tartaglione, Simek

Splat Murdock, aka Scaredevil, tries to convince Electrico to unmask him, so he can quit the superhero business & pursue his secretary, Miss Rage.
also: Sub-Mariner & X-Men spoofs.

cover of issue Not Brand Echh! #5
Dec 1967, 23 pgs., 12¢

Scaredevil T-shirt on the cover and Scaredevil's face makes cameo on title/splash page of first story. No real appearances or stories.

cover of issue Not Brand Echh! #9
Aug 1968, 52 pgs., 25¢

"Casey at the Bat!" (pgs.11-16)
Thomas, Sutton, Sutton, Rosen

A spoof of the famous poem; DD is one of the batters (Flynn in the poem).
DD also appears in a SuperHero Greeting Card on p.26 and on the cover.

What the -- ?!

Twenty some odd years later, What the --?! picks up Not Brand Echh!'s duties. And while we start off with "Scaredevil", in the later issues, our favorite ol' Hornhead is represented most often as "Duh-Devil".


closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #3
Oct 1988, 32 pgs., $1.25
"Fed Up!" (pgs.17-23)
Hembeck, Hembeck, Hembeck, Parker

Scaredevil holds a dinner party for some of his long time friends & enemies. The Kingking of crime crashes the dinner party. The Lard Boys (a parody of both Daredevil's Fatboys and the Little Wise Guys from the Golden Age Daredevil) prepare the meal.
"Marvel Super-Heroes with Pet Partners: Daredevildog" (pg.24)
writer & artist?
"Drake" acts as Matt Murdock's seeing eye dog until danger rears it's head -- then he dons a mask & teams up with DD as Daredevildog.

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #5
Jul 1989, 32 pgs., $1.50
"You Bet Your Dignity" (pgs.20-23)
Austin, Lee, Williamson, Chiang

With "U-tu" the Watcher playing the part of Groucho, and Howard the Duck playing the part of the "secret word duck", the parody of "You Bet Your Life" stars Scaredevil, the Ever Evolving Lout (Beast), Black Dolt, and Longshort.

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #6
Jan 1990, 32 pgs., $1.00
"Smacks of Vengeance!" (pgs.1-8)
Byrne, Byrne, Austin, Parker

Lots of Marvel characters battle lots of DC characters. Even Casper & Wendie show up from ?Charlton?. Scaredevil runs into DC sendoffs the Jokester, Sinestronie, Mabilla Grod, and Metal-toe.

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #8
Jul 1990, 32 pgs., $1.25
"--After Hours" (pgs.7-14)
Lobdell, Keown, Candelario, Chiang

Scaredevil, and many others, put on a benefit for Bud's Suds, the hangout for superheroes and supervillains alike, to keep My-Fistoe from closing it down for nonpayment of rent.

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #9
Oct 1990, 32 pgs., $1.25
"Hotel Galacticus", part 2 of 4 (pgs.17-24)
Lobdell, Hoover, Hoover, Joyce

Scaredevil? in hotel kitchen trading quips with "The What-Iffer" over the phone about his room service.

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #11
Mar 1991, 32 pgs., $1.25
"Okay, So It's Not Such a Wonderful Life!" (pgs.1-8)
Loebdell, Weeks/K.Wilson/Keown/Liefeld/R.Wilson, Kubert/K.Wilson/Williams/Milgrom

DD decides to kill himself after tangling with the Kingpin, Mephisto, and Typhoid Mary, but Ghost Rider shows up and tries to deter him a la "It's a Wonderful Life". One of the things GR shows him is what it would have been like to have been done by other artistic teams. Shown left is their parody of a McFarlane DD.
"Auld Lang Syne" (pp.25-32)
Loebdell, Tyler, Tyler, Moede
There is a huge New Year's party with all the Marvel superheroes & villains including "Duhdevil".

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #12
May 1991, 32 pgs., $1.25
"Married with Superpowers" (pgs.20-27)
Tyler, Tyler, Tyler, Joyce

An albino Vision & the Scarlet Witch play the Bundys in this send off of Married With Children. "Duhdevil" appears for 3 pages as Vision's buddy at a big costume party.

closeup of parody character What the -- ?! #13
Jul 1991, 31 pgs., $1.25
"An Eye for an Eyepatch" (pgs.25-31)
Proudfoot/Warden, Quesada, Wilson, Moede

Poking a little fun at Wolverine & Nick Fury, the writers in this yarn have EVERYONE in the Marvel Universe start sporting eyepatches. The Torch has trouble making it work 'til he makes it out of asbestos. Then he has a little more trouble...

Miscellaneous Takeoffs/Spoofs

This section includes some Hembeck/Aragonés madness, of course, but some other interesting gems as well: A Moore DD satire poking fun at Miller's DD in the British mag Daredevils, Boris the Bear (as Daredevil), Darerat, Daredame (the Woman without a Brassiere), and others.

issue cover Amazing Heroes: Silly Cover #7633
Amazing Heroes #17 (Nov 1982), p.18
Warren Drummond

"Duddevil" sits holding a dying "Electric". "Bullsear" is snickering in the foreground. When Duddevil asks her how she was defeated by Bullsear, she answers that Bullsear had the one thing her sais have never been able to cut through: the back of someone's shirt. Still makes me laugh - mostly because it's true!

issue cover Amazing Heroes: Silly Cover #1001
Amazing Heroes #17 (Nov 1982), p.27
Warren Drummond

In a beautiful parody of the cover to issue #189, Drummond has "Deaddevil" getting skewered by dozens of arrows. The series title reads, "Here Dies DEADDEVIL, the Man Who Can't Dodge Arrows". One of the ninja arms holding a curved sword at the bottom of the page has a Spidey arm sticking out. Thor's hammer is also one of the flying projectiles.

issue cover Boris the Bear #26
Jul 1990, 32 pgs.(B&W, no ads), $1.95
"Dancin' with the Devil" (pgs.1-27)
James Dean Smith, McKinnon (lettering)

This independent put out by Nícotat Comics seems to have had a fairly long run. I'm not familiar with the character, but he seems to be an android?/robot?/creation? of some sort. He's apparently donned a number of costumes in the past including the Punisher and Batman, but in this issue he becomes...Beardevil! to fight a nasty gang of ninjas.

issue cover Daredame (Spoof Comics #5)
Oct 1992, 32 pgs.(B&W, no ads), $2.95
"The Origin of Daredame" (pgs.1-16)
Halbleib, Corola, Halbleib, De Paolis (cover: Hughes)

In this Personality Comics sendoff, Pat Paddock, daughter of mud wrestler Joltin' Jackie Paddock, is struck in the chest by a radioactive isotope while saving a man crossing the street. Her bust size increases dramatically, and she gains radar sense through...yes, her breasts. In this issue she fights the Queenpin & Bullwhip. This issue also included some trading cards (ltd. edition of 750 prism trading cards).

issue cover (The) Daredevils #8
Aug 1983, 54 pgs., 65p
"Grit!" (pgs.14-17)
Moore, Collins, Farmer, Craddock

Moore does a bit of a sendoff on Miller's Daredevil. In this satire, "Dourdevil" takes on the Tiepin of crime, Pigseye (who beheads some goons with a Q-tip), and Erektra. There's LOTS of mindless violence & blood and very grim & gritty looking backdrops.

note: Daredevils was a British monthly publication with news, interviews, a poster (#8 has an Elektra poster), text stories, Captain Britain stories, and B&W reprints of various American mags including Daredevil (this one included "The Mauler" story from DD#167).


issue cover DareRat(/Tadpole)
Feb 1987, 32 pgs.(B&W, no ads), $1.95
"Pizza Now" (pgs.1-16)
Mark Martin

This comic by Mighty Pumpkin Publishing pokes a little fun at quite a few targets. The cover is a nice takeoff on the promo poster Mazzucchelli did the Apocalypse DD storyline. Darerat is none other than Boo Swain (Bruce Wayne) and has a faithful servant Alpo (Alfred). A pizza delivery turtle even shows up at one point. There is an additional flip comic on the reverse side, not to mention a color centerfold poster of a monkey dentist pulling a hippo's tooth. You heard me correctly.

issue cover Fantastic Four Roast #1
May 1982, 32 pgs.(no ads, wraparound cover), 75¢
"When Titans Chuckle!"
Hembeck, misc., misc., Rosen

The Marvel Univ. salutes the FF in their 20th year. DD gives a 1 pg. roast, and appears off & on throughout the comic with the rest of the Marvel Universe.
note: Some folks have told me this is actually part of Marvel canon & NOT outside normal continuity. I suppose this is possible, but it just gets TOO silly at times, so I've made an arbitrary decision to include it here with other parodies & spoofs.

closeup of parody character Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe #1
Jul 1989, 32 pgs.(no ads), $1.50
"When Titans Croak!"
Hembeck, Hembeck, Colletta/Staton, Chiang/Parker

Hembeck kills off Marvel's heroes (and villains) in devilishly funny ways. DD meets his own demise in a full page reminiscent of a Señor Wences routine.

closeup of parody character Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #7
May 1986, 22 pgs., 75¢
"Deerdevil, the Cloven-Hooved Mammal Without Fear" (pgs.18-22)
Skeates, Albelo, Albelo, Albelo

Deerdevil takes on the evil Sanity Claws at the North Pole.

Powers (v.2) #6
Nov 2004, 32 pgs., $2.95
"True Believer" (letters pages)
Bendis

This isn't so much a "parody" as a cartoon/sketch. Bendis discusses his career in cartoon form. In one panel of the cartoon, Spidey, Daredevil, and others are looking over his shoulder as Bendis types at the computer.

closeup of parody character Sergio Massacres Marvel #1
Jun 1996, 48 pgs., $3.50
no title
Evanier, Aragones, misc., Starkings & Comicraft

Sergio & Mark drop by Marvel offices; Sergio decides to help. 'Nuff said.

Hostess Parodies

Some of you may remember the Hostess Fruit Pie ads run in Daredevil and the other Marvel comics in the 70s. Not too long ago on the RACMU newsgroup, one of the fans out there, James Smith, came up with a parody of those ads utilizing that milestone in DD comics, the Death of Elektra. DD superfan Bill Koenig, from our own DD mailing list, replied in kind with his own parody finishing the epic with the fateful confrontation between Bullseye and Ol' Hornhead. My thanks to James and Bill for these creative gems.

The Death of Elektra

BULLSEYE: Now, we fight, Elektra! And only one of us may live!
ELEKTRA: Wait, Bullseye! Why fight, when we can eat delicious Hostess Fruit Pies!
BULLSEYE: Did you say Hostess Fruit Pies?
ELEKTRA: I sure did! Two great flavors, too--apple and *ulk*!
BULLSEYE: Idiot.

DD vs. Bullseye

(Daredevil, his legs wrapped around a wire, holds Bullseye above the pavement.)
BULLSEYE (waving sai): Not again! I'll kill you!
DAREDEVIL: Wouldn't you rather have a Hostess Fruit Pie instead?
BULLSEYE: Hostess Fruit Pie?!
DAREDEVIL: Sure, two delicious flavors. Here, catch!
(he tosses two fruit pies and Bullseye grabs for them)
BULLSEYE (as he begins to fall): D'oh!

"What If...?" knockoffs

From time to time, Marvel puts out silly "What If...?" one panel or 1 page gags in the back of the issues on a given month, in the Bullpen Bulletins, or elsewhere. Here are a few of the funny (AND not so funny) bits they've printed over the years.

DD Bullpen Bulletins strip
May 1999, Bullpen Bulletins


"What if... the kids who teased young Matt Murdock had called him by a different name, instead of Daredevil"
Bullpen Bulletins, May 1999 (shown above)
writer & artist?
DD takes on the world with a slightly different monicker thanks to the kids who used to tease him.
"What if... All the Super Heroes Who Now Live in New York City Moved to Toledo, Ohio?"
What If...? (I) #34 (p.14), Aug 1982
Budiansky
Daredevil playing darts at the Super Heroes Social Club while all the other Super Heroes sit around bored also.
"What if... Daredevil Were Deaf Instead of Blind?"
What If...? (I) #34 (p.19), Aug 1982
Miller
DD beats up on a group of thugs who, at the end, are willing to talk/confess, but he can't hear them giving up.
"What if... Obnoxio the Clown Fought Crime?"
What If...? (I) #34 (p.30), Aug 1982
Kupperberg
Obnoxio-Daredevil is just one of 9 vignettes of alternative Obnoxios.
"What if... Daredevil Could See?"
What If...? (I) #34 (p.31), Aug 1982
Carlin, Zalme, Breeding
Daredevil runs away from Bullseye, Gladiator, Stilt-Man, Hyde & Elektra because they look scary!
"What If... Daredevil Had a Dishonest Tailor?!"
What If...? (II) #17 (p.27), Sep 1990
Candelario, Ramos, Ivy
Did you ever wonder how DD would look in a plaid superhero outfit? (And you thought the old yellow & red duds were a little strange)!
"What if... Daredevil Was a Policeman?"
What If...? (II) #20 (p.26), Dec 1990
Dutter, Auck, McLaurin
Daredevil uses his radar sense as a radar detector to catch speeders.


One of the neat things about the old Mego figures in the 60s/70s was the fact that you could change their clothes around. The figures didn't just have "painted on" costumes. Well, here for your edification & enjoyment are 2 "What If..."s courtesy of long time fan Adam Gilbert (fashion & cultural attaché to the Resource) and made possible by the recent Mego-like "Famous Covers" series of action figures:

Daredevil in drag DareBarbie
What If... Daredevil had stayed in San Francisco in the 70s rather than moving back to New York? What If... Barbie was a superhero rather than a marketing & fashion icon designed to give females in the country an irreversible negative self-image?

Bullpen Bits

In early/mid 1999, Marvel started featuring a little humor strip on the Bullpen Bulletins page. While the earliest ones weren't marked, I suspect they were all by Giarrusso. This is a weekly strip, so please let me know if you see one not listed here.


Bullpen Bulletins
May 1999 (shown in the "What If..." knockoffs above)
"What if... the kids who teased young Matt Murdock had called him by a different name, instead of Daredevil"
writer & artist?
DD takes on the world with a slightly different monicker thanks to the kids who used to tease him.
Bullpen Bits #9
Aug 1999
no title
Chris Giarrusso
DD (playing ump) calls strike on Wolverine batting (Hulk catching). Inevitable: "Are you blind?" from Wolvie to the ump.

Marvel Age Calendar


For a number of years, the back cover of Marvel Age featured a "calendar" with gags/jokes, announcements of birthdays, and all sorts of assorted cartoons. Daredevil "appeared" in a number of these. And while they're mostly just 1 frame cartoon cameos rather than actual parodies, they share a certain flavor with the Bullpen Bits.

January 1987 Calendar
Marvel Age #49, Apr 1987
Carlin, Zalme
side panel: "January starts a year without fear!", DD, Iron Man, Cap, Spidey & Forbush-Man celebrating New Year's.
Jan 23: DD in green plaid shorts wishing Klaus Janson a happy birthday.
July 1990 Calendar
Marvel Age #91, Aug 1990
Eliopolous & Dutter, Zalme
Jul 1,2: DD vs. stealth bomber, sight gag.
August 1990 Calendar
Marvel Age #92, Sep 1990
Eliopolous & Dutter, Zalme
Aug 17: DD & Iron Man talk about John Romita, Jr.'s birthday.
October 1990 Calendar
Marvel Age #94, Nov 1990
Eliopolous & Dutter, Zalme
Oct 29: DD wishes John Morelli a happy b-day 3 days previous.
December 1990 Calendar
Marvel Age #96, Jan 1991
Eliopolous & Dutter, Zalme
Dec 4,5: DD plays catch with his dog, sight gag.
January 1991 Calendar
Marvel Age #97, Feb 1991
Eliopolous & Dutter, Zalme
Jan 16: DD wishes Bob Petrecca a happy birthday.
August 1991 Calendar
Marvel Age #104, Sep 1991
Lackey, Zalme
Aug 10: DD wishes Christie Scheele a happy birthday.
November 1991 Calendar
Marvel Age #107, Dec 1991
Lackey, Zalme
Nov 3: DD says that he's thankful for his radar powers.


The Daredevil Resource ©1996,2004 Kevin Hall.     Corner DD graphic courtesy Piekos Arts.
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