Forbush-Man, Not Brand Echh, What The--?! & Pulverizer
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 7:08 am
I was only planning to put together a Forbush-Man chronology, but when I actually started reading Not Brand Echh (the entire series instead of just random stories here and there) I was surprised to see that not only were the parody names consistent across the volume, but different stories and issues referred back to each other (and some stories specifically happen before other stories!). Heck, when they changed a character’s name (like with Silver Burper/Simple Surfer) they dedicated a whole story to the name change, explaining what his real name is and why he was called the other name in previous stories. Continuity!
What The--?! #17 has a story that expressly takes place in the Not Brand Echh universe (there’s a footnote and everything!). By Kurt Busiek! Continuity!
I’m not going to bother with synopses of the Not Brand Echh stories; it’s a joke universe. I will do synopses for some of the What The--?! stuff, though, if only to “show my math.” If someone wants to know what a Medoozy is (it’s Medusa of the Inhumans) or whatever, feel free to ask.
Forbush-Man later appeared in various issues of What The--?!, but that comedy series expressly covered multiple realities, like Spider-Ham, Earth-616 (at least once) and others. WT? 20 explains that Milk & Cookies and Wolverina are from different realities, for example, and neither are from Forbush-Man’s reality. Some of these realities are recurring, but there are a bunch of one-off joke realities throughout What The--?!.
Let’s go!
WHAT THE--?! #1 (August 1988)
3rd Story:
By Peter Gillis & Jon Bogdanov
Forbush-Man pops into a crowd scene here, a story that spoofs not just the X-Men but also massive crossovers. The Bower Brats and Clunk & Dagnabbit from the previous story this issue also appear, but not the Pulverizer from this issue’s first story. The next story takes place in the same universe as this one, and features a different Watcher parody than Not Brand Echh had. So, this likely isn’t Earth-665.
Of course, it’s been established that Forbush-Man crosses over into various realities. Given a revelation in a later WT? Issue, this is probably an example of his hopping universes.
WHAT THE--?! #2 (September 1988)
By John Byrne
APPEARANCES:
Human Scorch, Inevitable Woman, Mr. Fantastical, Thung, Dr. Bloom (Bicker bon Bloom), Spidey-Man, Galacticus, Wolvoream, Bulk, Charlie America, Knock Furious, May Pooper, Mole Mensch, Jim Shooter, Sore, She-Bulk, Scarlett Wench, Man-Thing, Tigra, Mockingbird, Mirage, Energizer, Keeper of the Comics Code Authority, Superbman, Nosey Dame, Rex Ruthless, Dash, Gnatman
SYNOPSIS:
Superbman fights the Fantastical Four!
NOTE:
These are the post-Crisis parody versions of the DC characters. It’s directly addressed that these are new versions (Superbman has a new writer!, etc.), and the named Marble characters all get their Not Brand Echh parody names right.
Also, she introduces herself as “SHREW STORM WITCHARDS, the INEVITABLE GIRL WOMAN!!” complete with strikethroughs.
WHAT THE--?! #4 (November 1988)
7th Story:
By Scott Lobdell & Ron Zalme
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man (becomes the new Charlie America), Henry Peter Gyration, Tuskmaster, Red Sulk, Nick Furry & his agents of Brooke Shields
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man becomes the new Charlie America and is trained by the Tuskmaster. He’s sent after the Red Sulk, but has to be saved by Nick Furry & his agents of Brooke Shields.
NOTE:
Probably not Earth-665, since that reality already has Knock Furious. Also, there’s the next story which reveals…
WHAT THE--?! #8 (July 1990)
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Green Globule, Gwen Staycee, Loosejaw, Rotten, Mole Mensch, Ant-Sam, Elektra, Howard the Duck, Kid Nova, Swordsman, Adam Warlock, Tinkerbell, Glenda the Good Wench, Stuporman, Pulverizer, Spidey-Man, May Pooper, Gnatman, Jokester, Terry Kavanaugh
SYNOPSIS:
In the land of forgotten comic book characters, Forbush-Man becomes upset when he realizes he’s been forgotten. Glenda the Good Wench zaps him back to his world where he learns everyone he knew from the Marble offices are gone. He runs into the Pulverzier, who tells Forbush-Man to talk to Terry Kavanaugh; Kavanaugh (you know, the editor) is surprised to see Forbush-Man; no one’s seen him in 20 years, but he promises to put him in What The--?! anyway. Then he kicks Forbush-Man out the window.
NOTE:
So there you have it. Forbush-Man is back on Earth-665, and hasn’t been there for 20 years (or at least by anyone who cares). Forbush-Man had appeared in Spider-Ham in the meantime; that’s obviously a different reality. He popped up again in Spider-Ham’s world (by falling through a panel border) again in M/TALES 211/2. Two months later WT? 1 and three months after that WT? 4 came out, so he must still be bouncing around between worlds, eventually falling into the land of the lost (or whatever). Earth-616 has a similar sub-dimension where forgotten characters go, so Forbush-Man (and the other characters seen) are still in Earth-665, just off to the side.
Wolvoream is mentioned, but doesn’t appear. Wolvoream does appear in some Pulverizer stories, though.
WHAT THE--?! #11 (March 1991)
4th Story:
Forbush-Man pops into a crowd scene again.
WHAT THE--?! #12 (May 1991)
2nd Story:
By… actually, it doesn’t say. I’m going to guess Aaron Lopresti.
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Ka-Mart, Rex the Tiny-Saurus, Clan of the Cave Babes (inc Dawn & Boom Boom); Frank Fritz
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man falls off a building and lands in the Ravaged Land where he meets Ka-Mart. A woman screams for help and Ka-Mart leaves to attend a sales meeting. Forbush-Man “saves” the woman from a small dinosaur (it dies of a heart attack) and he’s made king of the Clan of the Cave Babes. He has to defend the from the attacking Frank Fritz (a Frezetta parody), but instead of fighting he tells Frank and his panted army to treat women nicely. The Cave Babes don’t like that and call Forbush-Man a chauvinist.
NOTE:
I’m guessing Forbush-Man fell off a building and landed in an alternate reality.
WHAT THE--?! #14 (September 1991)
6th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Aunt Mayhem
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man falls asleep watching TV, and dreams of being a private investigator. When he wakes up he finds he’s beating up his aunt.
WHAT THE--?! #16 (January 1992)
4th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Candy Cane, Tom DeFalco, Specter of Early Cancellation, Spirit of the Comics Code Authority, Dr. Frederick Worthless, Bill Gaines, Pat Steverson
SYNOPSIS:
It’s Halloween and Forbush-Man is trick-or-treating when he comes across the House of Misery. He’s told if he spends the night and lives to tell the tale he can have a mountain of candy. That night he’s visited by a cloaked Tom DeFalco, who says Forbush-Man can have his own series if he chooses correctly. Forbush-Man chooses Aaron Lopresti as his creative team, so Tom sends the Specter of Early Cancellation after Forbush-Man. The Spirit of the Comics Code Authority stops the Specter from killing Forbush-Man and sendshim to court to be presided over by Dr. Frederick WORTHLESS (hee-hee!). He tells Forbuch-Man not to have any more scantily clad sexpots in his stories anymore and sends him home, where a scantily clad sexpot is waiting for him (gasp!).
NOTE:
Usually, these What The--?! gags make me groan, but I have to say that “Dr. Frederick Worthless” made me chuckle. What a piece of crap that guy was.
WHAT THE--?! #20 (August 1992)
WHAT THE--?! #22 (October 1992)
5th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Aunt Mayhem, Thung, Ivory Wench, Mr. Fantastical, Inevitable Woman, Human Scorch
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man is looking to get rich, so he goes to the Fantastical Four to use their time machine. He accidentally goes to the Salem Witch Trials and saves the Ivory Wench. Just as he’s about to get lucky Mr. Fantastical brings him back to the present.
WHAT THE--?! #23 (November 1992)
3rd Story:
By Sholly Frisch & James Fry
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man tells YOU, the reader, how to draw other comics the Marvel way.
WHAT THE--?! #26 (Fall 1993)
10th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Dumsday, Pulverizer, Bulk, Thung, Wolvoream, Human Scorch, Spidey-Man, Sore, Visage, Mr. Fantastical, Sunk-Mariner, Aunt Mayhem, Stuporman
SYNOPSIS:
Dumsday attacks and none of the Marble heroes can defeat him! They send Forbush-Man to fight Dumsday, and he’s defeated by Forbush-Man’s incredibly bad body odor. A rock falls on Forbush-Man’s head and he dies. Everyone cheers. The spirit of Stuporman tells Forbush-Man’s spirit not to worry; they brought him back, they’ll bring Forbush-Man back too. Or, maybe not.
What The--?! #17 has a story that expressly takes place in the Not Brand Echh universe (there’s a footnote and everything!). By Kurt Busiek! Continuity!
I’m not going to bother with synopses of the Not Brand Echh stories; it’s a joke universe. I will do synopses for some of the What The--?! stuff, though, if only to “show my math.” If someone wants to know what a Medoozy is (it’s Medusa of the Inhumans) or whatever, feel free to ask.
Forbush-Man later appeared in various issues of What The--?!, but that comedy series expressly covered multiple realities, like Spider-Ham, Earth-616 (at least once) and others. WT? 20 explains that Milk & Cookies and Wolverina are from different realities, for example, and neither are from Forbush-Man’s reality. Some of these realities are recurring, but there are a bunch of one-off joke realities throughout What The--?!.
Let’s go!
WHAT THE--?! #1 (August 1988)
3rd Story:
By Peter Gillis & Jon Bogdanov
Forbush-Man pops into a crowd scene here, a story that spoofs not just the X-Men but also massive crossovers. The Bower Brats and Clunk & Dagnabbit from the previous story this issue also appear, but not the Pulverizer from this issue’s first story. The next story takes place in the same universe as this one, and features a different Watcher parody than Not Brand Echh had. So, this likely isn’t Earth-665.
Of course, it’s been established that Forbush-Man crosses over into various realities. Given a revelation in a later WT? Issue, this is probably an example of his hopping universes.
WHAT THE--?! #2 (September 1988)
By John Byrne
APPEARANCES:
Human Scorch, Inevitable Woman, Mr. Fantastical, Thung, Dr. Bloom (Bicker bon Bloom), Spidey-Man, Galacticus, Wolvoream, Bulk, Charlie America, Knock Furious, May Pooper, Mole Mensch, Jim Shooter, Sore, She-Bulk, Scarlett Wench, Man-Thing, Tigra, Mockingbird, Mirage, Energizer, Keeper of the Comics Code Authority, Superbman, Nosey Dame, Rex Ruthless, Dash, Gnatman
SYNOPSIS:
Superbman fights the Fantastical Four!
NOTE:
These are the post-Crisis parody versions of the DC characters. It’s directly addressed that these are new versions (Superbman has a new writer!, etc.), and the named Marble characters all get their Not Brand Echh parody names right.
Also, she introduces herself as “SHREW STORM WITCHARDS, the INEVITABLE GIRL WOMAN!!” complete with strikethroughs.
WHAT THE--?! #4 (November 1988)
7th Story:
By Scott Lobdell & Ron Zalme
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man (becomes the new Charlie America), Henry Peter Gyration, Tuskmaster, Red Sulk, Nick Furry & his agents of Brooke Shields
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man becomes the new Charlie America and is trained by the Tuskmaster. He’s sent after the Red Sulk, but has to be saved by Nick Furry & his agents of Brooke Shields.
NOTE:
Probably not Earth-665, since that reality already has Knock Furious. Also, there’s the next story which reveals…
WHAT THE--?! #8 (July 1990)
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Green Globule, Gwen Staycee, Loosejaw, Rotten, Mole Mensch, Ant-Sam, Elektra, Howard the Duck, Kid Nova, Swordsman, Adam Warlock, Tinkerbell, Glenda the Good Wench, Stuporman, Pulverizer, Spidey-Man, May Pooper, Gnatman, Jokester, Terry Kavanaugh
SYNOPSIS:
In the land of forgotten comic book characters, Forbush-Man becomes upset when he realizes he’s been forgotten. Glenda the Good Wench zaps him back to his world where he learns everyone he knew from the Marble offices are gone. He runs into the Pulverzier, who tells Forbush-Man to talk to Terry Kavanaugh; Kavanaugh (you know, the editor) is surprised to see Forbush-Man; no one’s seen him in 20 years, but he promises to put him in What The--?! anyway. Then he kicks Forbush-Man out the window.
NOTE:
So there you have it. Forbush-Man is back on Earth-665, and hasn’t been there for 20 years (or at least by anyone who cares). Forbush-Man had appeared in Spider-Ham in the meantime; that’s obviously a different reality. He popped up again in Spider-Ham’s world (by falling through a panel border) again in M/TALES 211/2. Two months later WT? 1 and three months after that WT? 4 came out, so he must still be bouncing around between worlds, eventually falling into the land of the lost (or whatever). Earth-616 has a similar sub-dimension where forgotten characters go, so Forbush-Man (and the other characters seen) are still in Earth-665, just off to the side.
Wolvoream is mentioned, but doesn’t appear. Wolvoream does appear in some Pulverizer stories, though.
WHAT THE--?! #11 (March 1991)
4th Story:
Forbush-Man pops into a crowd scene again.
WHAT THE--?! #12 (May 1991)
2nd Story:
By… actually, it doesn’t say. I’m going to guess Aaron Lopresti.
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Ka-Mart, Rex the Tiny-Saurus, Clan of the Cave Babes (inc Dawn & Boom Boom); Frank Fritz
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man falls off a building and lands in the Ravaged Land where he meets Ka-Mart. A woman screams for help and Ka-Mart leaves to attend a sales meeting. Forbush-Man “saves” the woman from a small dinosaur (it dies of a heart attack) and he’s made king of the Clan of the Cave Babes. He has to defend the from the attacking Frank Fritz (a Frezetta parody), but instead of fighting he tells Frank and his panted army to treat women nicely. The Cave Babes don’t like that and call Forbush-Man a chauvinist.
NOTE:
I’m guessing Forbush-Man fell off a building and landed in an alternate reality.
WHAT THE--?! #14 (September 1991)
6th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Aunt Mayhem
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man falls asleep watching TV, and dreams of being a private investigator. When he wakes up he finds he’s beating up his aunt.
WHAT THE--?! #16 (January 1992)
4th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Candy Cane, Tom DeFalco, Specter of Early Cancellation, Spirit of the Comics Code Authority, Dr. Frederick Worthless, Bill Gaines, Pat Steverson
SYNOPSIS:
It’s Halloween and Forbush-Man is trick-or-treating when he comes across the House of Misery. He’s told if he spends the night and lives to tell the tale he can have a mountain of candy. That night he’s visited by a cloaked Tom DeFalco, who says Forbush-Man can have his own series if he chooses correctly. Forbush-Man chooses Aaron Lopresti as his creative team, so Tom sends the Specter of Early Cancellation after Forbush-Man. The Spirit of the Comics Code Authority stops the Specter from killing Forbush-Man and sendshim to court to be presided over by Dr. Frederick WORTHLESS (hee-hee!). He tells Forbuch-Man not to have any more scantily clad sexpots in his stories anymore and sends him home, where a scantily clad sexpot is waiting for him (gasp!).
NOTE:
Usually, these What The--?! gags make me groan, but I have to say that “Dr. Frederick Worthless” made me chuckle. What a piece of crap that guy was.
WHAT THE--?! #20 (August 1992)
WHAT THE--?! #22 (October 1992)
5th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Aunt Mayhem, Thung, Ivory Wench, Mr. Fantastical, Inevitable Woman, Human Scorch
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man is looking to get rich, so he goes to the Fantastical Four to use their time machine. He accidentally goes to the Salem Witch Trials and saves the Ivory Wench. Just as he’s about to get lucky Mr. Fantastical brings him back to the present.
WHAT THE--?! #23 (November 1992)
3rd Story:
By Sholly Frisch & James Fry
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man
SYNOPSIS:
Forbush-Man tells YOU, the reader, how to draw other comics the Marvel way.
WHAT THE--?! #26 (Fall 1993)
10th Story:
By Aaron Lopresti
APPEARANCES:
Forbush-Man, Dumsday, Pulverizer, Bulk, Thung, Wolvoream, Human Scorch, Spidey-Man, Sore, Visage, Mr. Fantastical, Sunk-Mariner, Aunt Mayhem, Stuporman
SYNOPSIS:
Dumsday attacks and none of the Marble heroes can defeat him! They send Forbush-Man to fight Dumsday, and he’s defeated by Forbush-Man’s incredibly bad body odor. A rock falls on Forbush-Man’s head and he dies. Everyone cheers. The spirit of Stuporman tells Forbush-Man’s spirit not to worry; they brought him back, they’ll bring Forbush-Man back too. Or, maybe not.