I’d like to take a moment to praise the awesomeness of the MST3K comic. Obviously, MST3K works best as a film/television medium, but I want to give major props to the writers and artists who found an ingenious way of bringing MST3K to comics and Dark Horse who published it.
Funny enough, I know of at least two other examples of comics attempting the MST3K treatment, both of them surprisingly well (and oddly enough, both by Marvel Comics). The Beavis and Butt-Head comics would feature the boys reading and riffing various Marvel Comics they had in between their own adventures, very similar to how they riffed on Music Videos on their show (insert joke about MTV no longer playing music videos here). The comics were original work, not segments of older comics, which is probably the only disappointing thing about it, but kudos to Marvel for riffing on themselves. The other example, which skews closer to what MST3KTC did, was in Deadpool #11, where through time travel shenanigans, Deadpool is sent back in time and inserted into the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #47 from back in 1967 and must pose as Peter Parker to maintain a low profile. The way they utilized old art and put in new art felt so brilliant to me when I first read it.
In fact, the only thing I found disappointing about it was it was only a six-issue limited series, when it deserves to be an ongoing series! There are SO many bad comics out there that would only benefit from featuring in MST3KTC. In fact, if given no limit to publisher or length, I would pay top dollar to see them go after one of the best “so bad its good” comic book story arcs of all time: The 1990s Spider-Man Clone Saga. So comic fans, share with us what comic storylines or single issues you’d love to see put in Kinga’s Bubbulat-R for comedic purposes?
I know DC and their constant reboots would be ripe for some MST-style parodying. If they do a sequel comic, I’d love to see more styles of the characters-- manga, DCAU, Frank Miller-esque grimdark, etc.
I think the comic was inspired. A crazy and cool way for the concept to work inside a comic AND still be pretty funny. I completely agree that this should’ve kept going. I know a lot of the creative team is on the show so I guess they’re all busy.
I’m glad they included Kingas Pizza Roll Gun in season 12.
The comics were cool but I think MST works much better as a live action show. I did manage to get every volume of the comics (including the variant covers) but that was getting expensive so kinda glad it stopped. No good comic shops where I live so mostly had to pay shipping in addition to the comic cost.
I would love a series of one-shots, either of the crew re-riffing classic episodes in comic format, or using ancient public domain comics/characters to make ridiculous new stories.
Imagine Manos, as a comic?!?! An 80 page giant, and like 60 pages of it is the family driving, cops accosting “teens” who look 35, and Torgo making weird faces/shaky hand movements…
Oh yeah, of comics that riff I enjoyed MST3K the comic and additionally Howard the Duck and Duckpool.
Duckpool I wish I had more of. That’s Howard the Duck on independent adventures with Rocket Raccoon, mashed up with Deadpool. I liked Duckpool better than Deadpool proper.
I appreciate the bump! In fact, I’d love to hear more people chime in! I got the physical trade paperback of the series in, and boy do I want more MST3K the Comic now more than ever!!
I picked up the first one, and I quite liked it, but then, I’d been traveling in circles where people riffed on old comics all the time, and I liked the concept and liked MST3K, so I suppose I was primed to like it.
I read them when they came out, I recall that I felt it was overstuffed - and the Black Cat/Jonah bits were the weakest part of the series. The Crow segements were the funniest and the one that stuck closer to the spirit of the show. While he was playing a character in the comic, he was more a riffer, commentator, on what was happening on the page.
I remember Servo’s tale as fun, especially the first issue (if your curious what the original comic looked like to compare, you can read here for free… Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter 2 - Comic Book Plus
oh I’m aware of Bill’s thoughts. I honestly don’t know why I recommended CaH, having known all that, lol.
I thought they were all just super fun. I loved the imposition of the bots and Joel into the old style comics. I had a subscription for them at my comic store.
I think some Asterix comics would make me happy, too. It’s hard to say.
I have to admit, it was a pretty bold move to take if you ask me, because it’s a tad bit harder to accentuate the “chiming in with a silly comment” aspect in sequential art. The bubbly speech bubbles were a neat way to do it.
Imagine if he permitted it solely for MST3KTC, and only if he were allowed to write the issue. I imagine he’d love to stick it to all the unauthorized rip-offs and bootlegs that persist to this day.
It’s far from public domain, but seeing some 90’s stuff in this format would be a riot. Just about anything early Image would do. Clenched teeth and hatch lines as far as the eye can see!
I’ve finally gotten a chance to read the comic because it came with my Kickstarter rewards, and I really enjoyed it. When I heard the idea of “MST3K: The Comic”, my thought was… well, you could take the characters out of the show and send them on some sort of wacky comic book adventure, or you could take old comics and riff on them, and… I’m completely impressed that they came up with a way to do both. It opens up the world a bit, lets them play around in a space that they can’t do on the show, but it still feels very MST3K. It’s still Jonah and the bots being subjected to cheesy media and fighting back with comedy, just in a much more immersive way.
Like I said in another thread, kind of reminds me of Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, and the way it riffed on an old martial arts movie by inserting an American actor into the lead role, shooting new scenes and replacing the dialogue. It almost makes me wonder what it would be like to have a new MST3K: The Movie with the concept of inserting the host and the bots into the movie itself. Probably too expensive to ever happen, but… it sure would be a way to make an MST3K movie that’s not just another episode of the show.
