MORRISON MONDAYS!
By BILL MORRISON
Although Bongo Comics featured a crossover story in our first year that ran across three of our premiere titles — Itchy & Scratchy Comics, Bartman Comics, and Simpsons Comics — it was not a common practice for us. Bongo specialized in “done-in-one” stories and generally avoided the multi-title crossover epics that are the bread and butter of Marvel and DC. But one day, late in 2008, Radioactive Man scribe Batton Lash pitched me a fresh idea for a story that would play out across three of our titles and lampoon the other companies’ gimmicky events. I found the idea of a crossover that pokes fun at other comics publishers’ attention-grabbing tricks irresistible, and Batton went right to work on the script.
The result was “The Great, Extreme, Ultimate, and Totally Awesome Radioactive Man Event!” As the suitably hyperbolic solicitation copy exclaimed, “Fifteen years in the making, Bongo Comics Group presents the first multiple-title crossover since 1994’s “When Bongos Collide!” Witness the event series that will change Radioactive Man, Bart Simpson, and the citizens of Springfield’s lives forever. It’s a three-part tale told in three consecutive weeks that will reinvent summer crossovers and comic storytelling, as we know it!”
The basic plot is that Krusty the Clown becomes the publisher of Radioactive Man comics, and immediately launches a new marketing ploy to reinvent the Irradiated Crusader and bring in new readers. It was a hilarious send-up of the contrived summer crossover events and astounding temporary character reinventions that had become common practice at Marvel and DC. You know the kind, comics designed to entice existing fans into buying books that are not on their regular pull-list at the LCS, while garnering newspaper headlines aimed at non-readers who want in on a collectible comic that might make them rich. And who is better suited to pry open the wallets of existing readers and sell the non-fan speculators something they didn’t know they desperately needed than Krusty!
For those who are intrigued and want to see how this Bongo epic played out, the books to find are Simpsons Comics #155, Bart Simpson #48, and Simpsons Super Spectacular #9. All three issues are beautifully illustrated by Tone Rodriguez and Andrew Pepoy. And while Bat, Tone, and Andrew were toiling away on the story, Mike Rote, Jason Ho, and I drew the three covers that, when put side-by-side, form a triptych street scene representing the pandemonium that waits inside the books.
But if you have a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket, you can try to find the ultra-rare Best Radioactive Man Event Ever, a square-bound collection of all three issues that we created as an exclusive item for San Diego Comic-Con in 2009. If I’d known how valuable this book would become, I would have tucked a few more copies away for my retirement!
For the cover of TBRMEE how could I resist the chance to lampoon one of the greatest crossover stunts ever concocted! It is, of course, an homage to Mike Zeck and John Beatty’s cover for Secret Wars #2! Pencils are by yours truly, with inks by Andrew Pepoy, and colors by Serban Cristescu!
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Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below!
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MORE
— SWABBIES IN LOVE: The Romance Comic We All Wanted. Click here.
— BATMAN #251 and Bizarro Wrestler DANHAUSEN — The Perfect Match. Click here.
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Eisner winner Bill Morrison has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he co-founded Bongo Entertainment with Matt Groening, Cindy Vance and Steve Vance. At Bongo, and later as Executive Editor of Mad Magazine, he parodied the comics images he loved as a kid every chance he got. Not much has changed.
Bill is on Instagram (@atomicbattery) and Facebook (Bill Morrison/Atomic Battery Studios), and regularly takes commissions and sells published art through 4C Comics.
