The Brat Pack

[nexus]

Just picked up the TPB. Any opinions? Good or have I wasted my money?

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Shudder. Chippy the Young Sensasion.

 

Ooh. Shudder. The Midnight Mink.

 

Shudder.

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That said, it was a pretty good read. Don't expect heroes, though. In this one, you'll root for Dr. Blasphemy. There are no heroes anywhere. Compared to the characters in this book, the members of the Authority are like Jesus, only holier.

[lemming]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I think Champsguy gave a good view.

[Superskrull]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I'll second that endorsement. The Brat Pack is a big ol' pile of rust and iron slag. Only thing creepier I can think of off-hand was that Maximortal miniseries that followed it. Urg.

[Sketchpad]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Shudder. Chippy the Young Sensasion.

 

Ooh. Shudder. The Midnight Mink.

 

Shudder.

Shudder.

Shudder.

Shudder.

Shudder.

Shudder.

Shudder.

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That said, it was a pretty good read. Don't expect heroes, though. In this one, you'll root for Dr. Blasphemy. There are no heroes anywhere. Compared to the characters in this book, the members of the Authority are like Jesus, only holier.

Yeah ... what he said ..

 

 

 

shudder ...

[Blue]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Never even heard of it before this post. Now you guys got me curious.

[assault]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Never even heard of it before this post. Now you guys got me curious.

 

It's actually worth reading, although Maximortal isn't, IMHO.

 

Very nasty, and deliberately so.

 

It shows Iron Age "heroes" as what they really are.

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Never even heard of it before this post. Now you guys got me curious.

 

It's a highly disturbing tale of superheroes and their sidekicks. See, the old group of sidekicks got killed off by supervillain Dr. Blasphemy. So now the heroes have to get new sidekicks. You've got:

 

The Midnight Mink, a very, very gay, very, very creepy Batman. Except he wears pink fur instead of black spandex. His sidekick is Chippy, the Young Sensation. You know those jokes about Batman and Robin being... more than friends? Yeah.

 

Moon Mistress is a Wonder Woman-esque lady who carries a sword. She hates men with a passion, unless she's getting laid at the time. She castrates criminals with her sword. She carries a little bag of... something... some type of meat... around that she likes to snack on. Don't put two and two together. She trains up young Luna to be a nice little man-hating whore as well.

 

Then there's King Rad and his sidekick Wild Boy. King Rad is like Green Arrow, except that Speedy had to go get his own heroin. King Rad is happy to supply Wild Boy with all the drugs he could want. Fight the power. Damn the man.

 

Finally, there's Judge Jury, with his apprentice Kid Vicious. Judge Jury is the resident white supremacist, who rides around the city on a giant flying cross that bursts into flame (which, I admit, looked totally freakin' sweet). He carries a giant hammer that says "Justice" on it. He teaches young Kid Vicious about how evil the lesser races are, and he makes sure to 'roid him up real good.

 

It's a really, really creepy story.

[Sketchpad]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

King Rad is like Green Arrow, except that Speedy had to go get his own heroin.

 

Umm ... didn't Roy do that anyway in the comics? It's not like Ollie gave it to him ...

[nexus]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Umm ... didn't Roy do that anyway in the comics? It's not like Ollie gave it to him ...

 

I think Champsguy means King Rad DID provide Wild Boy drugs unlike Green Arrow.

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Umm ... didn't Roy do that anyway in the comics? It's not like Ollie gave it to him ...

 

Exactly. Roy had to go and get the heroin on his own. Ollie is such a stick in the mud. Therein lies the difference between King Rad and Green Arrow.

[Blue]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Well... um... thanks for the info. (I think.)

 

Sounds like it was done for parody value. Was it? (I sure hope so!)

[rjcurrie]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I'm not sure I'd use "parody" to describe it. "Satire" is probably more accurate. At least to me, parody tends to be lighter and more in a "poking fun" vein, while satire tends to be darker and more serious.

 

Rick Veitch was the writer/artist for Brat Pack and Maximortal (which I never read -- in fact, I'm not even sure if I read all of Brat Pack).

[Beetle]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Thanks for the warning. Instead of picking this up, I'll just go rent St. Elmos' Fire...

[OddHat]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Fully agreed with Champsguy on this. Bratpack is the rustiest of Rusty Iron (Marshal Law came close), executed with just enough skill that you might keep reading it. Tied in with Veitch's Superman slash and burn, which made Supreme Power look like gleaming Silver Age. One of those books that makes you ask "If you hate Superheroes this much, why are you writing them?"

 

Think the very worst of Millar, but more depraved and better written. I read it at the time, and would not do so now.

[nexus]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

While we're down here. What's Maximortal all about?

[OddHat]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

While we're down here. What's Maximortal all about?

 

Superman as an insanely violent, bisexual monster. It's an extended "F*ck you" to the Comic Book industry and American culture. To be fair, it does have depth, but you'll have to crawl through the excrement to appreciate it. I liked it in my late teens-early twenties, but I wouldn't buy it today.

[Blue]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

Had to look that one up. Now that I see the cover, I think I saw Maximortal in a store once. Something about the cover art alone turned me off. Sounds like I appropriately judged a book by its cover.

[nexus]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I'm almost finished with the TPB and I have to agree with what's been posted here. Veitech really is a taking a big leak all over the genre. I have to wonder what inspired that much disdain for it that inspired a work like this. And here I thought the authors of Aberrant were somewhat condescending towards comics and their fans, compared to this guy they're con attending genre fiends.

[Guest Champsguy]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I believe he was upset over the DC "vote to kill off Jason Todd" thing, among other stuff.

[assault]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I believe he was upset over the DC "vote to kill off Jason Todd" thing' date=' among other stuff.[/quote']

 

Yes, I gather that is correct.

 

Another factor was his falling out with DC over them censoring his Swamp Thing work. Admittedly, "the Swamp Thing meets Jesus" might have been a little controversial, but...

[nexus]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I believe he was upset over the DC "vote to kill off Jason Todd" thing' date=' among other stuff.[/quote']

 

That would explain the radio show thing at the beginning.

[lemming]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I believe he was upset over the DC "vote to kill off Jason Todd" thing' date=' among other stuff.[/quote']

Good point and probably the various "Women in Refridgerator" stories as well. I mean, there's some pretty sick stuff glossed over in some of the main stream books if you read between the panels and do some pop psychology.

[Plex]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

I liked this back when it came out years ago, but have not read it since then. I had always taken it to be a parady of the superhero genre, albeit a dark and twisted one. I actually found the public/fan vote to kill off Jason Todd much more disturbing than this series. I found absolutely nothing humourous about that. I tried to read the Maximortal, but could not get into it at all. I pretty much found it to be contrived and appallingly boring.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: The Brat Pack

 

It's a highly disturbing tale of superheroes and their sidekicks. See' date=' the old group of sidekicks got killed off by supervillain Dr. Blasphemy. So now the heroes have to get [i']new[/i] sidekicks. You've got:

 

The Midnight Mink, a very, very gay, very, very creepy Batman. Except he wears pink fur instead of black spandex. His sidekick is Chippy, the Young Sensation. You know those jokes about Batman and Robin being... more than friends? Yeah.

 

Moon Mistress is a Wonder Woman-esque lady who carries a sword. She hates men with a passion, unless she's getting laid at the time. She castrates criminals with her sword. She carries a little bag of... something... some type of meat... around that she likes to snack on. Don't put two and two together. She trains up young Luna to be a nice little man-hating whore as well.

 

Then there's King Rad and his sidekick Wild Boy. King Rad is like Green Arrow, except that Speedy had to go get his own heroin. King Rad is happy to supply Wild Boy with all the drugs he could want. Fight the power. Damn the man.

 

Finally, there's Judge Jury, with his apprentice Kid Vicious. Judge Jury is the resident white supremacist, who rides around the city on a giant flying cross that bursts into flame (which, I admit, looked totally freakin' sweet). He carries a giant hammer that says "Justice" on it. He teaches young Kid Vicious about how evil the lesser races are, and he makes sure to 'roid him up real good.

 

It's a really, really creepy story.

 

 

You must be kidding.

 

And if not, then please tell me that these... abominations get killed at the end of the story.