World's Funnest: Earth S Sequence Script w/Art by Jaime Hernandez (Pg 25-27) (Patreon)

This was a highlight of the World's Funnest project for me, for a number of reasons.  

If you know anything about me, you know I'm a huge Love and Rockets fan, and a huge fan of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez. I'm also a big fan of the Golden Age Captain Marvel comics, featuring the Marvel Family, their friends and their super-weird foes, as delineated by the great C.C. Beck and others. So, getting Jaime to draw the Marvel Family/Earth S chapter was just pure comic book heaven.

Jaime was my only choice for the segment. If he turned us down, I would have cried. Maybe. probably. I didn't even want to consider back-up choices. I never saw it as anyone else. When I called Jaime -- I'm pretty sure I called him up on the phone and didn't e-mail him -- his only stipulation was that I would keep the pages to six panels at most. I wonder why? Heh heh heh. Anyway, I promised, and I even wrote two pages for him that came in at five panels. 

This section is the counterpoint to the Modern Era chapter, the latter basically being me griping about the grim-and-gritty stuff that, by and large, had displaced and erased fun, all-ages superhero and adventure comics. World's Funnest was written at the tail-end of the 90's, which was, for me, a pretty dire decade for superheroes, to the point where I went cold turkey off the stuff around the time Image Comics and Wizard took hold of the industry. I'm not saying people shouldn't have what they want, I'm just saying it wasn't what I wanted. 

The Earth S chapter represented the free-wheeling adventure comics that were largely abandoned by the industry and the Direct Market for the most part. DC Comics has published a lot of weird kid comics in a wide range of subjects from gorilla detectives, adventuring dogs, and licensed titles based on Bob Hope and Martin and Lewis. A lot of it was crap, a lot of everything is crap, but it was a bummer that the Direct Market tightened up so much that attempts to publish anything whimsical or all-ages became four-color suicide missions. I know, I worked on a few of those things here and there, like Bill & Ted and Superman Adventures. Even comics tied to the popular DC Animated Universe shows struggled. 

In this segment Mr. Mxyzptlk is kind of representing the DM, and Bat-Mite is basically acting as a defender of kid's comics. And, of course, Mxy wins. I adore the bizarre goofiness of the Captain Marvel comics. You have kids turning into adult superheroes, talking animals characters shouting "Holy moley!" and "gee whiz!" while fighting certified whackos like Dr. Sivana, Black Adam and Mr. Mind, a talking space worm who teams up with the Axis powers and is eventually executed for the murder of literally hundreds of thousands of people. That's nuts! There's also a villain named Mr. Banjo. That's ridiculous! 

I never read Captain Marvel comics growing up, they were not readily available. I did read one issue of the Shazam! comic in the 70s. I hated DC Comics and my mother accidentally bought me an issue of Shazam!. I initially refused to read it, but I came around and gave it a try. I didn't love it, but I found it compelling., The 70's revival comics were not very good, but they were "comics", if you get me. There was still something compelling and attractive about these characters and shenanigans. And I loved Talky tawny, even if he was silly. I kept that comic for a long time, until I sold off all my comics to pay my rent for a month or two while I was working at the comic shop. I've since picked up a few Captain Marvel collections, the Monster Society of Evil slipcase and the 40's-70's book. I had the DC Archives volumes but they never made it to the really good, core stuff, so I wasn't all that worked up when I sold most of my Archives, including the Fawcett stuff, to help pay bills some years ago (hmmm, seems like there's a pattern emerging there...).  

We only had one hitch while working on this segment. Jaime thought he was supposed to letter the pages, working in his natural DIY style. I love his lettering, but it wasn't period-appropriate and didn't match the approach taken for the rest of the book. Tom Orzechowski's lettering is what you see in the published book, the lettering was pasted down over Jaime's balloons. Which I have to admit felt wrong!   I felt bad that Jaime spent time on material that wasn't going to be printed, but he took it well. We had no idea he was lettering on the boards until the pages came in. 

You can see Jaime and Tom's lettering in the images above, which were scanned from xeroxes made at the DC offices. The main image atop the post is a scan of the original art for page 26, which I bought from Jaime in 2002. I decided I wanted the "pure" Jaime Hernandez experience and pulled the paste-down lettering off of the balloons, accidentally marring Jaime's lettering in a few places. I was very cautious and slow, but the paste down glue pulled the ink off in a few places. Jaime very graciously fixed the lettering at Heroes Con for me. Jaime is the best. 

I can't believe I got to write Marvel Family pages, I can't believe Jaime Hernandez drew them! Definitely a nerd highlight, and a career highlight. 

Okay. I'm done nerding out. Enjoy the script:

WORLD'S FUNNEST - LAST IMP STANDING

SCRIPT FOR "EARTH S" SEQUENCE: PAGES  25-27  

WHAT HAS GONE ON BEFORE:

Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyztplk, the inter-dimensional imps with the magical powers of gods and the minds of five year-olds, had appeared on Earth 1 (during the 60's Silver-Age era) to pester their favorite superheroes, the World's Finest team of Superman, Batman and Robin. Unfortunately, the two imps don't like each other much and they start to argue, which turns tragic when Batman intervenes and is accidentally fried by Mxy's lightning bolts. Things really get out of hand and ultimately the Earth 1 characters, Earth and universe are obliterated. The two imps then travel to the Phantom Zone, which Mxy obliterates when the criminals there attack him. They next appear on Earth 2 (where the Golden Age DC Justice Society characters are), where again their fantastic powers and immature behavior destroys that "alternate universe". The chase then leads them to destroy the so-called Earth-3 (where the Mike Sekowsky-era Criminal Syndicate lives) and "Earth-X", the alternate world where DC placed the Quality Freedom Fighter characters. Next up: "Earth S", the alternate world where DC placed the Fawcett Marvel Family of characters. 

ART NOTES

Mr. Mxyzptlk appears as he did in the 1940's DC comics. The Captain Marvel family, alter-egos and villains also appear as they did in the Golden Age Fawcett comics. 

REFERENCE - Jaime requested reference on all the characters, and there's plenty of them!

- MR. MIND AND THE MONSTER SOCIETY MEMBERS - The Monster Society of Evil book, DC's Who's Who Vol. 1 #15, various individual Who's Who listings. 

- CAPTAIN MARVEL AND THE MARVEL FAMILY - we'll need solid C.C. Beck-era ref on them, as well as DR. SIVANA, as the Monster Society book doesn't have much good material on him. Smithsonian Book of Comics has some material. The DC Archives edition features a Marvel who's a bit too "unformed" for our needs. 

- BILLY BATSON AND THE MARVEL ALTER-EGOS - they appear in one panel

- MR. MXYZPTLK  - First appearance, from the Superman 30's to 70's book (pg 174).

- BAT-MITE (and "Pop" effects) - World's Finest story from Superman 30's to 70's (pg 233), various old Detective and Batman comics

PAGE TWENTY-FIVE

PANEL ONE

A large panel of MR. MXYZPTLK "popping" into the air smack-dab in the middle of  MR. MIND'S MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL as they're marching down a road. Mxy is hovering within a "burst" effect similar to the ones used to denote his inter-dimensional comings and goings in the Silver Age comics (although in this sequence he appears as he did in the '40's Golden Age comics). Mxy hovers at about shoulder-level as the leering and grimacing evil army trudges all around him, we can see many prominent members marching by -- CAPTAIN NAZI, BLACK ADAM, NIPPO, EVIL EYE, GOAT-MAN, JEEPERS (the Bat-Monster), DR. SMASHI and DR. PHOUL. Several members marching right by Mr. Mxyzptlk are startled by his sudden appearance --  these include DR. SIVANA, MR. BANJO and MR. ATOM. We can also make out ADOLF HITLER marching with the Society. Rounding out the ranks are a steady stream of armed CROCODILE-MEN in business suits from the planet Punkus and a succession of Mr. Mind's SYNTHETIC MONSTERS. They can be thrown into the background to fill out the army, here and wherever else necessary. 

1) MXY (thought balloon): SAY! WHERE HAS THAT MISERABLE MITE LED ME TO NOW? 

2) MXY (thought balloon) HMMM...LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER SILLY ALTERNATE EARTH FULL OF COSTUMED GOOFBALLS! MAYBE ONE OF THESE WEIRDIES SAW WHERE BAT-MITE WENT --

SFX (by Mxy's burst effect) - POP!

SFX (above marching members, across the panel) HUP HUP HUP HUP HUP HUP 

PANEL TWO

Pull back to reveal that the Monster Society is marching on a road winding towards a 40's-style comic book city in the distance. As the procession continues, Sivana, Mr. Banjo and Mr. Atom stop to speak to the hovering Mr. Mxyzptlk.

3) MXY: AHEM! EXCUSE ME, WEIRDIES -- 

4) MR. BANJO: SAAAY, WE'RE NOT WEIRDIES! WE'RE ALL MEMBERS OF MR. MIND'S MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL!

5) *MXY: MR. MIND'S MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

SFX (the marching villains) HUP HUP HUP HUP

PANEL THREE

On the three villains and a really confused Mr. Mxyzptlk, who has a THOUGHT BALLOON over his head of a big red stinky cheese with question marks floating around it. .

6) MR. BANJO: NOPE! THAT'S US! I'M MR. BANJO! THIS IS DR. SIVANA AND MR. ATOM!

7) SIVANA: WE'RE TAKING OVER THE WORLD! BUT FIRST, WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT INFERNAL BIG RED CHEESE! HEH HEH HEH!

8) MR. ATOM: HEH HEH HEH!

PANEL FOUR

IBAC comes over to the others, with an angry, shouting MR. MIND perched on his shoulder. Mxy, floating close to Ibak, literally blows his stack when he sees the little worm. 

9) MR. MIND (burst balloon, leading to his speaker): WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? WHY AREN'T YOU BUSY TAKING OVER THE WORLD LIKE I ORDERED?

10) MXY: THIS IS YOUR EVIL LEADER?! THAT STUPID LITTLE WORM!?!

11) IBAC: OUR BOSS AIN'T STUPID! IT TAKES EVIL BRAINS OF GENIUS TO PUT TOGETHER A MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL!

PANEL FIVE

A tight close-up shot of Mr. Mind on Ibac's shoulder. Mr. Mind is one of the greatest characters in comics history. That has nothing to do with the script, I just felt like saying it.

12) MR MIND: IBAC IS FOOLISH, BUT CORRECT! FOR I AM NO MERE WORM -- I AM MR. MIND! THE GREATEST CRIMINAL BRAIN IN THE UNIVERSE! THE MOST EVIL BEING EVER TO LIVE!

PAGE TWENTY-SIX

PANEL ONE

Members of the Monster Society surround Mxyzptlk as he floats in the air, ranting and gesturing to the oddball criminals all around him. The villains look none-too happy to be insulted by the imp, they're all leering and frowning. 

1) MXY: THIS IS RIDICULOUS! YOU CALL YOURSELF MONSTERS? EVIL?!? A TALKING WORM? A BIG RED CHEESE?! MR. &#%@ BANJO?!? 

2) MR MIND (static burst): WE ARE TOO EVIL! IT SAYS SO RIGHT IN OUR NAME! 

3) IBAC: YEAH, WE'RE EVIL LIKE CRAZY!!

PANEL TWO

Mxy gestures into the air and a gigantic, rubbery-looking, multi-tentacled and multi-eyed EVIL MONSTER appears, attacking the hapless Monster Society. The Evil Monster's tentacles smash and squeeze various criminals as Sivana and others like Hitler are tossed into it's razor-toothed maw. Ibac has been lifted into the air in the foreground, and we can see Mr. Mind's little worm body falling from his shoulder, little "burst" lines emanating from his head to register his surprise. On the Evil Monster's belly or side are the words "MR. MXYZPTLK'S ANTI SOCIAL EVIL MONSTER", with the words "MADE IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION" written below it in tiny letters.  

4) MXY: OH YEAH? WELL I'LL SHOW YOU EVIL! I'LL SHOW YOU A MONSTER!

5) SIVANA: YIPES! 

6) IBAC: MR. MIND! SAVE US!

7) MR. MIND: ???

SFX (monster) - URGHAAA 

PANEL THREE

Mr. Mxyzptlk steps on Mr. Mind, squishing the greatest criminal brain in the universe. A lifeless Mr. Banjo lies on the ground nearby, along with Mr. Atom's severed head.

8) MXY: SAY GOODNIGHT, MR. MIND-LESS!

9) MR MND (burst balloon, diminishing): EEK! ALL IS LOST! M-MY GREAT BRAIN! SPREAD LIKE SO MUCH...APPLE BUTTER...OOOH...

SFX -  SKWISHP 

PANEL FOUR

A nice, large panel of the Marvel Family, standing together all heroic-like on some rocks by side of the road. CAPTAIN MARVEL stands in the front of the group, flanked by CAPTAIN MARVEL JR, MARY MARVEL, the THREE LIEUTENANT MARVELS, UNCLE MARVEL, HOPPY THE MARVEL BUNNY and MR. TALKY TAWNY. Mary Marvel is holding a blushing BAT-MITE in her arms, who points towards a surprised Mxy, floating in the immediate foreground.

10) CAPTAIN MARVEL: HOLY MOLEY! WE CAME TO DEMOLISH MR. MIND'S EVIL SOCIETY -- BUT IT APPEARS THAT LITTLE LEPRECHAUN BEAT US TO IT!

11) BAT-MITE: EEK! THAT'S THE BAD MAN I WARNED YOU ABOUT! HE'S WORSE THAN THREE MONSTER SOCIETIES COMBINED!  

PANEL FIVE

Mxy is floating close to Capt Marvel, Capt Marvel and Mary Marvel. Bat-Mite has left Mary's arms and is floating in the air near Mxy, trying to get a confused Captain Marvel's attention. 

12) MXY: SAY, WHO'S THE POOR EXCUSE FOR A SUPERMAN? AND WHAT'S WITH ALL THE MATCHING GET-UPS? ARE YOU GUYS SHRINERS?

13) BAT-MITE: DON'T TALK TO HIM! BEAT HIM UP! BEAT HIM UP I TELL YOU!

14) CAPTAIN MARVEL: "SUPERMAN"...WHO'S HE? I'M CAPTAIN MARVEL -- AND THIS IS THE MARVEL FAMILY! WE FIGHT EVIL!

PAGE TWENTY- SEVEN

PANEL ONE

Captain Marvel Jr, Mary Marvel and the three Lieutenant Marvels all cheerfully introduce themselves to Mxy, much to his obvious annoyance. Meanwhile, Bat-Mite hovers near the superheroes, he waves at them as if to tell them to stop but none of the happy heroes pays any attention to him.

1) CAPTAIN MARVEL JR: I'M CAPTAIN MARVEL JR.!

2) MARY MARVEL: I'M MARY MARVEL!

3) TALL BILLY: AND WE'RE THE LIEUTENANT MARVELS -- TALL BILLY, HILL BILLY AND FAT BILLY!  

4) MXY (tiny): F-FAT BILLY?

 PANEL TWO

We've moved down the Marvel Family line-up to focus on Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, who cheerfully points to himself with his thumb, and Mr. Talky Tawny, who looks as if he's prepared to make a great speech. Seeing the talking animals causes Mr. Mxyzptlk to pretty much flip out and throw a temper tantrum, causing little angry steam clouds to fly from his ears. Bat-Mite is in the background, holding his head with a pained expression, as if he knew this was going to go badly.

5) HOPPY: AS FOR ME, I'M HOPPY THE MARVEL BUNNY!

6) MXY (big): H-HOPPY THE WHAT WHAT?!?!   

7) MR.TAWKY TAWNY: HE SAID, "BUNNY"! "HOPPY THE MARVEL BUNNY"! AND I'M MR. TALKY TAWNY, THE FAMOUS TALKING TI --  

8) MXY (big): O-KAAY, THAT'S ENOUGH!  

PANEL THREE

A dark thundercloud appears above everyone, and a thick lightning bolt flashes down from it much like the bolt that appears when Billy Batson shouts "Shazam". However, unlike that bolt of lightning, this bolt electrocutes Mr. Tawny and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny to the shock and horror of the other heroes (at least Captain marvel, if there's no room for the others). Within the electric blast Hoppy now is in his "civilian" outfit, the blast changing him back to his alter ego. 

9) MR. TALKY TAWNY: BUT I HAVEN'T FINISHED --    

10) MXY (really big) SHUT UP!!  

SFX (over the lightning blast, just like in the old Capt. Marvel comics) - BOOM!

PANEL FOUR

At Mxy's command more lightning bolts flash from the clouds above, striking the remaining members of the Marvel Family -- and changing them to their civilian alter-egos wearing plain clothes, so where once stood Captain Marvel now stands BILLY BATSON, along with FREDDY FREEMAN (on crutches), MARY BATSON, TALL BILLY, HILL BILLY and FAT BILLY. Only a sad, pleading Uncle Dudley Marvel remains in a Marvel costume as he fries. Floating near Mxy, an upset Bat-Mite shouts at a flabbergasted Billy Batson.

11) BILLY BATSON: H-HOLY M-MOLEEE --!

12) BAT-MITE: SEE? SEE? DIDN'T I TELL YOU? WHERE'S YOUR WISDOM OF SOLOMON NOW?!

13) UNCLE MARVEL: P-PLEASE SPARE ME, MISTER! I'M NOT REALLY A MARVEL! I'M JUST A BIG FAT LIAR!

SFX (over lightning) - B-BOOM!

PANEL FIVE

A huge SFX-lettered "BOOM!" and thunderbolt explosion fills the panel, over which floats a scowling, gesturing Mxy and a sad, fading-out Bat-Mite.

14) MXY: BAH! CHILD-LIKE SUPERHEROES? TALKING ANIMALS?! THIS SILLY UNIVERSE DOESN'T DESERVE TO EXIST!  

SFX (see panel description) - BOOM!

PANEL SIX

A small panel, tight on Mxy floating on a blank, white background, reacting angrily to Bat-Mite "popping" out of the picture.Bat-Mite is gone completely now, a "burst" effect marking where the imp used to be.

15) BAT-MITE (small, off panel and leading to the "pop" burst): IT DOES TOO, YOU BIG MEANIE! POOR CAPTAIN MARVEL...

16) MXY: HEY! YOU COME BACK HERE!

SFX (inside "pop" burst) - POP!

AND, so goes "Earth S" and the beloved Marvel Family of characters. The chase next leads to the so-called "Earth C" -- to be drawn by Mr. Scott Shaw, where an already-addled Mr. Mxyzptlk finds nothing but funny talking animals in the "persons" of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew. Aye, verily, hi-jinks doth ensue.

Previous WORLD'S FUNNEST retrospective posts can be found here. Hopefully the links work. Search "WF retrospective" if I goofed.

- The original pitch for World's Funnest (aka, Last Imp Standing) is here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-64684036

- Brian Bolland's cover with original, alternate colors can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-65353388

- The Silver Age era script (pgs 1-18), w/Dave Gibbon's inks:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-1-65064249

- The Phantom Zone sequence (pg 19) w/Mike Allred's inks: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-66166610

- The Golden Age Introduction part 1:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-66906681

- The Golden Age Introduction part 2:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-2-67170515

- The Golden Age era (pgs 20-21), w/Sheldon Moldoff's inks: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-67320529

- Earth 3 (pg 22) w/pencils by Stuart Immonen and inks by Joe Giella:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-3-67916213

- Earth X/Freedom Fighters/Quality Comics (pg 23-24) art by Frank Cho

https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-x-69815979

The next WF Retrospective post will cover Earth C, the anthropomorphic funny animal world where the adventures of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew took place.  With art by Captain Carrot co-creator Scott Shaw!.