Over in yonder thread about 52, Falconer said: Yeah, they've bin saying pretty much from the off he'd be in. I'm not really privy to the appeal, having never read a comic featuring said, but I know he's got big cult appeal.
We've mentioned Ambush Bug before here and here, which mentions other Ambush Bug checklist sites (listing places he's appeared) here and here.
But who is this emerald-garbed avenger?
My understanding is that Keith Giffen, at the height of his popularity, created Ambush Bug as comic relief in Action Comics, as a foil for Superman. Mild-mannered accountant Irwin Schwab discovers a suit made of alien technology that enables the wearer to teleport. Pop! Pop!
As far as traditional heroic stuff, that's the whole thing. Alien suit. Teleports.
Everything else was the guy's character. In some ways, he's the ultimate insane fanboy. Within the earlier stories, he becomes an *almost* menacing stalker, because he can follow Supes *anywhere*. But he was also a vehicle for all kinds of meta-story commentary. Lots of breaking the fourth wall, lots of dredging up references to forgotten minor characters. Lots and lots of really corny vaudeville gags.
Like -- OK, here's a thing that should explain. In his mini-series, he gets a sidekick. Cheeks, the Toy Wonder. Cheeks is a little wooden doll. Remember the gags in The Tick when he chose "Little Wooden Boy" as his sidekick? Lifted wholesale out of Ambush Bug. It's funny because Cheeks is an inanimate, cute little object with a painted smile and floppy limbs. It's a little creepy because Ambush Bug clearly doesn't realize this -- and, occasionally, neither do the thugs he's trying to put away. Ambush Bug is like Don Quixote, only instead of chivalric romance, he's addled by superhero comics.
Somebody else, explain what's going on. |
![Link](src="http://www.fourhman.com/ambushbug/images/lobounbound4_p.jpg"){kind=link}