Chris Giarrusso is this generation’s Fred Hembeck, skewering his employer’s superheroes with love, biting the hand that feeds him with the same force as a Shih Tzu might bite a towel, wanting to play tug-of-war.
Giarrusso’s gig is drawing Marvel’s do-gooders as half-pint kids, in a playful, cartoony style where they look about as threatening as the aforementioned puppy. He calls them Mini Marvels, and MINI MARVELS: ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS is the first digest-sized collection of these good-natured, good-humored efforts.
Two stories chronicle Spider-Man’s troubles as a paperboy for The Daily Bugle. First, he has to collect overdue subscription money from the likes of The X-Men, The Avengers and The Fantastic Four. Then he has to battle Eddie Brock — donning the Venom duds — for ownership of the route itself. It’s the one that includes The Green Goblin’s house, and he’s not the easiest customer, but hey, Spidey sure can use the money.
Giarrusso’s strong sense of comic timing comes through in both. They may not translate here out of context, but there are great gags involving Peter Parker asking Aunt May if she’s taken her medication, and Brock/Venom telling J. Jonah Jameson, “I wanna eat your brains.” And speaking of the irascible publisher, his trademark stogie is replaced by a red lollipop for these all-ages proceedings, and it makes for a terrific but subtle running gag, for those paying attention.
In “Cereal Quest,” Wolverine just wants a bowl of his favorite breakfast cereal, but the world seems to plot against him in this simple desire. Thus begins an AFTER HOURS-style misadventure of sharp physical comedy, complete with an O. Henry ending.
“Hulk Date” is the funniest of them all, and it actually made me laugh out loud … thrice. Hulk’s nervous about his big first date with cute Betty Ross, so his fellow Avengers dole out various pointers:
Hawkeye: “Look, all you gotta do is be funny.”
Hulk: “Hulk not have jokes. Hulk not Bill Cosby.”
The other Hulk story — a parody of WORLD WAR HULK — isn’t as successful, because it half-depends on you having read that (I haven’t) in order to make sense, but “Iron Avengers” includes a great spoof of the Charles Atlas ads of the past. The last page of the collection reprints the strips that kicked off the whole Mini Marvels concept, and they show just how better Giarrusso’s work has progressed, namely in character appearance, which now often includes beady, pupil-less eyes and heads rounded like Pac-Man.
I’d like to share this book with my 11-year-old son, but I’m afraid I’d never see it again. —Rod Lott
