Madballs
(Star, 1986-1988)
™ and ©1986 Those Characters From Cleveland
They were once just eight normal rubber balls until they fell out of the toy truck and bounced into the property of a top-secret research facility called R.U.I.N. (“Research Unlimited In Nucleonics”). They fell into a holding pond filled with noxious chemicals. They sank below the surface and began to mutate. When they finally appeared again, they had turned into the Madballs, a collection of humorously grotesque flying balls. Each had a name to match its appearance, from “Occulus Orbus” a huge flying eyeball, to the unfortunately named “Crack Head” which looked like a head with its brains spilling out.
Like many of Star’s comics, Madballs was a tie-in to a line of children‘s toys. In this case, they were just the thing to gross out friends and parents alike (which no doubt accounted for their appeal). In the comics, they spent their time foiling mad scientists and other mutated villains such as the horrible pun-cracking cornstalk “Colonel Corn.”
Jump to issue:
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Sep 1986
Cover: $0.75
W: Michael Gallagher · A: Howie Post
1st appearance of Colonel Corn; 1st appearance of Madballs; Origin of Madballs
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Oct 1986
Cover: $0.75
W: Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak · A: Howie Post
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Nov 1986
Cover: $0.75
W: Michael Gallagher · A: Howie Post
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Jun 1987
Cover: $1.00
W: Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak · A: Howie Post
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Newsstand Edition
Jun 1987
Cover: $1.00
W: Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak · A: Howie Post
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Oct 1987
Cover: $1.00
W: Michael Gallagher · A: Howie Post
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Newsstand Edition
Oct 1987
Cover: $1.00
W: Michael Gallagher · A: Howie Post
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Dec 1987
Cover: $1.00
W: Michael Gallagher · A: Howie Post
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Newsstand Edition
Feb 1988
Cover: $1.00
W: Michael Gallagher · A: Howie Post