The Inferior Five

Merryman! Dumb Bunny! The Blimp! White Feather! Akwardman! This humorous assortment of would-be super-heroes debuted in Showcase #62 and were popular enough in the late 1960s to merit their own book.

With the camp craze in full gear and DC gradually waking up to the new, comparatively older and more “sophisticated” comics audience that Marvel had developed in the 1960s, the Inferior Five was a gesture of wit from the normally staid and traditional publisher. Even if today it reads as more gesture than wit, Inferior Five offered lots of broad attempts at humor and some very effective parodies of Stan Lee’s histrionic style at Marvel (effective enough that Marvel responded with their own humor title, Not Brand Echh). The Five were rumored to be parodies of The Fantastic Four.

Jump to issue:

#1

Apr 1967

Cover: $0.12

W: E. Nelson Bridwell, Henry Boltinoff · A: Mike Sekowsky, Henry Boltinoff

Mar-Apr issue

1 copy for $8.80
#2

Jun 1967

Cover: $0.12

W: E. Nelson Bridwell, Jack Schiff, Henry Boltinoff · A: Mike Sekowsky, Sheldon Moldoff, Henry Boltinoff

May-Jun issue

5 copies from $31.00
#3

Aug 1967

Cover: $0.12

W: Henry Boltinoff, E. Nelson Bridwell · A: Mike Sekowsky, Henry Boltinoff

Bill Mantlo L.O.C.

1 copy for $3.50
#11

Sep 1972

Cover: $0.20

W: E. Nelson Bridwell · A: Joe Orlando

Series begins again (1972); Reprints Showcase #62

3 copies from $5.50
#12

Nov 1972

Cover: $0.20

W: E. Nelson Bridwell · A: Joe Orlando

Reprints Showcase #63; Final Issue

1 copy for $14.98