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:
  • 1
    #1
    Sep 1986
    Cover: $0.75
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    1st appearance of Colonel Corn; 1st appearance of Madballs; Origin of Madballs
    7 copies from $8.50
  • 2
    #2
    Oct 1986
    Cover: $0.75
    W: Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak  ·  A: Howie Post
    3 copies from $11.50
  • 3
    #3
    Nov 1986
    Cover: $0.75
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    5 copies from $4.50
  • 4
    #4
    Jun 1987
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak  ·  A: Howie Post
    1 copy for $19.99
  • 4/NS
    #4 Newsstand Edition
    Newsstand Edition
    Jun 1987
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher, Dave Manak  ·  A: Howie Post
    1 copy for $24.99
  • 6
    #6
    Oct 1987
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    2 copies from $4.75
  • 6/NS
    #6 Newsstand Edition
    Newsstand Edition
    Oct 1987
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    1 copy for $7.98
  • 7
    #7
    Dec 1987
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    1 copy for $29.99
  • 8/NS
    #8 Newsstand Edition
    Newsstand Edition
    Feb 1988
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    1 copy for $34.98
  • 10
    #10
    Jun 1988
    Cover: $1.00
    W: Michael Gallagher  ·  A: Howie Post
    1 copy for $2.25