The Generic Comic (Comics Conspiracy)

(Comics Conspiracy, 2001-2002)
™ and ©2001 Comics Conspiracy

A big yellow cover. No art, no flashy fonts, just the words: Comic Book. Inside, black and white pictures of a nondescript super-hero, rescuing a nondescript damsel in distress from an evil genius straight out of central casting. This generic comic is meant to be a spoof of all super-hero comics and possibly even of the industry itself (at one point, the hero goes to a nondescript comics store to look for—you got it—the Comic Book). Problem is, it’s not very cleverly executed, not even when the generic taxi driver shows up to save the world (oops, did we give too much away?). Unlike Marvel’s Generic Comic from 1984, the finer points of comic satire are lost here. On the other hand, the artwork of Amilton Santos is interesting, even if it is somewhat wasted on what reads like a Mad Magazine spoof that went 10 pages too long.

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