normalman is a limited series of

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s created by

Jim Valentino Jim Valentino (born October 28, 1952) is an American writer, penciler, editor and publisher of comic books, best known for his 1990–1992 work on ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' for Marvel Comics, and for co-founding Image Comics, a company publis ...

. It began in November 1983 as a four-page story in ''

Cerebus ''Cerebus'' (; also ''Cerebus the Aardvark'') is a comic book series created by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, which ran from December 1977 until March 2004. The title character of the 300-issue series is an anthropomorphic aardvark who takes on ...

'' #56 and #57 before being launched as a full-color 12-issue series which was published by Aardvark-Vanaheim before moving to

Renegade Press Renegade Press was an American comic book company, founded by Canadian Deni Loubert, that operated from 1984 to 1988. Notable titles published by Renegade included '' Flaming Carrot'', '' Ms. Tree'', and '' normalman''. History Loubert was pub ...

. There was also a crossover with ''

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

''. The story of normalman concluded in ''normalman 3D Annual #1'' (Renegade Press). The series spoofed the comics of many comic book companies, including DC,

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

, EC and

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

, as well as doing

parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of ''

The Spirit The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...

'', '' Elfquest'', ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'', ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'', and '' The Wizard of Oz''. ''normalman'' was first collected in trade paperback by

Slave Labor Graphics Slave Labor Graphics (SLG) is an independent American comic book publisher, well known for publishing darkly humorous, offbeat comics. Creators associated with SLG over the years include Evan Dorkin, Roman Dirge, Sarah Dyer, Woodrow Phoenix, Jhon ...

. Recently, a new trade paperback which included several followups was published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

. Both trades are in black and white.

Overview

On the planet Arnold, a junior CPA had come to the conclusion that Arnold would explode in eight hours. In a take on the origin of

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

, the junior CPA built a rocket ship to launch his infant son into deep space. No sooner had he done so, however, than he discovered that Arnold was not going to explode after all, leading his enraged wife to murder him. Twenty years later, the rocket carrying the now-grown baby ended up crashing into an Earth-like planet called Levram ("

" spelled backwards), populated entirely by super powered people. Because he had no superpowers of any kind, the locals dubbed him "normalman". Most of the super-powered inhabitants of Levram were disposed to violence ("fight scenes") and normalman (or "norm" for short) sought a way to leave Levram for good and return to Arnold. His allies in this endeavor were the impossibly powerful but cheerfully dimwitted Captain Everything (a

spoof Spoof, spoofs, spoofer, or spoofing may refer to: * Forgery of goods or documents * Semen, in Australian slang * Spoof (game), a guessing game * Spoofing (finance), a disruptive algorithmic-trading tactic designed to manipulate markets __NOTOC__ ...

and

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''Th ...

, whose ability to negate all known laws of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and invent new superpowers at every plot twist made him the most powerful being in the universe limited only by his considerable stupidity), the battle-ready Sgt. Fluffy, agent of S.C.H.M.U.C.K. (which, according to the footnotes, stood for "nothing-in-particular"), and the beautiful Sophisticated Lady who would become the love of his life. normalman had gained an enemy in the Ultra Conservative who saw him as a threat to Levram's

status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

. A mysterious time-traveling woman calling herself the Countess of Monte Crisco (who debuted in a later issue) had plans of her own regarding both normalman and Fluffy's

ruby slippers The ruby slippers are the magic pair of shoes worn by Dorothy Gale as played by Judy Garland in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film '' The Wizard of Oz''. Because of their iconic stature, the ruby slippers are among the most valuable items ...

Characters

Main characters

*normalman - The titular character. He was launched into space by his father (known alternately as Joe-L and Jerk-L) and after 20 years landed on Levram. He is the only person on Levram without super powers and tries to escape the planet, only to end back up there every time. He is usually the

straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...

for all the bizarre adventures and jokes going on in the series. It is revealed at the finale that his real name is Norm-L. *Captain Everything - A

, Captain Marvel and

. He can negate the laws of physics and create new powers for the sake of the plot. His only weakness is his stupidity, which interferes with his powers. At the finale, Captain Everything becomes the champion of the planet Arnold. *Sophisticated Lady - norm's

love interest ''Gli Innamorati'' (, meaning "The Lovers") were stock characters within the theatre style known as commedia dell'arte, who appeared in 16th century Italy. In the plays, everything revolved around the Lovers in some regard. These dramatic and pos ...

. She once manipulated norm for the sake of Levram. Her powers are unknown. She marries Norm-L in the end, taking the name Soph-E. *Ultra Conservative - The main antagonist. He wants to kill normalman, who he sees as a threat to the

. His powers are unknown but may include superhuman strength. He has a nephew called ''Rotten Kid'', another antagonist. *Countess of Monte Crisco - Another antagonist. She helped normalman get home only so she could get Fluffy's slippers and become super powerful. Captain Everything reflected one of her bolts and sent her to Oz, where she became the

Wicked Witch of the East The Wicked Witch of the East is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is a crucial character but appears only briefly in Baum's classic children's series of List of Oz books, ''Oz'' novels, most notably ''The Won ...

. She was later killed by

Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Characters *Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum * Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...

Recurring characters

*Sgt. Fluffy, Agent of S.C.H.M.U.C.K. - A

Nick Fury Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in ''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos ...

. He is a spy working for S.C.H.M.U.C.K.. His ruby slippers ultimately are what get norm home. He is invulnerable to everything, but Silver Frostnite (

Kryptonite Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton that emits a unique, poisonous r ...

), which kills him. He returns as Dark Fluffy (

Dark Phoenix "The Dark Phoenix Saga" is an extended X-Men comic-book storyline published by Marvel Comics, focusing on Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force. It was written by Chris Claremont with art by John Byrne. The Dark Phoenix Saga commonly refers to the s ...

) and destroys Levram. *Man-Man (pronounced "Mon-Man") - A rastafarian-type character with the power of "Ganja Breath". *Rotten Kid - Revealed to be the Ultra Conservative's nephew in a later issue. He is revealed to be behind such League adversaries as the Unnecessary A-Men (a parody of the

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X ...

), Tight Teens (a parody of the

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

) and Cloned Kids (a parody of the

DNAgents ''The DNAgents'' is a comic-book series created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Will Meugniot and published by Eclipse Comics in 1983. It was later picked up briefly by Antarctic Press. In June 2006, reprinted issues were collected into ''DNAgen ...

). *Dr. Deranged - The Ultra Conservative's right-hand man. The name is a spoof of

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

. *The Fanatical Four - A group sent by the Ultra Conservative to eliminate normalman. A parody of the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

, they were Mr. Fanatical, Helpless Woman (later known as Not-so Helpless Woman), Humane Touch and the Lunk. *Legion of Superfluous Heroes - A parody of the

Legion of Super-Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st c ...

. In their first appearance, Uranus Girl wanted to save normalman, but Lightweight Lad pointed out they needed to do roll call first. They appear throughout the series doing roll call (they have a seemly endless list of members). A recurring gag was the comic would go back to them at random moments. Lightweight Lad lost his place (thanks to Yelling Girl) and was going begin the roll call again, only to be killed by the members of the Legion (who also died). It's revealed the Legion was in a time loop. *Justice League of Society - A parody of the

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

. Members include: :*Captain Everything :*Human Person - Powers unknown. :*The Flesh - He is a

nudist Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

. :*Nastygirl - She can use her beauty to get men to do what she wants. :*Flatman - He is completely flat. :*Water-Logged Man - He has "water breath". :*Green Heartburn - He emits a beam causing

heartburn Heartburn, also known as pyrosis, cardialgia or acid indigestion, is a burning sensation in the central chest or upper central abdomen. Heartburn is usually due to regurgitation of gastric acid (gastric reflux) into the esophagus. It is the m ...

and seems to suffer from it. :*Robin Hoodlum - He uses arrows similar to Green Arrow. :*Useless Kid - He is a random child that hangs out with the League (a possible parody of

Snapper Carr Lucas "Snapper" Carr is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Gardner Fox (writer) and Mike Sekowsky (penciller), and made his first appearance in ''The Brave and the Bold'' in ...

References

External links

* *
''normalman''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...