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Wonder Wart-Hog (the "Hog of Steel") is an underground comic book character, a porcine parody 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 ...
, created by Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton (born May 31, 1940) is an American cartoonist and a key member of the underground comix movement. He is the creator of the iconic underground characters ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'', '' Fat Freddy's Cat'', and ''Wonder W ...
and first published in 1962. Over the years, Shelton has worked on the strip in collaboration with various writers and artists, including fellow UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
alums Tony Bell, Bill Killeen, and Joe E. Brown Jr.
The humor of Wonder Wart-Hog works on many levels. Fundamentally, it is slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...
comedy in which excessive force is a constant theme, but it also parodies the McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
and violence of the far right. Wonder Wart-Hog is a pro-establishment, law and order type personality, often gone overboard. For example, he's willing to kill a lady driver talking on her cell phone because she might cause an accident.
Wonder Wart-Hog's rogues gallery includes "Super-Fool, Super-Hypnotist, the Masked Meanie, Super-Patriot, the Plastic Man, the Granny of Gruntville, the Bad Brainbender, Pie Man, the International Order of Bomb-Flinging Fiends, the Amazing Meanie Feul, the Famous Rushin' Bear, Evil Weevil, the Mafia, the Zymotic Zookeeper, Smiling Sergeant Death, the Elusive Chimerical Chameleon, and the Pigs from Uranus, among others".
The zany showdowns involve contests such as backward motorcycle races (who can go the slowest) or exposing some villain running a fraud scheme such as comet insurance. Wonder Wart-Hog dispatches his enemies in various ways, such as grinding them into sausage, flinging them into orbit, or crushing them with his immense bulk. But on one occasion he punished a lynch mob by giving them Cadillacs
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed in ...
and TV sets, and then banishing them to Mississippi.
Gilbert's humor occasionally crosses the line into violence of a sexual nature, but the emphasis is more on the absurdity of the situation than the act itself.
Fictional character biography
Wonder Wart-Hog is the son of the rulers of the planet Squootpeep, sent to Earth by rocket when Squootpeep's scientists predict the planet will soon explode (in fact it does not). The infant porker is raised in America byhillbillies
Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...
, not out of affection, but because his invulnerability prevents his being killed and cooked.
His secret identity is the mild-mannered reporter Philbert DeSanex, who works for the ''Muthalode Morning Mungpie''. Instead of being a human disguised as a rubber-masked monster, Wonder Wart-Hog is a pig-faced monster who disguises himself as a rubber-faced human. Occasionally, however, Shelton has depicted Wonder Wart-Hog and DeSanex as two distinct individuals, with Wonder Wart-Hog residing inside the reporter's body.
Wonder Wart-Hog's one-time love interest is Lois Lamebrain — an analog of Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...
— whom he rapes and kills without mercy.
Origin and publication history
The idea for Wonder Wart-Hog came to Gilbert Shelton in 1961, while he was living in New York. The following year, Shelton moved back to Texas to enroll in graduate school and get student deferment from the draft. The first two Wonder Wart-Hog stories appeared in ''Bacchanal'', a short-lived college humor magazine produced by former staffers at UT's humor magazine ''The Texas Ranger
''The Texas Ranger'' is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film directed by D. Ross Lederman.Mademoiselle'', which wrote about Wonder Wart-Hog in the August 1962 "College" issue.Holland, Richard A. ''The Texas Book: Profiles, History, and Reminiscences of the University'' (University of Texas Press, 2006), p. 229.
Australian cartoonist Tony Edwards's best-known creation,
The Hog of Steel, a complete bibliography of Wonder Wart-Hog
* {{Underground comix characters Underground comix Comics about animals Comics about pigs Comics characters introduced in 1962 Fictional pigs Fictional warthogs 1962 comics debuts Parody superheroes Parody comics Animal superheroes Comics set in the 1960s Comics set in the 1970s Satirical comics Comics set in the United States Male characters in comics
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...
's ''Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their Help! (film), film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles "Help! ( ...
'' also published a few of the Hog of Steel's adventures in 1964–1965.
''Drag Cartoons''
Pete Millar
Peter Millar (1929 – 2003) was an American illustrator, cartoonist, and drag racer best known for his work with ''CARtoons'' and ''DRAG Cartoons'' magazines. Millar often used the pen name "Millarkey".
Career ''Arin Cee''
Millar's first p ...
's ''DRAG Cartoons
Peter Millar (1929 – 2003) was an American illustrator, cartoonist, and drag racer best known for his work with ''CARtoons'' and '' DRAG Cartoons'' magazines. Millar often used the pen name "Millarkey".
Career ''Arin Cee''
Millar's first ...
'' magazine published a Wonder Wart-Hog strip in the early 1960s. The first ongoing publication of Wonder Wart-Hog was in ''DRAG Cartoons'' issues #25-49 (1966–1968); several of those also featured another Shelton strip called ''Bull O'Fuzz''. Issue #45 boasted several strips by Shelton, including a parody of ''West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...
'' called "Vice Squad Story".
Many of these strips were reprinted in 1968, when Millar Publishing Company released two issues of a quarterly ''Wonder Wart-Hog Magazine''. 140,000 copies of each were printed, but distributors did not pick up the magazine and only 40,000 of each were sold.
The following stories from ''Drag Cartoons'' have never been reprinted:
* #26 "Constructs a Wheelie-Turnin’ Toronado" (Apr. 1966)
* #27 "Goes to Viet Nam" (May 1966)
* #28 "Meets the Menace of the Plastic Man" (June 1966)
* #30 "Meets The Granny of Gruntville" (Aug. 1966)
* #31 "Masked Meanie's Marine Malfeasance" (Sept. 1966)
* #32 "Meets the Bad Brainbender" (Oct. 1966)
* #33 "Pie Man's Funny Car" (Nov. 1966)
* #34 "Meets The Dread Nazi Menace" (Dec. 1966)
* #40 "Meets Evil Weevil" (June 1967)
* #41 "Becomes an Ace Photographer" (July 1967)
* #42 "Gets a Flame Suit!" (Aug. 1967)
Underground comix
Wonder Wart-Hog's adventures were serialized incomic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
form in many underground newspapers
The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group.
In specific rec ...
and college newspapers from the mid-1960s through 1977.
In 1968, while still living in Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, Gilbert self-published '' Feds 'N' Heads'', which featured Wonder Wart-Hog as well as Shelton's other creation, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' is an Underground comix, underground comic about a fictional trio of Cannabis culture, stoner characters, created by the American artist Gilbert Shelton. The Freak Brothers first appeared in ''The Rag'', an u ...
. ''Feds 'N' Heads'' was later reprinted multiple times by the Bay Area underground publisher Print Mint
The Print Mint, Inc. was a major publisher and distributor of underground comix based in the San Francisco Bay Area during the genre's late 1960s-early 1970s heyday. Starting as a retailer of psychedelic posters, the Print Mint soon evolved into ...
.
Beginning late 1968, Wonder Wart-Hog began appearing in ''Zap Comix
''Zap Comix'' is an underground comix series which was originally part of the youth counterculture of the late 1960s. While a few small-circulation self-published satirical comic books had been printed prior to this, ''Zap'' became the model for ...
''; he ultimately appeared in issue #3-5, 13, and 15 (the latter comic, published by Last Gasp
Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to
* Last Gasp (publisher)
* ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode
* '' The Last Gasp'', a 2007 album by Impaled
* ''The Last Gasp'' (novel)
* "Last Gasp" (song)
{{dab ...
in 2005, is the most recent appearance of the "Hog of Steel").
A Wonder Wart-Hog story also appeared in ''Radical America Komiks'' (Students for a Democratic Society, 1969), vol. III, #1 of ''Radical America'', an SDS magazine.
Rip Off Press
By 1969, Shelton had moved to San Francisco, and that year he co-founded the underground publisherRip Off Press
Rip Off Press Corporation, Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and Distribution (business), distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and ''Rip Off Comix'', as well as ...
with three friends from Texas: fellow cartoonist Jack Jackson, Fred Todd, and Dave Moriaty. Rip Off Press published the bulk of all later Wonder Wart-Hog comics. The character appeared in ''Rip Off Comix
''Rip Off Comix'' was an underground comix anthology published between 1977 and 1991 by Rip Off Press. As time passed, the sensibility of the anthology changed from underground to alternative comics.
The anthology was originally a byproduct of th ...
'' #1-12 (1977–1983) (with the exception of issue #7) and in several of the magazine-sized issues of ''Rip Off''. His last new appearance in ''Rip Off Comix'' was in the 20th anniversary issue (#21) 1988.
Many of the Wonder Wart-Hog stories from ''Rip Off Comix'' were collected in three comic books from Rip Off Press
Rip Off Press Corporation, Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and Distribution (business), distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and ''Rip Off Comix'', as well as ...
in the mid-1970s, ''(Not Only) The Best of Wonder Wart-Hog''. These three issues reprint all of the Rip Off stories (but not all of the covers and single page appearances) except for the following:
* "Battle of the Titans" chapters 3–5 (''Rip Off'' #10-12) — also released as a stand-alone comic; a collaboration among Shelton, Bell, and Joe E. Brown, Jr. that spanned 20 years from the start to the finish of the story.
* "Philbert Dessanex and the Street Entertainer" (''Rip Off'' #14).
In addition, the story from ''Radical America Komiks'' was reprinted in ''Wonder Wart-Hog and the Nurds of November'', a trade paperback published by Rip Off Press in 1980, which included a large collection of earlier material. That story was also released as a stand-alone comic book version in 1988.
Wonder Wart-Hog also appeared in the following one-shot Rip Off Press titles:
* ''Underground Classics'' #5: "Wonder Wart-Hog Vol. 1" (1987)
* ''Underground Classics'' #7: "Wonder Wart-Hog Vol. 2" (1988)
* ''Underground Classics'' #12: ''Gilbert Shelton in 3D'' (1990)
Three stories about Philbert Desanex from the trade paperback collection were released as a stand-alone comic, ''Philbert Desanex' Dreams'' (Rip Off Press, 1993). The stories center almost entirely around Wonder Wart-Hog's alter ego, with only a brief appearance by the Hog of Steel.
In popular culture
Australian cartoonist Tony Edwards's best-known creation, Captain Goodvibes
Captain Goodvibes, a.k.a. the Pig of Steel, is the creation of Australian cartoonist Tony Edwards and an icon of Australian surfing culture from the 1970s. In 1992 Captain Goodvibes was named by ''Australia's Surfing Life'' magazine as one of "Aus ...
, was inspired by Wonder Wart-Hog.
The lyrics for the Pink Fairies
Pink Fairies are an English rock band initially active in the London (Ladbroke Grove) underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug use, and anarchy, and often performed impromptu gigs and other stunts, ...
' "Pigs Of Uranus" (from the 1972 album ''What a Bunch of Sweeties
''What a Bunch of Sweeties'' is a 1972 album by the UK underground group Pink Fairies.
History
Twink had left the band before the recording of this album. Former The Move guitarist Trevor Burton occasionally joined the band for gigs and contri ...
'') are taken from "Wonder Warthog and the Invasion of the Pigs from Uranus!" (''Hydrogen Bomb and Biochemical Warfare Funnies'', Rip Off Press, 1970).
References
Bibliography
External links
The Hog of Steel, a complete bibliography of Wonder Wart-Hog
* {{Underground comix characters Underground comix Comics about animals Comics about pigs Comics characters introduced in 1962 Fictional pigs Fictional warthogs 1962 comics debuts Parody superheroes Parody comics Animal superheroes Comics set in the 1960s Comics set in the 1970s Satirical comics Comics set in the United States Male characters in comics