Issue Description

In this parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, four hamsters are sent to space to deal with a blob of radioactive cosmic jello.  They destroy the blob, but are exposed to its radiation before crashing back to Earth.  The hamsters, Bruce, Chuck, Jackie, and Clint, become anthropomorphic and learn martial arts under Master Lock and others in the Himalayas.
 
They are finally sent out into the world, and run into a drug dealer on the way to the Himalayan airport.  They beat him up and steal his car, which turns out to have $312,077.12 in the glove box, which they take as well.  They take a plane to the west, but the P.L.O. (Pot Luck Organization) tries to hijack it, and the hamsters stop them using their trademark anarchic violence and humor.
 
The issue also involves self-referential appearances and comments by the author and artist.

Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters (1986)

Publisher

Eclipse

Volume Description

Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters was originally launched as a parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, itself somewhat of a parody of normal superhero comics. ARBBH was soon followed by numerous other mutated warrior animals, such as Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos or Samurai Penguin. However, ARBBH proved itself to be the most popular of the TMNT clones, and in fact soon took on its own character and vitality beyond its parody roots. ARBBH spun off mini-series in Clint: The Hamster Triumphant and ARBBH 3-D. All together, they sold over 500,000 issues!

ARBBH began as a very self-aware comic, where the characters often talked directly with the writer and artist. It used a lot of gross-out humor and self-deprecation. It had continual jokes about race and sexuality, which were sometimes smart barbs that deftly punctured political correctness, and were sometimes offensive and boorish. At the end, it became much more serious, featuring the death of a main character and real emotional depth.

ARBBH was written by Don Chin, and drawn by several artists with very different styles, including its unique co-creator Parsonavich, as well as some of Sam Kieth's early work, soon after his time on Mage.

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Status: Not in Collection