Issue Description

We finally see what happens with the 10' cockroaches, as Chuck beats them to a literal pulp. Myron the cabdriver finds him and tells him what the others did (blow up the Statue of Liberty!).

Meanwhile, the others try to escape the long arm of the law, but accidentally run directly into a police station. They are tried and quickly sentenced and processed, all with continual misunderstandings and antics. They experience all the worst possible aspects of jail life, including an attempted haircut for the mohawked Clint, and dog meat for dinner.

Jackie ends up separated from the rest and strangely finds a superhero costume in a closet. He puts it on and sits down in an electric chair, which electrocutes him (for the second time in two issues).

Clint and Bruce start a food fight in the cafeteria but are overwhelmed by the number of convicts. Jackie, whose mind has been altered by his electrocution, jumps in to help, still dressed as a hero. Clint ends up getting knocked out of the prison, into Myron's cab; Myron and Chuck are coming to get them out. They leave him in there, but Clint crashes the car into the prison.

The hamsters run out. They part with Myron on good terms.

In the back-up story, by Kevin Harville and Bryan Robles, they once again deal with the Yeti, except this time they are real. The yetis feed them "valley creature stew," which is disgusting and they run away.

The characters once again features a very high degree of self-awareness of their comic-book existence, including appearances by the creators.

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