Issue Description

The hamsters leave New York and travel into the backwoods in order to escape the law.

They stop off at a liquor store, but it is late at night and it's closed. Clint breaks in, planning to leave money for the food and the door. However, he Chuck and Bruce are interrupted by the store owners, who are flagrant racists and think the hamsters are African-Americans.

Meanwhile, Jackie, who continues to have mental issues after his two previous electrocutions, thinks he is Snoopy in his WWI Flying Ace identity. The Heap (similar to Marvel's Man-Thing) walks nearby in the swamp. The Heap also happened to actually be a WWI flying ace in his former life. The Heap is attracted to him and carries him off.

The store owners call the cops, who take Clint, Chuck, and Bruce off to a ritual meeting of the CCC, or Coo Clucks Clan, a band of Colonel Sanders worshippers who dress up like chickens. A satire on the KKK, their chant is "All white meat! No dark meat!"

The Heap takes Jackie back to the hamsters' RV, and they drive off...then crash.

The other hamsters are about to be sacrificed when Jackie and the Heap arrive and run off the CCC.

Their old teacher, Master Lock, sees their recent exploits on TV and, horrified, starts off to America. Meanwhile, the PLO, their foes from issue 1, escape from prison.

This issue featured somewhat less self-awareness and artist appearances than the previous ones.

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