Issue Description

This is the final issue of the original ARBBH series.  It contains the end of the main narrative, plus a few short stories that take place beforehand.  It has pin-ups of the hamsters by artists including Ty Templeton, Herb Wood, Rom Lim, and Ken Meyer Jr.  It also includes the second part of the unrelated "Ronnie & Gorby" backup strip.
 
The story opens with the surviving hamsters, who are now all separated, sadly reminiscing about their old days together.
 
In one memory, Bruce gets a magic saxophone, which he tries to use to get girls, but instead attracts a pack of dogs.  He goes back to the store, and gets another that the owner promises will work.  However, it attracts Godzilla instead.
 
In the second memory, Clint recalls the time in which he worked as a stuntman in a movie about his adventures fighting the Queenpin.
 
In the third memory, the hamsters and the monks discuss philosophy (sort of).
 
Finally, they all come to the realization that they must start new lives, and look ahead to a future on their own.

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