Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Comic (a Dark Horse Mini-Series)

So, after discovering that Dark Horse published a MST3K comic book mini-series that included and parodied the Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter comic from Dell Comics (see my post from back in November 2021 -Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter), I had to track down all of the issues - and so I did!  And let me tell you, a couple of those issues were not so easy to find at reasonable prices.  Good grief, who knew the Mystery Science Theater 3000 comic would be so sought after!  But, at last, I did manage to track them all down, and I had a fun time reading them.  Not only did it feature a parody of the second issue of Johnny Jason, it also included parodies of the old Harvey comic, The Black Cat, as well as a horror title I had never heard of before.  I have to give huge kudos to Joel Hodgson, Harold Buchholz, Matt McGinnis, Seth Robinson, Sharyl Volpe, Mary Robinson, Todd Nauk, Mike Manley, and all of the others who managed to make this comic such a joy to read!

 

Now, I should start off by saying I've never actually seen an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  I know, I know - it's been around for quite a while, and I've heard lots of friends talk about it.  But, quite frankly, it was just never something that I was interested in watching.  To be honest, the only reason I sought out this mini-series was because it poked fun at the Johnny Jason comic; otherwise, I would have never picked it up.  But after reading these six issues, if the television show is anywhere near as much fun, then I may have to go back and watch some of them!  I mean, I haven't laughed this hard when reading a comic since the days of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!  And it's not just the cheesy jokes and one-liners from the characters during the bridge sequences - it's the way the creators managed to take old comics from over 50 years ago and re-write them (to a certain extent) with some characters with today's perspectives.  I mean, take a real character (well, supposedly real) and place them into a comic book, and this is exactly how I would imagine them to react!

So, as the story goes, Jonah, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, GPC (Gypsy), M. Waverly, and Growler are basically trapped on the Satellite of Love - and Kinga Forrester and her crew of mad scientists and henchman have created a new machine that can insert people into comic books - and guess who the test subjects are going to be?  The first comic that Kinga Forrester selects is Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter (the second story, published by Dell Comics, June-August 1962).  As the green bubbles wash over the gang, Tom Servo becomes the focus as he finds himself a character in the comic book, standing on the outskirts of Green City.  And thus, starting with page 11 of the very first issue, readers find themselves transported back to 1962 with the second issue of Tom Servo, Teen Reporter in "The Brat"!  And with that, all of the fun begins...

Joel, Harold, and their co-horts do an absolutely amazing job of not only fully reproducing the original art of the 1962 comic (trust me, I read each issue of MST3K right next to the issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter, and it truly is the same art!), but they seamlessly insert Tom Servo into the role of Johnny Jason!  His body remains exactly as it was in the original comic, it is only his head that has been replaced by the top portion of Tom Servo's neck and gumball machine head!  The dialogue and text boxes are nearly identical as the original comic, although the writers do take liberty from time to time in reducing the lines of dialogue in order to make room for commentary by Tom and his fellow crew members, as well as even members of the comic itself (such as on the third panel of that first page of the story, when the doorman comments on how his whistle that he is clearly trying to blow is clogged (that line did not exist in the original comic).  With each page, there is plenty of comedic commentary on the comic - from comic book tires that "light up when they blow" to Shelley Marks calling out for Professor X to save her with both hands put to her forehead to a police officer thinking how he just gave his gun to a hobo - although one of my favorites is the last panel of page four of the story, when the editor of the Green City Journal questions where the back wall went (as all of the furniture against the wall in the previous panels is oddly gone for that final panel, and instead, the original artist simply left the background blank).  

 

In the first issue, we only get 14 pages of the Johnny Jason story, and we are left to pick up the story in the next issue - but, the only thing is, the second issue features Jonah being flung into a Black Cat comic (not the Marvel Black Cat, but the old Harvey Comics Black Cat!).  This was a rare treat for me, as I have several of those old Black Cat comics, and I love the character.  It also featured a short horror tale from a comic called Horrific - whether that was a real comic or not (sounds like something from the EC realm of comics), I don't know, but the tale was definitely in the same vein as the old EC horror comics.  Therefore, it wasn't until the third issue that we return to the Johnny Jason comic, or rather, the Tom Servo comic, to see what will happen next!  We only get a brief glimpse into the adventures of Tom Servo, as the comic also has more on the Black Cat and Horrific stories.  But it's those Tom Servo pages that really had me laughing!  Tom's observations of the all-pink backgrounds, Shelley's father being self-aware that he has no authority in the house, the characters' acknowledgement of word balloons (wondering how readers will know who is talking when you see the balloons, but not the characters!), and Shelley's agent saying the actress is her parents' Star Wars - it certainly gave me a totally different view of the comic story!

 

Interestingly, in the fourth issue, instead of giving readers actual pages from the Johnny Jason comic, we get give pages of "never before seen" pages from Johnny Jason's world as Crow T. Robot, GPC (Gypsy), M. Waverly, and Growler make themselves at home at the Bar S Ranch, and Shelley's mother serves them some lemon bars and punch - but Kinga has other ideas, and she inserts herself into the story as Miss Gulch, bringing with her a tornado of Totino's Pizza Rolls (which is an ongoing joke throughout the series, because every comic must have ads, and the Pizza Rolls are the advertisers supporting the stories - in the comic!), but, of course, it doesn't go as planned, creating more havoc than anything else.

Issue five sees the return to the Johnny Jason ... er, Tom Servo, Teen Reporter comic - with a cover that even pays homage to the original Johnny Jason cover.  We pick up where issue three left off, with the plane Shelley is piloting getting ready to crash.  We only get six pages, before the action switches over to the Black Cat again.  But we do get plenty of re-written dialogue, witty commentary, and hilarious thought balloons as the characters  think about the most off-the wall things - such as one of the kidnappers wondering if the pennycress that are in bloom would make a nice salad, another kidnapper wondering who painted the mountain pink, and Tom wondering whether the ceiling of the cabin where they are held is up to code!

The sixth and final issue of the mini-series wraps up the Black Cat tale and gives us the thrilling (?) conclusion to the Tom Servo, Teen Reporter story!  As Tom helps Shelley escape the kidnappers, and the watch as the avalanche collapses on one of the men chasing them, Tom can't help but think about making a move on Shelley ... and how fun she is ... and how this has been a date that she will never forget!  Of course, as with the original, it is Johnny ... er, I mean Tom ... who reveals the true villain to be Shelley's agent, whose drink turns into a gun in just one panel and he tries to make his escape - but Chuck stops him, grabbing him around the neck (and so astutely observing that "If you grab an agent by the tie, they're powerless!").  As the final panel arrives, so do the green bubbles, which even the editor of the Green City Journal notices (with the comment, "Calgon, take me away!").

This series was definitely an ingenuous idea, and the MST3K guys did an amazing job pulling it off!  After reading it side by side with the original issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter, for comparison purposes to see what was changed, if anything - I went back and just re-read it for fun, and I had a blast.  I would love to see them do more of these - I mean, let's face it, there are a plethora of comics from the '40s, '50s, and '60s that are just ripe for this kind of riff-traxx!  They've been doing it for movies for years, so let's see some more comics - cheesy super hero comics, outrageous western and jungle comics, over-the-top romance comics, and so much more are just waiting for the MST3K treatment!

I definitely give this series a big two thumbs up!

RATING:  10 plates of Totino pizza rolls out of 10 for seeing all of the craziness of the comics from the '60s and sharing the hilarious commentary in comic book format!

Short Lived Comic Series #18 - Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter (Dell Comics)

One of the biggest reasons why I love comic conventions (particularly the smaller, local conventions) is that there are always plenty of back-issue comic book boxes to comb through.  Some dealers have their comics in alphabetical order, others have then categorized by theme, others by publisher, and still others simply throw out the comics with no order whatsoever, and you have to really dig to find some great treasures!  No matter which way I find them, it's always the thrill of the hunt that excites me and has me spending literally hours making my way through box after box after box, hoping to come across some obscure book that catches my eye.  And such is the case with this latest short-lived comic book series.

I discovered the first issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter a year or more ago (right before COVID hit) in a box full of old Dell / Gold Key comics that a dealer had set out.  The title of the comic, as well as the tagline - "A Daring Teenage Reporter Uncovers a Menacing Plot Against Wilton High School" - easily caught my attention.  The cover sported painted art of a young man lifting another young man, apparently about to throw him, while in the background, a number of young men and women watch with anticipation.  The title, the tagline, the cover - they all are very reminiscent of those series books of the '50s and '60s, so I splurged and bought the comic.

This issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter sports a cover date of Feb-Apr 1962, and it was numbered as No. 1302 (which number is apparently part of the "Four Color" comics numbering - which, it seems, a lot of Dell Comics followed that numbering, regardless of what the actual title to the book was).  There are absolutely no credits provided in the book, so the writer and artist(s) are unknown.  Online research shows that Don Ameson was the editor for the comic.  And upon further research, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was not a one-off comic (as Dell Comics was known to do quite a number of one-off stories).  A second issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter was also published later that same year with a cover date of June-Aug 1962.  Oddly enough, the second issue was numbered as No. 2 rather than whatever the next "Four Color" numbering would have been.  Perhaps Dell was hoping since the series spawned a second issue, it might actually spring into an ongoing series.  Sadly, though, that wasn't the case.

The first issue features a story titled "Johnny Goes Dancing" - not exactly the most thrilling title in the world, but it definitely tells the reader what to expect from the story!  Green City's leading newspaper has decided to start a column for, about, and by teenagers, and as you can probably guess, young Johnny Jason, who already edits his own school's newspaper, gets the job.  His first assignment is to cover a dance at Sheridan High (in the tough section of the city), where the students have gotten together to raise money for new equipment for their school basketball team.  When Jason and his girlfriend arrive, however, they discover the dance is a bust, thanks go a neighborhood gang who has threatened everyone away from the dance in order to take their money instead!  Jason and Sheridan High's gym teacher go to confront the gang, which results in a big fight!  As with the series books I enjoy, everything works out in the end - the kids all return to the dance, the money is turned over to the school for basketball equipment, and Jason gets a fantastic story for his first article.  A couple of interesting things I did note about the comic - first, I thought the cover depicted Johnny himself as a part of the scene taking place, but it turns out the scene is actually the gym teacher lifting up one of the gang members, as he prepares to throw him to the ground!  Odd that they would not include the title character on the cover.  Second, it is strange that Johnny himself does very little to solve the mystery or fight the gang members - he pretty much stands in the background and lets the gym teacher, Mr. Barker, take the lead.  Third, the tagline on the cover is misleading, as it claims there is a plot against Wilton High School (where Johnny goes to school), when, in the story itself, it is Sheridan High on the other side of town that is actually facing the menacing plot.

The second issue provides a bit more accuracy on the cover to match the story inside.  The painted art shows Jason carrying on unconscious girl away from the crashed plane, while two thugs are chasing them down.  The tagline reads, "A Death-Defying Plane Ride Leads Teen Reporter, Johnny Jason, and a Young Movie Star Into Terror and Trickery, as Treacherous Kidnappers Close in on Them..."  This pretty much sums up the adventure inside, which is simply titled "The Brat."  And let me tell you, the young movie star, Shelley Marks, is definitely a brat!  She is rude to everyone, including her parents, and very incorrigibly entitled.  The excitement begins on the very first page, when she is kidnapped!  Fortunately for her, the kidnappers blow a tire, and she is rescued while they escape.  Johnny is sent to get the story, spending the weekend at the Marks' family ranch outside of Green City.  He is somewhat awed by her stardom, but the ranch foreman, Chuck, is not thrilled with the attention Shelley is showing Jason.  Shelley decides to show off her flying skills by taking Johnny on an impromptu plane ride, which results in them crashing in the mountains nearby.  Before you know it, the kidnappers show up and take both Shelley and Johnny hostage in an isolated cabin.  But our young reporter manages to escape with the movie star in tow and are ultimately found by a search party.  Upon return to the Marks' ranch, Johnny shocks everyone by revealing the truth behind the kidnapping and unveiling the true mastermind behind the whole thing.  Shelley learns some humility, Chuck admits his feelings for Shelley, and Johnny once again walks away with a great story!

While neither story is "exciting" by today's standards, they both fit the standard formula for pre-teen series stories of that day.  A teenager has some great and sometimes threatening adventures while trying to help someone in need and ultimately stops the criminal and saves the day!  Both comics feature a full 32-pages of story and art with absolutely no ads.  As I don't have a lot of Dell Comics in my collection, I'm not sure if this was a standard for their comics of that day, but I definitely like the idea of getting my money's worth.  Even the inside front and back covers, as well as the back cover, feature one-page comic strips detailing some aspect of newspapers and reporting the news (the first issue showed how a newspaper is printed, what's in a newspaper, and the aspects of a newspaper reporter's life, while the second issue highlights the war correspondent, famous journalists, and the history of how news has been spread over the years).  Thus, back in 1962, for 15 cents, a comic fan got a quite a lot!

 

I really wish there was a way to find out not only the author of the stories, but the artists as well - both for the interior pages and for the covers!  It would be amazing to track down the original art for these two covers - truly a collector's dream to have something like that in his or her collection!

Overall, I enjoyed both issues and wish the series had continued.  While Johnny Jason never made any other appearances in Dell Comics, interestingly enough, he did appear again in 2018.  It seems Dark Horse Comics published a series of comics based on the successful Mystery Science Theater 3000 television show.  However, instead of dealing with cheesy movies, this time around, the comic book series dealt with what they deemed to be cheesy comics.  And, wouldn't you know it, the first comic they feature is our very own Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter!  I am in the process of tracking down these issues so I can add them to my collection with my Johnny Jason comics.  After all, I can't be a true collector unless I have everything, right?

RATING:  8 stolen cash boxes out of 10 for some great series book stories in comic book form!