Major Bummer
Encyclopedia
Major Bummer is a humorous comic book
produced by DC Comics
in the late 1990s. It was created by writer John Arcudi
and artist Doug Mahnke
.
The main character of Major Bummer was Lou Martin. Lou was a slacker who, due to the incompetence of Yoof received an EEM instead of Martin Louis, an upwardly mobile young lawyer and philanthropist. Lou received a new muscular body that is inhumanly strong and has super-human intelligence. Unfortunately, because Lou is so lazy, he is only able to use his intelligence either subconsciously or during moments of extreme concentration. Despite this flaw, Lou was an erudite and intelligent individual already. The great irony being that his limitations were always his own fault and he enjoyed being a slacker
; unlike most superheroes, gaining powers was actually an inconvenience to him. Lou's EEM was designed to attract trouble and the other superhumans whom Martin would have chosen to lead.
The other "Superheroes" included: Val Andrist, the environmentalist daughter of an Ice Cream magnate who could fly, Francis Dutton, an aromatherapist hippie
with a sonic scream, Lauren Isley, an elderly woman who could predict the future (but was so absent-minded she got confused with the past), a cat that became a giant when scared (it opened and ate her owner's EEM by mistake, later adopted by Lauren) and "Gecko", a nerdish man who could stick to walls and took the concept of being a superhero too seriously.
EEM's were also gifted to a group of supervillain
s and attracted to one another in order to ensure battles would occur (most notably the loser-turned-monster Nunzio whom Lou accidentally brain damaged via unintentional electrocution). Other stories involved a Nazi dinosaur from a parallel universe named Tyrannosaurus Reich, a demon-possessed toddler, alien worms that ate everything, an overly adoring fan of Lou's that tried to kill him to make him more famous and an alien time traveler that destroyed time leading to Lou's future self recruiting the present day Lou to battle the time traveller.
Major Bummer was cancelled after issue 15 due to poor sales although it had a cult following - "Sales were bad and there was just no way to keep this book going", wrote editor Peter Tomasi in the final letter pages of the last issue.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
produced by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
in the late 1990s. It was created by writer John Arcudi
John Arcudi
John Arcudi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on The Mask and B.P.R.D., and his series Major Bummer.-Career:Arcudi worked for Malibu Comics upon its founding in 1986, working on its Eternity line...
and artist Doug Mahnke
Doug Mahnke
Douglas "Doug" Mahnke is an American comic book artist and penciller.-Biography:Mahnke's first prominent work was for The Mask, and he has since worked for DC Comics on JLA, Batman with writer Judd Winick, and Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein with Grant Morrison...
.
Plot synopsis
Two alien college students (named Zinnak and Yoof) are doing their thesis on heroes in Earth culture. To further their study, they send through the mail EEM's or Extreme Enhancement Modules that, when opened, attach themselves to the heart of the recipient endowing them with superpowers.The main character of Major Bummer was Lou Martin. Lou was a slacker who, due to the incompetence of Yoof received an EEM instead of Martin Louis, an upwardly mobile young lawyer and philanthropist. Lou received a new muscular body that is inhumanly strong and has super-human intelligence. Unfortunately, because Lou is so lazy, he is only able to use his intelligence either subconsciously or during moments of extreme concentration. Despite this flaw, Lou was an erudite and intelligent individual already. The great irony being that his limitations were always his own fault and he enjoyed being a slacker
Slacker
The term "slacker" is used to refer to a person who habitually avoids work. Slackers may be regarded as belonging to an antimaterialistic counterculture, though in some cases their behavior may be due to other causes ....
; unlike most superheroes, gaining powers was actually an inconvenience to him. Lou's EEM was designed to attract trouble and the other superhumans whom Martin would have chosen to lead.
The other "Superheroes" included: Val Andrist, the environmentalist daughter of an Ice Cream magnate who could fly, Francis Dutton, an aromatherapist hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
with a sonic scream, Lauren Isley, an elderly woman who could predict the future (but was so absent-minded she got confused with the past), a cat that became a giant when scared (it opened and ate her owner's EEM by mistake, later adopted by Lauren) and "Gecko", a nerdish man who could stick to walls and took the concept of being a superhero too seriously.
EEM's were also gifted to a group of supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
s and attracted to one another in order to ensure battles would occur (most notably the loser-turned-monster Nunzio whom Lou accidentally brain damaged via unintentional electrocution). Other stories involved a Nazi dinosaur from a parallel universe named Tyrannosaurus Reich, a demon-possessed toddler, alien worms that ate everything, an overly adoring fan of Lou's that tried to kill him to make him more famous and an alien time traveler that destroyed time leading to Lou's future self recruiting the present day Lou to battle the time traveller.
Major Bummer was cancelled after issue 15 due to poor sales although it had a cult following - "Sales were bad and there was just no way to keep this book going", wrote editor Peter Tomasi in the final letter pages of the last issue.
Supervillains
- Tyrannosaurus Reich is a supervillainSupervillainA supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
who was featured in Major Bummer #5. T. Reich was pulled to earth through a dimensional portal from a dimension inhabited by NaziNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s.