He's hip, he's cool, he's NOW, and Four Color is determined to capture him...

In Search of Ralph Snart

America's next male sex symbol?

By Mark Ellis

He has the imposing stature of Herve Villachez. He possesses all the grace and gentle good humor of Yosemite Sam. He displays the penetrating intelligence and implacable drive of Fat Freddy.

Mix all of the above ingredients together, season with a pinch of useless super power, place them in an unheated oven, and the result is a spicy souffle of hysteria and bad manners, the blatantly bizarre Ralph Snart Adventures.

Not too many years ago (though it seems like several lifetimes), humor and comic books fitted together with a natural ease. Just the term comics denotes subject matter of a humorous bent. Sadly, the last decade or so has witnessed "humor" and "comics" becoming mutually exclusive terms.

Mainstream titles like Plop!, Crazy and Not Brand Ecch were anthology books cast in the Mad mold. Only the Archie Group and Groo The Wanderer features a cast of continuing characters. Aside from the undergrounds and the recent upsurge of parody comics, funny "funny books" were dominated and finally buried by the burgeoning super hero craze triggered by the Silver Age of comics. Now Comics' Ralph Snart Adventures is something of a throwback to the halcyon days of Supersnipe, Herbie and The Inferior Five.

From Crisis to Dream

But unlike those aforementioned characters, Ralph Snart does not possess their tireless qualities. He does, however, have something that his predecessors didn't, the ability to escape from any crisis by entering a unique dreamworld. Unfortunately, the dream comes to an end, Ralph awakens and finds that the crisis he had tried to "dream away" has mushroomed to truly catastrophic proportions.

So, that is Ralph's lot in life; to stumble from crisis to dream to catastrophe; and therein lies his fundamental appeal. Ralph's creator and biographer Marc Hansen says, "A lot of bad things happen to him, but he gets through it...he manages to survive." When asked if Ralph is based on any real life role model, Hansen replies, "Mostly myself and a couple of friends."

A native of Big Rapids Michigan, Hansen earned an Associate of Arts degree and it was during his collegiate career that Ralph Snart had his inauspicious beginnings. Under the name of "Rog Snarf," Ralph appeared in a campus newspaper comic strip. Hansen was unaware of Kitchen Sink Press' underground comic entitled Snarf, "until Dennis Kitchen called it to my attention." Even though the word "Snarf" wasn't properly trademarked, Hansen agreed to change the "F" to a "T" and while he was at it, he altered "Rog" to the more lyrical "Ralph."

Oddly enough, Hansen had no strong aspirations to break into the cartooning field. He took a job at a commercial art studio in chicago, assuming, "that I'd always be into commercial art. But comics were always in the back of my mind until I fell into it." He fell into it through Now Comics publisher, Tony Caputo. After meeting Hansen at the art studio, he requested to see his portfolio of illustrations. Upon looking through it, his reation was, "You've never been published before?"

Impressed with Hansen's abilities, Caputo published a few of his cartoons in the short-lived periodical, Fangraphix. When Now was formed, Caputo agreed to test Ralph Snart's potential with a three issue mini-series. Caputo wasn't particularly optimistic at the time. "It was a test. I really didn't think it would take off." But take off it did, and Ralph Snart Adventures became a regular monthly black-and-white title. Caputo says that the sales on the test series were surprisingly high, 12,000 to 18,000. Still, he was somewhat disappointed: 'They're still extremely low for the quality.'

Caputo explains that because it was a black-and-white humor series, many retailers didn't display it properly: "It reminded them of The Freak Brothers. They'd say, 'Ralph Snart? Oh yeah, we put them in the back with the undergrounds' - which is funny - because Marc has no feeling that these people (underground artists) influenced him." Hansen agrees, stating that he wasn't "very familiar" with the work of Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton and others, because "I never even read any undergrounds."

He cites among his inspirations such notables as Harvey Kurtzman, Basil Wolverton, Tex Avery and "almost all of the E.C. people." He also admires newspaper strip artists Mort Walker of Beetle Bailey and Dik Brown of Hagar The Horrible.

Hansen's style does draw heavily upon the surrealism of Wolverton and Avery. He distorts Ralph's body as though he's a dwarfish Plastic Man and he has his eyes bug out in the best Avery manner when his frenzied fantasies don't quite abide by his preconceptions.

Still and all, Ralph is, design-wise at least, reminiscent of certain underground comix characters. One can see in him echoes of Crumb's Mr. Snoid and Shelton's Philbert Desanex. The similarity, faint as it may be, is made even more remarkable because it is accidental. Animated cartoons, such as the Warner Brothers masterpieces, are drawn on as source material throughout the tales of Ralph. Also, homage is paid to another Ralph - Kramden, by surname.

Holding the Pot Shots

As far as storylines are concerned, Hansen does not take casula pot shots at any given target that might catch his eye - he takes caraeful aim and lets fly with uncanny and hilarious accuracy. Hansen understands the basic mechanics of stire (as opposed to parody) when he pokes fun at certain cherished notions, but it is never savage sarcasm. Instead of being an aloof, judgmental observer, Hansen effectively communicates to the reader that he himself has been in Ralph's oversized shoes.

Since Hansen is a fringe member of the group loosely known as "organized fandom," it is only proper that numbers one through three of the regular Ralph Snart Adventures blasted different icons and aspects of fandom's sub-culture.

In "rodent Ralph," the mental tamperings of the deranged Dr. Goot triggered Ralph's "crazy imagining powers." Dreaming that he is bitten by a huge radioactive rat, Ralph is transformed into a "super being" known as Rodent Ralph. Realizing that the super hero lot is a cheap attempt to boost sales, Ralph refuses to allow his powers to be exploited for gain. In a dramitic sequence, he vows grimly that, "I'm just to ignore everything that goes on in this stupid issue."

However, he is forced to compromise his principles when he is attacked by a hastily sketched super hero. He then finds himself swept up in "first collector's item issue maina" as Marvy's Rodent Ralph hits the stands. Despite all efforts to resist and maintain his dignity, Ralph is dragged into the imbecilic goings-on of a super hero adventure.

Faced with being swallowed and slowly digested by a villain named The Cosmic Crudulator, Ralph provokes the response in his adversary that he himself has been fighting through the entire story: He invokes the Crudulator's gag reflex and is vomited out to continue his "battle against the evils of crime." A triumphant Raodent Ralph soars off into the sunset, muttering, "I gotta get cleaned up, I smell like a spit wad."

Mind Warped

Issue two opens with Ralph (who, his usefulness at an end, has been dumped outside of town by Dr. Goot) being inadvertently and unceremoniously revived by a little boy relieving an agitated bladder. Mind totally warped "by the electroshock tortures of Dr. Goot" (not to mention the fashion of his revival), Ralph wanders to "destroooy!"

Fortunately for the unsuspecting populace, Ralph decides to postpone his rampage in lieu of a nap. Once again he finds himself in another patented, "Ralph Snart Fantast Otherworld." In this realm, Ralph has just purchased a "cheap" role-playing game "for only $59.95." Ignoring the instructions, Ralph activates the game's "3-D holographic play mode" and is instantly transported into the world of "Blood N' Guts."

After teaming up with an alcoholic wizard, Ralph valiantly tries to abide by the rules of sword and sorcery gaming by searching for treasure and opposing super-natural threats, such as a giant slug. Swallowed by the gargantuan gastropod, Ralph muses that, "This role-playing game is not all fun and games."

Escaping from a slimy fate, Ralph meets and is adopted by the fatally affectionate George The Dragon, whose behavior bears a starling resemblance to the huge Snowman in the Warner Brothers cartoon, Abominable Snow Rabbit. Humiliated and stymied, Ralph has finally had enough role-playing. Jeered and mocked by the denizens of the game universe for his poor performance, Ralph returns to his tenuous dream-reality where he promptly flushes the "Blood N' Guts" box down the toilet.

At the beginning of issue three, an insane Ralph is embarking on a mindless campaign to "Maim! Amputate! Mutilate! and Tease!" Dr. Goot (who looks similar to one of Popeye's goons) fears that the blame for Ralph's rampage will fall upon him. He recaptures Ralph who retreats from an intolerable reality into a twisted retelling of Blade Runner.

After being dragged out of bed by his short-tempered slave droid ("Wake up, fathead!") and forced to eat a hearty breakfast consisting of "moldy corn flakes, a smattering of El Burno hotsauce" and other household toxins, Ralph introduces himself in the best Mickey Spillane manner: "My name is Ralph Snart. I'm a robot exterminator. I rid this fair city of the mechanical slime that've gone bad!"

Muzzling 871

Assigned to locate and deactivate army attack robot 871 that is operating on its original program, Ralph pays a visit to his devoted girlfriend to inform her of his latest mission. She begs him to go after the "big, bad robot" and to "settle down, raise a -" Hard-boiled Ralph interrupts with a heartless, "Get real, bitch."

Accompanied by the ingenuous (but certainly not ingenious) Private Dork, Ralph tracks down the killer robot who intones, "Say yer prayers, ya mangy little varmint!" The giant machine pursues Ralph and Dork, uttering such dire threats as "Come back here, ya fur-bearin' critters, or I'm agonna blast ya tuh kingdomcome!" One of 871's original programmers must have been Mel Blanc.

Using Dork as bait, Ralph traps and deactivates 871. He finds a clue to the culprit who released the mechanized meance, but he is unable to report the discovery to his superior: "Whoever had triggered the robot's violent behavior also gave my boss his last haircut!"

Upon arriving home, he finds his girlfriend and faithful slaveroid flagrante delicto. Holding a gun on Ralph, she admits that she reprogrammed the 871 in order to rid herself of him. He falls to his knees, begging, "We'll get married, raise a -" "Get real, slimeball," she snaps. Of course, the Ralph she shoots is only a robot double. After dispatching his girlfriend, Ralph awakens in the clutches of Dr. Goot who puts an end to his fantasizing by the simple expediency of removing his brain.

These stories are not simple parodies of currently popular trends. Ralph Snart Adventures provoke laughter, true enough, but they also spark a sinking sensation of recognition.

Who, after being gulled by dozens of "first issue collector's items" hasn't wondered about their business sense? Who, after hearing pompous, self-styled fan critics pontificationg about the heavy weight meaning of Blade Runner, Brazil or what-have-you hasn't wondered if they all saw the same movie?

Ralph, as a character, is certainly unique in these particular stories. Possessing the ability to escape from a cold and dangerous reality into absurd and frustrating dreamscapes must rank as one of the most pointless super powers in all of comics history. He's not quite victimized by his dreams, but he's certainly not in total control of them, either. He is superficially similar to the protagonist of Ursula K. LeGuin's novel, The Lathe of Heaven, but he refuses to allow his fantasies to be manipulated by outside forces. Of course, he gets fed up with the permutations of his own imagination and simply quits the dream when his irritation threshold is reached.

Snart's Future

In any event, Marc Hansen intends to broaden the satirical perspective of Ralph Snart Adventures beyond mocking dearly-held fannish conventions: "It will be gradually changing. In #4, the humor will be different, something non-fans can relate to. I set the book up not to be constrained by any limitations."

Caputo perceives a bright future for Ralph Snart Adventures. Wanting to get as far away as possible from the stigma attached to underground comix, he declares that "Ralph will be going to color with number eight for that reason." A plan for newsstand distribution is also in the works, he adds, "hopefully by summertime." He feels, after speaking with distributors such as Bud Plant, that "the next big trend will be humor comics, and Ralph will draw in people who don't even necessarily read comics."

Caputo admits, however, to some uncertainty as to the prmary reading audience of Ralph's adventures: "I wish I knew. We've gotten letters from ten-year-olds using Crayolas to professional people using word processors. I guess the main audience is between ten and ninety." He goes on to indecate that almost all of the credit for Ralph's popularity goes to Hansen: "He's one of the best people to work with. He's very shy, but really professional. He's two issues ahead of schedule all the time and he always comes up with great ideas for ads." Caputo states unequivocally that the series is a success for a very simple reason. "Ralph Snart is not trying to be funny. It is funny."

©1987 David Caruba