Contrafactual comics: Jay-Z meets Batman, Jack Kirby meets My Little Pony

Chris Sims, Laura Hudson and Colleen Coover have executed as series of "Great Comics That Never Happened" for Comics Alliance, and they're fabulous. Exhibits A and B: Great Comics that Never Happened: Batman and Jay-Z Solve 99 Problems! (Chris Sims), and Great Comics That Never Happened #21: Jack Kirby's 'My Little Pony' (also Chris Sims) (Hudson has a good line on Christmas-themed work).

Great Comics That Never Happened (via IO9)

• [Preston Sturges]

  That so needs Galactus

• [Scott Rubin]

  I think this has been posted before.

• [einsteinatthemall]

  The “My Little Pony” parody cover is cute, but a Jay-Z “99 Problems” parody in 2012 is a little bit late, doncha think? – “99 Problems” came out 8 years ago. In order to work properly, a satire or straight parody needs to be with the times, not 8 years behind the times. Also, the “Superman loses his citizenship” concept was done quite a few decades ago by National Lampoon Magazine, which had a fondness for superhero comic book parodies

  • [devophill]

    Is there another Jay-Z song that you think would be more current and up-to-date? The comic is the first volume of “The Brave And The Bold”, which hasn’t been published since the 80s, so is it also behind the times? I think the Riddler is a good guy now, so that’s out of date. You know, now that I think of it, the Soviet Union doesn’t exist anymore either. Man! These satirists need to get with the times. Parodying an 8-year-old song with a 29-year-old comic, a 43-year-old rapper, and a 73-year-old superhero, or maybe a parody of a 9-year-old comic in the style of a 74-year-old comic as it was 50 years ago? SO OLD AND BEHIND THE TIMES JUST GIVE IT UP

    • [bcsizemo]

      Perhaps this is the 100th problem Jay-Z does not yet know about?

    • [einsteinatthemall]

      I reiterate, devophill – good satire needs to be OF the times. I guess you still get a kick out of watching old episodes of “The Bill Maher Show” yes?

      • [devophill]

        A good comic book parody needs to be about comic books. I do enjoy reading old comic books, even old satire like MAD magazine. Also, Bill Maher is satire now?

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Clearly the Jay-Z reference  is for the white audience, because according to StuffWhitePeopleLike.com, because, on the list of “Things White People Like,” #116 is “Black Music That Black People Don’t Listen To Any More.”

    http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/11/18/116-black-music-that-black-people-dont-listen-to-anymore/

  • [wizardru]

    The ‘Superman revokes his citizenship’ gag was based on Superman (but not Clark Kent) revoking his American citizenship in the comics about a year-and-a-half ago.  You might have missed the Fox News froth about it, especially as DC rebooted their entire comics line shortly thereafter.

  • [Robert Cruickshank]

     That particular song seems to have become a meme. “99 problems / but a [term homophonic with 'bitch'] ain’t one.” Or something like that.

• [Ryan_T_H]

  Anyone who likes these should check out The Line is Drawn over at CSBG.
  http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/08/12/the-line-it-is-drawn-archive/

  Every week an excellent group of artists mashes up comic covers based on a theme. The results often transcend the subject.

• [devophill]

  As far as I can tell, despite being posted by different people on CA’s site, these were all written by Chris Sims but drawn by various artists including Colleen Coover (the New Yorker cover). The covers in this post were drawn by Tom Scioli (My Little Pony) and Kerry Callen (The Brave And The Bold). I know the Christmas ones were written by Sims for sure, that subject is kind of his specialty.

  • [Rob Absten]

    Beat me to it. Chris Sims is indeed the brains behind the entire line. He is, for lack of a better term, one funny fucking dude. The podcast he does with Matt Wilson is worth a listen and his own comics – search for Awesome Hospital or Dracula Unconquered – are fun stuff. Let’s hope the BoingBoing Effect sends some well-deserved attention his way.

• [Halloween_Jack]

  The Batman/Jay-Z team-up seems a lot less improbable when you remember that Spider-Man teamed up with the original cast of Saturday Night Live decades ago.

  • [bibulb]

    The winner is still the Avengers on Late Night With David Letterman. Ah, good times.

    “…That doorknob…”
    “It’s just so darned big, isn’t it?”

• [aynrandspenismighty]

  Why is Stephen Colbert trying to kill Jay-Z?

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Full List of Stuff White People Like
    #35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
    #116 Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore

• [Teller]

  Read it as My Little Porny – which is likely a category somewhere.