Line #31 ComicBook/AmbushBug


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' '''[[Characters/{{Superman}} Main Character Index]]'''\
2	'''Title Character'''\
3	[[Characters/SupermanTheCharacter Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman]]\
4	'''[[Characters/SupermanSupportingCast Supporting Cast]]'''\
5	[[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] \| [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] \| '''Ambush Bug''' \| ComicBook/{{Steel}}\
6	'''[[Characters/SupermanRoguesGallery Villains]]'''\
7	[[Characters/SupermanCentralRoguesGallery Central Rogues Gallery]] ([[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Alexander "Lex" Luthor]], [[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]], [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Vril Dox/Brainiac]], [[Characters/SupermanCyborgSuperman Cyborg-Superman]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], [[Characters/SupermanDoomsdayCharacter Doomsday]], Characters/{{Lobo}}, [[Characters/SupermanMisterMxyzptlk Mister Mxyzptlk]], [[Characters/DCComicsMongul Mongul]], [[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryPhantomZone Phantom Zone Criminals]] [[[Characters/SupermanGeneralZod General Zod]]]) \| [[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryAToL A-L]] \| [[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ M-Z]] ([[Characters/SupermanSuperboyPrime Superboy-Prime]])\
8	'''Spin-Offs'''\
9	''Characters/{{Supergirl}}'' ([[Characters/SupergirlTheCharacter Kara Zor-El/Linda Danvers/Supergirl]], [[Characters/SupergirlSupportingCast Supporting Cast]], [[Characters/SupergirlEnemies Rogues Gallery]]) \| ''Characters/PowerGirl'' \| ''Characters/{{Superboy}}'' ([[Characters/SupermanConnerKent Conner Kent/Kon-El]], [[Characters/SupermanJonathanSamuelKent Jonathan "Jon" Samuel Kent]], [[Characters/SuperboySupportingCast Supporting Cast]], [[Characters/SuperboyEnemies Rogues Gallery]]) \| ''Characters/LegionOfSuperheroes'' ([[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesFounders The Founders]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesSilverAge Silver Age]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesBronzeAge Bronze Age]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesFiveYearsLater Five Years Later]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesPostboot Postboot]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesThreeboot Threeboot]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesRetroboot Retroboot]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesRebirth Rebirth]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesOtherHeroes Other Heroes]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesTheFatalFive The Fatal Five]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesLegionOfSupervillains The Legion of Supervillains]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesOtherVillains Other Villains]], [[Characters/LegionOfSuperheroesSupportingCharacters Supporting Cast]])-]]]]]
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13	[[quoteright:250:[[ScaryFlashlightFace https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ambush_bug_6346.jpg]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:250:I'm watching you while you surf TV Tropes...]]
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16	A character from Franchise/TheDCU, created by comic book writer/artist Keith Giffen, Ambush Bug is the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} secret identity of Irwin Schwab, a man raised solely on TV who one day discovered a green {{teleportation}} suit that was sent within a capsule from a doomed planet ([[UnreliableNarrator or so he claims]]) He has starred in several critically acclaimed mini-series, though he is pretty much [[CanonDiscontinuity on the fringe of the comic universe he inhabits]].
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18	Ambush Bug first appeared in ''ComicBook/DCComicsPresents'' #52 (December, 1982). Originally he appeared as a minor foe of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, before deciding to become a superhero himself, though Ambush Bug proves himself utterly incompetent at the job. As time went on, his appearances became increasingly in-jokey, FourthWall breaking, satirical and surreal. As a generally FunPersonified character, he wasn't seen much during the pits of MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, and though he is rarely used by other writers, he still exists in the DC Universe. He became a supporting character in Keith Giffen's ComicBook/DoomPatrol.
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20	In the ''ComicBook/New52'', he's a roving reporter for Channel 52 News, a method of combining information about what's happening in the DCU with a comedy backup strip.
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22	He currently appears in the Suicide Squad (2021) and routinely talks to the reader, often giving recaps or quips (like [[Film/TheSuicideSquad saying he imagines Bloodsport to have a British accent]])
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24	The closest Creator/MarvelComics equivalent would likely be ComicBook/{{Deadpool}},[[note]]Mixed with ComicBook/{{Lobo}}[[/note]] with a dash of [[ComicBook/TheUnbeatableSquirrelGirl Squirrel Girl]] thrown in (though Ambush appeared before either of them) and a bit of Forbush Man[[note]]a similar {{Super Zero\|es}} from Marvel's own parody book ''Not Brand Ecch''[[/note]] (who actually predated Bug) as well.
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27	!!This character provides examples of the following Tropes:
28	* ArchEnemy: Argh! Yle! the living sock. Yes, his archenemy is a sock.
29	* ArcNumber: 52 seems to have special meaning for Bug.
30	%%* AffectionateParody
31	%%* AmusingAlien
32	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: One of his nemeses is The Koala Who Walks Like A Man, a parody of Creator/MarvelComics' Giant Monster comics from MediaNotes/{{the Silver Age\|of Comic Books}}. It goes "niknak". It's very cute.
33	* BerserkButton: He doesn't take too kindly to anyone who threatens TV sets.
34	--> '''Kobra''': First '''you''' will die! Then, I will defeat your fellow heroes, take over your nation, imprison its citizens, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking destroy their TV sets]], burn their homes, and--
35	--> '''Ambush Bug''' ([[FreakyFridayFlip in Superman's body]]): Destroy TV sets?!! You '''''ANIMAL!!'''''
36	* BewareTheSillyOnes: So you think the weak idiot in the bright green suit can't do squat, do ya? Lemme tell you this - combine MotorMouth with TeleportSpam, ConfusionFu and the occasional dash of genre savviness and you got a damn powerful enemy on your hands, buster.
37	* BitingTheHandHumor: His miniseries ''Ambush Bug: Year None'' mocks several concepts that were common in DC Comics titles at the time and also features tons of jokes at the expense of DC Comics' then editor-in-chief Dan [=DiDio=], the most flagrant being that one part depicts [=DiDio=] as a narcissistic and deluded supervillain who poses a serious threat to the DC Universe.
38	* BizarroUniverse: There is (or was) a counterpart on Htrae - Bizarro Ambush Bug. Fittingly, he is the only ''sane'' person on the planet.
39	* BodyInABreadbox: Parodied with a sequence where Ambush goes shopping and cannot find a fridge without the body of an ex-girlfriend in it. He settles for a mini-fridge with a pygmy corpse inside. In fact, through the entire issue, there are dozens of female corpses all over the place. Some even get ''lobbed'' at Bug.
40	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Apparently one of Ambush Bug's super powers. He can also actually see the speech bubbles that come out of characters' mouths, and once asked ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} why the text in hers is backward.
41	** It's suggested in a one-shot that while he can read speech bubbles (and presumably thought bubbles), he can't hear what other characters on the page are saying -- the speech bubbles are his only means of communication.
42	** When Mayfair Games published a scenario for their DC tabletop RPG that featured Ambush Bug (''Don't Ask!''), he was likewise perfectly aware that he was in a roleplaying game.
43	** Even more so, he [[spoiler:supposedly comes OUT of the game to interact directly with the players instead of their characters - the back cover was a mask to cut out and assemble to put on for that particular scene]].
44	** In ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', Ambush Bug can be found in the Watchtower (for heroes) or the Hall of Doom (for villains). His first line is "Hey, look who's in your video game!" He does the same thing as an EasterEgg in ''VideoGame/LegoBatman 3: Beyond Gotham''.
45	** Ambush Bug stars in the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', where he helps Batman try to save the show from [[RealityWarper Bat-Mite]]'s attempts to make it JumpTheShark and get cancelled. For extra credit, Bug is voiced by Creator/HenryWinkler, [[Series/HappyDays the original shark-jumper]].
46	* ClingyCostume: The zipper is stuck.
47	%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
48	* CompanionCube: Cheeks the Toy Wonder, a Big Boy doll Ambush Bug adopted as his sidekick.
49	** Note that Cheeks isn't alive or even animated (except when he briefly became undead), Ambush Bug just ''thinks'' so. He also wears a costume reminiscent of ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'''s.
50	* CurseCutShort: Meta, thus combined with GagCensor. In an splash page, the sentences are riddled with Ambush Bug's teleport sound. Comes handy when the editor describes him as a pain in the pop!.
51	* {{Determinator}}: Goes against [[RealityWarper Bat-Mite]] and endures a round of being beat down by ComicBook/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} in an effort to save the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' universe from being deleted.
52	* EmeraldPower: He wears all green and is a superhero.
53	* EndOfSeriesAwareness: Ambush Bug throws an after-party at the end of his first miniseries.
54	** He also convinces Batman to ensure [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold his Silver Age exploits]] end up with as much dignity as possible, even if they failed to save the show.
55	** He ends Keith Giffen's run on ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' by telling the villain to drop his plan, 'cause the book was being cancelled and there was no hope for him to see how it ended.
56	* FourthWallMailSlot: Ambush Bug answered his own letters, and in his first issue was puzzled that he had to wait months for feedback from the reader who had just finished the book.
57	%%* FourthWallObserver
58	* FunPersonified: He first appeared as a fairly standard supervillain, but within just a couple appearances had jumped into outright comedy, making fun of the fan obsessions of the day. So much ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} is willing to go karaoking with 'im.
59	* GagSeries: Every issue skips from place to place in The DCU making fun of everything from Superman to The Sandman.
60	* GenderBender:
61	** When he appeared in an issue of ''ComicBook/Supergirl1982'', he mistook ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} for a Gender Bent ComicBook/{{Superman}}.
62	** During his latest miniseries, he also found his own gender-bent [[{{Yandere}} alternate]].
63	* GrandFinale: In an interview, Keith Giffen stated that Ambush Bug's appearance in the Supergirl Matrix tie-in for Convergence is the final Ambush Bug story, unless he's asked to do something else with the character. Given Giffen's eventual passing, it truly was the final Ambush Bug story he wrote in his lifetime.
64	* HeelFaceTurn: He started off as a supervillain and decided to become a superhero.
65	* IgnoredExpert: Parodied with Brum-El (a parody of Superman father, Jor-El). Brum-El was not a scientist, just The Dandy in a very advanced civilization, and instead of saving his family, he chose to save his wardrobe. Again, when his planet failed to be destroyed, he was just mocked and left naked.
66	* InteractiveNarrator: In one of Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming's stories, the story's villain plans, after attacking the heroes, to go after the narrator for an egregious pun.
67	* IntrepidReporter: In the ComicBook/{{New 52}}.
68	* InUniverseFactoidFailure: When he first met ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, he assumed his pal ComicBook/{{Superman}} must have been turned into a girl by Red Kryponite and desperately needed his help, despite Supergirl being quite famous by this point.
69	* LampshadedTheObscureReference: His appearance in ''[=TBATB=]'' is lampshaded by fellow fourth-wall-smasher Bat-Mite. "You're a pretty obscure hero [[ReferenceOverdosed even for this show.]]"
70	* LivingClothes: The archnemesis of Ambush Bug is Argh!Yle!, a sentient sock with a Doctor Doom mask. He hates the Bug because when Argh fell to earth, Irwin Schwab (the man who would become the Bug) left him to die while rescuing what became the Bug's costume suit.
71	* MediumAwareness: He has an uncanny ability to see through Clark Kent's disguise, and even remarks how no one should be fooled by it. Superman was not pleased. Supergirl took it with more grace when 'Bush revealed he knew who she was, [[AwesomenessByAnalysis merely by observing her in both her identities]].
72	* MetaGuy: One of the first of the modern versions.
73	%%* NoFourthWall
74	* PostModernism: The meta-knowledge is the driving gag behind Ambush Bug. Who happens to be insane, so all that stuff could just be in his head.
75	* PunnyName: Argh!Yle! (obviously), Brum-El (less obviously - ever heard of Beau Brummel?) and [[BilingualBonus possibly]] Irvin Schwab. [[note]] In German, a "Schwabe" can mean a cockroach. [[/note]] And poor Homer Spalding is named only for making the mischief Ambush Bug does to him punnable.
76	* RageAgainstTheAuthor:
77	** Giffen/Bug isn't above lampshading Creator/DCComics' faults (or his own). [[TakeThat Or those of]] Creator/MarvelComics.
78	** Creator/DanDiDio is one of his mortal archenemies. When fighting against Bug, he's an idiot intent on destroying the damn green pest.
79	** Before that, there was editor Julius Schwartz.
80	* ShoutOut: Expect to see several in pretty much every comic about him (As well as the occasional TakeThat) l. Appeared in ''ComicBook/TinyTitans'' dressed as the mysterious Pandora that showed up in DC the first issues of the ''ComicBook/New52''.
81	* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: He's probably glued himself to the farthest end of the silly side of the scale.
82	* SuperHeroOrigin: Parodies ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s. The greatest [[TheDandy dandy]] in an alien world, Brum-El, decides to discard a chain letter, and as a result, discovers his planet is going to be hit by a swarm of meteorites which will kill all life. Against [[IgnoredExpert the belief of all experts]], he creates a rocket... to save his wardrobe. And then it turns out the meteorites ''really'' were harmless, leaving the man naked and humiliated. And then a [[ComicBook/SpiderMan giant radioactive space spider]] loots the rocket before accidentally nudging it to Earth, where it crashes, leaving one of the rocket's two remaining contents - a lime green suit - stuck in the antenna of a random Metropolis loser. The other item? ''A sentient sock''. Who immediately becomes a Doctor Doom parody, angry at being left behind.
83	** Superman once heard the story. He thought the idea of a scientist building a rocketship to save something from a doomed planet the dumbest story he'd heard.
84	* SuperZeroes: He's definitely one.
85	* {{Teleportation}}: Ambush Bug's original actual superpower. Early appearances required there to be one of his cybernetic bugs at the destination, but this limitation was eventually removed [[LightningCanDoAnything via lightning]].
86	* TeleportSpam: Part of the reason of why he's a great fighter when dueling against serious enemies. Superman has learned to loathe this.
87	* ThoughtCaption: Ambush can see 'em.
88	* TookALevelInBadass: Originally, he needed small electronic "bugs" to teleport. He has since internalized the ability.
89	* UnInstallment: ''Ambush Bug: Year None'' has an issue number 7, but no number 6. The joke being that there was a huge delay with the release of the next issue after issue 5... so it was numbered 7 to mock the delay ("Issue 6 is ''never'' coming out!")
90	** Heck, one of the major plot threads of issue 7 is Ambush Bug trying to ''figure out what happened'' to issue 6, which plays out somewhere between a GreatDetective parody and WhatDidIDoLastNight.
91	* WackySoundEffect: Meta. The letterer had to work overnight and didn't want to wake her baby, so the bomb does ''not'' go kaboom, but a soft tinnnng.
92	* WhatDidIDoLastNight:
93	** In ''Ambush Bug: Year None'', he wakes up and finds he got married to Dumb Bunny of the ''ComicBook/InferiorFive''.
94	** And then he tries to [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything have his marriage]] [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay annuled by]] [[DealWithTheDevil Neron]].

Context ComicBook / AmbushBug