A Spanish comic-book series.Fanhunter tells us the story of an alternate world: In 1996, in the city of Barcelona, Alejo Cuervo (an insane ex-librarian who thinks he is possessed by the spirit of Philip K. Dick), proclaims himself as the new Pope Alejo I (killing the old one blowing up the Vatican City), submitting (and bribing some governments) all of Europe to the boring "Dick's Rule" by forbidding almost any form of subculture (video games, comics, DVDs, role-playing games, hopscotch...) allowing just what he likes (the works of Philip K. Dick... and, strangely, Breakfast at Tiffany's) Alejo I decided to create a special force, the Fanhunters, and use the cloned soldiers "Tintin Macutes" (not so intelligent) to annihilate the civilians who still resist: otakus, gamers, comic fans and geeks left in Europe. Barcelona is renamed as Barnacity, being the capital of Europe, now renamed Europe of Dick.To defend themselves, the rebels created a group, The Resistance, to fight against Pope Alejo I and his evil forces. Many fans organised to defend their ideals and lifestyle, stopping the destruction of imagination that moves the World, using their knowledge of movies, comics, TV shows, books, manga & anime, etc.It started as a self-edited fanzine, and its creator-artist-writer Cels Piñol personally distributed it among the comic book shops. As time went by, its popularity rose, and then it became a nationwide phenomenon, and went outside Spain, attracting the interest of the South American readers.Graphically limited (simple, but effective artwork), Piñol attracted the attention of thousands of readers who are identified with his comics, games, characters and concepts. In the 1990s, Fanhunter passed from a fanzine to a big publisher, Planeta De Agostini, and there was a huge production of the series. An expanded line with different authors, role-playing games (Fanhunter, Outfan...), novels (Fanhunter: Herencia...), etc. was created.The humoristic world of the future that Fanhunter reflects, where everything related with comic books, Internet, video games, role-playing games and other expressions of leisure are forbidden, is a subtle and intelligent reflection about the dangers of totalitarian regimes, intolerance and fundamentalism.And. It's. Awesome.You can find more info here.
Affectionate Parody: Most of the characters are this (John Constantine -> John Konstantin; Ellen Ripley -> Ellen Replay; etc.)
Don Depresor deserves an special mention. His name is a pun on the early Spanish translation of Daredevil. Spanish censorship wouldn't let a hero be called "Devil", so they changed his name to Dan Defensor (Defending Dan). Don Depresor could be translated as "Mr Gloomy", in a Shout Out about the Miller/Nocenti run of DD.
Alternate Continuity: In an alternate continuity John Konstantin dies getting run over by a De Lorean -yes, that De Lorean- and it results in a new timeline with Alejo as The Hero -and married to Belit- against a new Big Bad, Morsa (a member of the Resistance in the original universe)
Alternate Universe: We have the Fanhunter universe, the Fanboria universe, the Outfan universe (thought this one is probably just a distant future to the Fanhunter one). There's also the Positive Zone... our world.
Big Bad: Professor Lokie, Alejo I (he becomes The Atoner afterwards), Muermammu and Killer Dog (temporarily)... but the real Big Bad is the MEEP (Mal En Estado Puro, Evil in its purest form in english)
Big Damn Gunship: The Guagua de la Muerte in The Final Conflict, with its surprise return and attack against the fleet of the MEEP.
Bizarre Alien Biology: Alejo is really Bev, a member of the Fenicius species. They obtain energy and expand their lifetimes (with near inmortality) with business transactions.
Cross Over: Fanhunter: The Final Conflict, the final arc, is a Crisis Crossover between all the in-universes of the series: Fanhunter, Outfan, Fanboria...
Elseworld: Barnacity by Gaslight, Savage Kiusap Tales.
The End... Or Is It?: The end of The Final Conflict implies that the Fanboria universe will become a new Fanhunter universe, with a new Big Bad -this time centered around Robert E. Howard, not Philip K. Dick- and a new Resistance...
Face Heel Turn: Al Fonso, also know as the villainous Guerrero del Antifan
Homage: Most of the characters, being parodies, are also this: (John Konstantin/John Constantine, Doctor X-traño/Doctor Strange, Ellen Replay/Ellen Ripley, etc.)
Also, the AKD 2988 Knight of Dick from Fanhunter: Manga Wars, piloted by Belit for a crowning moment of both funny and awesome.
I Know Mortal Kombat: But not only applied to videogames. If you're a comic book fan, an otaku, a gamer or a geek in the Fanhunter universe, you're probably a freaking potential superhero.
It Got Worse: Alejo left the power forced by Muermammu, and things got worse. Muermammu is defeated leaving the goverment in the hands of Killer Dog, things got even worse. Alejo came back and just when it looked things will got better, even hinting an agreement with the Resistance, he's shot by an sniper and everything goes to hell.
Les Yay: Leona Vaskez with Ellen Replay in Star Hounds Genesis and with Belit in Dracula Returns.
Loads and Loads of Characters: John Konstantin, Belit, Ridli Scott, X-Tremo, Don Depresor, Alejo, Cels Denbrough, Doctor X-Traño, Killer Dog, Morsa, Nando Dixcontrol, Merrin, Ruben Hood, Stuart Goldsmith, etc. etc.
Mama Bear: Belit, especially when Alejo visited her newborn twins (his grandchildren): exhausted woman who has just given birth threatening the current Big Bad with katanas. Badass.
Mind Screw: Erika's dreams in the novel Fanhunter: Herencia.
Max Pospo's dreams in The Final Conflict too. Being the cousin of Erika's father, maybe is a family thing?
Mooks: The Tintin Macutes, with elements of Red Shirt Army. This gets averted at times: even if they are pathetic and laughable (they're claustrophobic and can't walk and chew gum at the same time), their big numbers can made them a true menace (and we better not talk about degenerated macutes or the zombified ones in The Final Conflict)
According to the Fanpiro RPG book, there's another breed of fanpires, the ones infected by the Barrabás virus, who don't need to eat comic-books - though some do -, just play games and read books and comics enough time to calm their vice.
Retcon: In the original Battle of Montjuic arc the Tintin Macutes are driven to suicide when they are made to believe that a painted-in-white Gusa is Milu (a.k.a Snowy), Tintin's dog, took as hostage in a ridiculous plot orchestrated by Don Depresor of all people. In The Remake it's revealed that the surrender and suicide of the Macutes was caused by mental suggestion by Alejo, who didn't want to see Konstantin die.
No, seriously. Given its nature and plot the series is a big conglomeration of shout outs to movies, comic books, manga, videogames, literature, etc... the characters themselves, certain cameos and Expys, dialogues, some situations of the plot, jokes... The list of shout outs in Fanhunter is dreadfully long.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: The beginning (and most) of the relationship between Konstantin and Belit.
The Remake: Some of the older self-edited fanzine issues and story arcs of the series had been remade (by Cels and other authors) to fit with the more developed continuity of the recent ones. Some examples are Celquest, The Battle of Montjüic (which is also an expanded version subtitled Redux) and the Kiusap Gothic: Robin Hood remade as Green Hood/Green Dixk.
A Spanish comic-book series.Fanhunter tells us the story of an alternate world: In 1996, in the city of Barcelona, Alejo Cuervo (an insane ex-librarian who thinks he is possessed by the spirit of Philip K. Dick), proclaims himself as the new Pope Alejo I (killing the old one blowing up the Vatican City), submitting (and bribing some governments) all of Europe to the boring "Dick's Rule" by forbidding almost any form of subculture (video games, comics, DVDs, role-playing games, hopscotch...) allowing just what he likes (the works of Philip K. Dick... and, strangely, Breakfast at Tiffany's) Alejo I decided to create a special force, the Fanhunters, and use the cloned soldiers "Tintin Macutes" (not so intelligent) to annihilate the civilians who still resist: otakus, gamers, comic fans and geeks left in Europe. Barcelona is renamed as Barnacity, being the capital of Europe, now renamed Europe of Dick.To defend themselves, the rebels created a group, The Resistance, to fight against Pope Alejo I and his evil forces. Many fans organised to defend their ideals and lifestyle, stopping the destruction of imagination that moves the World, using their knowledge of movies, comics, TV shows, books, manga & anime, etc.It started as a self-edited fanzine, and its creator-artist-writer Cels Piñol personally distributed it among the comic book shops. As time went by, its popularity rose, and then it became a nationwide phenomenon, and went outside Spain, attracting the interest of the South American readers.Graphically limited (simple, but effective artwork), Piñol attracted the attention of thousands of readers who are identified with his comics, games, characters and concepts. In the 1990s, Fanhunter passed from a fanzine to a big publisher, Planeta De Agostini, and there was a huge production of the series. An expanded line with different authors, role-playing games (Fanhunter, Outfan...), novels (Fanhunter: Herencia...), etc. was created.The humoristic world of the future that Fanhunter reflects, where everything related with comic books, Internet, video games, role-playing games and other expressions of leisure are forbidden, is a subtle and intelligent reflection about the dangers of totalitarian regimes, intolerance and fundamentalism.And. It's. Awesome.You can find more info here
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