Do not confuse with
Muggles or
Badass Normal, nor with the Italian comic book (later adapted to a radio show and eventually to a
Live-Action TV show) superhero spoof of the same name.
normalman is a limited series of American comic books created by Jim Valentino. It began in November, 1983 as a four page story in Cerebus #56 and #57 before being launched as a full color 12 issue series (January, 1984- December, 1985) which was published by Aardvark-Vanaheim before moving to Denis Loubet's Renegade Press. The story of normalman would conclude in normalman 3D Annual #1.
Fearing the Planet Arnold would explode, normalman's father sends his infant son on a rocketship to escape the planet's destruction . . . which NEVER comes to pass. Twenty years later and fully grown, normalman crash-lands on the planet
Levram, where everybody has super powers ... except for normalman himself. Being the only person on the whole planet with no powers makes him a celebrity.
Hilarity Ensues.
The series spoofed many comic book companies per issue, including
DC,
Marvel,
EC and
Harvey, as well as doing parodies of
The Spirit,
Elfquest,
Astérix,
Star Wars and
The Wizard of Oz. The series was first collected in trade paperback by Slave Labor Graphics. Recently, a new trade paperback which included several followups was published by Image Comics. Both trades are in black and white.
Tropes associated with this work:
- The Adjectival Superhero
- Captain Ersatz: A distinct majority of the characters. Captain Everything, for instance, combines elements of Superman and Captain Marvel.
- Crossover: with Cerebus, Journey by William Messner-Loebs, Tales Of The Beanworld, and Megaton Man (the latter also featuring appearances by everyone from Madman to Bone to Groo The Wanderer to Flaming Carrot)
- The Ditz: Captain Everything
- Everyone Is A Super: Levram
- Eyepatch of Power: Sgt. Fluffy. (It even changes its position on his face.)
- Fun with Acronyms: S.C.H.M.U.C.K.- which stands for "Nothing-In-Particular", according to the footnotes.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Captain Everything can actually give the Crimson Chin a run for his money!
- Names To Not Trust: if someone named "Rotten Kid" tells you they can help you, maybe it wouldn't be wise to trust them
- No Fourth Wall: Pretty much everyone seems aware they're in a comic book
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Captain Everything states that he has this ability in the very first sentence he speaks.
- Only Sane Man: normalman of course.
- Overly Long Gag: Every time S.C.H.M.U.C.K comes up, the editors feel it necessary to mention that it doesn't stand for anything in particular.
- Would the Legion of Superfluous Heroes' Roll Call count as well?
- Real Men Wear Pink: Sgt. Fluffy is a fur-faced, heart-poundin', front-facin', meat-and-potatoes patriot who wears The Wizard of Oz style red sequined pumps.
- Ridiculously Average Guy: normalman, so average his name doesn't get to be capitalized. Until the series' end, where we learn that his real name is Norm-L.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Unfortunately, there's a whole heaping bunch of obvious spelling and grammatical errors.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Levram.
- Something Person
- Strawman Political: The Ultra-Conservative, played for laughs. After getting injected with a super-serum, he alternates between his original persona and "The Liberalator", much to his annoyance
- Stripperiffic: The Countess of Monte Crisco.
- There Was A Door: Not many of the inhabitants of Levram use doors. Especially not Captain Everything.
- Un-Sorcerer: Well, duh.
- World of Badass: The planet Levram, where everyone has super powers.
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