This is just one of many parodies they would go on to do.
In 1995, Animaniacs received a Comic-Book Adaptation published by DC Comics, which ran for 59 issues (managing to outlast the show by two years). In the grand tradition of Looney Tunes before it, the comic book managed to capture the same zany humor as the show. Interestingly enough, there was a special Christmas issue in 1994, before the start of the series (perhaps to test how strong sales would be). There was also a special issue made to tie-in with The Red Cross, in which the Warners learn how to handle emergencies (knowing their brand of humor, it goes as well as you think it would).
Describe tropes here:
- Affectionate Parody: Issue #45 has the "Warner Twins", copying the Wonder Twins from one of DC's animated adaptations - Yakko as Zan, able to turn into things with ice and water in their names; Dot as Jayna, capable of turning into heavy things; and Yakko as "Geek the Monkey". And true to the period of that comic, the villain is stopped with Temptress Banana Cakes!
- Ambiguously Bi: Issue #15 heavily implies that Squit has a crush on Frank Pigeonatra.
- Anthology Comic: In keeping with the series proper, each issue can have upwards of three stories, often with one page gag comics in-between mimicking the shorter segments from the show like "Mime Time" or "Randy Beamen". Like any given episode each issue would have at least one story featuring the Warners, and starting with issue #43, Pinky and the Brain was a regular feature til the end of the comics run.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Issue #58 starts with a villain saying "My name struck fear deep into the hearts of my enemies. I commanded a legion of evil masterminds who obeyed my every whim. I had a cleaning service!".
- Art Shift: Frequently done as part of a parody. See issue #13 (manga) and issue #19 (The X-Files) for examples.
- Baby Morph Episode: In issue #52, Pinky and the Brain turn into young children after the former accidentally spills the latter's new age-reversal potion all over them.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Wakko's comment about Gigantasaurus:Wakko: He looks just like G—Yakko: Whoa, you can't say that!Dot: That name is © and ™, you know.Wakko: Someone's trademarked Granny?Yakko: Those Looney Tunes lawyers at Warner Bros. trademark everything.Dot: Go figure.™
- Balloon Belly: Issue #17. The contestants in the Miss Small Town beauty pageant all end up with this after Dot treats them to a "Junk Food Jamboree", which they go crazy over due to previously starving themselves on a diet of just bread, water, and minerals absorbed from their lip gloss. Ironically, the ladies enjoy stuffing themselves so much they decide the whole beauty contest is a waste of time and leave to eat even MORE food.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In Issue #26, Slappy and Skippy get a monkey's paw. Slappy accidentally wishes to get rid of her bunions and a guy with an ax visits her. She redirects him to the Olsen twins. Realizing the paw is dangerous, Slappy throws it away and Walter Wolf finds it. After a whole bunch of wishes to hurt Slappy fail, he decides to "cut out the middleman,” wishing “to be rid of Slappy Squirrel once and for all". He is transported to the Galapagos Islands, where he runs afoul of a gorilla who has a hook to replace a missing paw.
- Break the Cutie: The Warner’s engage in a cultural exchange program, where Dot switches places with a Hello Kitty expy. Needless to say, the Warner Brothers can’t stand her brand of cuteness for very long, and set about to “change” her...
- Bride Zilla: Issue #51 has Katie Ka-Boom going to her cousin's wedding, and said bride is a meanie also capable of Hulking Out when enraged.
- Compelling Voice: Sgt. Mike Cosgrove got Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to sit down and behave simply by saying, "Hey! Cut it out!"
- Crossover: "Tour De Freak" from issue #35 is one to Freakazoid!. Freakazoid and Cosgrove take a tour of the studio lot, but then the Lobe takes hostages after executives reject his TV show pitch.
- Cruella to Animals: In comic book story "101 Darnations", an Expy of the Trope Namer wants to make a coat of the Warner siblings' fur.
- There's also a Rita and Runt story where a woman with a stuffed animal collection hired "Mace Ventura: Pet Hunter" to get the duo.
- End-of-Series Awareness: Issue #59 notes right on the cover that it's the last issue.
- Gift of the Magi Plot: In Issue #43 of the comic, the Warner siblings give Plotz accessories for his Ferrari. Dot gave an air freshener, Wakko gave a pink, fuzzy steering-wheel cozy, and Yakko gave sexy lady mudflaps. Unfortunately, for Plotz, Wakko sold the Ferrari's tires to buy the cozy, Dot sold the steering wheel to buy the air freshener, and Yakko sold the frame to buy the mudflaps.
- Gilligan Cut: Happens three times in Issue #38. When Dot leaves for Japan, leaving Yakko and Wakko with the Hello Kitty expy, they thought Dot is having a lot a trouble in Japan, but the three cutaways with Dot in Japan reveals that she's having the time of her life in Japan, from performing K-Pop songs to taking part in Japanese TV Shows and films, and gains instant popularity from the people of of Japan. By the time she returned from Japan, she, however, went through serious jet-lag.
- Group Hug: Pops in during Issue #43, where Yakko, Wakko, and Dot have an emotional moment
◊. Also done during Issue #21, but Dot and Yakko aren't in the mood for all that emotional stuff◊. - Handbag of Hurt: One issue has Minerva Mink do this to an overexcited male bystander.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Minerva Mink is fully aware of this, and uses it to her advantage (mainly to stop Newt the hunting dog from taking her fur).
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The final appearance of Hello Nurse, Agent of H.U.B.B.A. begins with Nurse Doom alone in a cluttered lair, lamenting the villainous clout that she once had and shortly revealed to be talking to a sock on her hand.
- Imprinting: Issue 48 has three ducks thinking Slappy is her mother, and always coming in the wrong time as she fights Walter Wolf.
- Inkblot Test: Done when they visit an ER parody. Dr. Ross shows a blot like Batman's symbol to Yakko, and when he asks what he sees the response is "You".
- Let's Meet the Meat: Chicken Boo's solo stories end with him chased by a crowd who wants to eat him.
- Musical Episode: Issue 43's "The Sound of Coo-sic" had the Goodfeathers singing The Sound of Music parodies.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Along with all the celebrity parodies, "The Fourth Warner!" introduced in #33 is a send-up of Rip Taylor.
- No Fourth Wall: Just like in the show. And sometimes noting its comic nature (such as an angry Mace Ventura saying "No more Mr. Nice Comics-Code-Approved Nice Guy! I'm gonna get those two offed and stuffed, even if it means this book becomes a Vertigo title!" ).
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: Averted. Even when Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink are cast as superheroes, all the guys still want them.
- Notzilla: A story from the comics is set in Japan and has a Godzilla-like monster named Gigantasaurus a.k.a. Leon.
- Parody Assistance: The issue parodying The X-Files brings in the cover artist and the penciller that were doing that show's Topps Comics adaptation.
- Parody Episode: Some issues revolve around a single theme, such as #12 (The '60s), #13 (Japan), #17 ("Special Employment Issue!"), #18 (France), #19 (The X-Files), #20 (James Dean movies), #24 (Brooklyn), #26 (Tales from the Tower), , #39 (explosions, including a Katie Ka-Boom story), #41 (Fractured Fairy Tales) and #49 (Literature Classics).
- Potty Emergency: Subverted in Issue #27. After Slappy and Skippy order two sodas from the refreshment cart, Skippy feels the need to use the bathroom, so Slappy takes him in its direction. It's then revealed to be just an act to get to the cockpit of the plane.
- Pungeon Master: In Issue #34, Minerxa is noted for two things, her incredible sex appeal and her awful puns, which are ignore by those enamored.
- Reference Overdosed: The series was chock-full of pop-culture references, because most issues were parodies of something/someone that was popular in the 90s (Quentin Tarantino, The Spice Girls, Howard Stern, etc).
- Rhymes on a Dime:
- "Dot's Spot", being a Dr. Seuss parody, has all the dialogue rhyming.
- The Evita parody "Brainita" also does it, with only one part having a clear melody ("Don't whine for me, Oranjina...")
- True to a Shakespeare parody, "Macboo", with Chicken Boo as Macbeth, also does it.
- Seashell Bra: One issue featured a spoof of The Little Mermaid with Minerva Mink as a mermaid (or mermink) and she uses these.
- Self-Deprecation: Issue #10 features the kids learning about how a comic book is made, and they find out in the end that the writers are watched over by an editor with a whip, who’ll send them to “Quality Control” if they’re not fast enough.
- Shout-Out: In Issue #56, Slappy begrudgingly takes Skippy to buy the latest Animanimorphs books.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: As revealed in the comics, Minerva has an extremely hard time doing ordinary things like grocery shopping and filing taxes, because every male of every species in the area is panting and hooting at her.
- Spin-Off: Minerva Mink was considered too risqué for TV, so they moved her to the comic book instead, where she enjoyed many more starring roles in stories than in the show.
- Take That!: In Issue #39 of the comic, Skippy wants to know how to make a bomb and Slappy tells him to hire Kevin Costner to direct and star.
- The cover of Issue #17 has Minerva rejecting a copy of Beast saying "I'd rather kiss a Hunchback!"
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Zigzagged in Issue #27. After Slappy lands the plane she and Skippy are on, Skippy feels the need to vomit. He's not shown doing it, but the plane can be seen being cleaned of the vomit after they get off.
- What Are Records?: In Issue #32, Dot invites some girls for a slumber party and tries to offer records for entertainment but her guests, not being cartoon characters from old times like her, don't know what records are.
- Who Even Needs a Brain?: Issue #45 has the Brain's brain leaving his body after an accident (it involved Pinky scratching a blackboard as Brain passed in front of a really potent speaker), forcing him to devise a method to put it back.
- Wild Take:
- One issue has Wakko perform one of these because he read about a Tex Avery film festival in a magazine.
- Most guys do this whenever they see Minerva Mink, and she herself does it whenever she sees a hot guy.
- Wolverine Publicity: The cover of Issue #1, as seen above, gives more space for Pinky and the Brain, to the chagrin of the Warners. And once the mice's own title was cancelled, the title on the cover started reading Animaniacs featuring Pinky and the Brain.
