Inferior Man

Inferior Man was a short (and short-lived) strip created by Al Jaffee, who is better known for his later work in Mad magazine. This strip was astoundingly anachronistic for its parody of the super-hero genre. It reads somewhat like DC’s lovable Silver Age doofuses, the Inferior Five.

Following the release of his memoir, Al Jaffee’s Mad Life, Jaffee talked about Inferior Man in an interview with Mother Jones: “I decided I want to get into [comic books], but I can’t draw like Superman. I’ll do the opposite. I’ll draw like Inferior Man. …[Will] Eisner was intrigued by Inferior Man, and he hired me on the spot. Ten dollars a week, which was a fortune!” Despite the opportunity, Jaffee found his style ill-suited for the wartime hero books: “Within a couple of months, it just wasn’t going anywhere.”

Lowly little Courtney Fudd was the quartermaster at Fort Bang. His stature didn’t reflect the size of his courage, as demonstrated when the Green Terror came to town. He sprang into action after donning an emblem and cape to take care of business. He defeated the Terror by whipping out his “sissy serum” and turned the terror into a dancing dandy. (Military #7) No soldier could match his feats, like when he strapped himself to a rocket and targeted a Nazi bomber which he then dismantled in mid-air. (#13)

Neither did his courage always equal his smarts. When he “bought” the Brooklyn Bridge, he asked Kitch the Witch to move it with her magic to his hometown of Screamin’ Ridge, New Jersey. (#10) He tried unsuccessfully to resell the bridge, even offering it up to Adolf Hitler! Public outcry forced Inferior Man to have the witch restore the bridge to its rightful place—but she also made it invisible. (#11)

When Jaffee gave up the strip, it went to another competent cartoonist, Al Stahl. The strip moved into Feature Comics and lasted only eight issues. It didn’t have Jaffee’s warped sense of fantasy, and Inferior Man’s adventures became less military-focused. 

A freak show began in Feature #66, when Inferior Man met Sparks, a Martian who had lost his way to Venus. He rubbed the Inferior Man the wrong way and was made to be Fudd’s slave; he was brought down by a lightning rod. Other foes included Four Arm Joe, the wrestler, who took to theft as the Octa Puss, (#70) and a sort of hypnotist who ordered people to kill themselves right in front of Courtney (who seemed to have no problem with it). (#72)