The Prankster's a little gem I enjoyed in the final issue of Charlton Comic's Thunderbolt #60.
His name was -- The Prankster! Created and written by Dennis O'Neil (as Sergius O'Shaughnessy) with co-creator and artist Jim Aparo, both of Batman fame! The Prankster is considered Denny's first creation. This was his only full appearance in the Charlton Comics line of action heroes.
The Prankster is a freedom fighter in a repressive dystopia called Ultrapolis. Here love, laughter, music, art, and every other expression of human dignity can be a crime punishable by death. So the Prankster fights back with bizarre weapons such as laughing gas, a jet-powered hot-air balloon, and a magic flute.
Though the introduction to this issue promises a hero is unlike anything ever seen before, careful readers of science-fiction may recognize some parallels to Harlan Ellison’s short story ‘Repent, Harlequin, Said The Tick-Tock Man’. I haven't read Ellison's story in a long time, now I'll need to dig it out.
I enjoyed this colorful, fun character. Of course, what I consider some of Jim Aparo finest art attributed a lot to that.
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| Great epitaph for the Thunderbolt series, premiere of The Prankster! |
Prankster!
The Prankster, a hero who uses gimmicks built around the premise of humor, fights tyranny and injustice in the oppressive, future city of Ultrapolis.
A second story, The Vengeance of Wratt was promised, but never appeared. That's a crying shame!
It is not clear that the Prankster was one of the Charlton "Action Heroes" picked up by DC Comics, not to be confused by the Superman villain with the same name. Regarding names of villains, the tyrant in The Prankster is Bane!
Live Large My Friends!
Thank You!
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| Interesting pic from Pinterest I came cross! |
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