Monday Memories #21 - The Heckler #2

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

THE HECKLER #2 - October 1992

Billed as a return to really fun comics, it's sad to say that despite the stellar team of Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum, The Heckler lasted only six issues. It was funny and irreverent but just couldn't find it's audience and quickly disappeared.

Issue #2 sees the Heckler taking on John Doe, the generic man, a villain intent on making the rest of Delta City as simplified as himself. Aiding him is his long suffering girl Buckshot, who has the odd ability to fire projectiles from the freckles on her face.

Reading of the Heckler's exploits infuriates him and he proceeds to the nearby reservoir to bathe in it, thus poisoning the city's water supply so that everyone who drinks from it becomes as generic as himself.

Learning of the plan, though, the Heckler heads off to stop him. Also in pursuit are a vigilante, the Minx, and some goons from a local crime boss, all of whom want to stop Doe for their own reasons. This results in a manic fire fight with the Heckler in the middle, trying to get the bad guys shooting at each other.

The Minx reaches Doe first, though, and takes him down, albeit accidentally with a stray shot. With Doe dead, the rest of the bad guys fade away, the Heckler stealing Minx's bike and Doe left to rot. Or not:

This little post can't do the series justice - the amount of jokes crammed into each of the nine panel pages has to be read to be appreciated and I encourage you to track down any back issues you can find - hey, there's only six of them!