Wonder Wart-hog

Wonder Wart-hog is Gilbert Shelton's underground-comix parody superhero — a grotesque, self-righteous warthog who mimics the conventions of classic cape-and-tights heroes while skewering American culture and superhero excess. He debuted in Shelton's irreverent underground comic in 1969.

Born in the countercultural ferment of 1969, Wonder Wart-hog burst onto the underground comix scene courtesy of creators Lieuen Adkins and Gilbert Shelton — a gleefully absurdist Silver Age creation from Rip Off Press that thumbed its snout at the superhero mainstream. Over a remarkable 52-year publication history, this porcine parody became a beloved fixture of underground comics, appearing most prominently in Rip Off Comix and the very Feds 'N' Heads Comics that launched the character into the world. Sharing pages with countercultural icons like Fat Freddy Freekowski, Freewheelin' Franklin Freek, and the rest of that irreverent underground crowd, Wonder Wart-hog occupies a wonderfully weird corner of comics history — complete with at least one collector-recognized key issue to hunt down. For anyone passionate about the wild, boundary-pushing spirit that defined underground comix, this hog is absolutely worth rooting out.