Showcase #63
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeShowcase #63 is the second outing for the Inferior Five, DC's self-aware parody superhero team, and the issue in which writer E. Nelson Bridwell turned his satirical crosshairs directly on Marvel's Avengers — lampooining the Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch as a gang of rejuvenated supervillains called Vendetta — a full year before Marvel launched its own humor anthology Not Brand Echh. The book represents one of the first times a mainstream Silver Age publisher used an ongoing comedy series to comment explicitly on its chief competitor's characters, making it a landmark document of the Marvel-vs.-DC cultural rivalry of the 1960s. Its success in Showcase helped confirm an audience for DC humor comics and propelled the team directly into their own series, which won the 1966 Alley Award for Best Humor Title: Costumed.
In "Conquer Man-Mountain -- Because He's There!", the Masked Swastika reunites his former gang—once foes of the retired Freedom Brigade—with the help of the Silver Sorceress, who rejuvenates them for one last scheme. With the original heroes gone, it's up to their children, the Inferior 5, to rise to the challenge. Written by E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrated by Joe Orlando, Jerry Grandenetti, and Mike Esposito, with lettering by Ira Schnapp, this 1966 Showcase #63 features a cover by Joe Orlando and Mike Esposito.
In "Conquer Man-Mountain -- Because He's There!" from Showcase #63, the Masked Swastika rallies his former foes, now rejuvenated by the Silver Sorceress, to challenge the retired Freedom Brigade. With only the Inferior 5 left to defend the day, the fate of the world hangs on a team of teenage heroes who never asked for the spotlight.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Inferior Five originated when editor Jack Miller conceived a group of incompetent heroes — initially pitching the name 'The Inferior Four' — and assigned the concept to E. Nelson Bridwell, one of the first fan-turned-professionals in the industry, who had previously written for Mad Magazine, some of it illustrated by his Inferior Five collaborator Joe Orlando. Bridwell expanded the concept beyond a simple Fantastic Four spoof, adding a fifth member and reframing the team as legacy heroes — the hapless offspring of a retired Golden Age super-team called the Freedom Brigade — a structural idea that predated DC's own Infinity, Inc. by nearly two decades. Bridwell first suggested Orlando as the book's artist in 1965; by Showcase #63, Orlando was joined on pencils by Jerry Grandenetti (a credit confirmed by comics historian Mark Evanier), with inks by Mike Esposito and letters by both Gaspar Saladino and Ira Schnapp.
Trivia · 9 facts
- Second appearance of the Inferior Five (Merryman, the Blimp, White Feather, Dumb Bunny, and Awkwardman), who debuted in Showcase #62 (May–June 1966).
- Written by E. Nelson Bridwell; pencils by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (the Grandenetti credit confirmed by Mark Evanier); inks by Mike Esposito; edited by Jack Miller.
- On sale May 24, 1966; cover date August 1966; 36 pages; published by National Periodical Publications.
- The villain team Vendetta — Man-Mountain (Hulk parody), the Masked Swastika (Captain America), the Sparrow (Hawkeye), the Speed Demon (Quicksilver), and the Silver Sorceress (Scarlet Witch) — make their first appearances here as direct satires of Marvel's Avengers roster.
- The Silver Sorceress in this issue is an unrelated character to the later canonical Silver Sorceress (Laura Cynthia Neilsen) who debuted in Justice League of America #87 (1971).
- The issue's statement of ownership records an average print run of 388,000 copies and average paid circulation of 234,000.
- The story 'Conquer Man-Mountain — Because He's There!' was reprinted in the Spanish-language Cuentos de Misterio (Editorial Novaro) #104, dated February 15, 1967.
- After three Showcase tryout appearances (#62, #63, #65), the Inferior Five graduated to their own bimonthly title (1967–1968, 10 issues of new material), which won the 1966 Alley Award for Best Humor Title: Costumed; issues #11–12 (1972) reprinted the Showcase stories.
- The Showcase #63 story was itself later reprinted in Inferior Five #11 (1972).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Cuentos de Misterio #104 (1967), The Inferior 5 #12 (1972)
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