The Ren & Stimpy Show #1

History

Marvel optioned the rights to produce comics based on Nickelodeon properties in 1992, with the original plan calling for an anthology featuring multiple Nicktoons; the concept was narrowed to a solo Ren & Stimpy title before launch. Dan Slott was installed as the regular writer from the debut issue, with Mike Kazaleh handling both pencils and inks, Evan Skolnick on colors, Brad K. Joyce lettering, and Fabian Nicieza editing under editor-in-chief Carl Potts. The first printing was sold polybagged with one of two scratch-and-sniff 'Air Fouler' inserts — either a Ren or a Stimpy variant — a gimmick very much in keeping with the early-1990s polybag craze and the show's gleeful embrace of the grotesque; demand was strong enough that Marvel produced at least two subsequent printings with modified cover text but identical interiors.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First issue of a monthly series that ran for 44 issues (December 1992 – July 1996), published under the Marvel banner for the first 35 issues before transitioning to the Marvel Absurd imprint.
• Identified across multiple sources as the first comic book series ever based on a Nickelodeon property, preceding Rugrats and other Nicktoon adaptations by several years.
• Written by Dan Slott with art and cover by Mike Kazaleh; Fabian Nicieza served as editor — this was Slott's debut as a regular ongoing series writer and an early step in a career that would later include decade-long runs on Amazing Spider-Man.
• Issue #1 contains three stories: 'Ren & Stimpy Go Bad!', 'Powdered Toast Man vs. The Kings of Crime!' (the character's first appearance in comics), and 'Alien Attack starring Commander Hoek & Cadet Stimpy,' plus a 'Ren Höek for President!' feature.
• The first printing was sold polybagged with a scratch-and-sniff 'Air Fouler' insert available in either a Ren or Stimpy version; at least two additional printings followed with altered cover copy but the same interior pages.
• Dr. Stupid — Stimpy's absurdist alter-ego persona from the show's 'Ask Dr. Stupid' interstitial segments — is carried into the comic as the letters-column host, with readers invited to submit questions for Dr. Stupid to answer each issue.
• The issue establishes Marvel's in-house designation Earth-92157 for the Ren & Stimpy universe, the first appearance of that continuity label in the Marvel Database.
• Issue #6 of the series would later feature Spider-Man battling Powdered Toast Man — the first time Dan Slott wrote Spider-Man — foreshadowing his long association with that character.

Cast · 4 characters

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