Lethargic Lad

Greg Hyland’s Lethargic Lad, launched by Crusade Comics in 1996, is a three-issue superhero parody series that gleefully deflates the genre’s conventions through its chronically unmotivated, couch-bound protagonist. Hyland wrote and drew the book, with Alex Ross contributing painted covers that juxtapose epic, photorealistic heroism against the title character’s hilariously mundane apathy. A cult oddity of the late-’90s indie scene, it remains a fondly remembered send-up of both Silver Age tropes and the era’s grim-and-gritty trend.