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BRATPACK #1-5

AUG 1990 By Rick Veitch and Gary Fields

Meet the bratpack... they are the sidekicks of four superheroes... very disturbed sidekicks, of very disturbed superheroes. They don't live long... because death sells.

RATING: AWESOME

Boy, I'm not even sure if this review will make it to anyone.

I was always intrigued by the cover of the first issue of Bratpack, but it wasn't until now that I finally made up my mind to read it. Now, reading it is complicated, because this is a story with a revised ending. As in... there is a considerably different ending from the original. It has been that way for a while, because Rick didn't like how it ended, and after seeing he wasn't the only one thinking this way, he decided to fix it.

I have to say that I prefer the new ending.

Apart from that, the collected edition (IDW, 2018) also contains additional pages, with some of them fitting so well in the story, it's almost bizarre they weren't there in the first place.

So, what is Bratpack? At glance it looks like yet another deconstruction of superhero comic-books, but I'd say this was more like an exorcism of what the comic book industry had turn by 1990. In fact, none of this makes sense, without the story of how Jason Todd was killed (and I am not talking about the Joker, I am talking about the people who phoned in to kill him).

The story was almost published through DC, but the deal fell through after the whole Swamp Thing #88 fiasco. The book ended up getting printed by Tundra, and has been in publication ever since (through different publishers, because this is creator-owned).

In his original pitch, Rick said he was somehow inspired by the "seduction of the innocent" book by Frederick Wertham. He wanted to play around with some of the more negative aspects of adult/adolescent relationships in society. He mentioned "The jealous parent" (Moon Goddess), "The hyper-critical parent" (Judge Jury), "The Parent who never grew up" (King Rad), and the "Parent who's sexuality takes precedent" (The Mink). So... that means that the sidekicks of these heroes... are like the kids of those types of parents.

Now, I must warn you that this is a very adult comic book. It's not for everyone, you really need to appreciate very dark humor.

Let's say that, if you survived reading Preacher, or The Boys... this is the original.

it's all about the mask. doesn't matter who wears it.

stills under the cut ↓

The following items are demonstrated in the video and described in the voice-over:

1. Assorted bump dots - Various kinds of stickers with protruding dots on them that can be put onto appliances to make them more tactile.

2. Pocket money brailler - A device that allows you to imprint braille onto paper notes, indicating their value.

3. Liquid level indicator - A device hung on the edge of a container with metal prongs that detect when liquid has reached it.

4. Braille Pop-It - A pop-it with the alphabet in braille on each bubble.

5. Tactile Rubik's cube - A rubik's cube with unique textures for each color.

6. Braille color clothing tags - Tags with braille to indicate what colour a piece of clothing is.

7. Signature guide - A card with a rectangular slit in it to guide the user when writing their signature.

8. Low vision playing cards - Cards with very large and colorful numbers on them.

9. Pop-A-Cell - A plastic card with 6 bubbles you can indent to practice braille characters.

10. Talking keychain clock - A clock that says the time aloud when you press a button.