Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a blird! It’s a pane! It’s a blane! It’s a plird! It’s a bane!
Oh… actually, it seems to be some sort of flying, anthropomorphic phacochoerus aethiopicus, wearing a skin-tight red and green costume… and his best adventures are to feature in a 464 page The Best of Wonder Wart-Hog collection from Knockabout Comics, out in October.
Gilbert Shelton is the creator of the multi-million selling Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy’s Cat comics. Wonder Wart-Hog was his earliest creation, dating from 1962 and still appearing in Zap Comix to this day. Possibly his favourite character, Wonder Wart-Hog has appeared over the years in publications varying from Bacchanal, Help and Drag Cartoons, to underground comics such as H-Bomb Funnies, Feds ’n’
Heads and Rip Off Comix as well as in several long comic stories of his own, including The Nurds of November and Battle of the Titans. Over the years there have been T-shirts, patches, badges, postcards – and there’s even a Wonder Wart-Hog motocross team!
Wonder Wart-Hog, is an 8 foot tall 800 pound humanoid warthog. In his everyday life he is mild-mannered and slightly built reporter Philbert Desanex whom the Hog of Steel becomes by squeezing himself into a 5 foot 7 inch Philbert suit, or at least that seems to be the case most of the time. At others they are two separate entities with Wonder Wart- Hog from time to time commenting on Desanex’s life from his stomach.
Whatever the case may be, when the need is called for Wonder Wart-Hog either bursts out of Philbert blowing him to bits (he puts the bits back together later) or crawls out of Philbert’s mouth, “Wow I feel great, It’s like I’ve lost 800 pounds!”
The Hog of Steel then applies his universal solution to all of life’s problems… extreme violence.
• The Best of Wonder Wart-Hog is on sale from 14th November 2013. Gilbert Shelton will be in London on 17th October and at the Lakes Comics Festival from the 18th to 20th October
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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