Research Prompts from IJOCA 26:1 - #4 Why did some comic book companies start making fun of themselves? And why don’t they do it anymore?

  Some Ideas for Articles, written by Mike Rhode, and excerpted from the print edition.

Why did some comic book companies start making fun of themselves? And why don’t they do it anymore? (updated and corrected from the print edition)

Marvel’s Not Brand Echh in the 1960s (revived with a 2018 one-shot), Crazy! (1973) and then What The? (1988-1993). Marvel’s Crazy Magazine (1973-1983). Fred Hembeck’s one-page superhero comic strips for both DC and Marvel, and then his Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe (1989) and Fred Hembeck Sells the Marvel Universe (1991). Image’s Splitting Image (1993). These were all done by companies to make fun of themselves. Unlike Mad, which never made fun of EC Comics, or the knockoff Cracked, these comics were published by the company using their characters and mocking themselves.  Why? Is it something the creatives really wanted to do? Was there fan demand for it? Does DC’s Plop (1973-1976) count as one of these types of books or just a humor comic?

(images courtesy of the Grand Comics Database)