Not Brand Echh

Not Brand Echh
Not Brand Echh #2 (Sept. 1967). Cover art by Marie Severin, featuring parodies of Marvel characters as well as those of DC, Gold Key, and Tower Comics.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Humor/comedy, superhero
Publication date	August 1967 – May 1969
Number of issues	13
Main character(s)	Forbush Man
Collected editions
Marvel Masterworks: Not Brand Echh, Volume 1

Not Brand Echh was a satiric comic book series published by Marvel Comics that parodied its own superhero stories as well as those of other comics publishers. Running for 13 issues (cover-dated Aug. 1967 to May 1969), it included among its contributors such notable writers and artists as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Bill Everett, John and Marie Severin, and Roy Thomas. With issue #9, it became a 68-page, 25¢ "giant", relative to the typical 12¢ comics of the times.

Its mascot, Forbush Man, introduced in the first issue, was a superhero wannabe with no superpowers and a costume of red long johns emblazoned with the letter "F" and a cooking pot, with eye-holes, covering his never-revealed head. His secret identity was eventually revealed in issue #5 (Dec. 1967) as Irving Forbush, Marvel's fictitious office gofer.

The series title was a play on an advertising convention of the time, in which a competitor's product was not referred to by name, but simply as "Brand X"; DC was sometimes playfully called "Brand Echh" in Marvel "Bullpen Bulletins" and letters pages, hence this comic was "Not Brand Echh." The official title of the comic in its postal indicia was Brand Echh for its first four issues, and afterward Not Brand Echh, the cover title from the start.

Superhero satire had appeared previously in comic books, notably in occasional stories in EC's 1950s Mad comic book, prior to its becoming a black-and-white magazine. Later issues would parody films and TV shows (including Bonnie and Clyde and the 1960s The Green Hornet) as well as comics.