Ralph Snart

Ralph Snart Adventures is a comic book written by Marc Hansen and published between 1986 and 1993 by NOW Comics and currently being published by its creator Marc Hansen.

Ralph Snart is an example of absurdity in modern comics. All characters are depicted as grotesque and ugly, with bulbous noses and bulging eyes. Many of the male characters have physiques that ripple with muscles in unlikely places, an obvious deconstruction of the popularity of the muscle-sculpted weightlifter as male action hero in the 1980s. Hansen likes to elevate the mundane to epic proportions in Ralph Snart; for example Ralph would take terrible risks and great journeys to obtain a case of beer; another example is an alien attempt to dominate humanity in order to brew fermented beverages from human tissues.

The title character, Ralph Snart, is a Walter Mitty type who frequently escapes the painful realities of his life by daydreaming himself into incredible and often bizarre adventures. As the series progresses, his real life becomes as strange as his daydreams until there is not much to differentiate the two states. For this reason, his brain is sought by the arch-villain, Dr. Goot. Ralph's insanity takes the form of delusional fantasies, mostly consisting of drinking beer, that provide sub-plot respites from the main plot: Dr. Goot's eternal quest to use Ralph's brain for his own evil ends.

In June 1986, NOW Comics released the first volume of Ralph Snart Adventures as a three-issue limited series in black & white. The character of Ralph Snart had his origins in a fanzine published by Tony Caputo who decided the character should graduate to his own feature at NOW. The series centered on Ralph, a man driven insane by the pressures of daily life now locked away in a mental asylum. He would escape his prison-like room at the asylum by dreaming himself into fantastic scenarios based on science-fiction or fantasy where he was an aggressive, cynical and sarcastic personality. The series ended with Ralph's "amazing dream powers" apparently too much for his body to contain, and his brain exploded.

In November 1986, Ralph returned in an ongoing series that began as a black & white book but later changed to full color. It picked up from the end of Volume 1, with Ralph the victim of a brain explosion. His neurologist Dr. Kreegon performed an experimental surgery that put Ralph back together, with a new lease on life. However, after being released from the hospital, life once again dealt Ralph a series of harsh blows with Ralph ultimately being gunned down and killed by a villainous mad scientist named Dr. Goot. Goot resurrects Ralph as a Frankenstein-like creation with the aim of using him as a weapon to commit crimes like bank robbery. Goot later realizes that Ralph's best asset is his amazing brain. Goot removes Ralph's brain, discarding his body, and uses the brain as a power source in a giant robotic frog also designed to rob banks. Ralph's brain ends up being mutated by toxins, grows arms, legs, and a face and wanders the countryside until it reaches the offices of NOW Comics and demands that Marc Hansen rewrite the story so that Ralph is whole again. Issue #8 begins with Ralph back in the mental asylum in an apparent reboot of the series. Volume 2 ends with #9, with Ralph stealing the keys to his cell from one of the guards and escaping the facility.

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