Twisted ToyFare Theatre | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Wizard Entertainment |
Genre | parody |
Publication date | Winter 1996–January 2011 |
Creative team | |
Written by | Justin Aclin, Rob Bricken, Doug Goldstein, Bill Jensen, Jon Gutierrez, Andrew Kardon, Pat McCallum, Zach Oat, Tom Palmer, Jr., Tom Root, Matthew Senreich, Chris Ward |
Collected editions | |
Twisted Toyfare Theatre, Volume 1 | ISBN |
Twisted ToyFare Theatre (TTT) was a popular, humorous comic strip in the monthly magazine ToyFare. Originally titled Twisted Mego Theatre, TTT predominantly featured 8-inch (200 mm) scale action figures made by the Mego Corporation (a line very popular in the 1970s, during the childhood years of much of the magazine's staff), and principally those based on Marvel Comics characters, such as Spider-Man ("Mego Spidey") and the Incredible Hulk. The artwork was done in the fumetti style by photographing toys on sets built by the magazine's staff, and using Photoshop to add effects and word balloons. The series was known for its bizarre humor and pop-culture references.
Twisted Mego Theatre debuted in ToyFare's 1996 Winter Special. The strip ended when ToyFare published its final issue in January 2011.
Collectively, the strips take place in a fictional world called Megoville.
Mego toys based on other properties, such as television shows like CHiPs, Star Trek, and The Dukes of Hazzard make frequent appearances alongside the Marvel characters. Originally, Mego toys based on DC Comics characters also appeared, but legal issues led to their removal. Reprints of strips featuring DC characters were edited so that other characters appeared in their place.
The broad scope of TTT called for the appearance of characters/figures never officially released by Mego. This led the strip's creators to commission customized figures for those characters, or to do their best with existing figures, the latter case resulting in such "customized" characters as "John Denver" (actually a Bo Duke Mego figure wearing glasses) or Iceman's "Snowman" incarnation represented as a Mego figure rolled in shredded coconut.