Inferior Man
Created by Al Jaffee
NAME + ALIASES: Courtney Fudd
KNOWN RELATIVES: Unnamed father
GROUP AFFILIATIONS: U.S. Army
FIRST APPEARANCE: Military Comics #7 (February 1942)
APPEARANCES:
- Military Comics #7–13 (Feb. 1942–Nov. 1942)
- Feature #65–72 (Feb. 1943–Oct. 1943)
SEE ALSO:
- Interview in Mother Jones
- Al Jaffee's Mad Life, by Mary-Lou Weisman and Al Jaffee. It Books, 2010.
Inferior Man was a short (and short-lived) strip created by Al Jaffee, who is better known for his later work in Mad magazine. This strip was astoundingly anachronistic for its parody of the super-hero genre. It reads somewhat like DC’s lovable Silver Age doofuses, the Inferior Five.
Following the release of his memoir, Al Jaffee’s Mad Life, Jaffee talked about Inferior Man in an interview with Mother Jones: “I decided I want to get into [comic books], but I can’t draw like Superman. I’ll do the opposite. I’ll draw like Inferior Man. …[Will] Eisner was intrigued by Inferior Man, and he hired me on the spot. Ten dollars a week, which was a fortune!” Despite the opportunity, Jaffee found his style ill-suited for the wartime hero books: “Within a couple of months, it just wasn’t going anywhere.”
Lowly little Courtney Fudd was the quartermaster at Fort Bang. His stature didn’t reflect the size of his courage, as demonstrated when the Green Terror came to town. He sprang into action after donning an emblem and cape to take care of business. He defeated the Terror by whipping out his “sissy serum” and turned the terror into a dancing dandy. (Military #7)
…
[ Read
the full profile in the Quality Companion ]
Powers
Inferior Man demonstrated mighty strength and inversely proportionate intelligence.