Okay, so I mentioned previously that Neal Adams, god-in-human-flesh that he was with a pen, was not so great with the creative concepts. While trolling the Vault for this week's entry, I happened to run across this as a further example.
To the right, you see the back cover of Echo of Future Past #1, an anthology comic published by Adams's Continuity in 1983. This is an in-house ad, offering cute and lovable characters available for "licensing and projects." And they're pretty standard. On top, we have Bigfoots, lovable baby animals with big feet. At the bottom, we have Li'l Dragls, charming baby dragons with human friends.
But that middle tier...
Let's have a closer look.
These are the Canimls, odd little two-fingered, three-toed monsters that, from the look of the "I" in the name, come in a can. And each one has a different color, different property and a name to match. Reading from right to left, we have "bashfl" (don't ask me what's up with the missing vowel before the "L"--it's an Adams thing--witness "Dragls"), "dangl" (?), "fondl" (??), "nibbl" (???), "tickl" and "cudl." I've left the last one's name deliberately blurred for now, but there's enough here to make anyone knit their brow. I mean, taken individually, the names aren't anything definitely objectionable, but taken as a group, they certainly are at the very least wide open to mockery, especially given the fact that they're meant to be marketed to kids.
But what about that last Caniml, there in the upper left. What's his name. I mean, it couldn't be any worse than "nibbl" or "fondl," could it?
Wait for it...
"CANIBL"!!!!Awww, cute, fuzzy wittle "canibl."
And that, folks, is what is known around here as a true WTF moment.
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