Animaniacs: March 1997
Cover
Drawn by: Leonardo Batic and Horacio Ottolini
A patriotic scene: Hello Nurse, in her nurse's uniform enhanced with an undersuit and weapons belt, is standing on a rocky summit and holding up an American flag as the sun sets behind her.
Credits
Synopsis
A fiendish madman, Goldenhead, is rallying his followers, about to launch his plot. Just as the crowd starts chanting, "We're number one!", people start flying in a path leading to the podium. The madman is knocked out of action by a familiar character in a new costume: Hello Nurse. It seems our favorite blonde airhead isn't as airheaded as we thought...for when duty calls, she changes into a superspy with a few ounces of spandex and a few pounds of lethal weaponry.
When HN arrives at H.U.B.B.A (Headquarters for Undercover Buoyantly Beautiful Agents), she learns that the shadowy group known as I.C.K. (the International Conspiracy Klatch) has gotten mortgages on all of the island fortresses of all of the world's evil madmen. This bodes ill for democracy, and HN's assignment is to thwart the dastardly scheme at all costs.
HN flies to I.C.K. world headquarters, on its own island. She is knocked out by a kitten with a sleep-gas collar, and awakens to find herself imprisoned in Goldenhead's daiquiri of death. She escapes by climbing out on the oversized paper umbrella, and fights off his henchmen, then captures Goldenhead by sticking him to the wall with throwing crosses. The trail to Goldenhead's boss leads HN down a sewer, where she's captured by a falling net trap by Femme Feline (and her pet geek Fluffy). Feline secures to a scratching post and unleashes a host of cute little kittens, who all turn out to be as mean as the one with the sleep-gas collar, and HN seems doomed to be scratched to death. She distracts the kittens, and Feline, by wrapping Fluffy in a ball of Ace bandages and making him into a toy for them, then escapes. She's immediately recaptured by The Prattler, who nearly knocks her out with a long, boring story, but she silences him with a tongue depressor.
HN goes in search of the leader of I.C.K., but she gets found first. The leader, who looks strangely familiar, explains her plan and gloats that she cannot be stopped. The guests arrive for the social at which the leader plans to complete her takeover, only to find HN has ruined the party. She throws an exploding thermometer at the crowd, who is forced to flee. The island is destroyed, but the leader - revealed as HN's sister - vows revenge...
Did You Notice...
This story is probably the most ground-breaking of any in the comics. It takes the Animaniacs universe in a completely new direction, while staying true to its comedic roots. Everyone who worked on it should be quite proud of what they've accomplished.- Batic, unlike the rest of the Sol Studio artists, grew up drawing superheroes and superheroines, and this story shows it. The character is quite recognizably Hello Nurse, but at the same time she's been turned into a superheroine, and manages to be quite good at being both. (Rowrr!...JM)
- This isn't the first time we've seen HN in a skimpy outfit. In Space-Probed, in Animaniacs episode 15, Yakko is granted one wish, and HN appears behind him in an outfit similar (though less elaborate) to this one. It should be noted that the transformation sequence on page 2 is as much as we're likely to see of HN.
- James Bond references abound in this story, though the plot isn't taken from any of them. Goldenhead refers to the title character from the film Goldeneye, and his line "No, Miss Nurse, I expect you to swizzle!" refers to a line from the film Goldfinger. The stethoscope-copter refers to a device in another Bond film (and which was also parodied in the Animaniacs cartoon The Chicken Who Loved Me, in episode 60).
- Pink Lady was a Japanese singing duo from the early 80s which had a few hits and quickly sank from sight. They were paired with American comedian Jeff Altman for a short-lived TV series.
- The throwing crosses HN uses to capture Goldenhead are a nice touch.
- Emma Peel was a beautiful female character in tight outfits on the 70s British TV adventure series The Avengers, played by Diana Rigg. She and the other main character, Mr. Steed (played by Patrick MacNee), were superspies in cold-war England.
- Islands listed on Nurse Doom's overhead: Fantasy Island (a '70s TV series), Goldfinger's Island and Dr. No's island (two James Bond references), Gilligan's Island (a '60s TV series infamous for being rerun almost as much as Star Trek), and Pleasure Island.
- The "international coffee" bit is a shot at the General Foods International Coffees commercials, which promise that your life will be permanently changed for the better if you'll just drink some.
- The flag to HN's right in the final panel shows a caduceus, the symbol of medicine.
Technical nits
HN's foot should be pointing forward or up, not down, as she kicks Goldenhead on the bottom of page 1. The position shown would be difficult, and uncomfortable.- Scratchy's full name, as far as has been revealed on the series, is Dr. Otto Scratchansniff. There's no "von" honorific in his last name. It's unlikely that he'd omit it, too; in German, last names of the form "von (place name)" (meaning "from (place name)" were reserved for the nobility, and jealously guarded.
- HN's costume varies a bit in detail throughout the story; most notably, the leg bands move and change in number, and the fastening down her left side disappears for a while in the middle of the story.
- Too Much Time on Their Hands Dept.: A long thread appeared on the newsgroup alt.tv.animaniacs not long after this story hit the streets discussing whether or not the padding on HN's left shoulder meant that she was left-handed. The folks involved in creating this one tell me that's just a bit of embellishment, and not intended to carry any specific meaning at all.
Credits
Synopsis
The Warners have ordered pizza for delivery. When it arrives, it's soggy and stuck to the box, and the driver, after explaining that it was left over from last night (or last week), asks for his tip. They give it to him, all right...and then decide more is needed. They form a new political party, dedicated to the concept of ending bad pizza everywhere, and nominate Wakko for President. After he makes numerous promises about improving the state of pizza in the US, his campaign takes off.
Wakko's campaign catches up with Dole and Clinton in Kansas. Wakko works the crowd, while the major candidates are kissing - and getting puked on by - the local babies. They start talking about pizza in their campaign speeches in an effort to divert some of the attention Wakko's getting, with the same old rhetoric. The discussion gets angrier as the campaign progresses, culminating in a televised debate between Dole, Clinton, and Wakko.
Dole and Clinton try to seize the pizza issue by announcing new policy, and claiming to have supported pizza first. The result is an even biger surge in Wakko's candidacy. Just as he is about to win the election, though, he bows out of the race, deciding instead to stick to the important things, like romping and anvils. He exits to thunderous applause, but not before passing out lots of free pizza.
Did You Notice...
- This one's full of shots at the 1996 Presidential campaign. The candidates are Bob Dole and Bill Clinton (and he's even addressed as "Senator Dole" in one panel); the standard rhetoric of each candidate is brought out in gruesome detail; and the role of the press (the Warners call Barbara Walters, Dan Rather, and Larry King to announce their candidacy) is accurately shown as the major shaper of public opinion.
- "Another bad disaster film" refers to the 1996 Warner Bros. film Twister.
- McKain's comments about Clinton and Dole - showing Clinton as the brainless Scarecrow, and Dole as the heartless Tin Man, from The Wizard of Oz, reflect common comparisons between the two candidates.
- Common political wisdom is that a baby should always be kissed in its mother's arms; picking it up to kiss it will often result in getting puked on,as happens to Clinton here.
- Candidates often read from TelePrompTers, even without thinking about what they're reading. The changed speech at the bottom of page 24 isn't as far-fetched as it might seem.
- The reporter at the top of page 29 is wearing a Tweety tie.
Technical nits
- Yakko's "Better yet..." at the bottom of page 18 was re-lettered by someone besides Mapa. The word "race" was re-done rather sloppily at the bottom of page 22, as well.
- The print registration is off a bit at the top of page 23.
- This story would have been better overall had it come out at the time of the election, instead of two months later, though it might not have had all of the references to the actual campaign it did.
Other items:
There are 2 one-page fillers in this issue:
- Useless Facts: Eyes
- Three useless facts about eyes.
- Useless Facts: Nuts
- Three useless facts about nuts. Both were drawn by Neal Sternecky.
Jay Maynard, jmaynard@phoenix.net
Last updated 23 March 1997