(Very) Strange Tales

I think that Marvel's new indy-style anthology, Strange Tales (this has got to be at least the fourth time they've used the title) is something the bigger companies should emulate more often - lesser-known but nonetheless talented creators working on out-of-continuity stories featuring big-name characters. While it does seem like Marvel threw this compilation together from stories they just had lying around the office (The Incorrigible Hulk feature was supposed to see print in, I think, 2003), I still applaud the effort, which can produce such gems as Jacob Chabot's entry, "Lookin' Good, Mr. Grimm!"

Chabot is probably best known for his creator-owned The Mighty Skullboy Army, which I'm a huge fan of - Dark Horse published a digest sized collection after it appeared in their Strip Search publication (which, ahem, I was also a part of), though right now he's providing the artwork for Marvel's X-Babies miniseries. Yeah...X-Babies. I never quite got the point behind the concept, but I'll vouch for the artwork, at least.

In any case, one panel of the Fantastic Four send up caught my attention. As everyone knows, because I am so tremendously famous and wealthy as a result of it, I have an online webseries called Franks and Beans that is so hilarious you just might die after watching it. Or something. Anyway, one of the earlier episodes is titled "Mustache", which features me growing a mustache and saying the phrase "Hey, mustache buddy!" That's...basically the joke for the episode. It's also close to the phrase in this Strange Tales issue, but you can tell that they are quite distinctive as Chabot spells his phrase "moustache". Which, now that I think about it, might be even funnier.