7 WTF Comic Books Featuring Beloved Pop Culture Characters

In a special comic handed out at Epcot's 1985 "Universe Of Energy" exhibit (sponsored by Exxon), Mickey and Goofy teach kids about how awesome the oil industry is, and how corporate brainwashing is a small price to pay to wait for the line at Space Mountain to thin out a little. Right away, Mickey starts telling us about the wonders of American oil while Goofy behaves like his usual dipshit self. The comic features Mickey showcasing the different ways that the oil industry is benefiting the world, accomplishing the impressive task of making a character whose face has been plastered on every conceivable product seem like even more of a sellout. Watch Mickey explain how the big problem is that we're just not drilling enough:

Another highlight is Mickey taking Goofy to an offshore drilling platform and teaching him about the oil pipeline that runs from the port of Valdez -- only four years before the words "Exxon" and "Valdez" became synonymous with the second-largest oil spill in U.S. history. But that's what you get when you trust a cartoon mouse at an amusement park to teach you about energy production.

Don't worry, Mickey does bring up some energy alternatives ... making sure to mention they're super expensive or inconvenient. Like Goofy's stupid fucking bicycle here:

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The Sonic The Hedgehog games are pretty simple: Sonic goes around collecting jewelry, breaking shit, and spouting catchphrases, like a tiny, blue Mr. T. The comic book version of the series, however, tried really hard to make Sonic's world more realistic -- in the sense that it's extremely depressing and filled with death. Here's Sonic's friend Bunnie Rabbot cradling her husband's body after he's been hit by an explosive:

At least that guy only ended up on life support: Another storyline shows future Sonic being forced to travel back in time to change history, thus erasing his own children from existence while retaining all his memories of them. That's a very cruel way of undoing all those fanfic sex scenes, Sega. Check out the look on his face!

But death isn't the only thing that makes Sonic cry. There's also all the sordid relationship drama you'd expect from a comic about talking cartoon animals, such as the issue when Sonic's chipmunk girlfriend, Sally Acorn, tearfully breaks up with him because of his unhealthy fixation with Dr. Robotnik.

Incidentally, Sally also died at one point (for like two months, but still). So many of Sonic's friends get murdered that, understandably, he even starts hanging out in cemeteries, presumably while smoking clove cigarettes and listening to The Cure.

All of this at least explains why there's a game where Sonic jumps to his death if you leave him unattended for too long. We're sorry, Sonic. We didn't know.

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The kids are breaking into an abandoned house when they should be eating triple burgers (or serving them). Presumably because that's the house where he's been squatting, Ronald gets seriously pissed off. His fury then turns into bafflement when he notices that, for some reason, these children are running away from the angry clown who jumped at them from the bushes.

Ronald entices the kids with the promise of a ride on his flying hamburger -- literally, a super-sized plate with an enormous, clearly genetically modified patty on it. On top of being insane, that looks terribly unsafe and highly caloric.

Of course, the ride turns out to be a cheap trick to get the kids to pick up garbage and join the Boy Scouts. Don't they need a parent's permission to do that? Yes, but Ronald has ways to ... "persuade" people ...

The kids do end up loving Scouting (Google "Stockholm Syndrome"), and when Ronald revisits them, we get a glimpse of how depressingly empty his life is as they all make excuses as to why they can't join him on his burgerplane.

Ronald flies away, probably back to that abandoned shack to huff paint thinner until he's back in "McDonaldland" again.

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While the cartoon you loved existed simply to sell toys, and the cacophonous movies are just an elaborate excuse for Michael Bay to put young starlets in dangerous situations, the Transformers comics are moving in a surprisingly nuanced and sensitive direction. For a series about talking cars, anyway.

In the series More Than Meets The Eye, the Transformers are more like everyday people, and what do everyday people do all the time? They get shitfaced, yes.

And while you might think you and your significant other are lame, it turns out even badass space robots like staying in and just watching Netflix instead of going to work (in this case, battling other robots).

Another thing this series added was the ability for Transformers to transform ... their hearts. Also, their sexuality. In More Than Meets The Eye two Transformers (Chromedome and Rewind) become a gay couple -- a surprisingly progressive move for a franchise whose movies are made by a guy who thinks '80s-era gay jokes are funny. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Transformers fans defied the stereotype of the comic book nerd who loses his shit over everything and were totally cool with this revelation.

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In one issue of the comic, the Partridges are shooting a film in a studio when 12-year-old Danny (the cute redheaded kid) is accidentally admitted to an adult movie set, because he's mistaken for a "midget." Yup, if you're a little person, that's basically an all-access pass to porno sets. And if you're in the adult entertainment field, apparently you lack the ability to discern children from grown men.

The artist of this kids' comic then illustrates what it's like on the set of a movie that's going to "get an X rating." We don't see exactly what the actors do to earn that rating, but forcing your filthy imagination to fill in the blanks just makes it worse.

Danny is then taken away by his brother, but his innocence is already lost. Presumably, he then went home and wrote this song. This incident does at least help explain how adorable little Danny became the guy who got arrested for buying coke before a D.A.R.E. event and beating up a prostitute.

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Don't worry; the comic isn't really about Beaver's dad teaching him to fight -- it's about how the man's neglect led his child to build an instrument of death. In the story, Beaver has to do a school project on "knights" and his dad refuses to do it for him ... or, like, even offer a minimum amount of supervision. That's when Beaver's brother Wally suggests: Why not make a morning star?

Since there are no adults around, Beaver actually makes a medieval weapon out of a baseball bat and a car chain. That's when their dad sees it, tells the kids that's too dangerous, and everyone learns a valuable les- what? He just lets Beaver use the thing inside the house? Huh. Then the chain snaps, and the dad doesn't seem too alarmed when the ball breaks a vase that easily could have been Wally's skull -- which, frankly, would have served him right for suggesting this in the first place.

So Beaver presents his creation to his teacher and she, what, calls child protective services? Nope! She gives him a prize for making the assignment all by himself. She even encourages him to keep practicing his moves at home, because every single adult in this comic is either a moron or really, really hates Beaver. So how's he supposed to practice? Same way we would: by cracking nuts.

Let's hope for their World War II unit, Beaver doesn't come into class with a crudely made landmine.

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Unlike other franchises in this article, Star Trek has a premise that sounds perfect for comic books: a space crew with the mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and to boldly murder the shit out of it. You may not remember that last part from the show, but it was right there in the very first issue of the comic adaptation of Star Trek.

The story finds the Enterprise exploring a seemingly empty galaxy, when they run across a planet where plant life has evolved into an "intelligent society." Clearly not intelligent enough, though, because they didn't immediately run away when they saw Captain James "Horniest Man In The Universe" Kirk coming.

Unfortunately, the only female member of the crew, an officer Kirk has codenamed "honey," is captured by a plant monster with tentacles, presumably for some gross Evil Dead-style action.

Officer Honey is rescued, but it turns out that the planet is full of spores that turn people into plant monsters, and these spores are moving into space. If this was an episode of the show, at this point the characters would consider the moral implications of their actions before deciding what to do about the spores -- most likely nothing, because as we just mentioned, this planet is in an empty galaxy.

But this isn't an episode of the show, so they just kill the entire planet with lasers.

J.M. McNab co-hosts the pop-culture nostalgia podcast Rewatchability, which can also be found on iTunes. Follow him on Twitter @Rewatchability.

For more insane moments in comic books, check out 5 Superheroes Rendered Ridiculous By Gritty Reboots and 5 Insane Things Comic Books Believe Women's Bodies Can Do.

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