Marvel Published a Line of Comics Based on a Failed Bob Newhart Sitcom

Much less fondly-remembered is Newhart’s third foray into the sitcom world: the aptly-named 1992 collection Bob.

Bob starred Newhart as Bob McKay, the creator of an previous Batman-esque comedian e book superhero named Mad-Canine. Within the first episode, McKay will get employed to work on a gritty ‘90s reboot through which the campy character has been reimagined as a brutal vigilante who actually murders his boy sidekick. Even Zack Snyder wouldn’t go that far.

To hype the sitcom, Marvel comics launched a collection of Mad-Canine comedian books, they usually got here with a postmodern twist: Half of the e book depicted the Silver Age-era of Bob McKay’s character, whereas the opposite half offered the edgy ‘90s model. In subject #1, the basic Mad-Canine battles invading alien kitty cats (sure, the climax entails coughing up hairballs) after which later beats the shit out of a gang behind a 7-Eleven.

It was a really unusual promotion. Did the 13-year-olds shopping for up Marvel comics within the early ‘90s care a couple of new present starring Newhart, a comic who was in his 60s at that time? The quilt web page’s declaration that Mad-Canine #1 was “primarily based on the character from the hit TV collection Bob” might not have been fairly the promoting level they thought it was. 

Author and artist Ty Templeton, who dealt with the campy first half of the comedian, revealed that it was “one of my favorite professional experiences.” Whereas Evan Dorkin, who wrote the conspicuously gritty section, told io9 that he “hated the entire experience. I think it’s one of the top three worst things I ever wrote.”

As Comic Book Resources noted, even though Bob didn’t paint the most accurate picture of life in the comics business, it did get to highlight a number of industry legends in one episode. After traveling to a comics convention, Bob encounters creators like Jack Kirby, Bob Kane and Sergio Aragonés, who all made cameos as themselves.

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In retrospect, Bob may have fared better in the Marvel-saturated 21st century, and not back when Marvel was just four years away from declaring bankruptcy. The series only lasted for two seasons, and the second season shifted premises dramatically, forcing the Bob character into a gig working for Betty White’s greeting card company, which in no way involved the participation of Mad-Dog and his homoerotic subtext.

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