They tested the waters with a four issue series, and they put a fair bit of effort into those issues. The series was picked up a half year later and continued numbering from 5, but those first four stand apart from the rest - despite some very fine efforts over the following one score and two issues.
Let's take a little look -
You might have already noted one thing that set those first four issues apart from later efforts - parody by big name series creators who weren't generally known for doing comedic parody. The above piece by Peter David, Todd MacFarlane and Jim Salicrup is a good example.
A better example still - getting the big name guys to parody their own works - like this team up of John Byrne and Jerry Ordway with their parody of Superman and the Fantastic Four (& friends) -
What The--?! featured silly little bits of fun...
...and quietly brilliant slams that none dare sign...
And every now and then, they slipped in some tasty oddity that i didn't know i needed to see until they showed it to me - like one of my favorite characters, Doctor Strange, as filtered through the wonderfully warped lens of another old fave - Phil Foglio* -
pages from What The--?! #s 2 & 4 (1988)
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*(Really? We haven't done anything on Phil Foglio yet? Not even on Blue Monday?
Damn. So much yet...
Dear Odd, so much...)
