December 17th, 2011
This ain’t your father’s Bozo.
I wouldn’t say I had a misspent youth. In fact, I consider growing up with Mad Magazine, Cracked, and Crazy a classic American childhood. (Yeah, I read all the classics.) But things change. Mad is a shadow of its former self, Cracked is now some weird men’s website, and Crazy? Is it still around? I don’t know.
What I liked about those titles was their subversion. They were edgy, they were a little mean, they were cool, and since adults hated them I loved them all the more.
Which brings me to Obnoxio the Clown. He appeared in Crazy magazine, published by Marvel Comics Here is his official bio:
Obnoxio (real name unknown) is a world-weary man who moonlights as a clown. He has stopped bothering to set a good example for children: he smokes a cigar, he seldom bathes, his costume needs mending, he makes caustic comments, he insults everyone he meets. His only good quality is dependability: once hired for a job, he always shows up.
That does not do him justice. Not at all.
From wikipedia: Obnoxio was portrayed as a slovenly, vulgar, cigar-puffing middle-aged man in a torn and dirty clown suit, with a dyspeptic and cynical attitude. As you’d expect from wiki, that’s even worse.
Obnoxio was the opposite of every clown you’ve ever seen. A drunk, a slob, crazy and cynical, he was every mother’s worst nightmare. Hire this clown for your kid’s party, and the kids would end up knocking over a liquor store before the birthday cake was served.
Perhaps his most high-profile gig was when he took on the X-Men.
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