Obnoxio the Clown


Obnoxio the Clown is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics as the mascot of the humor magazine Crazy. He was created by Larry Hama.

Characterization

Obnoxio is portrayed as a slovenly, vulgar, cigar-puffing middle-aged man in a torn and dirty clown suit, with a dyspeptic and cynical attitude.

Background

Larry Hama created Obnoxio immediately after he became the editor of Crazy. He explained, "I thought the old mascot was too 'nebbishy.' I wanted someone proactive, and somebody who actually had a voice, unlike all the other humor magazine mascots." The character's face was modeled after Al Milgrom.
Artist Alan Kupperberg, who would become heavily associated with the character, recounted, "Obnoxio's first appearance was in a one-panel illustration to accompany a subscription ad in Crazy, written by Larry and calling for likenesses of P. T. Barnum and Marcy Tweed among others. This was right up my alley, so I pulled the reference and really went to town, doing a very nice half-tone illo. I think the piece impressed Larry quite a bit, because if my memory is correct, Larry left me strictly alone on anything and everything Obnoxio the Clown-related." Most of the Obnoxio features were written by Virgil Diamond, who according to Hama "was a high school English teacher in Brooklyn. I heard from him a few years ago when he retired. He really labored on those pages and was constantly fussing with them."
Obnoxio the Clown appeared in several single-page gags in What If? #34.
Marvel also published a one-shot Obnoxio the Clown comic book in April 1983 following Crazy's cancellation. The plot centered on Obnoxio as a villain and unlikely ally of the X-Men. He and the group battle Eye Scream, a villain who can transform into ice cream.
The sole issue of the comic book was written, illustrated, colored, and lettered by Alan Kupperberg; in a comment which Kupperberg attributed to Peter David, and which David attributes to James Owsley, the comic was described as "written, penciled, inked and lettered by Alan Kupperberg. Yes, it’s untouched by human hands."
Long after Obnoxio had disappeared from the spotlight, Marvel published two stories written and drawn by Kupperberg in What The--?! #13 and #24.

In other media