Beavis and Butt-head issue 8

"Flash, help me!"
"I'm coming!"
"Hehehehheheheh"

Beavis and Butt-head #8 was the September 1994 issue of the Beavis and Butt-head comic. All strips and features were drawn by Rick Parker (art and lettering) and written by Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil, with colours by Rob Camacho; Glenn Eichler was consultant.

In The Name Of All That Which Does Not SUCK

Beavis wants to know how music gets into the radio, and Butt-head believes it's because of "plutonium or something" in the radio - this causes the boys to try and break the radio open with appliances to get the plutonium ("I heard it tastes like chicken"), electrocuted themselves. Butt-head then realises: this means they've been radio-activated, just like Spider-Man! Swiftly, they use some fake glasses and a hat and drape towel "capes" around themselves, announcing themselves to the world as the superheroes Dr Weird and Coolman ("I've like, got the power to turn stuff that sucks into stuff that, like, doesn't") and pedal around Highland looking for supervillains to fight. When Stewart Stevenson shows the uncanny ability to recognise who they are, they believe he must be a supervillain breaking their identities - the dreaded C'mon Man! Unsure what to do with villains, they try to throw him into space but are too shrimpish to pick him up.

Stewart tells them they can't be superheroes because they can't fly. Butt-head claims they can but they need space, so they head to the park... where Mr. Van Driessen is organising a clean-up, and fixing a tree has been the first step. Naturally, Beavis climbs that exact tree to try and fly, realising too late it's not one of his powers when the thing comes crashing down (but since he fell off, Butt-head believes he flew). The people cleaning up the park are very, VERY ANGRY that the kids just broke their tree, and start to corner them. Daria weighs in on the matter:

• Daria: I abhor violence. I cannot witness this.

The lads flee for their lives as they take a beating, and decide if that's how people are going to be, they'll become supervillains instead: "Evil chicks are always hotter anyway!"

The Darkside

After a brief discussion about whether they can still use the same super-names - Butt-head says they should so they can keep selling their action figures - they wonder how to achieve "world dominatrix". Butt-head decides they should ask Todd Ianuzzi, which gets them manhandled by Todd's henchmen, asking if he should beat them up: Beavis tells him to let Todd do it, "he's cooler". Todd decides he can use them though, and orders them to rob the MaxiMart for him. In go Coolman and Dr Weird, announcing themselves as members of the "Lesion of Doom", demanding money and nachos (they got hungry). They manage to get it, assuming being supervillains is easy - "it's like if you can dream it, you can imagine it, or something" - and when the police turn up, they arrogantly say the police better get out of their way because they work for Todd... causing the police to attack Todd's gang, while Todd and Earl swear vengeance for being narked on.

With the gang out, the lads decide to take over Earth themselves - except the angry mob from earlier has found them again, and Todd's gang and the police, and they're all OUT FOR BLOOD...

The Final Conflict

"The dillweed duo knows not the meaning or the spelling of surrender!", the narrator tells us, as the duo discover that the tree hasn't magically repaired itself for them. As they dodge gunfire, Butt-head thinks they'll have to rely on their... uh, something. ("Brains?" "No, I think it's something else!") When Beavis wishes they weren't supervillains anymore, Butt-head has an idea: they can go into the public toilet and take their costumes off. ("Getting radio-activated made you smarter or something, dude!") The angry mobs, however, don't appear to be fooled by people who look just like Coolman and Dr Weird coming out, claiming excuses like "my name is not Dr Weird"...

Luckily, Stewart picked up their costumes and has joined in the game by coming out as C'mon Man... causing the mob to target him as the culprit and launch a vicious beatdown. Beavis and Butt-head walk off home, out to remove their powers the same way they got them - electrocuting their dumb selves with the radio.

Features

• Activity Page, where Beavis and Butt-head show off pranks from readers
• "Reviews" of Quasar ("Hey Beavis, look - this guy is going into his closet!")
• Snot Rags, where Beavis answers the fanmail (Butt-head's off choking his chicken)

Trivia

• The title for Part 1 is a reference to the episode "Heroes", where Butt-head demands that Grim Reaper "in the name of all that does not suck, shut up!".

• Seeing people in distress, Daria just turns around and calmly buggers off with no guilt. This is in contrast to how she'd be in Daria itself, where she'd reluctantly get involved in situations.

• The recurring Highland PD cop turns up again, as does the Highland Home Economics teacher.

• Superheroes have been a frequent feature in Daria fanfiction, but this is the only canonical appearance of any. Dear God.