What The--?! works that spoof some of their all-time greatest successes. For example, in issue #2, Byrne creates a tale pitting his work on the Fantastic Four franchise against his work with Superman. The issue goes so far as to have the Lex Luthor character complain about the changes Byrne made to the Superman legend after DC Comics' "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Though it carried the Marvel Comics label on the front left corner, "What The--?!" touted itself as being published by "Marble Comics". "What The--?!" parodied Marvel institutions such as the legendary Marvel Comics fan mail page, with staged articles called
Spirit of '76 (Marvel Comics) Spirit of '76 (Marvel Comics) The Spirit of '76 (real name William Naslund) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Frank Robbins as part of a World War II-era superhero team, the Crusaders, and patterned on the DC Comics group the Freedom Fighters, the character first appeared in "The Invaders" #14 (March 1977). The Spirit of '76 was the equivalent of Freedom Fighters member Uncle Sam, originally a Quality Comics character. In the stories, the character briefly assumed the role of Captain America after the original –