Captain Klutz AKA Ringo Fonebone is a bungling, Perpetual Poverty-stricken superhero created by cartoonist Don Martin of MAD fame.
The Captain's parody misadventures were printed in Mad paperbacks, rather than the magazine itself. While Martin handled the artwork, various other Mad artists did the writing. See The Other Wiki for more publishing details
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This comic strip provides examples of:
- Accidental Hero: Klutz becomes a hero thanks to his bungled suicide attempt.
- Appropriated Appellation / Line-of-Sight Name: A mumbled comment from a dazed Klutz gives him his name.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Happens sometimes, Sissyman being one prominent example.
- Captain Superhero: Nominally, at least.
- Connect the Deaths: One of Mervin the Mad Bomber's attacks uses this schtick.
- Da Chief - Police Chief O'Freenbean
- Giant Spider: Gorgonzola
- Gravity Is a Harsh Seamstress: Ringo Fonebone acquired his costume this way (along with amnesia). His mask is actually a very tasteless hat.
- Harmless Electrocution: How Gorgonzola is finally defeated.
- Invisible Writing: A short gag has the Captain writing a note in "invisible ink", as in, the glass he's dipping his pen in appears to be empty. Then he knocks the glass over and ruins the note with the "spill".
- Mad Bomber: Mervin the Mad Bomber
- Master of Disguise: Long Chinny (with a Shout-Out name). Somewhat oddly, Mervin the Mad Bomber proves to be good with disguises as well.
- Noodle Incident:Klutz: I immediately jumped out the window. Luckily, Sissyman's apartment was on the first floor. It used to be on the second floor, but that's another story.
- Pulling Themselves Together: Klutz may actually possess one genuine superpower.
- Sissy Villain: Sissyman, unsurprisingly.
- Sound Defect: An exploding missile gives off a very disappointing "WANGO".
- Status Quo Is God: Parodied at the end of "Chicken Soup", with the Mayor still a mindless zombie. "..No one's ever complained before."
- Twist Ending: Gorgonzola is revealed to be a mechanical construct controlled by a human operator inside.
- Wild Take: It's a Don Martin cartoon, so, yeah. One of the most extreme examples occurs when Klutz meets Gorgonzola for the first time.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Shoot her, well, that's a different story.
- Written Sound Effect: Again, a Martin trademark.
