YMMV / Brat Pack

The Comic

• Cult Classic: Despite its relative obscurity, Brat Pack has a small but enthusiastic fandom who consider it almost as good as Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns.
• Fridge Horror:
  • Dr. Blasphemy wasn't lying when he claimed that the answer to the existence of the sidekicks was in the trunk of the Mink-Mobile. The explosives were the final piece of proof that they never mattered to anyone in the world, including their heroes, and that they could die and no one would really care.
  • The fact that Judge Jury, who is basically The Punisher if he were a Klansman, can get a private business contract gives a highly disturbing implication on the state of race relations in the world of this comic.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Part of Midnight Mink's backstory is that he had a fling with True-Man. Years later, The Authority would feature another Batman Parody in love with a Superman Substitute in Midnighter and Apollo.
• Misaimed Fandom: According to Veitch, one particularly enthusiastic female fan gave him a jar of bull testicles as a tribute to the castration-happy Moon Maid. He also claims to have received a letter of praise from NAMBLA for creating the first explicitly pedophilic superhero with Midnight Mink. Apparently, NAMBLA was unaware that Midnight Mink is an antagonist.
• Nightmare Fuel: The miniseries in its entirety. Nothing in this comic is even remotely happy or comfortable.
• Once Original, Now Common: The comic's exploration of the brutal life of sidekicks was once revolutionary. Since its release, actual superhero stories in both comic form and adaptations have explored the implications of kids and teenagers being in the dangerous situations superheroes face them. As a result, it can be hard to look back at the comic and get what was so shocking about it.
• Squick: The cover of the first issue is the image of Chippy accidentally nicking himself with a razor and bleeding excessively while shaving his legs. It only gets much, much worse from there.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: There's absolutely nothing redeemable about the superheroes and everyone else is either dead or in a completely hopeless situation throughout the series. One could even argue that the comic's deconstruction of superhero stories doesn't particularly hold up, as the heroes are far worse people than almost all popular superheroes(and even some supervillains) have ever been, and most modern superhero stories deal with young people in dire situations in a much more compelling and reasonable manner.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Being a deconstruction the superhero genre focusing on kid sidekicks ended up dating the comic due to kid sidekicks in the superhero genre largely falling out of practice with most sidekicks growing up and many going on to carry their own books, with kid sidekicks still appearing in superhero stories being the exception to the rule. The book is further dated by three of the specific sidekicks it parodies - Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and Roy Harper, who've all long since passed on their mantles to new teens.

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