In my Bob Bolling post a couple of weeks ago, I didn't mention one story from the same period (mid-'80s) that I have never really understood, though I think I kind of like it in a weird sort of way. It's the five-page "Wanda Wunderbuss," which appeared in Pep in 1984, written, drawn, inked and lettered by Bolling. I know the omnibus titles Pep and Laugh did a few pilots for potential series that didn't take off (Jack Kirby even contributed a failed pilot to Laugh in 1947, called "Pipsy"). I guess this was one of them, but I can't quite believe anyone thought there was series potential in a story about a news reporter whose boyfriend turns out to be a robot, at a news station populated primarily by robots. It reads as one-third a parody of soap operas, one-third a parody of inane pretty-boy newscasters (three years before Broadcast News) and one-third just plain strangeness.
Adding to the strangeness is that Wanda's last name has clearly been changed to "Wunderbuss" from the original "Wunderbust" (the original name slips through at one point). Bolling sometimes tried to turn his fondness for puns into an attempt to get stuff by the editors, but I guess they caught this one.
Wanda Wunderbuss in"The Noose Behind the Nightly News, Or It Was a Real Hang-Up"
Script: Bob Bolling
Art, Inks and Letters: Bob Bolling
Coloring: Barry Grossman
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