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Captain Klutz is a comic strip character created in 1967 by Don Martin. [1] He is a parody of superhero characters. The character originally saw print in a series of original paperback books done for the Mad magazine paperback line, not the magazine itself.
The protagonist, Ringo Fonebone, is a hopelessly inept man utterly absorbed in reading comic books to the point that he was kicked out of his parents' house, a vocational school he tried to attend and a flophouse (the last expulsion left him in nothing but a set of red long johns and dotted boxer shorts). Attempting to commit suicide by hanging himself, the towel he used as a rope broke, inadvertently acquiring a mask (originally a woman's hat being thrown out by her irate husband), and finally crash-landed in the middle of a robbery, in long-johns, his "mask" and towel "cape", distracting the robber long enough for the police to capture him. The robber's angry exclamation, "Why, you klutz!," was taken by the dazed (and temporarily amnesiac) Ringo as his name, and he responded to the officers' questions regarding his identity with: "I'm...a klutz, captain." The police thought he had said he was "Captain Klutz".
Captain Klutz did not lead a luxurious life, being reduced to homelessness at various times. (In one adventure, "my new airy apartment" was a park bench; in another, he hoped an invention would give him super-speed, so he could get a pizza delivery job.) He was also utterly inept at crime-fighting (apparent clumsiness), being poor at deduction, easily misled, and naive. (An alleged "kung fu master" easily conned Klutz for phony "training" in martial arts.) He usually succeeded in capturing the bad guy in spite of himself.
His main ally was Police Chief O'Freenbean, and he fought a variety of enemies, including:
Don Martin illustrated all the Captain Klutz stories. Numerous writers were credited for the stories. A listing of the stories, as well as the credited writers, follows.
The MAD Adventures of Captain Klutz (1967) Stories below uncredited; credited writers Dick DeBartolo, Phil Hahn, Jack Hanrahan, Don Martin
MAD's Don Martin Carries On (1973)
MAD's Don Martin Steps Further Out (1975)
MAD's Don Martin Forges Ahead (1977)
MAD's Don Martin Digs Deeper (1979)
MAD's Don Martin Grinds Ahead (1981)
MAD's Don Martin Presents Captain Klutz II (1983)
Additional writers: John Gibbons, Norma Martin, and Dick DeBartolo
MAD's Don Martin Sails Ahead (1986)
Captain Klutz's adventures were featured in the following volumes:
Captain Klutz stories also appeared in the following Don Martin anthologies:
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