Evan Dorkin

World's Funnest: DC Animated Universe w/Art by Glen Murakami and Bruce Timm (Pg 40-41)

Added 2025-10-11 07:53:22 +0000 UTC

After yet another prolonged delay, we are finally back to update the World's Funnest retrospective. This time around, we're looking at the two-page DC Animated Universe sequence, aka, the DCAU sequence.

This turned out to be one of the more difficult sequences to work on. Not because it was hard to write, but because it was hard to start writing. This was the only sequence in the comic where I didn't have a "way in". With all the other DC universes and eras, I went in knowing what my approach would be. I knew what I wanted to make fun of, what the tone of the segment would be, and how Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk would interact with the characters and timeline. There's plenty of material to spoof, as anyone who's even slightly familiar with DC Comics would know. The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Modern Age, Dark Knight, Kingdome Come, and the rest all had story and joke hooks to grab onto. The stories and characters were silly, or pretentious, or edgy, or childish, or something that was ripe to goof on.

But the DCAU was a problem.

I liked the DCAU. Everyone did. I mean, I'm a fan of a lot of the DC eras I used in World's Funnest -- I'm extremely fond of the DC Silver Age, I love Kirby's Fourth World, I adore the original Fawcett Marvel Family comics. But they're also easy to make fun of. Silver Age silliness, Kirby's beautifully bombastic dialog, the goofiness of Captain Marvel and his bizarre rogues gallery. With the eras I disliked, I could get some (very short) knives out and stick them in the ribs (only not too deeply).

But nothing came to mind as to how to approach the DCAU. It was driving me nuts. The DCAU sequence was put on a back burner while I worked on other segment scripts -- one good thing about the chapter-like aspect of the book meant I could jump around if I had to get scripts to artists to fit into their schedules. So we could let the DCAU sit a while. But eventually I had to admit defeat. I was stumped.

I admitted as much to editor Joey Cavalieri one day while I was up at DC to go over some things. We talked a little bit about it and Joey was in his chair thinking and then he said, "Why don't we do it as storyboards?". And I looked at him and I got that feeling you get when you know something will work. And that feeling you get when you love an idea and wish you had been the one to come up with it. But it didn't matter, because I had my in. I went home and sketched out some ideas. We weren't going to make fun of the DCAU. The joke would be in the approach. Storyboards!

I knew it wouldn't be the funniest sequence because we weren't going to make any barbs and we had limited space because of the format, but I wanted there to at least be something interesting in the boards. The approach itself would be the joke. I guess the only real joke involves the Composite Superman cameo. Bat-Mite appearing in the sun is a small nod to early black and white animation, like the Fleischer Studios

Getting an artist for this sequence was relatively easy. Bruce Timm was the obvious choice, but I had a list of artists which did not include Bruce Timm, because I didn't think Bruce Timm would go for it. But it turned out that Joey or someone contacted bruce. And...he turned us down. So I assume I suggested asking Glen Murikami, and Glen was up for it. At some point we got the news that Bruce was going to ink Glen's pencils. However it came to be, it was pretty amazing. We got two wonderful pages, and two big names on the roster. The segment went from a complete flop to one of the niftiest things in the book. I'm so grateful to Joey for coming up with the storyboard idea.

Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of Glen's pencils, and I don't have a copy of the first page with the lettering included. If I ever come across them, I'll add them to this post.

Not a lot to say about the actual script. There's no dialogue, so it was pretty simple going and I got it done quickly. You'll note that we called it the WB Animated Sequence, I don't think people were using the term "DCAU" at the time. I have no idea what the "Notes for us" pertains to. I left it in anyway. Here's the script:

WORLD'S FUNNEST - LAST IMP STANDING

SCRIPT FOR PAGES 40-41 "WB ANIMATED SEQUENCE"

("The New Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk Adventures")

NOTES ON THE WB SEQUENCE

- This sequence will be done as a hybrid between a storyboard sequence and a comics page. Each page consists of eight equally-sized horizontal "board" panels with descriptive text placed below each shot. The art should be simple and straightforward like a board, in B&W save for perhaps the odd colored indication, note or whatnot. We could perhaps have blue pencil underdrawing show beneath the inked art, the drawings could go out of the panels slightly -- any little touches that help sell the storyboard feel are welcome. I'm skipping the use of character dialogue to give us some more room on an already tight page, and to further set the sequence apart from the rest of the book.

- All Description text should be neatly "typed" below the panels in lower case letters -- I think it'll look better than having the action lettered by the board artist, and it will be easier to fit the text into the space allotted.

- Mr. Mxyzptlk appears as he does on the Batman/Superman Adventures show. Bat-Mite will need to be designed in the WB style. Apparently there's a Batman episode which has a Bat-Mite "cameo" where he appears as a toy. I haven't seen it, but maybe there's a useful design of him floating around at WB.

- We'll also need reference and a WB design for the Composite Superman. Yes, Composite Superman, you people heard me right.

NOTES FOR US

- Fax Sarah's templates to Joey for him to go over

PAGE FORTY

PANEL ONE

An angry MR. MXYZPTLK "POPS" into the air about ten or so feet above a Metropolis street. A slight burst effect surrounds him to indicate his teleportation arrival. Startled pedestrians point and react to the imp's sudden appearance. We can see the sun shining in the sky above Mxy.

1) DESCRIPTION: Mxy POPS into Metropolis, mad as hell

PANEL TWO

Still hovering, Mxy effortlessly picks up a car with one tiny hand, dumping LOIS LANE out of it. An arrow indicates the lifted car's movement. Mxy scowls as he looks beneath the car for a sign of Bat-Mite, his free hand shading his eyes from the sun. If there's room, indicate fleeing citizens in the background.

2) DESCRIPTION: Mxy picks up Lois' car to look underneath it for Bat-Mite

PANEL THREE

Mxy gestures towards the distant Daily Planet building -- which rises into the air, exposing the lobby and terrified staffers. An arrow indicates the direction of the rising building.

3) DESCRIPTION: He levitates the Daily Planet building, but still no sign of Bat-Mite

PANEL FOUR

Close on Mxy's fuming face, as he turns to face the "camera" in reaction to an "off-screen voice". In the deep background, the Daily Planet building can be seen slamming back down to the ground, raising a cloud of dust and scattering people. Arrows can indicate Mxy's turning head and the falling building.

4) DESCRIPTION: Close on Mxy as he reacts to Superman's o.s. voice

PANEL FIVE

Mxy's POV of SUPERMAN and BATMAN standing before him, their arms folded, their expressions grim. Superman stands on the left and Batman on the right. If there's room, relieved citizens can be seen behind the heroes.

5) DESCRIPTION: Mxy's POV of Superman and Batman, they're not happy to see him

PANEL SIX

A wider shot, as a furious Mxy stretches his arms out towards Superman and Batman a la Plastic Man. His hands are huge and poised on either side of the startled heroes as if to crush both them in a giant handclap. Superman and Batman are still standing as in the previous shot, Superman on the left, Batman on the right. Arrows can indicate the path of Mxy's hands, but we might want to make sure we don't overdo the "arrow schtick" too much.

6) DESCRIPTION: Mxy angrily surrounds Superman and Batman with his enlarged hands.

PANEL SEVEN

Mxy claps his massive hands together over Superman and Batman, completely covering them and apparently crushing them. Arrows show the movement of Mxy's hands as they slap together.

7) DESCRIPTION: He CLAPS his big hands around Superman and Batman

PANEL EIGHT

Mxy removes his giant hands -- revealing a rumpled, mortally wounded COMPOSITE SUPERMAN (an old DC villain who is made up of a Superman right half and a Batman left half. We'll need reference for this weirdo, who'll be adapted into the WB animation style).

8) DESCRIPTION: Mxy removes his hands, revealing smashed together Composite Superman

PAGE FORTY-ONE

PANEL ONE

Mxy hovers over the fallen Composite Superman, who lies prone in the foreground. Mxy practically cries from laughing so hard as he points down at the corpse and holds his stomach (his hands are normal-sized now). In the background we can see the shining sun looming large and low in the sky.

1) DESCRIPTION: Mxy hovers over dead Composite Superman, laughing hysterically

PANEL TWO

Closer in on Mxy. He looks around in confusion, reacting to an "off-screen" voice. Perhaps he has "multiple heads" showing his looking around/confusion. Behind him the sun looms larger.

2) DESCRIPTION: Suddenly he looks around, confused by o.s. BOOING & HISSING

PANEL THREE

Closer on a bewildered Mxy, looking up to see the large shining sun pushed open like a porthole window by BAT-MITE, who is revealed within the space "inside" the sun like a Laugh-In cast member. Bat-Mite's free hand is held to his mouth as he boos Mxy. An arrow shows the direction of the sun's opening "door". Perhaps the shifted sun illuminates the scene differently, like a swung-around light?

3) DESCRIPTION: The sun opens up, revealing a BOOING Bat-Mite behind it

PANEL FOUR

Mxy's in the immediate, foreshotened foreground, furiously glaring at Bat-Mite, who looks sheepishly away, nervously whistling and drumming the fingers of one hand on the "sill" of the opened sun.

4) DESCRIPTION: Bat-Mite whistles nervously, realizing his cover's blown

PANEL FIVE

Wider on a livid Mxy as he hurls a magic blast at Bat-Mite in the sun. We can see some indication of the city in the background.

5) DESCRIPTION: Mxy freaks out and hurls a magic blast at Bat-Mite

PANEL SIX

As the blast approaches a panicked Bat-Mite, he closes the sun "door".

6) DESCRIPTION: Bat-Mite panics and "closes" the sun as the blast approaches

PANEL SEVEN

Same shot. To Mxy's surprise, his blast hits the "closed" sun, causing a huge flash of energy to erupt from it, cracking open the ground below and shattering the cityscape in the background.

7) DESCRIPTION: Mxy's blast hits the sun, destroying everything

PANEL EIGHT

An all-black panel.

8) DESCRIPTION: Fade to Black

9) DESCRIPTION (BELOW #8) CUT TO:

And so ends the "DCAU sequence". Our protagonists next travel to the Dark Knight Returns universe, in a sequence drawn by Frank Miller. And therein lies a tale.

This is the 16th post in this series. Previous WORLD'S FUNNEST retrospective posts can be found here. Hopefully the links work. Search "WF retrospective" if I goofed!

1- The original pitch for World's Funnest (aka, Last Imp Standing) is here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-64684036

2- Brian Bolland's cover with original, alternate colors can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-65353388

3- The Silver Age era script (pgs 1-18), w/Dave Gibbon's inks: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-1-65064249

4- The Phantom Zone sequence (pg 19) w/Mike Allred's inks: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-66166610

5- The Golden Age Introduction part 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-66906681

6- The Golden Age Introduction part 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-2-67170515

7- The Golden Age era (pgs 20-21), w/Sheldon Moldoff's inks: https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-67320529

8- Earth 3 (pg 22) w/pencils by Stuart Immonen and inks by Joe Giella:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-3-67916213

9- Earth X/Freedom Fighters/Quality Comics (pg 23-24) art by Frank Cho

https://www.patreon.com/posts/worlds-funnest-x-69815979

10- Earth S/The Captain Marvel Family (pg 25-27) art by Jaime Hernandez