In 1994 Bongo Comics published Itchy & Scratchy Comics Holiday Hi-Jinx Special #1 (not to be mistaken with Itchy & Scratchy Comics #1). This issue was the final installment of the Itchy & Scratchy series and was unique in that no words were spoken by any character throughout the comic.
It was also announced that Bongo Comics was online on CompuServe (who remembers that blast from the past!?).
Itchy & Scratchy were a controversial pair, causing many to decry comic and cartoon violence. Here are some of the letters sent in to Bongo:
Somehow your comic book “Itchy & Scratchy Comics – 1st Issue” made it into our house with our ten-year-old. What a fantastic job you’ve done presenting impressionable young children with a totally useless and senseless publication. Surely you have better things to do that live out your sadistic fantasies, aggressiveness, dysfunctional experiences, bouts with neglect, child abuse or psychological problems through our children under the guise of a comic book.
Top marks for sarcasm and passive-aggressiveness! Other readers wrote in to defend Itchy & Scratchy:
I&S may be violent but it is intended as a parody of conventional cartoons. No one complains when Daffy Duck gets his head blown off or Elmer Fudd is flattened by an anvil. Also, Itchy’s antics are impossible to imitate. How many children have access to a steamroller or a french-fry machine?
Puns and comedy. That’s what cartoons are all about. Kids are going to understand that, and no one should underestimate their intelligence. I realize, of course, that some kids are going to fall for some of those things, but you can’t blame cartoons or comic books. It is the fault of parents because some are too lazy to teach their kids the difference between fantasy and reality, and they think of the TV as a babysitter.
