Joe the Barbarian



Joe the Barbarian is an eight-issue comic book limited series written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Sean Murphy. It was published in 2010-2011 by Vertigo Comics, an imprint of American company DC Comics.

Joe is a teenage boy with Type 1 diabetes. When his blood sugar drops and he enters a state of hypoglycemia, he begins to hallucinate, and enters a fantasy world populated with his toys and other fantasy characters. Here he becomes embroiled in a war with King Death, while in the real world he searches for a soda to fix his blood sugar. He knows there is one in the kitchen downstairs, but it is extremely far away, made farther by his medical condition affecting his mobility.


 * Action Girl: ZYXY
 * Eyepatch of Power: Draka the pirate
 * Expy: Subverted and played straight. While some of Joe's toys just bear resemblances to popular comic book and tv characters, most of them are the real deal--but in toy form.
 * Fake Crossover: Gray Ghost from Batman: The Animated Series appears in two cameos.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Joe
 * The Lancer: Chakk
 * The Big Guy: Smoot and Chakk
 * The Smart Guy/The Chick: ZYXY
 * Sixth Ranger: Sir Adamark
 * If I Do Not Return: Joe attempts this.
 * Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Done in a manner similar to The Indian in the Cupboard.
 * Our Dwarves Are All the Same: The sewer dwarves.
 * Splash Panel: several
 * Took a Level in Badass:
 * Chakk/Jack used to be the coward among his brothers, but proves he is a mighty warrior.
 * Joe takes one as a well.