The Japanese Beetle

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Japanese Beetle, alias Ken Watanabe, is the bravest, boldest hero in Skyline City, the last line of defense against rampaging supervillains, terrorists, and mind-controlled Girl Scouts...

...At least that's what he'd like you to think (especially if you're a beautiful woman). In truth, Ken is actually selfish, greedy, chauvinistic, and has the attention span of an over-caffeinated moth. Fortunately, the villains he fights are just as dysfunctional as he is, as are all the other superheroes. So in the end, he comes out looking pretty good by comparison.

Created by Dave White in 1994 for his college newspaper, The Japanese Beetle is an Affectionate Parody of the superhero genre, playfully poking fun at both Comic Book Tropes and outright skewering specific storylines, like Frank Miller's seminal The Dark Knight Returns. The series exists in several incarnations, but as of 2005 stopped updating, and seems to have been forgotten.

Tropes used in The Japanese Beetle include: