''Lethargic Lad'' is a protagonist in the

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

of the same name, created by Greg Hyland sometime in the late 1980s. The character is notable for being very slow and inactive. Lethargic Lad does not speak, though he sometimes mutters "Umm...".

Comics

Lethargic Lad is the name of both a comic and a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

character created by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artist Greg Hyland. Hyland created the character in high school as a doodle, and beginning in 1988, he featured the character in a photocopied anthology mini-comic called ''Lethargic Comics Weakly''. This anthology, which was rounded out with contributions from fellow animation students (and one instructor) at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

, lampooned

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

comics, and was sold to local animation and comics fans. In June 1991, ''Lethargic Comics Weakly'' restarted its continuity in an internationally distributed, professional format independent black and white comic, which ran for 12 issues until June 1993. This was followed by the spin-off ''Tales of Lethargy'', which ran for three issues beginning in August 1993, and featured "Gun Guy, Ghost Guy, and Guy With Claws." Publishing began again in January 1994 under the new title ''Lethargic Comics'', which ran for 15 issues through June 1996. In June 1996, a three issue mini-series was released that dropped the anthology style of the comic. In a testament to the character's intense

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

, the cover to issue #3 of this mini-series was painted by

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book creator, comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which ...

as a parody of the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

Kingdom Come Kingdom Come may refer to: * "Kingdom come", a phrase in the Lord's Prayer in the Bible Film * ''Kingdom Come'' (1919 film), a Western short featuring Hoot Gibson * ''Kingdom Come'' (2001 film), a comedy starring LL Cool J * ''Kingdom Come'', ...

series, which Ross himself had illustrated. ''Lethargic Lad Adventures'' launched in October 1997. This series lasted 13 issues, being renamed ''Lethargic Lad'' with the third issue. The series featured an innovation: the actual story in the comic began right on the cover. In April 2000, Greg Hyland launched lethargiclad.com and moved from doing a print comic book to doing a weekly

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

, with each month's collection of webcomics considered one "issue." Some of these webcomics have been reprinted in irregular "jumbo-sized annuals" put out by

John Kovalic John Kovalic (born Robert John Kovalic, Jr. on 24 November 1962) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, and writer. Career Born in Manchester, England, Kovalic is best known for his ''Dork Tower'' comic book, comic strip, and webcomic, and oth ...

's Dork Storm (publisher of the gaming satire/humor comic

Dork Tower ''Dork Tower'' is an online comics, comic created, written and drawn by John Kovalic. It chronicles the lives of a group of geeks living in the fictional town of Mud Bay, Wisconsin. Mud Bay's design is strongly influenced by the writer's home, a ...

). More recently, books collecting the online webcomics have been put out by Mr. Hyland himself. Currently, ''Lethargic Lad'' is a weekly webcomic posted on Sunday. Greg Hyland has occasionally taken off time for other projects, as well as for the birth of his daughter. Other projects include providing production art for licensed

LEGO Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

brand product and doing storyboarding for their animated shorts. Greg has worked in the past for

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

on such cartoons as

Beetlejuice (TV series) ''Beetlejuice'' is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1989, to October 26, 1991, on ABC, and on Fox from September 9 to December 6, 1991. Loosely based on the 1988 American film of the same name, it was developed by its d ...

. He has also worked as an illustrator and colorist for

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

on card games including '' Munchkin Fu'' and its expansion ''Munchkin Fu – Monky Business,'' '' Ninja Burger,'' and ''Burn In Hell''. The Lethargic Lad universe has many supporting and recurring characters lampooning much of the

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

and DC catalogues. Lethargic Lad Timeline: # ''Lethargic Comics, Weakly'' (minis) #1–60 (1988–1991) # ''Lethargic Comics, Weakly'' #1–12 (1991–1993) # ''Tales of Lethargy'' #1–3 (1993) # 'Lethargic Comics'' #1–3, #3.14, #4–14 (1994–1996) # ''Lethargic Lad'' #1–3 (1996) # ''Lethargic Lad Adventures'' #1–2 (1997), continued as ''Lethargic Lad''. # ''Lethargic Lad'' #3–13 (1998–1999), continued from ''Lethargic Lad Adventures''. # ''The Big Book of Lethargic Lad'' (1998), collects stories from ''Lethargic Comics, Weakly'' (1991–1993), ''Lethargic Comics'' (1994–1996), and the ''Lethargic Lad'' mini-series (1996). # ''Lethargic Lad Jumbo-Sized Annual'' #1–3 (2002–2005) (various online strips) # ''Lethargic Lad: Topics of Unclear Importance'' (2007), collects online strips from 2000–2007. # ''Lethargic Lad 2007'' (2008), collects online strips from 2007. # ''Lethargic Lad 2008'' (2009), collects online strips from 2008. # ''Lethargic Lad 2009'' (2010), collects online strips from 2009. # ''Lethargic Lad 2010'' (2011), collects online strips from 2010. # ''Lethargic Lad 2011'' (2012), collects online strips from 2011. # ''Lethargic Lad 2012'' (2013), collects online strips from 2012. # ''Lethargic Lad: Season One'' (2016), collects online strips from 2014–2016. # ''Lethargic Lad: Season One – Revised and Expanded 2017 Edition'' (2017), collects online strips from 2014–2017. # Lethargic Lad.com #1–735 (weekly online strips) A Lethargic Lad backup comic, ''Lethargic Lad's Rogues Gallery,'' also appeared in

from issues #16–36. These strips were collected in ''Lethargic Lad: Topics of Unclear Importance.''

Major characters

*Lethargic Lad – The main character of the series. He is the protector of Infantino City, a presumably large metropolis. He has the power of lethargy, and is always ready to save the day. His

secret identity A secret identity is a person's code name, cryptonym, disguise, incognito, Cover (intelligence gathering), cover and/or alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pi ...

is Larry Ladhands, who is rich and lives in a mansion. Below his mansion is the Lad Cave, where he keeps his vehicles and gadgets. * Sailor Steve – a male

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, video games, computers or other highly enthusiastic hobbies. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. ...

who dresses in

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

outfits. Sailor Steve first appeared in Lethargic Lad #3. He frequents the trendy coffee shop, and Infantino city. He is an expert on Japan, even more so than some Japanese, especially about toys, movies, animation, and television. He is meant to be a satire on otaku in general.Sailor Steve
/ref>

References

{{reflist

External links

* Greg Hyland mentioned as a "notable" alternative and small press creator i

from ''Beyond the Funnies, a Canadian Comics History project'' by the Canadian Library and Archives. * Greg Hyland and the Lethargic Lad webcomic a

called ''Scott McCloud & The World of Online Comics''.
Site Spotlight: Far from a Lethargic site
at ''Comic Book Marks''.
Featured Interview
with Greg Hyland from ''Viking News: Online Edition of the Student Newspaper of Ocean County College''.
Spotlight
from ''Read This Or Die'' a
Sequential Tart

for ''Lethargic Lad #3,'' an issue that parodied ''

Kingdom Come (comics) ''Kingdom Come'' is a four-issue comic book miniseries published in 1996 by DC Comics under their Elseworlds imprint. It was written by Mark Waid and painted in gouache by Alex Ross, who also developed the concept from an original idea. The st ...

,'' from the sit
DC Comics Annotations

frightenstein.com
notes

in an issue of ''Lethargic Lad''.
Greg Hyland
an
Lethargic Lad
at comicbookDB.com
Lethargic Lad
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

Greg Hyland interviewed about Lethargic Lad by Studio Kaiju Parody webcomics Superhero webcomics Comics publications Canadian webcomics Canadian comedy websites 2000s webcomics 2010s webcomics Webcomics in print 2000 webcomic debuts