I have made no secret of the fact that I have a number of characters that– in a perfect world– I would be making better us of. Toward the top of that list is FooF, a shape-changing alien from the planet Ofhtesamename I introduced 30 years ago this month. Inspired by (of all things) the entry for Fantastic Four #7 in the Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic Four, I created FooF as a foil for my Armen Hammer character in the fifth issue of that comic. My simple conceit was a misunderstanding where both of these unique characters assumed their powers were representative of everyone on their respective planets, a twist on the typical presentation of comic book aliens with fantastic powers.
It just so happened that FooF proved to be quite popular with my readers, and I got a number of requests asking to see more of the character. Over the years, I happily brought him back in future issues of that series, in various appearances in other comic stories & minicomic gags, and even an issue of his own digest comic.
In fact, until Watusi came along, FooF was my go-to character whenever I needed an oddball spokescharacter! He was fun, could fill (literally) any role needed … and he was easy to draw!
While I’ve worked on a couple of projects to use the character in new ways over the years, nothing (sadly) has come to fruition. I may never have the time or inclination to showcase the character as a headliner, but suffice it to say that you haven’t seen the last of FooF!
Until then, you can always find FooF in the pages of these back issues. Read ’em if you got ’em:
- Armen Hammer/The Guy with a Hammer! #5, 10, 11 (1986-1989)
- A Halloween Treat With Giant Jack (1987)
- Weekly Dale News Vol. I No. 20 (1989)
- This Comic is Free number read-it-while-you-eat-lunch (1990)
- Smeary Soapbox Press 1992 catalog
- The Guy with a Hammer! #12-14 (1993)
- The Giant-sized Guy with a Hammer! #1 (1993)
- Fables Of the Off-the-wall FooF #1 (1993)
- The Guy with a Hammer’s 3-D Special (1994)
- FooF makes a minicomic! (1997) I updated this recently as Smeary Soapbox Press-ents #9.
- My “Larry’s Kitchen” zines in APA-5 #288, 295, 300, 302, 304, 315, 332, 356 (1998-2004)
- APA-5 All-Comic Spectacular #2 (2001)
- Smeary Soapbox Press-ents #4 (2004)
- Larry’s Kitchen #78 (2006)
(Just don’t bother looking for any of FooF’s nonexistent titles from this fake “house” ad ca. 1993):
Smeary Soapbox Press 
The number of characters I have that I would like to make better use of (or any use outside of my head) would fill several comicbook companies. I have recently started a new universe and have been coming up with plots for one of the characters along with shared secondary characters for the rest of that world. I do not expect they will ever see print. Feel happy you have actually made good use of a number of your characters like Foof and Watusi!
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I always think it’s funny when people call me “prolific” given how much I feel I haven’t completed. Thanks for reminding me otherwise, Keith!
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Happy anniversary, Foof! Dale, I hope you do have some future plans for the Foofster! I think a meet-up/team-up with the Human Spring would make for a great story! P.S. I have always enjoyed your logo for The FooF Family. If I ever saw a comic book with that logo, I would grab it up in a heartbeat!
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Hmmm … maybe I should rethink just how “nonexistent” those titles are, and not just because I’ve almost used two of them in the past already! (I think I might gravitate towards Nation’s Niftiest myself, though…)
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I vote for Bureaucrat Comics!
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