Boris the Bear is a fictional comic book character featured in several comic book titles published between 1986 and 2008. The series began as a response to the popularity of the wave of anthropomorphic animal titles that began with the publishing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984. That title, itself a parody of popular comic books at the time such as Daredevil, inspired numerous knock-offs and parodies like Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos, Mildy Microwaved Pre-Pubescent Kung Fu Gophers and Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils which led to what many refer to as the Black-and-White Boom of the mid-1980s. The Boris character started as bear who was tired of these comic books and decides to kill them in a hyper-violent style reminiscent of 1980s films such as Rambo. After the first issue, Boris the Bear continued to fight parodies of the Transformers, Marvel Comics, Swamp Thing, and Elfquest before moving on to more character-driven stories. Publication history Starting in July 1986 and created by James Dean Smith and written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley, Boris the Bear was the second title published by Dark Horse Comics. Telling the story of an anthropomorphic bear, who is soon revealed to be a robot, the book parodied many other comic book characters while also satirizing the comic book industry as a whole. Often extremely violent, the book was a black comedy that developed a cult following. The title also served as the introduction to Wacky Squirrel, created by Mike Richardson and Jim Bradrick, who gained his own popularity and went on to star in his own series and specials published by Dark Horse. Early issues of Boris the Bear centered on parodies of industry trends at the time. For example, the first issue, titled Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters features Boris disposing of characters resembling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo, Cerebus the Aardvark, the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Hamster Vice, and others in an extremely violent matter. The trend continued through the early issues of the title with Boris confronting or parodying characters resembling the Transformers, the heroes of the Marvel Universe, Swamp Thing, Batman, and Elfquest. It wasn't long before Boris even met the actual T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. The popularity of Boris led to two early appearances in the third and fourth issues of the first volume of