I found much of ‘Crayon Shin-Chan’ incomprehensible, to be honest, but I enjoyed the weird conceit where we got to see the adventures of his favorite superhero Action Kamen! (He was called Action Bastard in the American version, I believe.) Whether you love Shin-Chan or hate him, it’s always easy to relate to characters who have a favorite superhero.
Even if their adventures are otherwise completely nonsensical…
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.
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Good list! When I saw the topic, the Brown Hornet was the first thing to pop into my mind.
One fun also-ran that just popped into my head:
Captain Avenger – the character played by John Ritter’s character in the 1980 film Hero At Large. The story is about an actor playing a hero who stops a robbery in real life while wearing his hero costume, and all the things that fall out from that.