About

Around the late 1990s, one of the more absurd items you could find on the web were a series of standalone websites dedicated to Mr. T taking on a notable person or character. The sites usually presented the story in a multi-page comic-book format using crude photo edits that combined the same stock images of Mr. T with the villain of the day. The results always had Mr. T coming out the winner, but the draw was in the storytelling of how Mr. T came into the fight and how he went about it.

Origin

Pre-History

Chris Kowalski credits^[1] l0pht's Deth Veggie for having created the first Mr. T site on the Internet^[2], which promoted the idea of Mr. T as the ultimate badass.

Mr. T vs Superman

The "Mr. T vs." meme originated with Peter "bokm9606" Bokma's web page Mr. T vs. Superman^[3] as an extension of the Mr. T Ate My Balls meme. Bokma and fellow University of Idaho student Chris "kowa9693" Kowalski^[4] made additional "Mr. T vs." pages. Although Bokma's original Mr. T vs Superman comic has fallen off the web, a description of it survives:^[5]

Next up on out tour de weirdness is this pioneering site … evil Lex Luthor offers Mr. T a handful of gold chains in exchange for kicking Superman's ass. Needless to say in this world of Mr. T veneration, it's T who comes out on top (and consumes a certain someone's superballs). Just like in the case of [Ate My Balls], there are now dozens of similar "Mr. T vs." sites.

Meme Formation

"Mr. T vs." comics quickly detached themselves from the Ate My Balls meme by removing ball-eating from the stories and forming their own set of standard conventions wherein Mr. T was helluva tough and defeated his enemies by throwing them helluva far. Common themes included Mr. T's enjoyment of milk, his "van is fast!", and plotlines revolving around youth centers or Mr. T's gold chains.

Spread

After the work of Bokma and Kowalski was favorably reviewed by several best-of-the-web websites, other people began making their own "Mr. T vs." comics. Comic creators were aided by the Mr. T Picture Archive^[6], the Mr. T vs X Pagebuilder's Guide^[7], and Troy Wood's Mr. T Resource Archive.^[8] As of June 2002, Katie Henkel's Mr. T vs. Everything index listed over 300 "Mr. T vs." sites.^[9]

Examples

• Mr. T vs. Battle.net
• Mr. T vs. Clerks
• Mr. T vs. Hackers
• Mr. T vs. Jigglypuff
• Mr. T vs. Metallica
• Mr. T vs. Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Mr. T vs. The Price Is Right
• Mr. T vs. Seanbaby
• Mr. T vs. Slayers
• Mr. T vs. Star Blazers
• Newgrounds Mr. T vs. … video collection

Meme Death

Interest in "Mr. T vs." comics waned in 2000 as attention turned towards Flash cartoons and more general Photoshopping. New comics stopped appearing after the Mr. T image archives went down. Many of the comics have since fallen off the web as their domains expired and free hosting services went out of business.

External References

^[1] kowa9693 – Other Humorous Mr T sites

^[2] Deth Vegetable – Mr. T's K-Rad Shack Homepage, Fool! (mirror)

^[3] bokm9606 – Mr. T vs. Superman (no longer viewable)

^[4] kowa9693 – Monkey Boy's Homepage Of Fear!!!

^[5] Devin D. O'Leary – Lost in Cyberspace for May 26, 1998

^[6] Supremeness – Mr. T Picture Archive

^[7] Troy Wood – Mr. T Resource Archive

^[8] waysted8 – Mr. T vs X Pagebuilder's Gude

^[9] Katie Henkel – Mr. T vs Everything