Another first! This Tuesday, instead of a song about a comic strip character, or the theme from an animated cartoon, or a record by an cartoonist, or even a song sung by a letterer (yes, we’ve had all of these here), we present a tune inspired by a line of classic comic book dialogue. The line, of course, is “Hey, what th-.”

This all-purpose line can be used many wonderful ways. For example, “Hey, what th- My flame doesn’t affect Dr. Doom!” (Johnny Storm, The Human Torch). Or “Hey, what th- My web didn’t hold! I’m falling off this skyscraper!” (Spider-Man). And who could forget “Hey, what th- It’s the Avengers!” (guy on New York street). In Superman comics you’d expect to hear “Great Caesar’s ghost.” On the Batman TV show it might be “Holy icebergs Batman, Mr. Freeze has frozen us solid!” But in the Marvel universe, there’s nothing better than a little “Hey, what th-” to create a feeling of excitement.

The song comes to us courtesy of Mr. Capes (guitar, base, drums) and Mr. Masks (flugelhorn) whose delightful album Comic Book Heroes (see here, here, here, here and here for more) gave us so many great generic comics tunes. When you hear that album by the Capes & Masks you’ll say “Hey, what th-.” It’s practically guaranteed.

Click the link below to experience the sheer majesty of this record!

Hey, What th- - The Capes and Masks