#lightning comics

Everything about this cover is so funny.

The entire three-issue run of Fatman the Human Flying Saucer, by writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck.

Fatman was wealthy Van Crawford, a gourmet, orchid raiser, and philanthropist. He saved a shape-changing alien who then granted Van the ability to change into a flying saucer in order to battle evil.

Binder and Beck were both longtime contributors to the adventures of the original Captain Marvel before he was cancelled by Fawcett Comics. Much of the same zaniness that occurred in Cap's adventures occur here. In. fact, other than the color change and different chest emblem, Fatman's costume is nearly identical to Captain Marvel's.

Unfortunately, Fatman had two things going against him from the beginning:

First, he came along near the end of the very short-lived superhero boom brought on by the Batman (1966) television show. Dozens of new superheroes in all sorts of media showed up in response to Batmania. But the trend didn't have any legs, and most of those heroes didn't even last a year.

Second, Fatman was a call-back to a much simpler time, when the comic book audience was much younger. The meteoric rise of Marvel Comics and their angsty, more "grounded" superheroes were attracting a new generation of older readers who didn't have time for books aimed at "kids."

Sidekick Gals 12

Lightning Girl is the sidekick of Lash Lightning a hero endowed with the speed, strength and power of lightning itself by the “Old Man of the Pyramids” in order for him to go forth and fight evil. In his vehicle title, Lightning Comics, Lash operates alone for most of the series, but this changes in the final issue when Lightning Girl is introduced (Lightning Comics Vol 3 #1, June 1942). Daily Ledger reporter Isobel Blake is suspected by Lash, and the authorities, of being a spy for the Axis but she is actually trying to prove the innocence of her accused navy captain father and uncle and eventually dramatically demonstrates that she is in fact a loyal American. The impressed Lash then persuades Isobelto help him break up the “Alaskan fifth column” that framed her father. When Lightning finds himself incapacitated by the traitors, he transfers his lightning powers to Isobel who is thus transformed into the formidable Lightning Girl, and she goes on to use her new abilities to help save the day. Her career as Lightning’s sidekick then continues in Four Favorites Comics, appearing for the first time with Lash in Four Favorites #8 (December 1942) and she appears to be equal to Lash in terms of power, if not experience. She is certainly as tough as her senior partner and seems to enjoy slugging the often super-powered villains and villainesses she comes up against and making them look stupid.

In the page featured, Lightning Girl takes the place of a woman being terrorised by a blackmailer. When the hood arrives on the doorstep and demands the “five hundred smackers” he is trying to extort, Isobel proceeds to pay up by delivering the first “smacker” direct to the gangster’s jaw. Promising to let him have the full 500, she actually only gets to pummel the unfortunate criminal another nineteen times before Lightning arrives and tells his enthusiastic female protégée the bad guy has probably had enough. This story was actually the final appearance of the pair in Four Colors, after which the title veered off into a more “funnies” direction.

For sheer toughness, it is hard to think of a Golden Age heroine the equal of Lightning Girl, let alone a sidekick gal. In fact Isobel was later given equal billing with Lash in the series’ title, which was only fitting.

The page featured is from the Lash Lightning with Lightning Girl adventure, The Riddle of the 13 Red Points, published in Four Favorites Comics #21 (January 1946).

Death Angel

-Real name: Rachel Killian

-A.k.a.:-

-Publisher: Lightning Comics

-Type: Angel

-Afilliations: -