Number 1816: Herbie debuts as the Fat Fury

In Herbie #8 (1965), bowing to the popularity of superhero comics and their sixties renaissance, Herbie Popnecker became a superhero called, appropriately, the Fat Fury (aka the “Plump Lump”).

Herbie is a fat kid, and his dad is abusive in his remarks (“Little fat nothing!”), but Herbie is also a very special person. He has very special powers already (levitation, talks to animals, knows absolutely everyone from queens to commoners). Why put him in a costume? Especially one like this? Well, I dunno...I dunno why editor Richard Hughes did many of the things he did, but in this case what he did apparently heightened the popularity of Herbie, even beyond that which had been already achieved. Herbie was a hit from his first appearance in Forbidden Worlds, right through to the end of ACG comics in 1967. If a barefoot Herbie with a toilet plunger on his head, wearing long underwear and a cape increased sales, well, so be it.

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