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High Camp HijinXXX The Human Flying Saucer’s Bizarre Landing by P.C. Hamerlinck
F
atman the Human Flying Saucer’s exuberant three-issue existence of “high camp” heroics and corny cuisine wisecracks lived for only a brief five-month period in the year of 1967.
The character was the creation of former Fawcett Publications executive comics editor Will Lieberson and his brother Martin, along with their friend Bernie Miller and his brother Joe. The foursome, after lamenting the glory days of Captain Marvel’s supremacy on the newsstands, and witnessing a mid-’60s super-hero resurgence in the marketplace, combined their last names and formed Milson Publishing Company, Inc.
“Take a Memo” Milson immediately retained the vastly competent services of Captain Marvel’s top creative team during the Golden Age of Comics—writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck—to script and illustrate a new comic book character bestowed with three identities, and to be published under Milson’s “Lightning Comic” banner. (Other Fawcett alumni were eventually ushered in: former Captain Marvel/Marvel Family editor Wendell Crowley received a pressing call from Lieberson to edit and write stories for Fatman’s 3rd issue in order to help smooth over Binder and Beck’s first-ever battles with “creative differences”; later on, former Fawcett comics editor/writer Rod Reed wrote a script for the aborted 4th issue.)
A 1953 Will Lieberson gag drawing from a card given to him by the Fawcett comics staff to commemorate his 10-year anniversary as their executive editor. (The card, written by John Messmann, drawn by Ed Ashe and Carl Pfeufer, and lettered by Al Jetter, was seen in its entirety in the out-of-print TwoMorrows book Fawcett Companion.) [©2009 the respective copyright holders.]
A wealthy and portly young man named Van Crawford, still living at home with his disappointed parents, spent his days bird-watching, growing orchids, collecting puppets, and raiding the refrigerator. As Fatman, he was a colossal, lumbering parody of a super-hero dressed in a self-made green costume. And when he managed to get up a fast enough running start, Fatman was able to rapidly turn himself into a metal Human Flying Saucer and whisk away into the sky. Binder and Beck were paid by Milson for their work on the three Fatman issues—and were actually promised a share of the publisher’s profits when they’d start rolling in. But there were never any proceeds gained from Milson’s initial $64,000 investment—flushed away by failure to arrange for proper distribution of the book. Milson filed for bankruptcy shortly after the three issues were completed—and before the cumbersome comical hero had a chance to compete in the mounting Silver Age super-hero renaissance. With exception to possible blurbs in small-press, mimeographed fanzines, very few welcoming media outlets existed at that time where one could properly market a new comic book. These austere realities were perceptibly manifested with an absurd and ineffectual endeavor spear-
“Naked Lunch” At left is the notorious issue of Will Lieberson’s adult sleaze-mag Monsieur (Dec. 1966) containing “Will Little’s” article vainly promoting his latest business venture: Fatman the Human Flying Saucer. Our censor-serving panel inset—of the always-hungry hero, Fatman—is taken from FM #1 (April 1967). [©2009 the respective copyright holders.]