A bit of a Capt. Marvel rebirth here. A SHAZAM looking magician, bestowing super powers to a 'pure in heart' teenager. Dress - red shirt and blue trousers, same colors as Billy Batson. The teen puts on the beret and is transformed into an adult. The Lightening Comics logo is very similar to the lightening flash panel used in the Fawcet's Capt. Marvel. This isn't to say that I don't approve, in fact this comic book is very good. It's a great pity that it didn't last longer than a few editions.
Any similarities to past fictional characters were entirely intentional. Milson Publications (a.k.a. Lightning Comics) was put together by former Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley, with former Marvel Family (and Superman Family) writer Otto Binder writing both
Fatman the Human Flying Saucer and
Super Green Beret, and former Captain Marvel artist C. C. Beck drawing Fatman. These characters might well have been out of step with the tenor of the times, but with so many old and new comic publishers putting out new superhero character titles in the wake of the fantastic success of TV's BATMAN, the intense competition for rack space killed a lot of them in fairly short order, including Harry Shorten's Tower Comics (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents).
Aside from that, the war in Vietnam didn't have great support among the mostly young readers -- most readers were probably only peripherally aware of it if they had family members serving in the armed forces. Not even venerable DC, whose war titles outsold all competitors, was able to create a successful war comic set in Vietnam. Binder was apparently so out of touch that he supposed there was no real difference between superheroes fighting in WWII and superheroes fighting in Vietnam.
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Topic: Re: Super Green Beret 1 (Read 154 times)
