Herbie Popnecker
Herbie Popnecker is a fictional comic book character who first appeared in "Forbidden Worlds" #73 in December 1958, published by American Comics Group. He was created by Richard E. Hughes (using the pseudonym "Shane O'Shea") and Ogden Whitney. Herbie is an antithetical hero - a short, obese, emotionless, terse, unstylish boy. Deriving some of his powers from genetics and some from magical lollipops he obtains from a salesman (from a mysterious realm called "the Unknown"), Herbie can carry on detailed conversations with animals and sometimes even inanimate objects (who all know him by name), quickly reach any location (including  other galaxies) by walking through the sky, become invisible, cast spells, summon spirits from other dimensions, quickly dispatch all enemies with ease, and travel through time. Despite his appearance and terse personality, he is irresistible to women. Herbie is nearly omnipotent and more powerful than Satan. Publication history. Herbie made several appearances in "Forbidden Worlds", in issues #73, #94, #110, #114, and #116—the final two issues with Herbie featured on the cover. Herbie also made a cameo appearance—albeit very much out of character—in "Unknown Worlds" #20, published in 1961. Herbie received his own title, "Herbie", in April  1964. The series ran for twenty-three issues until February 1967, shortly before the demise of American Comics Group. Fictional character biography. Herbie's parents are unaware of his great powers and fame. His mother is reasonably supportive; however, his father, Pincus Popnecker, repeatedly refers to him as a "little fat nothing" and longs for a more ambitious son. Pincus believes himself to be a financial genius and destined for greatness. Despite his wholesome and conservative "1950s dad" appearance, he constantly engages in foolish schemes, inevitably fails in spectacular fashion and winds up in varying levels of trouble. Herbie is  always obliged to help him in each circumstance, though the clueless Pincus never notices this and always takes the credit for victory himself. Herbie is practically always shown with a lollipop, and lollipops are the main subjects of several stories. Herbie can "bop" adversaries with his lollipops, immediately defeating them. Herbie intimidates his adversaries by asking them rhetorically, "You want I should bop you with this here lollipop?", which almost always results in them backing down. Fat Fury. In "Herbie" #8 (March 1965), Herbie feels a need to become a costumed superhero; but, after failing superhero school, he creates the  Fat Fury by donning full-body red underwear with a drop seat, a blue cape, a blue plastic mask, and a plunger on his head. He is bare-footed. Herbie's obtuse father then begins to wish that his "little fat nothing" of a son could be more like the Fat Fury. As the Fat Fury, Herbie does not have any powers beyond the many he had before donning the costume. Although Herbie travels back in time, the Fat Fury never does. The Fat Fury was featured in even-numbered "Herbie" comics from #8 to #22. Recurring gags. There are  many recurring gags in Herbie comics: Critical analysis. In a review of the Dark Horse Comics collections "Herbie: Volume One" and "Herbie: Volume Two", "The New York Times" described Hughes' Herbie Popnecker as, Alan Moore has declared Herbie his favorite superhero. Collections and revivals. In the 1990s, there were some attempts to revive Herbie. A-Plus Comics (which had purchased the American Comics Group reprint rights) published six black-and-white issues of reprints in 1991. Dark Horse Comics published two issues of a planned twelve in 1992, the first with a new story by John Byrne. "Flaming Carrot Comics  #31 (1994) featured an appearance by Herbie (words and pictures by Bob Burden). America's Comic Group (a publisher affiliated with A+ Comics) published a new story written by Roger Broughton with artwork by Dan Day. In 2008, Dark Horse Comics announced that they would reprint the original Herbie stories in a series of hardcover archive volumes. The first Herbie Archives came out in August 2008 () and collects Herbie stories from Forbidden Worlds" #73, 94, 110, 114, 116, "Unknown Worlds" #20, and "Herbie" #1–5. The second came out in December 2008 (), and collects issues #6–14. The third and final volume  came out in April 2009 (), and collects issues #15–23. Awards. Herbie comics received the Alley Award for Best Humor Comic Book 1964 and 1965. The Herbie Archives received the Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication in 2009.