I'm switching gears again today with an exploration of the very small and very large. Today we go tiny - tomorrow - well, tune in for the ho, ho, ho and I don't mean Santa. Today I'm featuring Fly-Man, the powerful but little guy from Harvey Comics. Harvey decided to try a new comics format with their Spitfire Comics, which was much smaller than the standard comic book format but contained 100 pages. Harvey tried a similar experiment with their Pocket Comics and Fawcett did likewise with their own Mighty Midget Comics. None of these were very successful - too easy to pilfer off new stands. That's probably the reason that Spitfire Comics and their Fly-Man character only lasted two issues. Fly-Man himself was heavyweight boxer Clip Foster, who's father, like many in the Golden Age of comics, was a great scientist working on a project to make fighting men really small. OK, now you might ask yourself why would he want to do that, but imagine a tiny army of thousands of these miniaturized warriors aboard a single plane dropped over an enemy target. Take the antidote and - POOF - instant full-sized army!! At any rate he's experimenting with the formula and, apparently being another scientist without lab rats (PETA would be proud) gives the stuff to his own son. Of course criminals are lurking just around the corner and pick this very instant to break in to steal the formula. They kill the scientist father before he can administer the antidote and spill acid on poor little Clip, disfiguring him in the process. Swearing revenge, Clip creates a costume, complete with functional wings (which looks like a cape), and assumes the costumed identity of Fly-Man - obviously to protect his secret identity (although he's horribly disfigured and the size of a fly) and his loved ones (oh, yeah, his father is already dead). Fortunately for Clip's sake he still had the same strength as he did as a normal sized adult, although I'm not sure of the dynamics of a 200 pound fly hitting someone in the jaw. Oh well, guess it made a good story. Wouldn't really know since I've never read any of his adventures, but he was kind of an interesting, unusual character, and that's the kind I like. I made the figure from a Superior Models Captain Crusher 25mm figure - one of three they did for a limited superhero line. It was also the first time I tried to cut a cloth cape that small.
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