Herbie Popnecker is a fictional comic book character that first appeared in Forbidden Worlds #73 in December 1958, published by American Comics Group. He was created by Richard E. Hughes and Ogden Whitney. Herbie is an antithetical hero: short, obese, unstylish, and young. Deriving some of his powers from genetics and some from magical lollipops from "the Unknown", Herbie can talk to animals and sometimes even inanimate objects, fly at high enough speeds to quickly travel to other galaxies, become invisible, cast spells and summon spirits from other dimensions, quickly dispatch his enemies with apparent ease, and travel through time. Herbie is emotionless, terse, irresistible to women, consulted by world leaders, 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.
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 wishes he had a son who "did something". Pincus believes himself to be a financial genius and, despite his wholesome and conservative "1950s dad" appearance, constantly engages in harebrained schemes; he inevitably fails in spectacular fashion and winds up in varying levels of trouble. Herbie is always obliged to bail him out 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, 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.
Powers
Hypnotic eyes that can defeat opponents by staring
Famous throughout history and able to depend on the help of others
By talking to animals, able to gather information and use animals' abilities
Indestructibility—Herbie is often unaware he is even being attacked
Fly, but doing so by walking upright. In addition to being able to walk on air and through space, he can walk underwater. Herbie can also fly underground and often breaks through walls
Invisibility—early on, Herbie could become invisible, but stopped using that power by the third Herbie issue
Magic—visiting the Unknown, a mysterious spirit world
Recurring gags
There are many recurring gags in Herbie comics:
Herbie speaks very little. He is terse, leaving out many words.
Herbie is unemotional, in spite of everything around him, understating everything he says. Herbie's captions are free of exclamation points, except when his lollipops are threatened.
Women swoon over Herbie, loving his round physique. Sometimes women who first loved Herbie eventually run off with an animal.
Herbie encounters many look-alikes, most of whom he thinks are ugly.
Although very obese, Herbie does not eat much, especially in later issues, although he sometimes sleeps while he eats. He is always sleeping, much to the dismay of his father.
Herbie sometimes bites his adversaries, and sometimes they bite him.
Herbie wears many disguises, most of which are absurd.
Herbie often appears, to his embarrassment, in boxer shorts.
Herbie sometimes happens to have just the right item for the job: marshmallows in King Arthur's time, worms to drop in Mao's mouth, a bicycle pump in his pocket, or a blowtorch in the frozen north.
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 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 featured an appearance by Herbie. America's Comic Group 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.
