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Human Fly, the Wildest Superhero ever…because he is real! Wow! What a series!I remember being a fan of this character since the comic book appeared here in Spain. It was published by Editorial Bruguera at the same time as the Star Wars comic book adaptation and the Kirby’s rendition of 2001. The end of the 70s were great for young kids who love comics.
The Spanish run lasted for half the collection and in the early 90s I bought the whole series by less than ten dollars. No problem. The comics were great in the seventies and are still remembered in the new millennium as I could see while looking for information about the series. So many people miss this kind of characters that it would not surprise me to see it back in print in an essential volume or in a new collection. Why not?
It amazes me that the character was based on a real person. A real Human Fly, with the same outfit and the same kind of risks for the sake of raising money for good causes. His name was Rick Rojatt and there is little information, if any, in Internet, about him and his life.
[via Mojave ]Here you can see pictures of his legendary stunts. First, the picture of Rick Rojatt riding a plane.
[via Good Comics CBR]
Then a picture of his flying bicycle over many (I don’t know how many) buses.
[via Entre Cómics]
And a picture of him and friends, where we can amaze at the original outfit.
A Human Fly was first a person who climbs tall buildings and Sky-scrappers (like the character performed by Harold Lloyd), but in this series, the main character is more a Daredevil and a Death-defier.
Well, that’s all for the Real Human Fly. Let’s see what Marvel offered at the time. The idea of creating a comic book about a real person making the impossible easy, was first designed by Archie Goodwin as Editor, Bill Mantlo as writer and Lee Elias as artist. There is information about it in the ebook Mantlo: A Life in Comics. They created a cast of supporting characters to make the adventure deeper and more human.
In the introduction to the comic (The making of a hero. Who is the Human Fly, a tentative explanation by Bill Mantlo) in the first issue, Mantlo put the strength in the idea of the Fly being a real person, a Canadian who can perform almost the impossible, but he also adds the concept of the Fly being anyone of us. The Human Fly kept his identity anonymous because his message needs that he must be considered an everyman.
The origin revealed in this introduction adds new information to be taken in consideration. In the car cash involving two cars that leaves the Human Fly prostrated in bed, his wife and children died. That happened in Ashville, North Carolina. The father of the driver of the second car paid the bills that all the operations replacing bone with steel produced. This process took four years of rehabilitation. The rest of the origin story is the same as in the comic book.
Every single issue was more breathtaking than the issue before published and in issue 15th Marvel created the Human Fly contest were the readers could submit their ideas for great stunts to be performed by the character.
HUMAN FLY #1.
COVER TITLE. First Fantastic Issue.
INSIDE TITLE. Death-Walk!
COVER DATE. September 1977
COVER PRICE. 30¢
COVER ARTIST. Uncredited
NUMBER OF PAGES. 17
WRITER. Bill Mantlo
PENCILLER. Lee Elias
INKER. Lee Elias
LETTERER. Joe Rosen
COLORIST. Marie Severin
EDITOR. Archie Goodwin
This first issue is a glorious full throttle adventure and an action comic with one of the best debut comic for a character. That is the way the whole collection will be. All action an flashbacks to help the reader understand the way the characters behave.
A Boeing 747 (a press-plane with journalist from New York – guest who is aboard) is being kidnap by a gang leaded by the Mercenary, a villain only for this comic. The Human Fly is trying an impossible task: to get into a plane that is still flying over Houston, Texas. He is only wearing his stuff and magnet-clamps in his gloves. As you can remember, flying on top of a plane is a stunt that the real Human Fly performed.
He is assisted by Ted Locke, a stunt engineer that loosed his hands in Vietnam, in an attempt to save a woman an two children from certain death and Blaze Kendall, a pilot who save an entire cargo from dying in a crash, but that devastated her confidence. In both cases, the Human Fly – whose identity was never revealed during the nineteen books run – talk them to return to active life under his command. On safe ground, Harmony Whyte, a newswoman who works for West-TV is broadcasting the rescue manoeuvres. We will see her a lot.
Hanging from a bar that is being hold steady by Ted and Blaze is matching the speed of the Jet-copter with that of the airplane. Of course, weather conditions are dire. A storm is on their way. The rain has become a problem because is falling over the Human Fly and at that speed (300 Mph) is like throwing stones. All of them are in direct danger and could die any minute if something goes wrong or one of them could not stand in their places. Flashbacks tells us the origin stories of Ted and Blaze and gives information about the Fly (sixty percent of his bone structure has been replaced with steel). The hands of Ted had been replaced with two steel hooks with two hooks in each.
The kidnappers want five million dollars in cash and a safe conduct to Mexico.The Human Fly succeeded in his attempt and starts running on top of the Boeing. The Mercenary notices the footsteps (How??!!) and fires his gun at the ceiling making the Human Fly loose his balance and free fall. Luckily his electromagnetic clamps are so powerful that with the help of his auxiliary jets, he is propelled directly to the wing of the airplane.
Now we can see a glimpse of the secret origin of the character in a flashback. A car crash in North Carolina let him in critical condition. He was informed that he would never move again a single muscle, but they proved them wrong. It took him years to recover the strength to walk. In perfect condition, he visited the other patients that, in his opinion, give up without hope. He has to show them that with courage and the power of the mind, one can accomplish anything. So he dress in a goofy costume and becomes a death-defier.
Well, we come back to the sky of a rainy Houston. The Human Fly places an explosive charge on the door’s lock of the main entrance. From the Jet-copter the explosive is activated when the Human Fly is safely put aside, and then he enters the plane before the kidnapers recover from the shock.
Now the action turns into a fist combat. Spiderman (Yeah! You guessed right!) dressed himself up and the battle is easily won by the two hooded heroes. (The option as a guest star was obvious: the other Human Fly was an archenemy of Spiderman). The mercenary tries to run away with a jet-pack, but the Human fly catch him in the middle of the jump and knock out the villain. Spiderman makes a parachute with his web and rescuing the Human Fly. Spiderman runs to the plane before anyone misses Peter Parker and gives his blessings to the new Marvel Character.
The money raised for the reward is donated to charity and the expenses are covered by the airline. We can see Arnie Berman, the manager of the Human Fly. Harmony will follow the adventures of our hero.
HUMAN FLY #2.
COVER TITLE. Race to Destruction!
INSIDE TITLE. Race to Destruction!
COVER DATE. October 1977
COVER PRICE. 30¢
COVER ARTISTS. Carmine Infantino & Al Milgrom.
NUMBER OF PAGES. 18
WRITER. Bill Mantlo
PENCILLER. Carmine Infantino
INKER. Dan Green
LETTERER. I. Watanabe
COLORIST. I. Watanabe
EDITOR. Archie Goodwin
Oh boy! My favourite character, the Ghost Rider, and in the first comic I spotted him. Well, the Hulk is another favourite, but to me they are the same character or, at least, the same concept: a revision of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Human Fly lacks this dilemma, because he has no alter-ego. He is himself because there is no other personality under the mask.
We start the ride with the Human Fly performing a stunt so dangerous that I hope nobody tries it at home. Our hero is in Nevada. With each leg attached to a different race car that are running at the same speed in parallel, he pretends to jump with the cars over a blazing gasoline tank filled with water and land “safely” into the pool! Arnie, Ted and Blaze are holding their breaths and Harmony Whyte is broadcasting nation-wide the amazing act. And that is supposed to be a glorious reaffirmation of life (sic).
The stunt designed by Ted is planned in a way that the Human Fly falls directly into the tank and jump over it. That was the general idea, but things go wrong and the Human Fly escapes death by breaking a hole trough the walls of the tank with the iron spike end of his baton and being propelled outside. It all went amazingly smooth and he earns five thousand dollars (after paying all the team expenses, everything else goes to charity, of course).
Johnny Blaze comes in scene while congratulating the great Human Fly. The first impression that Mr. Blaze gets from our hero is that he is so reserved that he must have face death and live to tell about it.
Harmony is investigating the true identity of the Human Fly. She knows as much as the readers and she is after five possible candidates that could be under the hood of the Human Fly. The first one is Alex Mark, who will be performing in a “Daredevil”
Race in Nevada. And the Human Fly will be there too. Curious and Curious.
Walking around the camp, Harmony spots the Fly going into Alex Marks’ trailer. There we find that the Human Fly is not Alex and he was paying a visit to the old daredevil who suffered an accident when he was ridding an Indy Racer above 200 Mph and killing many people who were watching the show. He broke all the bones in his body and laid in a hospital bed for months until the Fly give him hope and confidence.
The next day, the race for Daredevil Death-Defiers begin on the Nevada Flats. Half a million dollars are at stake. Miss Whyte wants a focus on Alex Marks. The Human Fly is nowhere to be seen on the starting line. The race begins and we get to know that the Fly is ridding in fact Alex Marks’ car.
The first obstacle is a series of metal shafts spearing from below ground. Many cars suffer the consecuences by being stuck. Tires and engines suffers this trap. Only two vehicles survive; that of the Fly and Johnny Blaze’s motorcycle.
The second obstacle is two ramps spanning a man-made lake. When Johnny Blaze is crossing the bridge, halfway, the ramp rotates over itself and it is a free fall that could kill him. He changes into the Ghost Rider (Yippie!). Cyrus T. Barker, the manager of this Doomsday Race has filled the surface of the lake with oil and all of it ignites with the flames of the Ghost Rider. Meanwhile, the Human Fly’s ramp pivots beneath him. His car is now facing the waters so he guns it and reach the shore. It is now clear, the promoter makes a fortune in advance sales and nobody could win.
Harmony spots Baker the promoter. Now she knows that something is rotten in Denmark.
Meanwhile, in the race, the Human Fly is on flames and the Ghost Rider proposes him to jump into his cycle (you know, the mystic flame will burn anyone, only if the Rider wants to). The Fly tells the Rider that he suspected that the race was fixed. Now Alex is an agent under the Human Fly’s orders. Now the Fly knows that the Ghost Rider are the same person.
The third trap is into a cave. The entrance sealed behind them and a huge fan turns the passage into a crude wind tunnel. They are being propelled forward, out of the tunnel and over a preciple.
The Human Fly leaps and uses his baton as a hook and him and the Ghost Rider hangs across the gorge and arrive safely to the other side of the cliff. Baker watch on the top of his office that the two riders are about to cross the finishing line. He has earned seven hundred thousand dollars and he never planned to split it. Alex Marks uncovers him because Baker was the promoter of the race where the crash caused so many deaths. Marks always suspected that Baker rigged his car, thus being the direct responsible of the accident. Baker points a gun at Marks and the providential interruption of Harmony confounds the promoter, just enough time to let Marks hit him out.
Police take care of the promoter while Alex Marks and Johnny Blaze, winners of the race give the reward to charity. Now Harmony really knows the Human Fly is not Alex Marks. But this girl will never surrender so easily.
This issue is pencilled by the great Carmine Infantino. His drawing is smooth and one of his best. I simply love it.
HUMAN FLY #3.
COVER TITLE. To Storm the Fortress of Fear!
INSIDE TITLE. Castle in the Clouds!
COVER DATE. November 1977
COVER PRICE. 35¢ (It raised).
COVER ARTIST. Cockrum and Sinnott.
NUMBER OF PAGES. 17
WRITER. Bill Mantlo
PENCILLER. Lee Elias
INKER. Don Perlin
LETTERER. I. Watabe and D. Warfield
COLORIST. I. Watabe and D. Warfield
EDITOR. Archie Goodwin
The first long story of the Fly. It is a mixture of an old pulp superhero (our humble Human Fly) and a cast of villains from the comic books of the fifties. I don’t really like the idea of this kind of fiction related to the series, but the story is quite interesting although this line appear only in this two issues. After them, reality and the seventies return to the series.
I will not follow the pace of the book, because everything is a great flashback that lead us to the confrontation in the mountains. Let’s see what does Mantlo has to offer.
The Fly is into a pool filled with sharks and only has a five minutes air supply. His feet are immobilized with thick chains. The spectators hold the breath. Blaze, Ted and Arnie supervise the stunt and rattle with Harmony about the real altruistic reasons that the Human Fly has to do his epic shows. When to sharks from different positions attack, he eludes the trajectory and both animals collide violently, breaking the chains that imprison the Human Fly.
Free of movements, he must get out of the tank as quickly as possible. His baton triggers a mild electric shock directly into the forehead of one of the sharks and thrashing the Fly upwards with his snout. The Fly made it!
A millionaire appears on scene. His name is David Dreir and wants his daughter return to him. He is running for Governorship and a group of evildoers are against him. This thugs work under the commission of Marion Martinet, the rival of Mr. Dreir. He start receiving Death Threats, ominous phone calls and then his daughter, Alexandra was kidnapped in his own home. The criminals used a small plane that took them to Martinet’s private Mountain Top.
Ted them ask David Dreir why he did not called the authorities and the millionaire confesses them that he is afraid murder is the first thing Martinet will accomplish. Harmony dissuades Mr. Dreir of the qualities of the Human Fly. David Dreir leaves the discussion between the Human Fly’s crew and the journalist noticeably abated. The Human Fly intervenes directly. He knows Alexandra (Lexy as his father calls her) is a polio victim. She is unable to walk. He will help him.
The Human Fly climbs a torturous ascent that will lead him to the castle. He is alone, with no radio contact with his friends. The place was called by the Indians as “The Garden of the Gods”. The scale is painful and only because his skeletal structure is boosted with steel, his hands are still hanging. The alarm alerts of his presence and a mechanical Condor, a Robot-Drone and the order it has is to sweep the Human Fly from the ledge. Fly falls but he grab the wing of the mechanical bird just in time to avoid a certain death.
But the Condor notices the added weight and tries to shake the Human Fly off. He climbs over the head of the Robot-Drone and destroys the guidance systems and the power supplies. Then he controls the free fall by opening the wings of the mechanical bird and using them as a hang-glider and returning to the cliff-face. The Condor crashes with the wall and turns into a bonfire. The Human Fly is again alone in his way up the the fortress.
Something is missing in the information the Human Fly has on Dreir. While letting his mind go, he is almost caught by the launching pad of the jet that kidnapped Alexandra. Again he is falling. Now the cape saves him. He uses it as a parachute. Radio starts working again and he contact Ted and Blaze. Released with the idea of having contact with his fellow team mates, he uses his propellant charge in his baton and the top of it launches a rope that helps him climb to a cliff were two hooded guardians are nervous because their boss is preoccupied with the loose of the Condor and because the alarm went off.
An action scene follows. The Human Fly leave unconscious both guardians. He dresses into the outfit the guardians were using and goes into the fortress. There he ask one of the soldiers of Martinet where is the girl.
She is imprisoned in the tower. The Human Fly knock down the sentry. Alexandra stays motionless. She is been drugged. A terrible hit with the back of a riffle almost leaves our hero unconscious. When he gets up he is in front of Martinet (in spandex) and the Human Fly receives a real shock when he discover the truth. Alexandra is in fact the daughter of Mr. Martinet and is Dreir who wants to kidnap her!
This is the first issue were Mail (Fly Papers is called) appeared. Five letters commenting the first issue. Rich Fifield consider the comic the most un-Marvel of the comics this company ever produced. He consider that the Human Fly is a Hero by showing what a single individual can do and he is not a crime-fighter. Therefore, there is no real reason to have villains every issue. Instead, he must perform any kind of stunt, anywhere and helping people in need. Rich idea is that this comic book could be the first non-violent adventure hero. As Rich said back in 1977 “you’ve got something rare and wonderful here. Don’t ruin it”.
Mitchell Cojocarin points that there must be a Mr. Rojatt anywhere and Stan Timmons gives them the name of the letter page.
Ed Walsh praises the work of everybody involved in the production of the comic and Ray Kolasa suggest that a page with information of the real Human Fly would be a nice addition to the magazine. There, Archie Goodwin states that the supporting crew are fictional.
HUMAN FLY #4.
COVER TITLE. Crossfire!
INSIDE TITLE. Rocky Mountain Nightmare!
COVER DATE. December 1977
COVER PRICE. 35¢
COVER ARTIST. Sal Buscema and Terry Austin
NUMBER OF PAGES. 17
WRITER. Bill Mantlo
PENCILLER. Lee Elias
INKER. Rod Santiago
LETTERER. Denise Wohl
COLORIST. George Bell
EDITOR. Archie Goodwin
We finish last chapter with a shock! Alexandra is the daughter of Martinet, not Dreir’s. Is the Human Fly being used? The Fly is unconscious on the floor when the girl awakes. She is addressed as Angeline, not Alexandra. That’s her mother’s name.
Meanwhile Blaze and Ted are about to call the police and Arnie an Harmony are visiting the Dreir Mansion, guarded with a private army. How could Martinet kidnap Dreir’s daughter with a security like this? Harmony is so smart that notices this an many other things. She suspects that the Human Fly and the girl are both in danger. When they decide to notify the authorities, they are forced to stay to insure the Human Fly’s “loyalty”.
Now we know. It is not a political struggle. They have a war running, a competition against each other because they have become the two most important munitions manufacturer in the World and they have exhausted the whole market. Dreir plans to attack the fortress and rescue his daughter.
With Harmony Whyte and Arnie Berman under Dreir’s custody, we return to the Fortress to see what is the Human Fly’s condition. He has escaped the captors but he comes out of the frying pan and into the fire.
The baton of the Fly is like the belt of Spiderman, Batman and Superman. It can almost perform anything. The ball on the top of it could be turned into a torch. The Human Fly walks the corridors of the cave below the fortress and gets caught in the middle of a two black panthers attack. He then roll over his boy and the two panthers crash in mid-air. One of the panthers still attacks the Fly and he must fight the animal!
The tunnel ends in an open edge and, although he is sorry, he must force the animal down. Following the fall of the panther, the Fly notices the troops movement below him in motorized formation following Dreir’s orders and above him in flying saucers and riding Condors the Martinet crew. War is already being placed in the Rocky Mountains!
The Fly uses the confusion to call his plane. Blaze and Ted through a rope stair and the Human Fly jumps to grab it. He must stop this madness before a massacre took place.
With resolution, the Human Fly gets the control of a Condor and leads it right into Martinet’s flier, were the millionaire is accompanied by Alexandra. Both men fight and the flying saucer accidentally crash with the tank (in fact a Mobile Assault Tower) of Drier. Then the fight is between the two arms dealers. Alexandra begs the Human Fly to end this madness. Both of them are his fathers: the biological (Drier) and his legal tutor and step-father (Martinet).
While telling the Fly this revelation, the violent around them makes that the girl falls into the abyss. The Human Fly jumps after her and her fathers stop fighting. With a strong movement, the Fly saves the girl. Arnie and Harmony are freed and both parents will see after their child.
Six letters in this issue.Brian Nelson ask not to make the character a human deity. He considered better to focus on crooks and life threat than in an all stunt issue. He consider the supporting cast a little dull – being Harmony (the dream-woman of the month, as Brian states) the exception – and that Mantlo must flesh them. All Praises to the work of Infantino (of course!).
John Tkackuk suggested the same name to the Letters section and corrects the subtitle of the Book. The Human Fly is not American, but CANADIAN!!
Joseph Iannascone suggest that the Marvel cast should guest-star the first issues (done!), fight real supervillians (not granted!), more Infatino (not granted!), an adventure in Philadelfia (why not? Archie said, Fly vs. Rocky?) and he suggested the same name to the letters page.
Paul Chiasson affirms that he has shown the Real Human Fly on TV in Canada, in a program named 90 MINUTES LIVE. He praises the magazine that could give hope to millions of handicapped people in the world. He ask the impossible task of putting the book in Braille. He and his girlfriend are also handicapped and fight the situation with courage. He ask an adventure seated in Canada, and issue five will be there.
Praises come already from Mike Yocom, Glenn Hall and Brian Edson.
Here is a list of links related to the Human Fly.
A place dedicated to the series
Bad Press
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