MORE Hoverboy Radio Excitement!

So I’ve been offline for more than a week, half because I’ve been swamped with work, and half because my computer had a minor problem with the inner workings and had to be repaired.  BAD electronics!  Bad!

I think it's fixed now, but no sudden moves...

While I was away, the magnificent Marcus Moore and the gang at HOVERBOY ARCHIVES has put up the next THRILLING installment of Hoverboy’s olde tyme radio show.

Of course, these old shows are very close to my heart as they were written and produced by my grandfather, and the grandparents of many of my friends.  This episode features the grandfather of my pal, 70s rock star BOB SEGARINI, as well as the grandfather of my son TAYLOR, who performed in the commercial segment as the deeply confused boy, “BILLY”.  It’s a seminal role in my son’s grandfather’s career, as he was only 13 at the time it was recorded.  And of course, the episodes continue to feature the grandparents of Steve (Ed the Sock) Kerzner and Liana K,  Rick Green (from History Bites, Red Green Show, The Frantics) and Rob Pincombe (from Kid vs. Kat)

We’ve also found more of those exciting HOVERBOY vs. ROBOT HITLER daily strips, and scanned ’em for your enjoyment up at the Hoverboy Museum!

Because Robot Hitler is still pretty cool, right?

Even with all this FLOOD of new Hoverboy material that we’re bringing you today,  I’m at work on a cool, secret Batman-related project that’s going to own me for the next few weeks or so and will be out next year.

But now that my computer is back, I’ll be hanging around here a little more regular-like.

Oh, and the next issue of Mad Magazine has some work in it that I did.  Go buy that when it’s out on December 22, 2010….like you just bought the Northern Guard and Strange Tales issues that came out yesterday….RIGHT?  You can see a preview page I did from the MAD DUMBEST 20 MOMENTS from 2010 issue HERE.

But first…go listen to the latest installment of the Hoverboy radio show.  It’s funny, I promise.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your comic book/radio moment of Zen.

 

Seriously? This is a real comic?

A Spectacular Discovery in the World of Super-Heroes Radio

I have been waiting for this for months now, and I’m not going to wait until Friday this week, I’m too bursting with excitement.

The Hoverboy Radio series has finally been cleaned up, remastered, restored, and is up online for your listening pleasure!  These historic radio performances from the War Years are NOT TO BE MISSED!

A Hoverboy comic strip from 1941. Like radio, only quieter.

I thought I’d never get to hear these audio dramas in my lifetime, but a box of old reel-to-reels found in a flea market in Des Moines turned out to be a treasure trove of lost Hoverboy radio shows.    They were badly damaged, but the curators of the Hoverboy Museum spent the money to get them restored, and they’re done!

Once, advertisements like this dotted the landscape.

The first episode is up online at the HOVERBOY YOU TUBE CHANNEL.   These actors spin a swell yarn, let me tell you, and there’s some fine ukulele singing near the end that makes the episode timeless.

You'll be looking at this image a lot, as there are no pictures in radio.

As many of the long time blog-readers know, my grandfather worked on this series, as the copy-writer and announcer (That’s grand-dad’s voice you’ll hear all through the episode, moving the adventure along).  You might  recognize the voice of Rick  Green’s grandfather in there, who co-wrote the episode with my grandfather and performed some of the characters.  The grandparents of both Steve (Ed-the-Sock) Kerzner and Liana K were actors for this war-era show, as well as the great grandfather of Robert Pincombe, who played Hoverboy for this early series, and Marcus Moore (co-curator of the Hoverboy Museum), whose great uncle produced and edited the whole thing.    It’s damn odd that all these grandkids turn out to be friends of mine, but I’ve chosen not to pay attention to the coincidence.

Another Olde Tyme Hoverboy toy, because the internet requires pictures to keep you youngsters paying attention.

That’s enough of my yakking.  Go listen to the first  show, and let me know what you think of our restoration work.  I think it sounds pretty good–  Like it was recorded only yesterday…

And head over to the Hoverboy Online Museum, which has been putting up NEW Hoverboy Comic Strips for weeks now, as well as other surprises.  The Bucket Rocket Ride is heading up into the sky.  HOVERBOY AWAY!

(and join the Facebook Fan Page to let these fine folks know how much you appreciate the work they’ve put in to restore these shows:)
Hoverboy |

And Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your comic book moment of zen:

Hoverboy - battling science in the months before he went on the radio!

ANOTHER ASTOUNDING PIECE OF HOVERBOY HISTORY FOUND!!

I actually matched the day and the hero! Where's my cookie?

EXCITING BULLETIN:

Set your Bucket Dials to ADVENTURE! This is an actual still from the legendary PUNCH FORCE 5!

We’ve been given a lead on another lost treasure!  An episode of the legendary series, “PUNCH FORCE 5!” from 1976,  Charles Nutt’s last big Hoverboy project before his spectacular murder/suicide in 1979.  Episodes of the show are extremely rare, as the cartoon was taken off the air in a criminal negligence case that earned the episodes a rating of,  “NC-100, Illegal to display in public“.  We’re hoping the statute of limitations has expired, or the people who came up with the rating are dead.  (The only other  TV episodes to earn this rating were seasons 2-4 of NBC’s HEROES.)

Punch Force 5! co-star, Danny Bannon: The Pantsless Detective, and one of his trademark "strategically placed bits of rock".

PUNCH FORCE 5! was Hoverboy’s version of the Super-Friends, mimicking the style and premise shamelessly.  The series teamed Hoverboy with other Vigilance heroes, including, THE PANTSLESS DETECTIVE (a not-so private eye), THE LITTLEST SARGE (a tough NCO with the kind of blind patriotism only a 10 year old could embrace), and METALGUY, (a refrigerator-clad appliance repairman turned vigilante).

I don't have a screengrab with the Littlest Sarge, but here's his image from the cover of HOVERBOY #83

From their secret Allegheny mountain base, PUNCH FORCE 5! defended America from a seemingly endless parade of giant things.   In the ten episodes aired, the villains were a giant robot, a giant alien, giant insects, a giant Russian woman with a mop, a giant oil monster, a giant snow monster, a giant rock monster, a pair of giant rabbits, a giant Russian alien insect monster, and a giant robot shaped like a rabbit. One can only wonder what exciting variations season two might have brought.

Vigilance Comics ill-fated, and clearly not-well-thought-out hero, METALGUY

Unfortunately, the character of Metalguy inspired a group of Idaho children to sneak into a junk yard and climb into abandoned freezers in an effort to fight crime.  Unlike an episode of PUNCH FORCE 5!, this was a misadventure, with no happy ending, except, I suppose some free publicity for the junk yard owner.  The resulting civil lawsuit bankrupted what was left of Vigilance Pictures as a viable studio, and the criminal negligence case destroyed much of Nutt’s savings while he worked desperately to stay out of prison.

Not only was PUNCH FORCE 5! taken off the air, but it also took down the live-action HOVERBOY/METALGUY ACTION HOUR from a few seasons earlier. making episodes of both shows impossible to find at conventions, on youtube or even the most violent porn sites. There are rumours that PUNCH FORCE 5! episodes are used to train members of Delta Force.  It’s also claimed they go into combat yelling the familiar catchphrase,  “Littlest Sarge, Small But Large!”  If someone knows a Delta Force guy, please find out if this is true.

A black and white image of Littlest Sarge #1, taken from an ad on the back of Hoverboy #91.

The  screengrabs throughout this article were sent in by Richard Fader, a Hoverboy fan from Ft. Lee, New Jersey.  We have asked for some better scans, or a copy of the show, but were met with a request for a ridiculous amount of money.  At least that means the show exists!  And that means we’ve got a LEAD!  So stay tuned, Hover-fans…we might be able to upload the WHOLE show soon!

Your Hoverboy Museum Curators,

Ty the Guy, Rick Green, and Marcus Moore.

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For more Hoverboy Fun, visit the HOVERBOY ONLINE MUSEUM, and tell ’em Ty sent you; you’ll get extra moist towelettes.

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Saturday Morning Cartoons

WHO is responsible for the calendar, as I’m certain Saturday wasn’t due for at least three or four more days….?  But it’s here, and so is BUN TOONS, as regular as a bran-filled man in his mid-thirties.

I thought folks might enjoy a gentle gag about the Catholic Church that doesn't mention the criminal cover-up-of-rapists angle. Which I've just blown by mentioning in this caption...whoops.

NOW:  A  special HOVERBOY version of BUN TOONS this week.

All the beloved SPACE COWS  of THE LAST ROUND-UP will return next week, with more Bovine SF adventures. But now, we’re continuing with HOVERBOY WEEK with a NEVER BEFORE SEEN ONLINE COMPLETE HOVERBOY STORY. (All in service of the HOVERBOY “WIN SOME ORIGINAL ART BY TY” contest…go HERE and HERE for contest details)

FIRST:  Here’s the latest HOVERBOY vs. NAZI ROBOTS strips.

YELLOW PERIL MYSTERY FUNNIES #1

Unlike other superheroes of the second world war, Hoverboy spent the duration fighting only on the American homefront.  It might have been because co-creator C.L. “Charlie” Nutt had been classified 4-F-C (a rare designation that meant UNFIT FOR MILITARY SERVICE because of BIOLOGICAL COWARDICE), but the reason most often given in interviews with Nutt was that “…Johnny Stay-At-Home goldbricks deserved a super-hero, too!  We can’t all serve our country or our God, and folks like to look up to someone who’s not serving, just like them!”

This premiere issue of YELLOW PERIL MYSTERY FUNNIES featured five stories, all of which focus on a theme of distrusting people of Asian descent, a subject which was acceptable during the war years, when the phrase “Yellow Peril” (coined by beloved Pre-Nazi Kaiser Wilhelm II, reknowned racist and inventor of the concept of “World War”) was actively promoted by the Hearst Papers.

The “Yellow Peril” title was Hoverboy’s best selling comic in 1942, and the series remained quite popular until the 1950s, a fact often covered up by modern comic historians who like to gloss over the overt racism of the times.  This issue in particular is extremely rare to find intact, as most copies, when discovered, are instantly burned by people with a conscience.

ONE LAST NOTE:  The final line of the story “Night of the Terror” is something we considered editing out, but to serve historical accuracy, we decided to leave it in…with the caveat that it offends us more than it does you, believe me.

AND NOW:  YELLOW PERIL MYSTERY FUNNIES 1942

NIGHT OF THE TERRORS!

Wow.  Just awful, but that was America in 1942, fighting what is now considered the “Last Good War” by the “Greatest Generation”….there’s a reason why it’s called “White-washing” history to pretend this stuff didn’t happen.

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And one last image of SPACE COWS, as I cannot resist their allure:

Admit it…the concept is hypnotic to behold.

See you next week, with the TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF STAVROS AND LANA, and other stuff I find funny.

TY THE GUY OUT!

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HOVERBOY CONTEST ENTRIES POUR IN!

We’ve gotten some entries, and we’re getting more every day! And since some of them are wonderful (and some of them are simply vile and hateful, you know who you are, vile entrants) we’re going to share these delightful Hoverboy memories with you Bucket People!

In terms of early animation from the twenties, this Li'l Bucketboy short is about as "limited" as it gets, with a total of only 38 different frames, repeated in a loop for seven minutes.

But first, it’s been pointed out to me by a friend, that today marks the LONGEST period of time since Hoverboy’s original creation we’ve ever seen, and tomorrow will be even LONGER! But there’s no time like the present to head back to the past and examine the origins of everyone’s favorite bucket wearing hero…or at least he’s in everyone’s top three.

Our research has suggested Hoverboy was first created as a tribute to Peter Nutt, the famous circus freak known as The Amazing Head, and father of Hoverboy co-creator Charlie Nutt. Our research has also suggested he was created as a flat out steal from this character, “Li’l Bucketboy”, who appeared in a 1932 animated film.

It's probably best if you don't mention the character is wearing a spitoon for a diaper.

One of the first animated characters to truly fail at the box office, Li’l Bucketboy was banned in 29 states , according to the New York Times, May 23rd edition of that year, for “…truly poor craftsmanship and racism even our Klan dominated era cannot abide”.

Our research has also led us to discover that science fiction legend HUGO GERNSBACK was involved, perhaps even earlier, as this edition of his 1912 magazine MODERN ELECTRONICS suggests.

At this point, did anyone truly CREATE Hoverboy, or is he part of the Jungian subconscious?

In an interview with  Rob Goodwin, official publisher of NASA Mission Reports (and very serious science fiction historian) told us,

“…when he [Hugo Gernsback] came to America in 1904, the first thing he did was he spent $30 of his first $100 on buying a bucket.”

This is Rob Godwin. You can trust him. He works for NASA, and he's a friend of Buzz Aldrin's. Really.

“Buying a bucket” was a term used in conjunction with the “Slopping” industry of the early 1900’s. In the crowded, dirty streets of New York at the turn of the century, slopping was a booming industry. Animal feed, water, milk, and feces all needed to be transported quickly and cheaply. “Sloppers” were really the bicycle couriers of their day.

“By “Buying a Bucket”, you bought not only a physical bucket, but the slopping rights to a particular piece of territory, which turned out to be the beginning of the road to success for Gernsback, father of modern Science Fiction.”

A delightful, if quick, interview on film with Rob can be seen HERE.

There will be more on the history of the Hovering Hero as we  uncover these important facts.

Can't you feel the patriotism just oozing from this image?

AND NOW:  Some of the entries in our WORLD SPANNING HOVERBOY CONTEST, open to all members of the HOVERBOY FACEBOOK FANPAGE.

THE CONTEST:  Drop us an email over at the fanpage, and tell us your FAVORITE Hoverboy villain from the past…one that we have NOT featured in this column or at the online Hoverboy Museum yet, and at the end of the month of May, we’ll pick the winning entry out of a bucket and send the winner a STUNNING recreation of the original art for the cover, drawn by Ty Templeton himself!   We promise, the recreation will be so line for line perfect, you’d SWEAR it was the original. <

SOME ENTIRES:

“The Procrastinator, who technically remains undefeated by Hoverboy because he’s been rescheduling their final showdown for 14 years and counting. He gained his powers when a dying time-traveler gave him his damaged chrono-ring, allowing him to put off until tomorrow any event he’d rather not do today.”  –Ray Yelle

“Greco-Roman Steve: With a physique that rivals Hoverboy, Greco-Roman Steve wins any battle that starts in the wresting ring and often creates elaborate plots that force Hoverboy into submissive positions.”  –Adam Borg

“Time is the enemy, the enemy of us all, but especially Hoverboy.  An eons-old curmudgeon trapped in the cherub-body of baby new year. The piss, vile and vinegar that comes with old age spewing from the two-toothed mouth of the insane mastermind know as Mr. Time.”  –Dana Moreshead (former head of creative services at Marvel Comics, and Hoverboy Fan Club member #00015)

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“The Forgotten, who didn’t care enough to show up for any meetings of the Apathy Three. Potentially the most fearsome member of this uber-alliance of enemies. Maybe. I think. Meh.”   –Ray Yelle

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“I think that HARDCOVER, the literary-based villain and former librarian who has turned to a life of crime after the untimely murder of his beloved Grammar, was my favorite.”  –Ken Turner

“The MOP is the ultimate Hoverboy nemesis! He absorbs all liquids, and since the human body is 60% water, he leaves his victims seriously incapacitated, not to mention dehydrated! And he has never seen a bucket he could resist!” –Movie Seals

“Mein Sweeper, the dastardly pewter-age villain who murdered Duck and Cover Boy in cold mud still gives me chills.”  – Rob Pincombe (story editor for the very popular animated TV show “KID vs. KAT” ).

This is just a small sampling of the floating memories we’ve uncovered during this contest, and your memory is needed as well…even if your memory is faulty and prone to imagination, we’re HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU!  Don’t let major industry professionals like Dana Moreshead and Rob Pincombe beat you to the Bucket Punch!  Enter today!

TOMORROW:  For FREE WEBCOMICS SATURDAY, we continue Hoverboy Week, with the latest Strips, and a COMPLETE Hoverboy story from WW2, never before seen online!  You better bring oxygen, cause we plan to take your breath away.

Ty the Guy, OUT!

Hoverboy Week Continues! VIDEO GAME EDITION

We’re still promoting Hoverboy awareness at ART LAND, in light of the contest we’re running at the Hoverboy Facebook Fanpage, where HOVERBOY-o-philes can win a piece of ORIGINAL Hoverboy artwork, just by joining that Fanpage, naming their favorite Hoverboy villain from the past, and waiting patiently while the winning entry is drawn from a bucket by superstar actress Sarah Samms at the end of the month!

But first…Hoverboy was featured JUST THIS WEEK on G4 TV!

The hosts of G4's "X-Play", luring viewers in with their strange but exciting version of a wet T-Shirt contest.

It’s  hard to believe it’s been nearly thirty years since the Hoverboy family of games were produced for the SOFTIE GAMES system in the EXCITE-O-VISION format, and even harder to believe that they were given an odd revival of sorts this week by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, hosts of the show X-Play (on G4 TV) .  Their annual “TRIBUTE TO UNPOPULAR VIDEO GAMES” episode featured the Floating Fighter of Crime this time around, and Hoverfans were not disappointed.   Here Morgan is dressed as Hovergirl, hero of the highly unsucessful 8 bit game “Hovergirl’s Shopping Spree” from 1982. For gameplay your character floated through a downtown neighborhood shoplifting things from various strip malls and hiding them up her shirt.  As the shirt bulges up, your score increases, but you get hit on by various swarthy men, and your morality and intelligence meter goes down.  According to the rules, a woman with a “big bulging shirt” is less smart or trustworthy.

A screen capture of HOVERGIRL'S SHOPPING SPREE, circa 1982. Since the designers of the 8 bit games were all foreign devils who spoke little English, it's easy to see how they confused "sexy" with "sexist".

The Hovergirl game was very realistic for its time (and certainly less objectionable than its rightfully banned counterpart “Negro Hoverboy’s Looting Spree”), but it sold less than three hundred copies around North America in its original release…unlike the HOVERBOY 8-bit EXCITE-O-VISION  game, HOVERBOY VS. THE BRICK WALLS, which sold twice that number.

Level 12 of the almost completely unpopular HOVERBOY Vs. BRICK WALLS. This layer featured bricks AND fiberglass insulation

After months of lackluster sales, the SOFTIE GAMES people attempted a clever marketing idea that was astoundingly unsuccessful, advertising that every copy of the game sold was guaranteed “MINT IN BOX”….which meant that each game came with a mint in each box.    Fortunately for all concerned, only three copies were ever sold in this condition, as the “mints” themselves were made of inorganic packing material, otherwise retailers would have had to have obtained a food vendors license.    Of the three “mints” sold to an unsuspecting public, only one was swallowed, and that was easily removed by hours of painful surgery.

A rare, unsold copy of HOVERBOY vs. the BRICK WALLS, still "mint in box". Sometimes an idea is simply too f***ing stupid to work. Even with gamers.

For slightly more information about Softie Games, the EXCITE-O-VISION format and Hoverboy video games, go HERE.

And be sure to head over HERE to join the Hoverboy Facebook page, and earn that chance to win an ORIGINAL piece of Hoverboy artwork, painstakingly recreated by TY TEMPLETON, co-curator of the HOVERBOY ONLINE MUSEUM.  It’s worth it, as it costs nothing, is great fun, and something you won’t be embarrassed by later in life, when you hang the artwork proudly in a bathroom or work shed.

TY THE GUY, Hoverboy Fan Club Member #0008

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It’s HOVERBOY week! And no one can stop me!

We’re promoting Hoverboy awareness all week at Art Land, running a contest and informing the world of the greatness that was the Battlin’ Bucket, in anticipation of the release of the HOVERBOY RADIO SERIES we just found a complete set of, and yes, this is an unforgivable run-on sentence, what are you going to do about it, punk?

May-1918 • Hoverboy co-creator Charles Nutt’s father, Peter Nutt, is horribly wounded during the Battle Of Cantigny, the first major US offensive of the

Pvt. Peter Nutt, pictured before the battle. Trousers not shown.

First World War.  The elder Nutt had tried to stay out of the war; claiming heart attacks, blindness, medical cowardice, “secret negroism” and leprosy, none of which earned him the deferment he desired.   Peter spent the fall of 1917,  training with the 28th Infantry of America’s 1st Army Division, and staining a record one hundred and eleven pairs of government issued trousers with what officials described as “terror”.  In battle, Private 1st Class Nutt frequently could be found  with a bucket on his head, (over his helmet and gas mask), because, according to his diaries,  “…ya can’t be too careful, right?”.  And on the fateful day of May 27th, that’s how Private Nutt went over the top, charging towards the Hun blindly, and “screaming like a tiny Chinese woman” (also according to his diary).  When he was hit simultaneously by two artillery shells, it blew off both legs, both arms and almost all of his internal organs, leaving only his head, heart, lungs and genitalia unharmed.  This event was the source of the famous expression “a real bucket case” used in army hospitals to this day.  For years after the war, Nutt toured the Midwest Freak Circuit as “the Amazing Head”, where he met a young Cynthia Göring, and fell in love.  That marriage produced three children, including Charles and his twin sisters, Emily and Emily.

The Starks meet for the first time while the Circus tours Missouri. Cynthia is to the left. Peter is wearing his "performin' suit".

In 1929, the family opened the Nutt Hardware Store in North Bend Missouri, where a young Bob Stark was sent to purchase “something to hold some water” and the rest is history.

The moment of Nutt's debilitating injury was captured in the famous image by photographer Dan Williams, entitled "Our Honored Exploded".

1964 • First (and last) issue of HOVERBOY’S FOOD FUN MAGAZINE hits newsstands.  For collectors who own this hard to find item, answer to page seven’s “Vegetable Tumble” is RUTABAGA.

Caution: Do NOT attempt any of the recipes contained within.

1990 • Hoverboy Anime show “Lucky Hovering Float Boy American” airs in Japan.  Though partly financed by the Nutt estate, the show is never brought to US airwaves because the staccato animation style used during fight scenes caused seizures in forty-seven thousand Japanese children.  Though none of the children died, over nine thousand parents were killed trying to restrain them.

Sailor Hover-Girlaru. The only image from the series allowed to be shown in the USA by law.

Tune in tomorrow for a special HOVERBOY TOYS report.

And don’t forget:  THE HOVERBOY CONTEST!  Win an original piece of Hoverboy artwork by Ty Templeton just by joining the Hoverboy Facebook page, and naming your favorite villain from Vigilance Comics’ decades long history of publishing.  A winner (drawn by lottery by Hoverboy actress Sarah Samms) will receive an ASTOUNDINGLY accurate reproduction of the winning cover, with such line-by-line fidelity that you’d swear it was the original cover!  Be the envy of your friends.  Push around people smaller than you, and berate those with foreign accents, just like a real life citizen of Arizona!  Remember, few will enter, even fewer will win.  Void where prohibited.  Your mileage may vary.

GO here

for the Hoverboy Facebook Fan Page.  And HERE for the Hoverboy home site.

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BIG HOVERBOY NEWS!! ORIGINAL ART CONTEST!!

No, it's not Friday...but this was TOO important to wait!

For those looking for the Original Art Contest, y’all gotta scroll down about fifteen inches  (past the stuff about Nazi dentistry, and it’s connection to Hoverboy), and look for the big red letters saying IMPORTANT  HOVERBOY ANNOUNCEMENT!

For regular Hoverboy readers, my extended research about German Tooth Hygiene  has finally paid off.  It led me to discover what might be the most important photograph in the world of Hoverboy! It certainly suggests a possible origin for the familiar Battlin’ Bucket’s costume never before considered.

If this photo is genuine, it changes everything we know about our favorite Battlin' Bucket!

This is a photograph of Hermann Stark, father of Hoverboy co-creator BOB STARK, taken in 1929, when the elder Stark still lived in Germany, and worked for Auergesellschaft, a German company who marketed Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste to European customers throughout the thirties. “Es macht Ihre Zähne leuchten mit Weiß!” was their well known slogan, which roughly translated to: “We shall make your teeth glow with whiteness!”. Sales were brisk right up until the factory was destroyed by Allied bombers during the war.

A poster advertising Doramad Toothpaste, unscientifically blaming much of tooth decay on the Jews, and promising to chase their decadent influence from your mouth with military precision.

(As shocking as the concept of thorium toothpaste might be to our modern world, it was hardly the worst example of radioactive medical quackery in the first half of the 20th century. Radium enema treatments were quite the rage in the United States at the time, a practice that increased in popularity for years after Hiroshima changed people’s relationship to atomic power. The enticing slogans “Bop a bomb in your bowels”, and “Radiate health from the bottom up” was enough to keep the radium enema in the public imagination until the wave of rectum amputations that followed in the early fifties.)

How many Nazis got cancer of the lip from this tube alone? One can only hope....

But this photo of Stark, on his way to the PASTE ROOM at Auergesellschaft Works, shows the HAZARDOUS MATERIALS suit that factory workers wore to save their reproductive organs from decay while making the deadly dental cleanser. The mask bears an uncanny resemblance to later versions of the Hoverboy Helmet used in the comics, and the large black “H” on the chest (signifying that this outfit belonged to “Hermann”) is hard to chalk up to mere “co-incidence”.

Early Hover Boy appearances bear little resemblance to the startling photo at the top of this article. Which throws this entire theory "into the bin".

It’s interesting to note, that the first published versions of Hoverboy, seen in both the comic strips and the early pulp novels had a round faceplate instead

The first example of the "H" logo on his chest, from 1940. Click to enlarge

of eyeholes on his helmet, and there was no “H” on the chest until 1940. Like many of the pre-comic book appearances of the Hovering Hero, there is some confusion as to what was original to the character and what was clearly plagiarized.

The  photo at the top of this article (if genuine), casts an enormous shadow of doubt over the widely accepted version of Hoverboy’s creation (often stated by Charles Nutt in interviews) that Nutt alone had created Hoverboy due to the fact that “….my dad worked at a hardware store that sold buckets.”

Now, I don’t know WHAT to believe about any of this stuff.

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IMPORTANT HOVERBOY ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re having a membership drive for the HOVERBOY FACEBOOK PAGE, and we want YOU to join!

It's not just fun. IT'S YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY, PUNKS!!

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN:

Besides the swell of pride one feels knowing that they’re better than regular people, members of the FACEBOOK FAN PAGE get regular updates on Hoverboy Happenings around the web, alerts for new entries at The Hoverboy Museum, and Hoverboy Fridays! at Art Land, first dibs on auctions for old Hoverboy memorabilia, including DECODER RINGS, POSTERS, DVDs of old TV and Radio Shows, and a chance to upload their own Hoverboy memories to share with a heart pounding world! And it’s FREE! What else on the internet is free, huh? I think it’s just us.

AND right now we’re running A FUN CONTEST with a BIG BIG PRIZE!!

THE CONTEST:

(open only to members of the Facebook Fan Page, so ya gots to sign up…) Give us your favorite Hoverboy Villain from the past. Tickle that memory bone, and tell us your favorite issue of Hoverboy THAT WE HAVEN’T YET FEATURED  ON THE WEBSITE GALLERY and name that Villain!!  The winner

Don't send us "Legs Luthor" as a villain suggestion. We already have him, get it?

(chosen in a lottery draw conducted by eminent Hoverboy Actress SARAH SAMMS) gets the original artwork for the cover, painstakingly recreated by me, (Ty Templeton) with such line by line precision you’d think I drew it in the first place!!  Which I totally didn’t, okay?  These are old.

Don’t send us a scan of the cover from an existing copy, send us your description of it, as it’s easier for us to find the comic that way (wink wink wink—have I winked enough here?).

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HOW TO ENTER:

Go here

Hoverboy

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and sign up to join the club. Membership is free, and ya could win prizes, ya greedy comic fans.

CONTEST ENDS:

Well, according to Marcus Moore, curator of The Hoverboy Museum, the contest ends on the 21st of May, but I’m trying to talk him into letting it run until the 1st of June. Enter now and save the trouble of Marcus and myself squabbling over the whole thing.

Is it possible that this might be THE GREATEST HOVERBOY CONTEST OF ALL TIME?!?

It’s possible…

Ty the Guy

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HOVERBOY FANDOM ACTION ALERT!! NOT ON A FRIDAY!

Yeah, it's not Friday. You gonna get all tough about it now?

This was passed along to ART LAND from RICK GREEN, co-curator of the Hoverboy museum, along with myself and Marcus Moore.  It seemed important enough to the world of Hoverboy fandom to pass along to you.

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"Please help me, internet people. It looks like this."

Ty,

I’m forwarding this from a friend of a friend of an acquaintance of an enemy.  Can you publish it on your website?

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Dear Hoverboy team,

I have a question about a Hoverboy comic book that belonged to my brother.  He is dead after complications during surgery.  It was real ironic, because he went into the hospital for a penis enlargement to make his wife happy, and since he died on the operating table she’s been really happy and getting a lot of action from my brother’s friends.

I guess the lesson is, stay in America and have the surgery done by a certified Doctor.  When you figure what he spent on airfare to Guatemala it wasn’t much of a savings.

Anyway, although my brother didn’t leave a will, I’m sure he would have wanted me to have his Hoverboy collection.  Which is good, cause I DO have it.  There are comics and a lot of action figures and some model kits.

My late brother took real good care of the comics, preserving them in plastic bags.  Only, having been to my first comic book convention last month I

"This is more of a close up, so you can see it better. It looks like this."

realized the bags are supposed to be clear plastic.  My brother died never knowing he had it all wrong, which is probably a mercy.  Some of his comics, or rather, my comics, are in mint condition.  Some are not.  Apparently rats can chew through plastic.  (I hope they can’t chew through aluminum or that fancy coffin we got for my brother was a waste.)

I’m trying to reassemble the most damaged comics so I can sell it on E-bay as a kind of tribute to my brother.  But here’s the thing, I have this scrap of comic and I can’t figure out which issue it is from.  Even the guys at the comic convention couldn’t figure it out.  Can you help?  (This is actually a photocopy, blown up a bit.  The original is back in it’s plastic bag in a rat proof chest of drawers.)

Thanks.

Josh Hervey

"This is as close as I can get it. It's already going fuzzy. But it looks like this."

PS:  It’s not this cover below.  I thought it was, because the sky is blue behind his head, but then I realized two things.  1)  You can see Hoverboy’s eyes in this cover, and 2)  My copy of the cover is the one I scanned, and you can see the head is still there.  So it’s not this one.  But I don’t know which one it is.

"It's not this one. I don't think it is. "

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Okay, gang.  Can we  help a fellow Hoverophile out of a jam?  Does ANYONE recognize the cover image Josh has got that bit of?  If you know, send us an email or drop us a comment.  We’d like to help this poor sap, and we’ve done our part.  Now it’s up to YOU.

And did you notice the Big Chested Hovergirl toy from 1966  he had in the background?  And I think a TRAMPLER Mint in Box!  Lucky Bastard to have his brother die on him like that.  My brother doesn’t have any Hoverboy toys, so I have no reason to wish him dead.  But boy, if he did…

Ty the Guy

Oh, and don’t foret to go HERE, which is HOVERBOY.COM the home of the Battlin’ Bucket online, where you can read webcomics, watch cartoons, download comics and so much more!!  Art Land website assumes no responsibility if you are injured while at the Hoverboy Museum, and remember, it is for entertainment purposes only, no vendors allowed.  Void where prohibited.  Please keep an eye on a swim buddy and keep your hands inside the cabin at all times.  Thank you.

Ty the Guy

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Extremely Unseen Marvel Punisher, more Slightly Seen DC and HOVERBOY FRIDAY! plus the big announcement! AND Nepotism Thursday. How long is this $)(*#$)(*##!! Title?!?

As promised, we look at some very unseen Marvel art from the same period.  The image above is from a very fun project I did with my pal SAM AGRO in the 90s.  The comic was “THE PUMMELER“, a parody of one of Marvel’s more popular characters, for a company called PARODY PRESS (best known for Adolescent Hamsters…) but Sam had a ball writing up a tremendous trio of very funny “Mad” style stories.  Worth finding in the back issues, if you can.  The cover to the left was by Sam Keith, who pitched in to help Agro get an audience.   If you follow the Pummeler link above, you’ll see the interior pages!  Sam is a well known storyboard artist who has helped the world be sickened and thrilled by the HUGELY successful SAW series of movies — been part of an academy award winning art team for FLY AWAY HOME–and he boarded tons of episodes of EWOKS and DROIDS in his day.  All that PLUS a loverly run writing great scripts for DC’s Looney Tunes comic book for years.  Is the name LEGEND appropriate?  Considering he’s one of the instructors at the highly esteemed TORONTO CARTOONIST WORKSHOP that I instruct at, I’ll have to say “yes”, LEGEND is the word.) Man, can I plug the pals and co-workers, or WHAT?!?

Watch this segue.   We’re staying with the silly images of the Punisher theme, and moving over to another living legend, Dana Moreshead.  Who is clearly not the name on the card above.  How confused am I?

There, that’s Dana.  And his odd looking pet, the name escapes me, and I don’t want to say Skipper when it was Sparky, or Spanky or Elliot Spitzer, but it was something like that.  I drew that portrait of Dana at least a decade ago, but I’m sure at least ONE of those furry creatures is still cute.  Dana was the Marvel guy who gave me all these wonderfully odd gigs that I’ve been posting for the last two weeks, and he deserves his humble thank you on this blog for the fun, fun art jobs he tossed me atop of.  And hopefully the smile or two he’s bringing the eleven readers of this post as I dig through the original art pile over in the corner and scan baby scan.

So what was that Punisher toy with the human head on it?  And who’s this poor soul with the dragon crapping on his hair?  These were a series of cards that were created for the Marvel staff one summer for convention season.  That way, when they met people, they had a card with some ‘zaz and zing and pep!  And their image on it, so names and faces could match up for business deals, etc.  A good idea, actually.  The gag was to make everyone into their own version of a Marvel Hero.  I did at least four of them (that I’ve found so far).  The funny thing, most of these staffers are NOT a Marvel Character, but a toy version of one, or standing near one.  I’m not sure that conveyed the joke.

I still have tons more fun stuff from the Dana era of Special Projects.  He is still one of my favorite people, even if he no longer gets me work.

Another installment of the AOL Flood Safety messages from 2006.  Sketch and final art.  The only time I ever drew Supergirl for the animated universe, unless you count the toy designs.  Aquaman I’ve drawn lots and lots, he’s featured in the Brave and Bold issue I drew in 2009, but has yet to come out.

But here’s Aquaman warning a man about having adequate storm drains, and not living under a f***ing wall of mud.  That’s so dumb he really deserves to die.

Hoverboy.com is back up and running!  Marcus Moore, fellow curator, and webmaster of the site, was found,  alive and well, after months lost in the barrens with his experimental jet co-pilot, Jarred.    As of this posting, the fate of his experimental jet c0-pilot, Jarred,  has not been revealed, though it can be noted that that Moore seems to have put on weight during his ordeal.  “Plenty of possum in those woods.” is the only response a visibly shaken Moore has given to reporters when asked about his friend, experimental jet co-pilot, Jarred.  We wish he and his family good luck in the future, and keep on looking for that poor kid.

The good news is that Hoverboy.com is once again operational, with a NEW installment of the weekly comic strip reprints.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for the poor lad to hover away from those clouds, these last few months.  Hovermaniacs the world around, breathe out a sigh of relief.  Go check out the installments we’ve found so far, for this excellent example of heroism and manhood of the golden age!

And now for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.  (yeah, like you’re still reading after so long and drawn out a post today…).  Starting NEXT weekend, and every weekend after that, I’ll be posting Ty Templeton Funnies!  Never before seen  material, created to be seen in web form.  Wait…does that make this blog a…

WEBCOMIC?!?!?    Tune in NEXT WEEKEND and see….

Ty the Guy.

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