Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 10, 2025 | 3 comments

SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS…

By SCOTT SHAW!

Herbie? Who’s that?

Well, in my opinion, he’s perhaps the single most Oddball comic book character ever to see print! And hey, if you don’t believe me, how many funnybook stars can:

— Talk to animals?

— Walk through the air, under water and in outer space?

— Travel through time?

— Use magic?

— Turn invisible?

— Become intangible?

— Defeat his opponents merely by staring at them?

— Visit the mist-shrouded realm of “The Unknown,” which is inhabited by supernatural creatures?

Or who is:

— World-famous throughout history?

— Friends with world leaders and celebrities?

— More powerful than the Devil?

— Irresistible to any and all women?

— Essentially indestructible?

— Outwardly emotionless?

— Part of his own logo?

Or who possesses:

— A collection of magic lollipops (including “the hard-to get-cinnamon kind”) that can grant him a variety of super-powers, including the ability to “bop” his enemies?

— A secret superheroic identity as “The Fat Fury”?

Oh, and who is also considered to be:

“A little fat nothing,” a slovenly, immensely rotund kid with a bowl haircut and thick, round eyeglasses, one who barely moves or even speaks unless he absolutely has to, and whose father, Pincus Popnecker, regards him as a pathetic failure of a human being?

Yup. It’s Herbie.

Created by editor/writer Richard E. Hughes – writing as “Shane O’Shea” (and born “Leo Rosenbaum”) and illustrated by cartoonist Ogden Whitney — “Herbie Popnecker,” the star of the American Comics Group series, Herbie, may very well be the most wonderfully bizarre continuing character ever to appear in comics. ACG had published the first horror comic and specialized in fantasy and science-fiction, but was also behind plenty of humor comics before the first appearance of Herbie. Those humor titles were much more traditional, being either reprints of syndicated newspaper comic strips, funny animals, teenagers or good-looking young women. Herbie Popnecker belonged to none of these genres.

In fact, Herbie and his series seem to belong to a genre of their own.

Although Herbie’s design was supposedly based on Whitney’s memory of what he looked like as a child, many of us original fans of Herbie found it easy to identify with the “little fat nothing” with an exciting secret life.

Herbie Popnecker took a long time to get his own funnybook. First appearing in the pages of ACG’s Forbidden Worlds #73 (cover-dated December 1958), “Herbie’s Quiet Saturday Afternoon!” was written by “O’Shea” and drawn by Whitney. Herbie must have received a good reception from the readers, because he went on to appear in Forbidden Worlds #94 (March-April 1961, “Herbie And The Spirits!”), Forbidden Worlds #110 (March-April 1963, “Herbie And the Sneddiger’s Salad Oil”), Forbidden Worlds #114 (September 1963, “A Little Fat Nothing Named Herbie!”) and Forbidden Worlds #116 (November–December 1963, “Herbie Goes To The Devil!”).

A number of Herbie one-pagers also appeared in various issues of Unknown Worlds and he made a cameo appearance (as a Boy Scout) in Unknown Worlds #20 (December–January, 1962–1963). Finally, nearly six years after he first appeared in print, Herbie #1 arrived with the cover-date of April-May, 1964.

Herbie stories took place in a wide variety of genre settings, and the first five issues ertainly bear this out, with stories set in Medieval England, the French Revolution and the Old West. These issues also feature many world leaders (President Lyndon Johnson, Ladybird Johnson, Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant and Chairman Mao Tse-Tung); contemporary celebrities (Jimmy Durante, Sonny Liston, Cary Grant, Doris Day, the Beatles [as “the Beetles”], Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin); fictional/mythical characters (King Arthur, Merlin, Sir Lancelot, Lady Guinevere, Satan and Cinderella); and historical figures (President George Washington, President Abraham Lincoln, Marie Antoinette, Marshal Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday), all expertly depicted by Whitney. Herbie also encountered ACG’s two typical superheroes, Magicman and Nemesis.

Please note that the cover of Herbie #3 is the first time that Herbie utters his catchphrase, “You want I should bop you with this here lollipop?” The same issue catalogs the properties of Herbie’s different flavored lollipops: “Orange. Okay for sudden death. Lemon. Best for mayhem. Lime. For large elephants or small dinosaurs. Chocolate. For riots and public disturbances. Grape. Best for giants and runaway horses. Butterscotch. For rebellious armies… Cinnamon — for bopping tough mountains!”

In 1964 and 1965, Herbie was the recipient of the fan-chosen “Alley Award” in the category of Best Humor Comic. He has also inspired a bizarre, faux religion for fans of “the little fat nothing,” the Church of “Herbangelism.”

But, as you’ll discover when you search out these back issues, unless you’re already a fan of Herbie, no matter how informative or thorough this article is, it can’t possibly duplicate the twisted product of the minds of Hughes and Whitney.

Just don’t forget to bring along your lollipops – especially “the hard-to get-cinnamon kind!”

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MORE

— ODDBALL COMICS: Marvel’s ROYAL ROY — As if Anyone Needed to Rip Off RICHIE RICH. Click here.

— ODDBALL COMICS: 1961’s BATMAN #145 — THE SON OF THE JOKER. Click here.

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For over half a century, SCOTT SHAW! has been a pro cartoonist/writer/designer of comic books, animation, advertising and toys. He is also a historian of all forms of cartooning. Scott has worked on many underground comix and mainstream comic books, including: Fear and Laughter (Kitchen Sink); Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie); Simpsons Comics (Bongo); Weird Tales of the Ramones (Rhino); and his co-creation with Roy Thomas, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! (DC).

Scott also worked on numerous animated cartoons, including producing/directing John Candy’s Camp Candy (NBC/DIC/Saban); Martin Short’s The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (NBC/Hanna-Barbera Productions); Garfield and Friends (CBS/Film Roman); and the Emmy-winning Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies (CBS/Marvel Productions), among many others. As senior art director for the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency, Scott worked on dozens of commercials for Post Pebbles cereals with the Flintstones. He also designed a line of Hanna-Barbera action figures for McFarlane Toys.

Scott was one of the comics fans who organized the first San Diego Comic-Con, where he has become known for performing his hilarious Oddball Comics Live! slide shows.

Need funny cartoons for any and all media? Click here! Scott does commissions!