MIGHTY COMICS GROUP SOARS WITH THE FLY MAN !!!

Mighty Comics Group launched a line of super heroes, including this post on Fly Man, taken from the MLJ/Archie archives and modified in an attempt to be camp and imitate the successful Marvel trend. After all, Paul Reinman was the marvelous artist and had worked on numerous Marvel Comics. Jerry Siegel, of Superman fame, wrote the great scripts.

When Tom Troy, attorney-at-law, rubs his Fly Man ring, he is transformed into The Fly Man, a being with insectlike powers. His amazing powers, weapons, and flying ability were granted to him by a mysterious alien named Turan, an inhabitant of the other-dimensional Fly World.

Passing back and forth through the dimensional passageway between the two worlds, Fly Man has adventures both on Earth, and at times, even on Fly World. He must survive encounters with deadly villains such as the insane Mighty Man, while maintaining his law practice and dating the gorgeous actress Kim Brand, also known as Fly Girl.

In addition to Fly Man tales, issues may contain short stories featuring other Mighty Comics Group heroes such as the patriotic Shield, the henpecked Web, and the mysterious Black Hood, as well as additional members of the super-hero group, the Mighty Crusaders, all presented in a grand Silver Age style.

Fly Man #31 (aka Adventures of the Fly #31)
"The Fly-Man's Partners in Peril"
The Spider escapes from prison and vows revenge on Fly-Man. He traps Fly-Man in a gigantic, electrified claw but is then saved by the Comet.
The first page of the story is the same as the cover. 
Reprinted in Super Heroes versus Super Villains #1 & Mighty Crusaders #1 trade paperback.  
"Battle of the Super Heroes"
The Spider lures Fly-Man into 2 more death traps, but he escapes the first with the Shield's help, and the second with the Black Hood's aid. Finally he brings all the heroes together to form the Mighty Crusaders, with the idea of eliminating them all at once. But Fly-Man chases the others away just as his powers fade and the Spider pulls a gun on him. 
First Silver Age appearence of the Shield. This is the first official use of the name "Mighty Crusaders" for the team of heroes.
"Wicked Web of the Wily Spider"
Just as the Spider appears triumphant, Fly-Man defeats him and the other heroes return. Fly-Man had faked his power loss and the others faked being mad at him in order to draw the Spider out. But the heroes ponder whether they should form the Mighty Crusaders for real. 

Fly Man #32 

"Eterno the Tyrant"
While battling Doombala, the Mighty Crusaders accidentally awaken Eterno the Tyrant who had escaped the destruction of Atlantis by going into suspended animation. Eterno tries to turn the Mighty Crusaders evil, but is defeated by a lowly Atlantean mosquito.
Numbering continues from Adventures of The Fly. 
Reprinted in The Mighty Crusaders #1.

I was glad to see this reprint volume come out a few years ago!

Fly Man #33
"Fly-Man's Treacherous Team-Mates" 
While on vacation in Africa, Fly-Man and his teammates route an elephant rampage and get taken prisoner by the Destructor. As the Detructor loots a city, Fly Girl tries to stop him. Then, the Hangman shows up to lend Fly Girl a hand.
The Wizard and the Hangman aid Fly Girl in defeating the Destructor and freeing the trapped heroes. When the two newcomers want to join the heroes, the group decides to test both of them. Both the Wizard and the Hangman do well on the tests, but both are soon overcome by greed after seeing the amount of loot the heroes recover from various robberies. They trap their new comrades and decide to steal the treasures for themselves.
The two new super villains decide to rob each other and begin to fight. Fly Man tricks Hangman into releasing the heroes from their trap. The Comet projects the 2 villains into another dimension, but the villains escape and vow revenge against the heroes. 
Story told in three parts. 
Reprinted in The Might Crusaders #1.

Fly Man #34
"Creature from the Abyss"
The Terrible Titan ascends from Subterrania and plans on conquering the surface world using radiation poisoning. Only Fly-Man and the Black Hood can hope to stop him.  
"Evilo the Tempter"
As the Shield thwarts a robbery at a museum, the robbers accidently wake up a mummified evil sorcerer named Evilo the Tempter. The Shield then teams up with the Comet to defeat the powerful wizard.
Mike Sekowsky provided the pencils with Paul Reinman inks.  
Both stories reprinted in Super Heroes versus Super Villains #1. 

Fly Man #35
"Phantasmon the Terrible" 
After the alien Phantasmon captures Fly-Man and Fly Girl, he and his 3 henchmen Sorro, Disastro and the Crumbler attempt to conquer the earth!
"The Thousand Foes of the Shield"
The Shield is invited to speak at a convention of international lawmen that is really an alien space pirates convention. He then must defeat 1000 alien foes. 
"The Origin of the Black Hood"
After taking a potion that was purposely mis-labeld, The Black Hood wanders the earth as a ghost until he can find a cure for his "malady". 
Letters section includes a letter by (comic book writer) Mike Freidrich. 
 

Fly Man #36
"Fly Man's Strangest Dilemma"
After defeating Mighty Man in battle -- with Turan's help-- Fly-Man finds he can no longer change into Tommy Troy.
Reprinted in High Camp Super Heroes #850-695 (paperback book.)
"Suffer Shield, Suffer"
After the Hangman launches rockets bearing the Shield's face, the Shield tracks him down. As the two are battling, a crook disguised as the Web appears and shoots the Hangman. Hangman delivers the crook to prison and disappears while the Shield watches. Story continues in "The Origin of the Web" in this issue.
Reprinted in High Camp Super Heroes #850-695 (paperback book.)
"Origin of the Web"
After being dropped off at the prison, the fake "Web" helps the cons pull off a massive escape. Hearing of the news, John convinces his wife Rose to let him come out of retirement and become the Web again, in order to stop the hood from besmirching his good name.

Fly Man #37 "Pawn of the Ultra-Foes"
Story is in two parts. Part one pages are numbered 1-8 and part two pages are numbered 1-6.
"The Gladiator From Tomorrow"
Reprinted in High Camp Super Heroes #850-695 (paperback book.)

One of my favorite Fly Man covers!

Fly Man #38
"Get Lost. Fly Man"
Thomas Troy comes to learn that everyone hates Fly Man and all he stands for, but he can't figure out why.
Story is in two parts. Part one pages are numbered 1-8, part two pages are numbered 1-5.
"Mad Caper of the Madman"
While John Raymond is trying to justify a need for the Web to his wife and mother-in-law, the Madman breaks into the Raymond household. Before John can act, the two women take down the intruder.
Reprinted in Super Heroes versus Super Villains #1

Fly Man #39
"Beware the Blockbuster"
Fly-Man battles Blockbuster, who is intent on destroying property and knows that Fly-Man is really Thomas Troy.
"The Monster Master" 
Steel Sterling battles the various creations of the Monster Master.
This story was originally intended as the first issue of a Steel Sterling book. The final two chapters are printed in the Mighty Crusaders #7.  
Reprinted in High Camp Super Heroes #850-695 (paperback book.) Story originally intended for publication in standard comics, but printed here first, with modifications from the original version, such as panels removed and text altered, but restored for the reprints. On the other hand, this version also includes panels not reprinted in Fly Man and Mighty Crusaders which may have been part of the original version or added to smooth out this version.
Last issue of Fly Man, numbering continues with Mighty Comics.

I can't resist including the first two covers, from the eighties The Fly series, with stunning Jim Steranko covers! Additionally, Steve Ditko contributed a lot of art in this series as well.

It's nice to see many of the stories reprinted, but a nice hardcover edition reprinting all of the issues would be a nice thing to see. I especially enjoyed the High Camp Super Heroes paperback book reprints. 

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!