Powerboy Original

In 1976, I created my second ever superhero: Powerboy.

Or maybe my 5^th original superhero.

The first was Locker Boy – based off of a blocky playschool type figure who looked like he was made out of hinged clothespins and came with a locker (with showerhead hanging off of it) and a football.

It’s debatable that the Power Pak also came around that time – Monkey Man, The Eagle and Man Mountain (Man Mountain was based on the GI Joe Intruder, and named for Man Mountain Marko).

But Powerboy was ME.

MEGO had their line of Star Trek action figures, and my parents spoiled me rotten with Spock, Kirk and Bones. Because Dad liked Star Trek too, so he knew, a growing boy needed the Holy Trinity. Also I’d had gotten Superman, Batman, Robin, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Joker and Penguin as well. (The Hulk, being shorter even than Robin, often got shanghaied into being the girls of the group. Obi Wan would suffer a similar fate, portraying Ororo Munroe while Leia was Kitty Pryde, at least until the Empire figures came with TWO Leias to fill out my casts. Hammerhead also was often picked as a chick too.)

But the very thing which would trigger a bold new character was MEGO’s Star Trek mountain set: Specifically, it’s green and black and yellow mottled tentacle monster. That glove became more than just a cheap octopus simulator to try to devour little stiff rubber aliens and maul James Tiberius Kirk… oh no, children.

I put it on, and in my fevered imagination, it became an artifact of cosmic power. I wore it on my left hand, and though it disgusted and sickened my mother, it made me into a superhero when I donned it and clapped my fists together (because that’s how the Hannah-Barberra heroes transformed too) I turned into…

POWER BOY!

I had all the standard superhero powers – I flew, I was strong, and I had Space Ghost power bursts. And because Ultraman and Spectreman dominated the non-cartoon stuff I worshipped, I could also grow to enormous heights to fight toe to toe with giant monsters, or uproot forests of deadly, parasitic tree like the Flash and Wonder Woman had to destroy on another planet when Kanjar Ro created clones of the League to draw them away from Earth in order to steal the world.

The young powerhouse flew into action with (naturally) the crew of the Starship Enterprise (played in miniature by Robin in Superman’s jumpsuit with his green Robin glove), or with Hiata and the Science Police, or with Jorge and the Pollution patrol. He wrestled the Krynoid at its full size as the Doctor sought to end its terror. He traded energy blasts with Apollo during “Who Weeps For Adonis?” He martial-arts’d alongside G-Force against Zoltar’s troops from Planet Spectra, and beefed up to assist the Phoenix in taking down the robots or battle ships in the Battle of the Planets. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention his team-ups with Lynda Carter, Adam West and Burt Ward, or with Colonel Steve Austin and agent Jamie Summers.

Before I even know who Mary Sue was, Powerboy was my Marty Stu. He snogged with Princess, or with Sarah Jane Smith, or met and dated National AND International Velvet and Dorothy Gale.

This, then, was the beginning of a legend. With a cry of “Powerboy powers ACTIVATE!” Jeez… not only did he rip off Green Lantern, Ultraman and Shazam!, but he also ganked the battle cry of the Wonder Twins. And while he didn’t have a cute alien monkey pet yet… in around seven years, his mentor would be Ger, the Spacemouse, because the Power Glove was actually a space mouse-sized power armor that Power Boy wore like a glove.

Needless to say, when I got the Justice Society Digest featuring Power Girl… I was entirely TOO encouraged.

Also, Hulk now wore a red cape, and Spider-Man had a cocktail spear he used as Star-Man’s gravity rod, as Robin, Power Girl and Star Boy became my absolute favorite team.