As we've seen plenty of times by now, sometimes the superhero's powers aren't entirely congruous with their name. Case in point: the Spider.

Not to be confused with pulp hero Richard Wentworth (who is also technically public domain, though I've not seen anyone make use of that fact), Tom Hallaway was just your average extraordinarily rich guy who wanted to eliminate crime. Fortunately, he was a great shot with a bow and arrow, which is his main weapon. Obviously, this is why he's called... the Spider.

I've got no clue. Like, his costume is barely spider-themed (though he does try, with spider arrows and a car named "Black Widow")... granted, the other vigilante known as the Spider uses guns, but that somehow feels less incongruous than a bow and arrow. Like, that weapon is so distracting that it really ought to be part of your theme.

Somehow, the Spider survived for 30 issues.

Many people have been discussing various web slingers this month due to a certain movie release... I don't think Spider Queen was in it, but I wouldn't know since I haven't seen it.

Shannon Kane was just your average wife to a chemist working for the US government until, suddenly, BANG! A pair of lowly criminals shot him in the back, leaving Shannon a widow who exclusively wore black (as widows do). Looking through the room where her husband once worked, she discovered his notes detailing a new adhesive substance strong enough to swing with! Using these notes, she invented bracelets which shot out this adhesive like spiders shoot webs (this was 21 years before Amazing Fantasy #15 introduced Spider-Man by the way).

The widow Shannon noticed the similarity between this device and spiders, and from it created a crime-fighting persona. One ready and willing to do anything to stop criminals like the ones who killed her husband and made her a widow. She was Black Wido- sorry, she was Spider Queen. She chose the name Spider Queen, obviously.

Spider Queen only showed up in 3 issues, though she's one of the more well-known superheroes who have fallen into the public domain. Perhaps most notably, Marvel made use of her in the 1993 mini-series "The Invaders" where she was reimagined as a villain working with the Nazis. She's also allegedly popped up in Webcomics, but I can't actually find what they are (I'm only a mortal man).

Many superheroes are defined by their ability to adapt to and overcome circumstances that they may not have planned for. TNT Todd, for instance, chose to use his tragic accident involving TNT and Magnetic X-19 as an excuse to put on a funky costume and fight crime. The Stuntman's adaptation may not be the most interesting or notable, but it is certainly one of them (and you'll have to forgive me, I'm running out of interesting heroes to cover here).

The Stuntman was, as his name would suggest, a circus acrobat by the name of Fred Drake. Part of a trio in fact until, one day, the other two members got murdered. Naturally, he tried to solve their murders, but got sidetracked when Don Daring hired him to be his stunt double... but that's when he got an idea. What if he put on that costume Don gave him... and fought crime? Absurd, I know, but that's what he did.

Once he solved the murder of his friends, he went on to have a long crimefighting career of 9 issues, jumping between various comic lines like the acrobat he is (seriously, almost every appearance from him is a different comic line: 3 issues of his own self-titled series, Green Hornet Fights Crime #39, Black Cat #9, Thrills of Tomorrow #19-20, All-New Comics #13 and Joe Palooka Comics #9 - just pick a series!)

You can tell a lot about a character from what sort of people like them... I think. Sometimes the wrong people like certain characters, but it's not like their enjoyment of these characters comes from nothing. If a bunch of weird libertarians like The Punisher, then I can assume a sizeable portion of his comics agrees with their worldview. So, what am I supposed to feel knowing that Alan Moore is apparently a big fan of Herbie Popnecker (https://alanmooreworld.blogspot.com/2019/11/moore-on-jerusalem-eternalism-anarchy.html)?

So, you might look at this character along with his comic being named "Fat Fury" and understandably come to the conclusion that this character is a slightly mean-spirited joke. Indeed, he's quite the opposite of a superhero: short, out of shape, not particularly emotional, and his father absolutely hates him... but he's also basically a God. Satan cowers before him, World Leaders go to him for advice, and women find him absolutely irresistible!

Most of his powers came from magic lollipops procured from the Unknown, which enabled him to talk to animals, shoot beams of fire from his eyes, and whatever else the plot needed. They even help him Time Travel at one point, though there he also felt the need to sit down inside a Grandfather Clock.

I think that's why the character doesn't end up feeling too mean-spirited to me. He's fat, but it never bothers Herbie. To put it in his words, "So I'm fat. So what?". It's joked about, sure, but we also get jokes about how unphased he is by the goings on around him, or his dad getting furious at seeing his son winning, or various other gags that don't fit into these categories.

If you couldn't tell by Alan Moore being a fan, Herbie's had quite the legacy. He appeared in 29 comics (23 of which are his own self-titled series), has made many appearances in webcomics due to his accidental Public Domain-ness, and even has his own fansite (which I recommend checking out btw, it covers many topics I didn't have the time to go into https://herbiepopnecker.com/). Good on you, Herbie!