The Fly #15 (Archie Comics)
Writers & Artists (various)
With Archie comics currently re-launching their superhero line for the modern reader I noticed that the most successful of their characters has yet to appear,The Fly. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1959 ran erratically through to the mid sixties.
This series was best remembered for its absurd and sometimes laughable stories and plots which is actually what makes this a fun read.
Tommy Troy was given a magic ring by Turon from the dimension of fly-people which allowed him to gain super powers. Later the character inexplicably grew up becoming Thomas Troy a lawyer.
This comic published in October 1961 contains three short stories. The Invincible Spider Machine and features recurring villain The Spider, an alien making mischief in The Master of Disaster and The Prey of The Shark Men which is exactly who we meet on the beach.
The Fly lasted 30 issues before being transformed into Fly-Man and Archie's failed attempt to emulate Marvels success by branding their titles as the Mighty Comics Group.
British readers like myself were more familiar with the Fly as a result of the reprints in the Alan Class range of comics.
Eventually the entire line simply disappeared off the market as the sales dropped and Archie returned to publishing it's core line.
Come the comics boom in the eighties Archie re-launched and re-branded their comics as Red Circle. Personally I thought they were pretty good but The Fly lasted a mere 9 issues in this early direct market attempt. The latter issues were even drawn by Steve Ditko.
The question now remains when will The Fly return?
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