HOVERBOY Floating Fighter of Crime #10
February, 1973

One of Hoverboy's more popular villains, Legs Luthor, makes his debut in "HOVERBOY: FLOATING FIGHTER OF CRIME" #10, Feb,1973.

Hailed as an the "world's most original super-villain" by creator, 'Jazzy' Jack Gibson, Luthor had no torso, no arms, no genitalia, four extra legs, and a face on one of his thighs. The character was not intended to look anything like this in the earliest draft of this story, as writer 'Tiny' Curt Dobbs described him only as a thug with "a pair of huge, muscular legs". But Dobbs accidentally typed that phrase three times in the script, and it and caused Gibson to interpret the super-villain in his more familiar six limbed form. "I was always a leg man" Jazzy Jack would say about his famous creation, though he admitted later that he liked the character because he was lousy at drawing hands. Gibson's fondness for leg-based bad guys extended to creating the TRAMPLER, "Ankles" McGee, THIGH MASTER

and MIGHTY SHOE for Vigilance over the next few years.

Besides his bizarre physique, "The Human Asterix " was best remembered for his many catch phrases –"Looks like the shoe is on one of the other five feet!", "Seig Heel!", "Here's my stomp of approval." , "How about a Toe-Job?", "This is how I get my kicks", and many others. The Frantics Comedy troupe has denied that their catch-phrase "Boot to the head"was inspired by a Legs Luthor word balloon on the cover of HOVERBOY: Floating Fighter of Crime #39, though it seems clear to this Hoverboy fan that it was.

Legs Luthor appeared regularly in comics, toys, and cartoons until the tragic events of 1981 which caused Hoverboy to disappear from the public for decades. Over all that time, it was never revealed what mutation or scientific mishap created Legs in the first place, or indeed, who had given him boots.

NOTE: This issue ALSO marks the first appearance of "The Little Sarge", an equally strange Vigilance series about a four year old boy who gets drafted into the Korean Conflict and ends up rising to the rank of Sergeant through battlefield savvy and sheer guts. More on this intriguing war comic in an upcoming entry!