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Brother Power the Geek
Brother Power the Geek is a comic book character created in the late 1960s for DC Comics by Joe Simon. He first appeared in Brother Power the Geek #1 (October 1968).
The concept behind Brother Power was derived heavily from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein right down to reanimation with the use of lightning. At the same time, Simon was also attempting to capture the sort of "wandering outcast philosopher" characterization that made Marvel Comics' Silver Surfer a cult hit among the college student readers of the period.
According to Scott Shaw, the character was originally supposed to be called The Freak, but was renamed to The Geek due to concerns by DC Comics management over the possible drug reference "freak" implied at the time.
The original series lasted only two issues. Brother Power was originally a mannequin abandoned in an empty tailor's shop. The shop was taken over by hippies Nick Cranston and Paul Cymbalist, who dressed up the dummy in Paul's wet and bloodied "hip threads" to keep them from shrinking, having been attacked by Hound Dawg and other war hawks. Forgotten for months, but eventually struck by lightning, Brother Power was brought to life and endowed with superpowers.
Shortly after his creation, Brother Power was kidnapped by the "Psychedelic Circus". The freaks in the Freakshow at the "Psychedelic Circus" were based on the styles of Ed Roth and Harvey Kurtzman, who were friends of Joe Simon. After escaping, he was fixed up and given a face by another hippie named Cindy, and attempted to run for the United States Congress. His misadventures with the establishment led to finding work and encouraging other hippies to do so, eventually getting hired by the J.P. Acme Corporation just as it was taken over by the wicked Lord Sliderule. Brother Power's ingenuity still made the assembly line run more efficiently. Brother Power was last seen being shot into space on orders from Governor Ronald Reagan, after trying to prevent the sabotage of a rocket launch by Hound Dawg and his gang, knowing it would be blamed on hippies.
While sales of the title were modest, Brother Power was not popular among the staff. Former DC Comics editorial director Carmine Infantino claimed in several interviews following his retirement from comics that Superman editor Mort Weisinger disliked the character and had petitioned DC publisher Jack Liebowitz to shut down the title. According to Infantino, Weisinger harbored an admitted dislike for the hippie subculture of the 1960s, and felt that Joe Simon portrayed them too sympathetically. It did not help that Hound Dawg and his cronies appeared with uniforms and gadgetry evocative of Nazis in the second issue. According to Simon, the third issue was canceled just before the finished artwork was to be set up for print duplication, and Simon would neither discuss the plot of this issue nor release any of the original art.
Despite Weisinger's concerns over the hippie subculture and the level of drug abuse it represented, drug, substance and alcohol intake are not depicted.
Simon was not the artist on the title's two issues. The artwork was by Al Bare, who had been working with Simon at Sick. Simon had hired Bare to "ghost" the art, and was subsequently credited with the art.
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Brother Power the Geek
Brother Power the Geek is a comic book character created in the late 1960s for DC Comics by Joe Simon. He first appeared in Brother Power the Geek #1 (October 1968).
The concept behind Brother Power was derived heavily from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein right down to reanimation with the use of lightning. At the same time, Simon was also attempting to capture the sort of "wandering outcast philosopher" characterization that made Marvel Comics' Silver Surfer a cult hit among the college student readers of the period.
According to Scott Shaw, the character was originally supposed to be called The Freak, but was renamed to The Geek due to concerns by DC Comics management over the possible drug reference "freak" implied at the time.
The original series lasted only two issues. Brother Power was originally a mannequin abandoned in an empty tailor's shop. The shop was taken over by hippies Nick Cranston and Paul Cymbalist, who dressed up the dummy in Paul's wet and bloodied "hip threads" to keep them from shrinking, having been attacked by Hound Dawg and other war hawks. Forgotten for months, but eventually struck by lightning, Brother Power was brought to life and endowed with superpowers.
Shortly after his creation, Brother Power was kidnapped by the "Psychedelic Circus". The freaks in the Freakshow at the "Psychedelic Circus" were based on the styles of Ed Roth and Harvey Kurtzman, who were friends of Joe Simon. After escaping, he was fixed up and given a face by another hippie named Cindy, and attempted to run for the United States Congress. His misadventures with the establishment led to finding work and encouraging other hippies to do so, eventually getting hired by the J.P. Acme Corporation just as it was taken over by the wicked Lord Sliderule. Brother Power's ingenuity still made the assembly line run more efficiently. Brother Power was last seen being shot into space on orders from Governor Ronald Reagan, after trying to prevent the sabotage of a rocket launch by Hound Dawg and his gang, knowing it would be blamed on hippies.
While sales of the title were modest, Brother Power was not popular among the staff. Former DC Comics editorial director Carmine Infantino claimed in several interviews following his retirement from comics that Superman editor Mort Weisinger disliked the character and had petitioned DC publisher Jack Liebowitz to shut down the title. According to Infantino, Weisinger harbored an admitted dislike for the hippie subculture of the 1960s, and felt that Joe Simon portrayed them too sympathetically. It did not help that Hound Dawg and his cronies appeared with uniforms and gadgetry evocative of Nazis in the second issue. According to Simon, the third issue was canceled just before the finished artwork was to be set up for print duplication, and Simon would neither discuss the plot of this issue nor release any of the original art.
Despite Weisinger's concerns over the hippie subculture and the level of drug abuse it represented, drug, substance and alcohol intake are not depicted.
Simon was not the artist on the title's two issues. The artwork was by Al Bare, who had been working with Simon at Sick. Simon had hired Bare to "ghost" the art, and was subsequently credited with the art.