I have an inexplicable love of the 1960's. Combine that with trying to stretch the definition of Superhero as far as it can go without it breaking and you get today's weird entry.
Most media had done their best to cover the growing hippie culture of the 1960's objectively. Some thought hippies were a menace and some thought them revolutionary. Both those things were true. The comic books of the day didn't think so. Batman was still campy and most writers still thought of good and evil as black and white, as America vs. the Nazis.
There was a generational change coming in the industry and writers were trying to be relevant to the world and their new audiences. The Silver Surfer had found new life on college campuses due to its undertone of philosophical quandary and a pinch of wanderlust.
The cats over at DC got as heavy as they could and decided to introduce the world to the Frankenstein Monster of Love, Brother Power, the Geek.
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 super power and speed.[1]
Shortly after his creation, Brother Power was kidnapped by the "Psychedelic Circus". The freaks in the Freakshow at the "Psychedelic Circus" were all based on the styles of "Big Daddy" Ed Roth and Harvey Kurtzman, both of whom were good friends of Simon. After escaping, he was fixed up and given a face by another hippie named Cindy, and attempted to run for 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 Mad Dawg and his gang, knowing it would be blamed on hippies.
After two issues of the Man keepin the kids down, Brother Power was exiled to Comic Book Limbo where he waits for reboot/retcon absolution.
Returning in the 1990s and the new millennium, Brother Power found another 15 minutes of fame as a guest star in Swamp Thing during the Neil Gaiman run.
The world needed love again, they needed the freedom of a youth culture that harkened back to the optimism of the 1960s. If you ask me we always need some of that innocence sans the naïveté.
Sadly Brother Power has faded into obscurity again. He waits in Comic Book Limbo, hoping the world will need him again.
Brother Power was last seen charging into a burning building to save the lives of innocents at extreme risk to his own. It should be noted that the Batman tried to stop him from entering into an obviously suicidal mission. The Geek ignored it and went in anyway.
I think the time is always right for that kind of heroism and to stick it to the man
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