Never failing to capitalize on a pop culture trend, '60s comics publishers, noticing the popularity of the hit single
Ballad of the Green Berets (by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler & Robin Moore) quickly produced comics series featuring the elite Army unit.
Most were standard war comics, but
one stood out from the rest for sheer
weirdness...
What do you get when you combine...
1) Green Berets and the VietNam War
with...
2) Teenagers...
and
3) SuperHeroes?
Why,
SUPER GREEN BERET,
of course!
Green
Beret Roger Wilson saves a Vietnamese monk from a wild boar, and in
return the grateful priest attaches a pin to his beret which makes it
glow.
Home on leave, Roger gives the glowing beret to his teenage nephew
Tod Holton,
who discovers that, when he puts it on his head and salutes, he's
transformed into a super-powered adult dressed in a soldier's uniform!
(It's
sorta like the Golden Age Captain Marvel, a teenager who said the magic
word SHAZAM and was transformed into a super-powered adult, albeit with
his teenage mind.)
Using his new-found powers of teleportation,
telepathy, telekinesis, transmutation, time travel, invulnerability, and
super-strength,
Tod decides
to fight Enemies of Our Country, mostly in present-day Asia, but also
travels through time to the American Revolution and World War II, during
his two-issue run!
Yes, it's as hokey as it sounds!
We at
Atomic Kommie Comics™ felt that we couldn't let such an outrageous character and concept be forgotten, so, as part of our
War: Past, Present, & Future™ line, we incorporated
Super Green Beret as a light-hearted example of 1960s funkiness to contrast with the seriousness of our
World War II and
Korean Police Action material (plus we wanted an excuse to make some kool
SGB collectibles for ourselves)!
So stick a
Super Green Beret collectible under the tree or in a stocking for your loved one!
It's the next best thing to an
original 11.5" GI Joe!
(And I should know, since I received one of the first Joes at Christmas, many years ago!)
BONUS: A FREE Christmas present for you: the
never-reprinted premiere of
Super Green Beret!
You gotta see it to believe it!
(And there'll be more to come next year!)
