The Adventures Of Captain Nice!

I watched Captain Nice on television when it was tumbling through its single season of fifteen episodes in the early part of 1967. Superheroes were the rage and NBC wanted a piece of the pie that ABC had baked with the dominate Batman TV show. The show was the brainchild of Buck Henry who had turned a similar trick of parody with Get Smart on the spy-craze. So as was the wont with comic book outsiders, they went ironic and created a situation comedy superhero show. Captain Nice, played by William Daniels, was a well-meaning but bumbling and inept superhero.

That aspect is captured in the single comic book from Gold Key drawn by Joe Certa. (To read some of this singular outing check out this link and this one too.) The ineptitude is also neatly captured in four comic strips prepared by Wally Wood for possible syndication. Nothing beyond these exist as the show sank quickly and the demand for more was clearly not evident. That doesn't mean they aren't nifty to look at though.

Along with Wood, the great Jack "King" Kirby was tagged to create some Captain Nice artwork and it has all the energetic bombast and free-wheeling techno-pop that Kirby could deliver. Captain Nice lasted almost no time at all, but still it's brief existence is fondly remembered by those of use who got the chance to catch a glimpse.

Note: This post originally appeared at Rip Jagger's Other Dojo. 

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