Bash Helmet Issue 50: Flick Faster takes the comic world by storm

Flick Faster, the high-kicking, high-heeled heroine, took the comic world by storm with her debut in Issue 50. Her origin was simple but effective - Felicity Fisher was a young, hip English undergraduate working part time as a taxi driver in New York City to help make ends meet. 

Feisty female phenomenon, Flick Faster

She had just picked up a pair of American All-Star Women’s Tennis Champions when her cab was struck by lightning. 

The sudden surge of electricity transferred all of the tennis players’ strength, stamina, agility, accuracy and sexual orientations into Felicity who used her new-found powers to give women a hand wherever they wanted it. 

Staff writer, Hernandez Pico is credited with creating her: 

“We were all tasked with coming up with a new sidekick for Bash. I went home and spent a whole afternoon reading through my collection of ‘Tales to Excite’ that he appeared in. I really loved those strong wartime female adversaries - Diva Braun, Fifi Fingersnatch - they had great names and I wanted someone like that to be at Bash’s side. 

Anyway, I had gotten through all of his early adventures with no ideas so I just carried on reading my old Tales for Kidz comics for my own amusement. Then I saw the answer to my prayers in the story “Veg Out!” where Spurt and Squirt go to watch a character called Flick the Bean at the Vegetable Olympics. 

She was a runner bean taking part in the 400 metre sprint and there is a panel where Squirt is shouting out to her, “Go, Flick! Faster!” There was my name! The rest just fell into place.”

In order to tie Flick’s history in more closely to Bash’s, Pico wrote a flashback story showing a young Felicity sitting with her Aunt Phyllis with whom she lived in England. Phyllis reveals that, during the war, she had worked tirelessly as a Free FANY and personally helped Bash Helmet to resist any advances from the German soldiers. It was Phyllis who originally encouraged her niece to travel to New York to “try and get a glimpse of that magnificent Helmet.”

With her incredible powers and strong desire to finger female felons, it was not long before Flick Faster became an important part of the Bash Helmet mythos. Reggie was thrilled and her success was confirmed when market research at the time actually indicated that the number of girls reading Bash Helmet was greater than the number of boys. 

In 1967, Flick was given her own spin off title but she still popped up for regular periods in Bash Helmet’s comic.

In Bona tradition, Reggie was quick to capitalise on this phenomena and a Flick Faster doll was brought out and became the year’s top selling toy. 

Ironically, Flick Faster bucked trends once again as market research this time showed that more boys were purchasing the doll than girls!