Fatman the Human Flying Saucer is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

, a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 created by artist C. C. Beck

C. C. Beck

Charles Clarence Beck was an American cartoonist and comic book artist, best known for his work on Captain Marvel at Fawcett Comics and DC Comics....

 and writer Otto Binder

Otto Binder

Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books...

 in the 1960s.

Beck and Binder created Fatman long after Beck's popular creation Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel (DC Comics)

Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...

 was canceled partly due to a copyright infringement suit

National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications

National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 , was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel...

 with DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

.

Overview

Fatman's costume is green and yellow. He had a yellow flying saucer emblem on his chest. Fatman was fat and could change into a human flying saucer. His comic ran for only three issues and was published by Lightning Comics, an almost equally short lived company. Fatman comics were produced in small numbers and are considered valuable because of Beck's artwork and their rarity.

Van Crawford became Fatman after coming to the aid of an alien flying saucer

Unidentified flying object

A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...

. The saucer itself turned out to be a shapeshifting

Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...

alien, who reward Crawford by giving him a chocolate drink with the ability to transform him into a human flying saucer. Being a wealthy man, like many superheroes of the era, Crawford decided to use this new found power to become a superhero.