The Monday Fly: Who is Harmony Whyte?

The Monday Fly: Who is Ted Locke?

The Monday Fly: Who is Arnie Berman?

The Monday Fly: Who is Blaze Kendall?

The Monday Fly: Go to sleep, Brutus!

THE HUMAN FLY

SECRETLY READS DC.

Panel from The Human Fly #15
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Ricardo Villamonte, inker

The Monday Fly: Yes — I flew ... like a bird!

THE HUMAN FLY

STILL BELIEVES
IN BROMANCE

(What's with the Fly and sky-diving, anyway?!)

Panel from The Human Fly #12
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Frank Springer, inker

The Monday Fly: Put your hands in the air, Red

THE HUMAN FLY

DOESN'T SEE ANY NEED
FOR NAME-CALLING.

ALSO: YO MAMA.

Panel from The Human Fly #6
Bill Mantlo, writer; Frank Robbins, artist; Rod Santiago, inker

The Monday Fly: The acrid, overpowering feline stench ...

THE HUMAN FLY

HATES THESE
BLIND DATES.

Panel from The Human Fly #4
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Rod Santiago, inker

The Monday Fly: You're going to the party, right?

THE HUMAN FLY

WILL PROBABLY BE
A MUMMY THIS YEAR.

Panel from The Human Fly #1
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist

The Monday Fly: I don't think la señorita is listening, amigo!

LA MOSCA HUMANA

¡AY, QUE RICO!

Cuadro de The Human Fly #9
Historia, Bill Mantlo; dibujo, Frank Robbins; tinta, Mike Esposito

The Monday Fly: Maybe if I try to cut its power ... ?

THE HUMAN FLY

ALSO PITIES YOU,
FLYING ROBOT
BIRD-THING.

Panel from The Human Fly #3
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Don Perlin, inker

The Human Fly has more pity than Mr. T.

The Monday Fly: Progress

THE HUMAN FLY

CAN DIG IT.

Panel from The Human Fly #19
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Ricardo Villamonte, inker

The Monday Fly: Fantastic!

THE HUMAN FLY

BELIEVES IN BROMANCE.

Panel from The Human Fly #1
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist

The Monday Fly: Oh, my!

THE HUMAN FLY HAS BEEN WORKING HIS GLUTES.

Panel from The Human Fly #12
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Frank Springer, inker

The Monday Fly: Two seconds of immortality

While everything you'd want to know about the Human Fly as a comic book character can be found in the 19 published issues, finding out anything reliable about the man it was based on is much harder.

Much harder.

About the only thing most people agree on is that the real-life Human Fly was a Canadian stuntman named Rick Rojatt, someone who tried to pull off increasingly spectacular stunts, was never seen without his mask, was rumored to have some sort of ties to organized crime, and — according to one anonymous commenter — was sometimes Cyndi Lauper's boyfriend.

With stories like that, I almost don't want to know the truth anymore. Either that, or there should be a movie 'cause I'm telling you, SOLID GOLD. (Of course, if anyone has any kind of leads, I'd love to hear about them — send me an e-mail, Rojatt!)

And while the Fly undoubtedly got some coverage from the media at the time (stuntmen were a hot trend thanks to Evel Knievel), there isn't much of an actual record left behind. Except for the odd reference here and there, reports either haven't made it online yet, or may just be gone for good. It's a shame really, and I'd like to think that, in some dusty archive somewhere, the exploits of the Human Fly are preserved for posterity.

But for now, all I've been able to find is a couple of first person accounts, an article in People magazine and this — two seconds of footage from a Milwaukee TV promo for "That's Incredible!" featuring the Fly riding on top of a low-flying DC-8 (one of his most famous stunts).

The brief look at the stunt begins at the six-second mark; if you even begin to blink, you'll miss it. Like the Human Fly himself, it comes and goes in a flash.

The Monday Fly: He laughs beneath his mask --

THE HUMAN FLY

HAS GONE TO
SOME SEMINARS,
AND HE'S IN A
GOOD PLACE
NOW, Y'KNOW?

Panel from The Human Fly #2
Bill Mantlo, writer; Carmine Infantino, artist; Dan Green, inker

The Monday Fly: You're just killing yourself!

THE HUMAN FLY

APPRECIATES YOUR
SUPPORT. REALLY.

Panel from The Human Fly #5
Bill Mantlo, writer; Frank Robbins, artist; Rod Santiago, inker

The Monday Fly: I promise you'll awake to nicer accomodations ...

THE HUMAN FLY

BOOKED A ROOM AT THAT
LITTLE MOTEL DOWN THE ROAD.

Panel from The Human Fly #16
Bill Mantlo, writer; Bob Lubbers, artist; Ricardo Villamonte, inker

The Monday Fly: Ain't nobody alive could scale this mountain!

THE HUMAN FLY

DISAGREES.

Panel from The Human Fly #3
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Don Perlin, inker

The Monday Fly: But first I'm going to have a look around!

THE HUMAN FLY

LIKES TO WATCH.

Panel from The Human Fly #15
Bill Mantlo, writer; Lee Elias, artist; Ricardo Villamonte, inker