CAN YOU DIG IT? YEAH! I CAN DIG IT!

A dead-ringer for an Archie teen humor comic only starring black characters, FAST WILLIE JACKSON hit comic spinner racks with its first issue cover-dated October 1976. The title was created by author and owner of Fitzgerald Periodicals, Inc. Bertram Fitzgerald and artist Gus Lemoine.

Fitzgerald began his comic book career publishing GOLDEN LEGACY, a series of 16 comics from 1966 until 1972 featuring historically-significant African-American individuals and events such as Harriet Tubman, The Birth of Haiti, Alexander Dumas, black cowboys (see LOBO comic post HERE) and more.

GOLDEN LEGACY books are still being sold at this website. The homepage introduces and explains their cultural importance:

Golden Legacy is a classic collection of 16 inspirational volumes. Each volume contains 32 colorful pages and is a fully illustrated, biographical account of many significant achievements of Black men and women.

It is a widely endorsed new approach to the study of history that utilizes the appeal of the comic book format. Golden Legacy is fast, has impact and also communicates visually which increases reader comprehension and enjoyment. This high interest level series motivates fast and slow readers to read voluntarily!

In addition to its educational value, Golden Legacy performs a valuable emotional and social function. It helps create an atmosphere of harmony and mutual respect between groups. It creates pride and self-esteem while replacing myths with an appreciation for the contributions of others.

As mentioned, slap an Archie colophon on the cover and, with the exception of the content, no one would have been the wiser. Not surprisingly, there is much speculation that Gus Lemoine is a pseudonym for Archie artist Henry Scarpelli, who had already lent his Dan DeCarlo-esque work to SWING WITH SCOOTER for DC in 1966 and DATE WITH DEBBIE (1969-1975), also for DC. Lasting only for seven issues, it's likely FAST WILLIE JACKSON suffered the same fate as its one-shot precursor, ALL-NEGRO COMICS with lackluster sales and poor distribution.

In the February 2, 2025 issue of Gemstone Publishing's THE SCOOP newsletter, the uncredited author offers a capsule summary of the series:

Fast Willie Jackson, published in 1976, was a Fitzgerald Periodicals title. The title character was an easy-going everyman in the Chuck Clayton vein (but without the basketball profiency) who had the hots for the neighborhood brickhouse, Dee Dee Wilson, and whose cronies included a JJ of Good Times fame look-alike named Jo-Jo, a militant named Jabar, Frankie Johnson, a jive-talkin' cool papa who falls just short of being identified as a pimp, and a weight-lifting strongman called Hannibal.

The events of the comic are set in Mo City USA, a predominantly black metropolis where "the bad, strong, fast, together brothers and sisters" are constantly throwing around terms like, "Can you dig it?" and "rock solid" and "sweet baby."

Only one recurring white character appears in the comic, a policeman called Officer Flagg, who Willie and the bunch refer to as "The Man." There's also a Latino bodega/soda shop owner, Jose Martinez, and an Asian man who owns a martial arts studio in Mo City.

This comic's kind of like a print version of the film, Five on the Black Hand Side.

In short, Fast Willie Jackson was the closest publication there is to a Blaxploitation comic. And we mean that in a good way.

It's a shame it only survived for seven issues, petering out once and for all in 1977. An eBay search let us know that the first issue of the book, unslabbed, has an average starting price of just $38.