H.C. Greening certainly seems to have had a mind for the fantastic. Greening’s Percy, Brains He Has Nix is a fun example. This Sunday only feature follows the misadventures of a professor and his “mechanism man,” Percy. Percy is at first glance a marvel of the age, a mechanical man that can perform any task by simple push of a button on his back. Unfortunately for all who cross his path, this mechanical man is not the most gentle of creatures. He tends to take instruction quite literally, a fact his creator often laments by explaining that when it comes to brains, Percy has nix. The idea that perhaps it is not wise to expect independent thought from a robot never seems to occur to our friend the professor, which explains why he spends most of his time running after his creation, forever following in the wake of Percy’s destruction. Of course the military shows interest in such a formidable force, but even they learn the price is too high when it comes to Percy.

I’m not sure how often I’ve seen bowling depicted in comic strips from the early 20th Century; this Percy outing has to be one of the earliest examples I’ve come across.  And this one has to be the only time I’ve ever seen strip characters engaging in curling!  Too cool!

Percy was also the subject of an early silent animated short, unsurprisingly titled Percy Brains He Has Nix. I’d love to get a look at that someday…