As noted in part one of this series (click HERE), Fleischer began very much as a parody of Superman, and added to that was a parody version of Green Lantern. This one, however, was named Green Latrine, who we described as British actor Dudley Moore (Arthur) “mixed with Green Lantern with puke stains.” Like Fleischer, Green Latrine was a misfit superhero but one who managed to manifest things via the small toilet bowl on his finger – a power that could only be activated if he was completely sloshed. Probably the best insight into the character (okay, insight may be too strong a word) comes from our unpublished novelization of the early comic scripts. Here’s what’s offered there:
Artist Fernando Sosa’s first drawing of Green Latrine, which was modeled much more heavily on the Dudley Moore description than the final version of the character would be.
Green Latrine’s brain had turned to mush.
It had happened years ago, but the fact that it had never quite ceased to amaze him. He sort of remembered the pre-mush days; the life back then, as hazy as it had become. He remembered making the move from England to America and going to work day after day at the….accounting firm, wasn’t it? The interactions with all of his miserable co-workers; the balding middle aged men who had come to hate their day to day existence with a passion; the beautiful ladies in their oh-so-tiny skirts; the repartee he engaged them in — the ladies, that is; the coffee they tended to “accidentally” dump on his head, blaming his four foot eight height and the fact that they didn’t see him “down there.” He laughed it off, of course; tried to turn it to his advantage. Proclaimed that big surprises often came in small packages; asked if they had anything they wanted him to take care of while he was down there.
Which is when the coffee usually hit his head.
Hmm. Maybe that was the problem, he mused in a rare moment of accepting responsibility.
Nah. Ladies without imagination.
“Sounds like the name of a really boring porno,” he said aloud with an accompanying cackle. He truly was his own best audience.
He was settling into a life of mediocrity, but everything changed the moment The Plumber appeared to him as though in a vision. Even shorter than he was, The Plumber floated there, in his bedroom, holding a glowing plunger in his hand and telling Latrine — in the days before he was Latrine — that a greater destiny lay before him. That by joining the “Latrine Division,” he would make a real difference in the world. Ultimately, he accepted. How couldn’t he? For starters, he was given a superhero costume — a green and black affair with white gloves, adorned on the chest by the image of an open toilet — and a tiny toilet to wear on his ring finger, from which he could conjure up anything he could think of. Of course, that was the rub: to make the mini-toilet work, he had to be drunk, which made it difficult to actually “think” of anything with any sort of clarity. Still, it was a price that he was willing to pay. Daily.
Fernando Sosa’s final look for Latrine.
“In the name of Thomas Crapper,” he had promised The Plumber, “I’ll do it!”
Goodbye accounting firm, hello perpetual drunken stupor!
That day, with The Plumber’s words of wisdom (“Try not to do too much damage”) resonating in his ears, he put on the uniform of the Green Latrine, and hadn’t taken it off since. And from that moment on, he decided to do his best (which admittedly wasn’t saying much) to make the world a safer place as he revealed himself and was instantly described by the media as looking like a cross between Dudley Moore and Green Lantern with puke stains.
Hearing about another superhero — Fleischer — in Generic City, he made the move, and the two men met, instantly becoming the best of friends. In fact, it was to Fleischer that he had just made a toast as he drained the last bit of beer out of his mug.
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Riveting, huh?
As Fleischer & The Group began to evolve and transition away from parody and more to a comedic superhero team comic, we realized that we wanted to change Latrine’s appearance in much the way we had Fleischer’s. In issue three, both characters go through a redesign. In the case of Latrine, it meant getting rid of the Green Lantern inspired outfit and replacing it with a blue leotard, robe, Viking helmet and trident. Gone was the tiny toilet bowl on his finger, and in its place was a canteen and the need for him to slur out a rhyme to activate his powers. And that’s not the only change we’ve got in store for him: further transitions will happen as the series continues.
From issue three, the debut of Crimson Canteen. Flanking him are Shatman, Fleischer (right before he changes his outfit) and Spocky. Art by Matias Festa.
Through it all, though, he and Fleischer will remain the best of friends; a friendship that is fueled by their inane conversations, such as the one that happens in issue two, an excerpt of which follows (art by Matias Festa).
So, kids, whether you know him as Green Latrine or Crimson Canteen, the bottom line is that he has dedicated himself to getting drunk off his ass so that he can save yours.