Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK: "Wonder Man" Conclusion

When Last We Left Super...I mean Wonder Man...

Aw, c'mon, he's leaping tall buildings at a single bound, for Chrissakes!

During a visit to Tibet, electronics expert Fred Carson is given a ring by an elderly monk which imbues him with superhuman strength, speed, limited flight, enhanced vision and audio abilities, and invulnerability.
Returning to the USA,  he is sent by his employer to the war-torn country of Tatonia to test his new long-range television transmitter, as well as chaperoning the boss' daughter who is serving as a Red Cross nurse.
When the Red Cross field hospital is attacked, Carson becomes Wonder Man and battles the enemy.
Meanwhile, the boss' daughter is captured...

Nope, there wasn't "another action filled Wonder Man adventure"!

When the second (and last) issue of Wonder Comics came out, Wonder Man was nowhere to be found.

DC Comics' lawyers had immediately leaped into action when Wonder Comics #1 hit the newsstands,  suing Fox Publications with a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Will Eisner, who wrote and drew the story at the behest of publisher Victor Fox claimed for years that he testified in court that Wonder Man was a deliberate imitation of Superman (which was the truth).

However, as shown in court transcripts HERE, Eisner committed perjury on the stand (as instructed by Fox), claiming that the then-neophyte writer/artist had conceived the Wonder Man strip months before Action Comics #1 had been published!

Despite that, the court ruled in favor of DC, and the first Wonder Man never reappeared.

There have been several Wonder Men since then, including a super-powered futuristic hero who also used advanced weaponry, more of a Captain Future than Superman (and who was called "WonderMan")...

...and the Marvel Comics character introduced in Avengers #V1 N9 (1964).

BTW, is it a coincidence that the costumes of The Incredibles follow the same design motif and color scheme as the original Wonder Man's?

 I think not! ;-)

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Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK: "Wonder Man" Part 1

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a lawsuit waiting to happen!

Wonder Man made only ONE appearance before the publishers of a certain mild-mannered reporter/superhero sued, claiming he was TOO similar to you-know-who!
A judge agreed, the character "retired", never to be seen again (until now) and Wonder Comics was retitled WonderWorld Comics!

Tune in tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion to the origin of Super...I mean Wonder Man.

Yeah, that's it!

Wonder Man!

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY & SPIDER WIDOW Part 2

When Last We Left Our Heroines...

Police Comics #21

To that, we would add that the two heroines and a hero saved the life of Phantom Lady's father, Senator Knight!

Amazing, these crooks are yards away from the dueling damsels, yet they recognize Phantom Lady as Sandra Knight!

Her boyfriend in the Fox issues, Don, is even dumber than I thought!

Then the story continued in Spider Widow's home, Feature Comics...

Feature Comics #70

Scripter/artist Frank Borth was one of the under-appreciated craftsmen of the era.

He produced almost 100 stories, but never hit the "big time" with a major character or title.

Even his work on Phantom Lady is overshadowed by Matt Baker's more cheesecakey art on the later Fox version!

Be here next week for the final two chapters and a couple of surprises!

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Reading Room: Silver Age FRANKENSTEIN "Reward"

The Silver Age was an odd period of comics history...

 ...when anyone from spies (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) to soldiers (Blackhawk) to monsters could be remade into superheroes...with decidedly-mixed results!
You can read the origin of this funky, far-out revamp of Frankenstein HERE, the second part HERE, then continue with the cataclysmic conclusion to his premiere appearance...

How many elements from Silver Age Superman and Batman stories can you find in this tale?

(I found at least five, some for both Superman and Batman, some just from Batman.)

The art was by Tony Tallarico, who was working steadily for both Dell and Charlton, producing literally reams of pages per month in every genre!

(And most of the time he was inking himself, as well!)

The series ran only two more issues before Dell decided monster-based superheroes weren't the way to go, and canceled this book, as well as Dracula and WereWolf.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY & SPIDER WIDOW Part 1

SuperHERO team-ups were rare in the Golden Age.

SuperHEROINE team-ups were rarer!

And multi-issue cross-over team-ups were practically non-existent!

Police Comics #20

You'll note a couple of differences from the Phantom Lady you're used to seeing on this blog including a differently-colored costume, a mask, no black-light ray, and no Matt Baker art!

That's because this is the earlier Quality Comics version of the character, before she began her run at Fox in All Top Comics and her own title!

Just go with the flow, and all will be made clear...

Feature Comics #69

Beginning in Phantom Lady's strip Police Comics #20 and carrying over to Spider Widow's series in  Feature Comics #69 (both cover-dated July, 1943), Frank Borth (who wrote and drew both strips at the time) tried something a little different, tying the two series together for three months with an ongoing plotline!
Personally, I enjoy the "breaking the 4th wall bits" including mentioning that they're actually in comic books and referencing other characters like Blackhawk!
Be here next week for Part 2 (of 3).

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