Wednesday, February 28, 2024

HOTW- Wonder Man


 From Fandom Wiki- Fred Carson was a radio engineer who enjoyed traveling. While on a trip to Tibet, he met a yogi who put him through a series of rigorous tests. Fred passed, proving that he had the physical and moral strength to do good. As a reward, the yogi gave him a magic ring. Fred used it to fight for humanity and justice as Wonder Man.  In his only appearance, Wonder Man delivered aid to Tarovania that was suffering under the occupation by an unnamed invader. In the context of the time, this was most likely meant to be the Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

I have never seen this comic book, though I should look at Comicbookplus... nope.  Just the cover.  Here is a little more backstory:  Wonder Man was created because Victor Fox commissioned Will Eisner and his Iger Studio to create a virtual copy of Superman. DC, which at the time was housed in the same building as Fox, immediately protested in court. Fox stopped publishing Wonder Man adventures, but fought in court against the charge. Eisner testified that he had, indeed, been asked to copy Superman. However, a recently discovered trial transcript shows that, while on the stand, Eisner actually insisted that he based Wonder Man on the Phantom, and that he created Wonder Man months before the first issue of Action Comics hit the newsstands.

  • Nevertheless, the court ruled in DC's favor, and Fox refused to pay Eisner for his services. As a result, Wonder Man only appeared once, and Wonder Comics was renamed Wonderworld Comics with issue #3, which introduced another Eisner creation - The Flame.

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