Oct 17

Oct 17 Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1

Making it Big

Wonder Man has been attacked out of the blue outside of his apartment by the villain known as Goliath, aka Erik Josten. Josten started this fight because he is apparently jealous that Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, has found fame and fortune as a superhero and Hollywood actor. Little does Simon know that this is just a publicity stunt being orchestrated by his agent Neal Saroyan. When Neal hears that Goliath is wrecking half the city, he calls to tell Josten that this is not what he was hired to do and orders him to retreat. Josten does just that by shrinking down to normal size and taking off down an alley before Wonder Man can stop him,

As Simon tries to make sense of the attack he is joined by actress Ginger Beach who is deeply worried that Simon might have gotten hurt. When she tries to kiss him, Williams notices that a news crew is paying real close attention to them and suggests they go into his apartment to speak in private. Inside, the pass by his landlord Gloria Angel and Simon quickly apologizes for the attack before ducking into his room. Before he and Ginger talk, Simon checks his voice mail and finds a message from his agent waiting for him asking for them to meet after 1 that afternoon. Ginger insists on tagging along since it was Neal who first introduced her to Simon. Williams was planning on going alone and using his jet belt to get there. Ginger insists on driving him, wondering how he survives in Los Angeles without a car.

Meanwhile, Goliath has retreated to Kimiko’s Pastrami-Dog, a bizarre fusion restaurant in town. Since the hotel he’s staying in doesn’t have a phone, Josten uses the place to take his calls, much to the chagrin of the owner. The other patrons openly mock Erik for his dreams of fame and fortune leading some of them getting rough. However, Josten’s ionically enhanced body gives him an edge over the others. Josten then pulls out his collection of newspaper clippings that document both his and Wonder Man’s career. Goliath laments about how Wonder Man has seem to have gotten it all even though he was once a criminal like he was. Meanwhile, Josten has had humiliation upon humiliation heaped upon him. Having his original name stolen by Luke Cage, being defeated by Spider-Man and so on.[1][2] Going into a frenzy, Josten recalls how Wonder Man’s agent approached him and offered equal fame and fortune. Believing that Saroyan reneged on his deal, Josten resumes giant size and heads into the city to get revenge.

At that same time, Simon and Ginger are on their way to Neal’s office. Along the way, Ginger tells Simon she gets the impression he doesn’t want her around. Williams reminds her that the only reason why they are together is because Neal thinks that a “magnetic love interest” would boost Simon’s popularity. She tells Simon that he needs to loosen up and scoffs at the idea that Williams wants to become an accomplished actor of merit and not some brainless action hero. Experiencing Ginger’s dangerous driving and how she once dated a man for two years because he deal at a major movie studio makes Simon think the entire city is crazy. Eventually he has enough and asks Ginger to pull over and let him out so he can go the rest of the way on foot.

Simon enjoys the relative peace from the walk until he rounds the corner and sees that someone smashed Neal Saroyan’s office building. Digging through the rubble, Simon is relieved to discover that Neal is alive. However, Williams gets really upset when he learns that Neal intentionally hired Goliath as a publicity stunt to boost Wonder Man’s popularity. He also learns that Josten knows all about his personal life leading them to realize that he could be going after Ginger Beach next. Without his jet belt, Simon decides to try using his ionic strength to jump across the city and is surprised when this actually works out pretty well for him.[3] He soon lands outside Ginger’s house but is too late to stop Goliath from nabbing her. As news crews arrive on the scene, Simon to trick Goliath into letting Ginger go by saying that he is actually seeing a more famous starlet. Josten doesn’t buy it but since he thinks Simon doesn’t want Ginger, he tosses her away.

Simon is able to leap into the air and catch her and gets her to safety. Meanwhile, Goliath overhears a news reporter talking about Wonder Man’s altruism. This angers the villain enough that he begins ranting and raving in front of the cameras. This gives Simon an opening for an unlikely means of defeat — Golaith’s big fat mouth. Leaping into the villain’s throat, Wonder Man cuts off Goliath’s air supply until the titanic villain collapses to the ground. Crawling out of Goliath’s mouth and covered in phlegm, Simon isn’t particularly happy when he is suddenly swarmed by reporters who have a million questions. Neal watches all of this from a television in his ruined office and is pleased with how this will play into his PR campaign. Ginger also uses the cameras to try and plug herself to the viewing audience. Simon cannot believe that she was turned on by all of this and yanks her away. When he goes on about how she has an ex-boyfriend that can record all her new appearances for her, Simon resigns to the fact that LA is crazy.

Recurring Characters

Wonder Man, Goliath, Ginger Beach, Gloria Angel, Neal Saroyan

Continuity Notes

Erik Josten goes over his failures as a super-villain. The details he gives here include:
- How he first became Power Man through the same process that gave Wonder Man his powers. As seen in Avengers #21.
- He was forced to give up this identity after he was beaten up by Luke Cage wo was also calling himself Power Man at the time, as seen in Power Man #21.
- He started calling himself the Smuggler in Spectacular Spider-Man #49, leading to his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man.
- Eventually he became Goliath when given a power boost by Doctor Karl Malus in Iron Man Annual #7.
Conversely he also talks about Wonder Man’s career which is might sunnier than his:
- He mentions how Williams was caught in an embezzlement scandal before being approached by Baron Zemo who offered him power to get revenge against the Avengers. Simon agreed but the process that gave him his powers would kill him if he didn’t get Zemo’s antidote. Simon infiltrated the Avengers, but ultimately betrayed Zemo and sacrificed his own life to save the heroes. See Avengers #9.
- Here, Goliath states that the Avengers saved him from death and recruited him onto their team. That’s not entirely accurate. He was “resurrected” as a zombie in Avengers #151 but snapped out of it in the following issue. It was later explained in Avengers #164 that Simon didn’t actually die, but entered a death-like state as his body metamorphosized him into a being of pure ionic energy.
- Mention is made how Wonder Man is current a member of the West Coast Avengers. He has been a mainstay of the team since it was first formed in West Coast Avengers #1.
- Regarding Simon’s acting career, he got his start in Avengers #194 when he landed a role on the Uncle Elmer Show. However, he didn’t get his big break in Hollywood until he scored a role in Arkon IV in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6.
Wonder Man states that he got the jumping idea from watching the Hulk. It’s been a long standing staple that the Hulk can leap great distances due to his powerful leg muscles. This harkens way back to Incredible Hulk #1.

Topical References

When Ginger Beach arrives at Simon’s apartment she says she was just coming back from a meeting at Fox. She is referring to 20th Century Fox. This should be considered a topical reference since this movie studio was bought by Disney in 2019. It has subsequently been renamed 20th Century Studios.
Simon’s phone is depicted as having a physical answering machine. This should be considered a topical reference as this technology has been made obsolete thanks to the advent of voice mail.
A sign in the window at Kimiko’s Pastrami-Dogs states you can order breakfast for $1.50. Good luck trying to find prices like that anymore. Adjusting for inflation this would cost $3.27 in 2022 money.
Goliath brags that when he makes it rich he’ll own a Farrari. This should be considered topical as this is a real world vehicle.
One of the patrons at Kimiko’s mocks Josten by saying he’s going to land a job in the new Jean Harlow movie. Harlow was a famous actress back in the golden age of cinema. However, she tragically died of kidney failure in 1936. The joke here is that the patron is an old man and is making an impossible claim by suggesting he is working with an actress who has been dead since the mid-20th century. I guess you could call this topical as there are probably more contemporary examples that could be slotted in, but really I think the assertion make the barb more insulting with age, making it funnier.
The TVs in this story are all depicted as CRT models. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.
Ginger mentions she once dated a man who had a deal with Warner Brothers Studios. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world studio. Doubly so since Warner is now a direct rival of Disney, who now owns Marvel Comics.
Neal Saroyan states that he keeps his contact information on a Rolodex. It was a card filing system on a rolling spindle that were commonly used to keep people’s contact information organized. They were actually quite popular in the business world before the advent of cell phones. This should be considered a topical reference.
Ginger brags how her ex-boyfriend has three VCRs, or Video Cassette Recorders, were the most popular media format at the time this comic book came out. The fact that Ginger’s ex-boyfriend had three was still kind of impressive when this comic came out in 1991. VCRs were expensive to begin with, selling for ~$1500 when they came out in the 1980s. They came down in price a lot in the following decade but having more than one was still kind of a luxury back then. Regardless, this should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.

Gutwrencher Magazine (part 1)

This is a one page feature that presents a mock interview between Wonder Man and Gutwrencher Magazine. This feature will be broken up into three part and featured over the course of the next three issues in lieu of a letters page. It serves as a recap of Wonder Man’s career up to that point. In this first part, Simon talks about his family upbringing, how he was put in charge of Williams Manufacturing while his brother Eric became a petter crook. Simon recounts his embezzlement scandal, his transformation into Wonder Man by Baron Zemo, his battle with the Avengers and his first apparent death.