Wonder Man is a
fictionalA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
superheroA superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
, created by
Will EisnerWilliam Erwin Eisner was an acclaimed Jewish-American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of...
, whose first (and only) appearance was
Wonder Comics #1 (May, 1939).
The character is of some historical significance by virtue of the
lawsuitA lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have received damages from a defendant's actions, seeks a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
that resulted from his only appearance.
Wonder Man's secret identity is Fred Carson. During an excursion to
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
, an old monk bestows Carson with a ring that gave him the power to fight evil when the need arose.
Wonder Man was created by Eisner for Victor Fox, an accountant who previously worked at
DC ComicsDC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment...
and wanted to get into the comic book business.
Wonder Man is a
fictionalA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
superheroA superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
, created by
Will EisnerWilliam Erwin Eisner was an acclaimed Jewish-American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of...
, whose first (and only) appearance was
Wonder Comics #1 (May, 1939).
The character is of some historical significance by virtue of the
lawsuitA lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have received damages from a defendant's actions, seeks a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
that resulted from his only appearance.
Fictional character history
Wonder Man's secret identity is Fred Carson. During an excursion to
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
, an old monk bestows Carson with a ring that gave him the power to fight evil when the need arose.
Publication history
Wonder Man was created by Eisner for Victor Fox, an accountant who previously worked at
DC ComicsDC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment...
and wanted to get into the comic book business. Following Fox's instructions to create a
SupermanSuperman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc...
-type character, and using the pen name Willis, Eisner wrote and drew the first issue of
Wonder Comics. Eisner protested the derivative nature of the character and story.
Lawsuit
DC Comics brought a
copyright infringementCopyright infringement is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.For electronic and audio-visual media,...
lawsuit against Fox, due to the character's similarities to Superman, as well as story and illustration elements that were similar to previous Superman adventures. The case was brought to court in
Detective Comics, Inc. v. Bruns Publications, Inc., 111
F.2dThe Federal Reporter is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing. The third and current Federal Reporter series publishes decisions of the United States courts of appeals and the United States Court of Federal Claims; prior series had varying scopes that...
432 (
2d Cir.The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
1940), in which Eisner refused to
perjurePerjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the matter lied about would affect the outcome of the case...
himself about the derivative nature of the character, and the subsequent decision forced Fox to drop the character after just one issue.
This was the first
copyrightCopyright is a form of intellectual property that gives the author of an original work exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain...
lawsuit in comic book history and set a precedent for DC Comics' vigorous protection of its characters (see also
National Comics Publications v. Fawcett PublicationsNational Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 , was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel...
).
The dispute is depicted in disguised fashion in Eisner's
semi-autobiographicalAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
graphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using the comics form. The term is employed in a broad manner, encompassing non-fiction works and thematically linked short stories as well as fictional stories across a number of genres.Graphic novels are typically...
,
The Dreamer.
External links