Wonder Man #1

History

The series was written by Gerard Jones with pencils by Jeff Johnson and inks by veteran inker Terry Austin, under the editorial oversight of Fabian Nicieza, with Tom DeFalco serving as Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time. The book grew out of Simon Williams's long tenure as a West Coast Avengers cast member, and the creative team designed the series around the character's then-current civilian identity as a Hollywood action star, a hook Jones used to give the book its comic-tinged, Los Angeles-set flavor. The issue shipped with an unusual physical extra — a three-fold centerfold poster of Wonder Man illustrated by Johnson and Austin — a common promotional tool of the early 1990s boom era. Early issues of the series were later reprinted in 1992 through a JC Penney store distribution deal, an unconventional retail channel Marvel used for a handful of titles during that period.

Trivia · 9 facts

• First issue of Wonder Man's first-ever ongoing solo series (Vol. 2), cover-dated September 1991 with an on-sale date of July 9, 1991.
• Written by Gerard Jones; penciled by Jeff Johnson; inked by Terry Austin; colored by Joe Rosas; lettered by Pat Brosseau; edited by Fabian Nicieza.
• Story title: 'Making It Big' — Simon Williams's agent engineers a staged publicity brawl against Goliath (Erik Josten) on the streets of Los Angeles, kicking off the series' Hollywood-stunt-and-celebrity premise.
• First appearances of supporting characters Ginger Beach and Neal Saroyan, who became recurring cast members throughout the run.
• The issue was packaged with a three-fold centerfold poster illustrated by Jeff Johnson and Terry Austin, expanding the standard page count to 42 pages.
• Published in both a Direct Edition and a Newsstand Edition; early issues of the series were later reprinted in 1992 through JC Penney retail stores.
• The series ran for 29 issues (September 1991 – February 1994) plus two annuals, making it the longest-running solo Wonder Man comic in Marvel history.
• Terry Austin received a 1992 Eisner Award nomination in the Best Inker category for his work on this series (alongside Infinity Gauntlet); the award that year went to Adam Kubert.
• Issue #1 was reprinted in the Italian anthology Marvel Comics Presenta: Zona M (Play Press, 1993) and later included in the 2024 Marvel collection Wonder Man: The Saga of Simon Williams.

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