E-Man is a comic-book character, a superhero created by writer

Nicola Cuti Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 – February 21, 2020), known as Nick Cuti, was an American artist and comic book writer-editor, science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of ''E-Man'' (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, a ...

and artist

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of ...

for the American company

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

in 1973. Although the character's original series was short-lived, the lightly humorous hero has become a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

occasionally revived by different independent comics publishers. The character was originally owned by Charlton but was eventually transferred to its creators.

Publication history

After editor

Dick Giordano Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics. Early ...

left the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, Connecticut-based

, in 1968, the publisher ended its superhero line. A later editor, George Wildman, persuaded the publisher to try superheroes again, prompting writer

and artist

to devise E-Man. Cuti said that his inspirations included the

Golden Age of Comics The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known chara ...

superhero

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole (artist), Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the fi ...

, such that he wanted to create a similarly fun and whimsical character. Cuti also admired

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

and his formula E=mc². He conceived a character who was caught in a factory explosion and became an energy being that could take any form of matter. When he shared this idea with artist

, Staton felt the origin was too similar to that of Charlton's

Captain Atom Captain Atom is a superhero appearing in American comic books, first in the 1960s by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. Captain Atom has existed in three basic incarnations. Publication history Captain Atom was crea ...

and the atomic-accident origins that had often been used by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

writer-editor Stan Lee. Inspired by the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Cuti created a new origin that made E-Man a packet of sentient energy created as a star went nova. Cuti asked Staton to design the costume, requiring only that the character not wear a cape and that the formula E=mc² be his chest emblem. Staton based E-Man's face on that of actor Roger Moore, making him appear heroic but somewhat generic. When Staton delivered his design to Cuti, Cuti colored it with yellows and oranges to differentiate it from the reds and blues so frequently in other superhero costumes. E-Man took a light whimsical tone to differentiate itself from super hero comics at Marvel and DC. Cuti enjoyed scripting wisecracking banter between E-Man and his girlfriend, Nova Kane, inspired by movies like ''

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main cha ...

'' and ''

Mr. and Mrs. North ''Mr. and Mrs. North'' are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple was featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television ...

''. However, he did not intend to spoof superhero comics, but present serious situations that the characters could make light of. Inspired by the work of

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

in ''MAD'' magazine, Staton inserted sight gags into each issue. Cuti promoted E-Man in advance of the first issue by sending letters to assorted fanzines, such as ''

Rocket's Blast ComiCollector ''Rocket's Blast Comicollector'' (''RBCC'') was a comics advertising fanzine published from 1964 to 1983. The result of a merger with a similar publication, ''RBCCs purpose was to bring fans together for the purpose of adding to their comic book co ...

'' and ''

The Comic Reader ''The Comic Reader'' (''TCR'') was a comics news- fanzine published from 1961 to 1984. Debuting in the pre- direct market era (before the proliferation of comics retailers), ''TCR'' was the first regularly published comics industry news fanzine, a ...

'', with a

photostat The Photostat machine, or Photostat, was an early projection photocopier created in the decade of the 1900s by the Commercial Camera Company, which became the Photostat Corporation. The "Photostat" name, which was originally a trademark of the c ...

illustration of the titular hero. The letter announced Charlton's re-entrance into the superhero genre and promised that one-third of each issue would feature a new superhero, an idea suggested by Wildman to try out new superhero properties.

Charlton Comics

E-Man first appeared in ''E-Man'' #1,

cover-dated The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unus ...

October 1973, on a bi-monthly publishing schedule. In the first issue, E-Man tangles with "the Brain from Sirius", a giant villainous pink brain in a clear Plexiglas dome who crash-lands on Earth and wants to detonate its "hate bomb". The series ran for 10 issues until cover date September 1975. Cuti suggested the title "E-Mail", for the series'

letter column A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns (or lettercols), letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), o ...

, a term not yet in common use. The last four issues, along with other Charlton titles, featured painted covers after Charlton began working with a

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

company that could do painted color separations cheaper than Charlton could do hand separations. Due to a nationwide paper shortage caused by a Canadian paper-mill strike, six months passed between issues #2 and #3. This gave Cuti and Staton time to push other material back and produce a story titled "The Energy Crisis", a social commentary on the 1973 oil crisis. This gap in publication also gave Staton the opportunity to refine the title's art style, making it darker and moodier. ''E-Man'' was Charlton's lowest-selling title on newsstands but was the company's best-selling subscription. When Wildman told Cuti that the title was to be cancelled after issue #10, he explained that the publisher had allowed it to continue publication to that point only out of loyalty to Cuti.

CPL Gang The CPL Gang was a group of comic book enthusiasts who published a number of fanzines in the mid-1970s, including ''Contemporary Pictorial Literature'' (''CPL'') and '' Charlton Bullseye''. Founded by Roger Stern and Bob Layton, the CPL Gang eventua ...

publisher

Bob Layton Bob Layton (born 1953) is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor. He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics titles such as '' Iron Man'' and ''Hercules'', and for co-founding Valiant Comics with Jim Shooter. Early life Bob Layt ...

agreed to publish E-Man stories in the fanzine '' Charlton Bullseye'', but only a single story saw print, "...And Why the Sea Is Boiling Hot" in issue #4 of that title. All issues of E-Man except for #8 featured a backup story: * "The Knight", by Cuti and artist

Tom Sutton Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming. Later, stationed at It ...

, appeared in the first issue, starring a superspy agent of C.H.E.S.S. * "The Dragon Killer", by writer Joe Gill and artist

Wayne Howard Wayne Wright Howard (March 29, 1949 – December 9, 2007) was an African-American comic book artist. He is best known for his 1970s work at Charlton Comics, where he became American comic books' first series creator known to be credited on cov ...

, appeared in issue #3, which featured Travis, a time-travelling youngster. * "Killjoy", written and illustrated by

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

, appeared in issues #2 and #4, expressing a similar tone and philosophy as another Ditko creation, Mr. A. The stories featured a silent but frenetic hero battling criminals who protested that Killjoy's constant interruption of their crimes was a violation of their rights. * In ''E-Man'' #5, "The City Swallower" featured a character based on Heidi Saha, the science-fiction and comic-book costume and cosplay legend. * "Liberty Belle", by artist Joe Gill and artist Steve Ditko, was featured in issue #5. The character was to be the company's " women's libber". Artists

Mike Vosburg Mike Vosburg (born July 23, 1947) is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work on the ''Tales from the Crypt'' TV series. Biography Mike Vosburg's comics career began in the 1960s, when as a 15-year-old teenager he started ''Mas ...

and

Dan Adkins Danny L. AdkinsDanny L. Adkins
at the

* "

Rog-2000 Rog-2000 (pronounced "Rahj-two-thousand", and sometimes spelled "ROG 2000") is a fictional robot that was the first professional creation of comic book artist-writer John Byrne. Rog-2000 serves as the mascot of Byrne Robotics. Publication histor ...

" was featured in issues #6, #7, #9 and #10, written by Cuti with artist John Byrne making his professional comics debut. Rog-2000 was the most popular of the back-up features and Byrne had several ideas to expand the character into its own title. Staton and Byrne formed a friendly rivalry during the feature's run, with each of them inserting sight gags to jab at the other. A supporting character, the grubby but right-hearted detective Michael Mauser, got his own backup series in Charlton's ''Vengeance Squad''. In 1977, six issues were reprinted under the Modern Comics label for sale as bagged sets in North American discount department stores.

First Comics

When Staton became art director at

First Comics First Comics was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991, known for titles like '' American Flagg!'', ''Grimjack'', ''Nexus'', ''Badger'', '' Dreadstar'', and '' Jon Sable''. Along with competitors like Pacific Comics ...

, the publisher acquired the rights to the character from Charlton and launched a series. Cuti was asked to write the title, but his obligations to DC Comics prevented him from accepting. The series was initially written by

Martin Pasko Martin Joseph "Marty" Pasko (born Jean-Claude Rochefort; August 4, 1954– May 10, 2020) was a Canadian comic book writer and television screenwriter. Pasko worked for many comics publishers, but is best known for his superhero stories for DC Com ...

, who had previously worked with Staton on ''Plastic Man'' and ''

Metal Men The Metal Men are a group of superheroes that appear in DC Comics. The characters first appeared in ''Showcase'' #37 (March–April 1962) and were created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Boo ...

''. After Pasko's run, Staton and

Paul Kupperberg Paul Kupperberg (born June 14, 1955) is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for D ...

wrote the series until Cuti took over as writer with issue #24. As a direct-market publisher not distributed to newsstands, the First series was not obligated to seek

Comics Code Authority The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA allowed the comic publishers to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. ...

approval and could address more mature topics than Code-approved comics. Where the Charlton series featured broad whimsical themes, the First Comics series engaged in more specific satire directed at targets including the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...

, Steven Spielberg, and

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a Scientology as a business, business, or a new religious movement. The most recent ...

. The first 10 issues each contained a one-page parody of the Hostess snack advertisements that ran in comics through the 1970s and 1980s. These parodies were written and drawn by different creators and featured characters from across the

independent comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which ...

industry. These parodies included: *

by John Byrne * Mike Mist by

Max Allan Collins Max Allan Collins (born March 3, 1948) is an American mystery writer, noted for his graphic novels. His work has been published in several formats and his '' Road to Perdition'' series was the basis for a film of the same name. He wrote the ''Di ...

and Terry Beatty * Pudge, Girl Blimp by

Lee Marrs Lee Marrs (born September 5, 1945) is an American cartoonist and animator, and one of the first female underground comix creators. She is best known for her comic book series ''The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp'', which lasted ...

* Teddy-Q by Bruce Patterson * Omaha the Cat Dancer by Reed Waller *

Fred Hembeck Fred Hembeck (born January 30, 1953) is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are ...

by Hembeck himself *

Cutey Bunny Cutey Bunny is a cartoon animal superheroine created by Joshua Quagmire for a humorous line of American underground comic books that first appeared through ''Army Surplus Komikz'', which ran sporadically for five issues from 1982 to 1985. She ...

by Joshua Quagmire *

Nexus NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border ...

Mike Baron Mike Baron (born July 1, 1949) is an American comic book writer. He is the creator of ''Badger'' and the co-creator of ''Nexus'' with Steve Rude. Biography Mike Baron entered the comics industry with an illustrated text piece in ''Weird Trips ...

and

Steve Rude Steve Rude (born December 31, 1956) is an Americans, American comics artist. He is best known as the co-creator of ''Nexus (comics), Nexus''. Early life Steve Rude was born on December 31, 1956, in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Sch ...

Buck Godot ''Buck Godot'' is the title character in a science fiction/comedy comic book series collected in two volumes (''Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire'' and ''Buck Godot: PSmIth'') and assorted comic books, including the eight-issue "Gallimaufry" series, all ...

Phil Foglio Philip Foglio (born May 1, 1956) is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art. Early life and career Foglio was born on May 1, 1956, in Mount Vernon, New York, and moved with his family to ...

* Issue #10 did not feature comics characters but parodied the First Comics office; it was written and drawn by Bruce Patterson. ''E-Man'' ended with issue #25. It was followed by the seven issue mini-series ''The Original E-Man and Michael Mauser'', reprinting the Charlton series and Mauser's backup stories in ''Vengeance Squad''. Issue #7 of the miniseries featured a previously unpublished story introducing E-Man's sister Vamfire. During the mid-1980s run, Staton acquired

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory ...

to the character from First, although First Comics retained ownership of their publications. As Staton described:

Later publications

In 1989, Comico published an ''E-Man'' one-shot (Sept. 1989) by Cuti and Staton followed by a three-issue miniseries (Jan.-March 1990). After Comico's demise, Alpha Productions issued two one-shot publications, ''E-Man'' (Sept. 1993) and ''E-Man Returns'' (1994). E-Man appeared in the two-page story "Come and Grow Old With Me", by Cuti and Staton, published in the magazine '' Comic Book Artist'' #12 (March 2001). In 2006, Cuti and Station produced three one-shots released by Digital Webbing Press ''E-Man: Recharged'' (Oct. 2006); ''E-Man: Dolly'' (Sept. 2007); and ''E-Man: Curse of the Idol'', per its cover-logo trademark, a.k.a. ''E-Man: The Idol'', as copyrighted, per its postal indicia (Nov. 2008) abetted by co-writer Randy Buccini on the third. The indicia for each listed E-Man as

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

ed by "Joe Staton/First Comics". A previously unpublished ''E-Man'' story (done originally for Alpha Productions) by Cuti & Staton saw print in ''Charlton Spotlight'' #6 (2008) along with an unpublished Mike Mauser story. In 2011, E-Man appeared in ''War of the Independents'', a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

mini-series by Dave Ryan featuring more than 200 independent and

creator-owned In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

characters. In 2014, Charlton Neo announced that Cuti and Staton were collaborating on a new three-part E-Man story to be published in an upcoming issue of ''Charlton Action'', a tribute comic fanzine celebrating Charlton's legacy. Staton stated that he was approaching the project as the final E-Man story. The story was finally published in three issues of a rebooted ''Charlton Arrow'' in 2017 and 2018.

Fictional character biography

E-Man is a sentient packet of energy thrown off by a nova. Traveling the galaxy it learned about life, how to duplicate the appearance of life, and about good and evil. Reaching Earth, it met

exotic dancer A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. M ...

/grad student Katrinka Colchnzski (who attended Xanadu University), also known as Nova Kane, and formed itself into a superhero dubbed E-Man, with a civilian identity dubbed "Alec Tronn" (

electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no ...

). His emblem was the famous mass-energy equivalence formula "E=mc²", and his powers included firing energy blasts from his hands and transforming his body into anything he could envision (e.g., turning his feet into jet engines so he could fly). E-Man's origin was expanded by

retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...

in Charlton issue #10 and in the

series. Nova was later caught in a nuclear explosion, gained the same powers as E-Man, and became his partner; later still, she lost her powers (in a parody of

's Phoenix) and then regained them. During their early adventures they acquired a pet

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the w ...

named Teddy Q, whose intelligence grew to the point where he had a job waiting tables in a café.

References

External links

E-Man
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on June 17, 2016.

at An International Catalogue of Superheroes

{{Steve Ditko Charlton Comics superheroes Charlton Comics titles First Comics titles Comico Comics titles 1973 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1973