ShareThisBy ANDREW A. SMITH
Thursday, October 12, 2006
E-Man is back _ again!
For the uninitiated, E-Man burst on the comics scene in 1973 at Charlton Comics, the creation of writer Nick Cuti and artist Joe Staton. And when Charlton went out of business, E-Man moved to First Comics. When First went belly up, E-Man popped up at the late Comico. The pattern repeated with the now-defunct Alpha Productions. And E-Man's last appearance was in "Comic Book Artist" No. 12 from TwoMorrows Publishing, a company which, as a change for E-Man, is still in business.
Nevertheless, E-Man has moved again, with a one-shot coming from Digital Webbing Press this month. Written and drawn by Cuti and Staton, it's like 1973 all over again.
Of course, now you're wondering just what an E-Man is. I'll let one of his creators describe him:
"E-Man is an energy creature from outer space who comes to Earth by accident and is taken in by a stripper/college student (Nova Kane) who teaches him the ways of the human world," Staton said.
"E-Man becomes a superhero because he doesn't have anything better to do and is inspired by a stack of comic books he runs across. E-Man and Nova hang out with a dancing koala bear named Teddy Q, and sometimes E-Man works for a seedy private eye named Michael Mauser. This makes E-Man the only superhero I know of who is the sidekick in his own book."
Hmm. That's good, but not quite all that E-Man is. Let's try again:
"I would describe him as an energy being from the stars who can transform himself into any form of matter or energy," Cuti said. "He can also direct energy in the form of energy bolts. He can't fly, but he is able to transform himself or parts of himself into devices which can fly, such as rockets or aircraft. The storyline is laced with humor without going over into slapstick comedy."
That's pretty good, too. And who am I to argue with Staton and Cuti? Although, I'd still say that E-Man is even more than all of that.
For one thing, E-Man for me always put the "funny" in funnybooks. Cuti says he was inspired by Jack Cole's "Plastic Man," which is evident in all the stretchy sight gags and puns that pop up in the books, as E-Man _ who can look like anything he wants to _ stretches and shape-shifts and Silly Putties all over the place.
I also thought "E-Man" was a smarter book than most, with more accurate science than many comics. For example, E-Man's chest symbol is Einstein's famous equation, which happens to be the foundation of E-Man's powers. How many comic books teach you that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared?
And finally, E-Man was also pretty clever satire most of the time. Like Flaming Carrot, E-Man chooses superheroing as a vocation because of comic books _ which we were always warned would rot our brains. His girlfriend's name, as mentioned, is Nova Kane (referencing both the nova that gave birth to E-Man, and a pun besides), and E-Man's secret ID is the punny "Alec Tronn."
Their seedy private-eye pal is Michael "Don't call me Mickey" Mauser, who talks to his pistol (a mauser, 'natch), who's a dead ringer for Ratzo Rizzo in "Midnight Cowboy," and whose purple-tinged, first-person narration makes Dashiell Hammett look restrained. And I'm not sure I could begin to explain the dancing koala bear, Teddy Quantum.
"I've always tried to write ('E-Man') so that the basic storyline was serious in tone and the humor came off of how E-Man and Nova reacted to the situations," Cuti said, "otherwise he would come off as silly. The secret is just the right balance of humor or comedy and tragedy. I always point to 'My Cousin Vinny' as a perfect example of this concept."
How can you (beginital)not (end ital) have fun with a book like that? Heck, the creators themselves have a blast with it.
"(It's) a lot of fun," Cuti said. "One of the advantages to writing for such an offbeat character is that you can take him almost anywhere. I have to be careful not to get too burlesque or else I lose the balance of reality vs. fantasy. ... But with E-Man I know the characters so well I just come up with the plots and let them write their own dialog. And I don't even have to pay (the company) for doing it!"
For at least this one-shot, "E-Man: Recharged" (32 ppg., $3.99). And if it sells, we could see more of Alec and Nova at Digital Webbing. And after that, who knows?
"I'd like to talk about the 'E-Man: The Movie' project," Cuti said, "only I can't, because there isn't one. Hopefully, with Digital Webbing's one-shot, along with the possibility of a series, we have a chance to get a movie project off the ground. Mr. Spielberg, are you listening?"
(Contact Andrew Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us/forums.)
