Holo-Man
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Holo-Man is a fictional, American superhero who starred in a 1978[1] single-issue comic book about holography, The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man, published by Peter Pan Records. Sold with an accompanying 45 rpm read-along record, the comic was one in the company's line of such bundled comic-and-record sets for young children.
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[edit] Publication history
The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man was advertised in late 1976 in Marvel Comics.[2] The advertisement copyright reads "1976 ... Worldwide/Wavelength Holographics Inc.", and a mail-order coupon gave the company and address Atomic Comics, P.O. Box 5210, Newark, N.J. 07105".
The advertisement offered the comic book; "The Holodisc", described as "a real laser-produced, 3-dimensional pendant" of 1 3/4-inch diameter; and the 45 rpm Holo-Man Action Record, all for $5, with, atypically for such mail-order offers, no additional shipping and handling charge.
Whether the comic of this ad was published in 1977 is uncertain. The Grand Comics Database and comics historian/columnist Scott Shaw reference a 1978 Peter Pan Records release, The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man #1, alternately numbered PR36. As the GCD explains, "Numbering continues from Wonder Woman: "The Secret of the Magic Tiara" [Book and Record Set] (Peter Pan, 1978 series); numbering continues in Adventures of Robin Hood, The [Book and Record Set] (Peter Pan, 1981 series)."
The 14-page comic's credits list it as "conceived and created by" Vincent A. Fusco and Donald M. Kasen and edited by Barry Van Name, and the feature story, "Birth Of A Hero", as written by those three plus Jason V. Fusco, Donald White, Joseph Giella and Audrey Hirschfeld, and illustrated by Giella. The cover art is credited to Giella and Bob Larkin.
The story ends on an unresolved cliffhanger. It is followed by an uncredited two-page text feature, with Giella illustrations, about holograms; a Giella pin-up page of a super-team, the Holosquad — Laserman, Laserwoman, Wavelength and Utopia — who are all otherwise unseen except for Laserman.
A second character who appears on the comics cover does not appear in the comic's interior.
[edit] Character biography
Holo-Man is Dr. James Robinson, a leading scientist whose work on a laser cannon has brought a visit from United States President Jimmy Carter. In a sabotage by two agents who refer to one another as "comrade", the cannon explodes. The president and his aide escape to safety with the unseen help of Laserman, who explains to Robinson — caught in the explosion when he leaped to shield the president — the accident has turned the scientist into "the world's first living hologram", with the power to blend into his surrounding through "holographic molecular alteration". Laserman also presents Robinson with a "holodisc" from a "future time dimension". Robinson must use the disc to recharge his "holo-energy" every 12 hours in order to keep his powers from fading.
Robinson learns the sabotage was assisted by his associate Dr. Hugo Petrovich, who was coerced by countrymen from his homeland of Surria, who held his family hostage. Petrovich dies in Robinson's arms, and Robinson, in a rainbow-hued uniform as Holoman, warns the president of the Surrian attack.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Mail-order advertisements for this title by a different company, Atomic Comics, appear in late 1976/early 1977, and an edition by that company may have been released in 1977.
- ^ These include Black Panther #2, cover-dated March 1977 and, as typical for comic books, on sale two to three months earlier.
