E-Man Part One--The Origin of E-Man

by Jack Seabrook

Note two things not seen anywhere
in the story:  the Brain's tentacles
and Nova's skintight purple outfit!

Back in the 1980s, when I sold off my comic book collection, I saved two series:  Will Eisner's The Spirit and E-Man.  I have long wanted to look at E-Man in more detail.

The first issue hit the newsstands in the summer of 1973, and I can remember standing at the magazine rack in a grocery store in Corsicana, Texas, when I spotted the words "First Edition!!" and "Collector's Item!" on the cover.

The E-Man story, which is untitled, is in two parts, spanning sixteen pages.  Part one, "The Beginning," follows a sentient burst of energy from its genesis millions of years ago through its encounter with a star-ship from Alpha Centauri.  The ship is guided by a giant brain in a glass dome.  The energy burst changes itself into a duplicate of one of the Brain's robots, and the extra weight causes the ship to change course and crash land on Earth.

The energy burst travels along high-tension wires and ends up in a light bulb on the makeup mirror of Nova Kane.  This page, with drawings of Nova in her dancer's outfit, both attracted and frightened me, and I have never forgotten it.  Nova explains that she's working her way through college as an exotic dancer.

I have never really gotten over this page.

In part two, "The Brain and the Bomb," the energy burst, having taken the form of a handsome young man, christens himself E-Man.  He and Nova are menaced by her landlord, who has suddenly gone crazy.  E-Man deduces that the man had been near the site where the star-ship crashed; E-Man travels there instantly by telephone line, while Nova takes her jeep.

The residents of the small town in upstate New York react violently.  E-Man shows off his new orange and yellow costume, and he and Nova track down the star-ship and the Brain.  E-Man destroys the Brain, saving New York from a bomb that would have turned everyone into a violent maniac.

E-Man #1 was the first time I saw Joe Staton's artwork, and I always liked it after that, especially when he started drawing superheroes for DC.  This story is filled with fun little touches, including a couple of off-the-cuff references to Tolkien.

Sauron to testify--against Baggins?!?

Baggins indicted?!?

The issue is rounded out by an eight-page story called "The Knight--Operation: Rotten Apple!"  This is a throwaway story illustrated by Tom Sutton.  Both stories were written by Nicola Cuti, who would write almost all of the best E-Man stories.

I had a similar reaction to this
filler story.

E-Man #1 is a Charlton comic, so its distribution was never very good.  It is packed with wonderful ads, some of which are reproduced below.

For more information on E-Man, I recommend this cool website:  http://alectronn.homestead.com/Eman.html

Had I only known
hair loss=power
and prestige!

I think these have another
name today...

How I wish I
had one of these!