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Wonder Man (2007) #1-5
Wonder Man: My Fair Super Hero
Meet Lady Killer - the dangerous assassin who comes head-to-head with the Avenger called Wonder Man! But Wonder Man doesn't want to just stop her - he's made a bet with a movie producer to rehabilitate her into a hero! Is this too much for even the mighty Simon Williams? Fortunately, he's got Ms. Marvel and X-Men's Beast in his corner. Collects Wonder Man #1-5.
120 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2007
3 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Peter David
3,578 books1,368 followersaka David Peters
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 28, 2016
I asked someone for an atypical superhero book, and they recommended this. Hits the mark and worth a quick read, although it doesn't really knock you out.
September 25, 2022
The denouement felt a little rushed (early cancellation to the series perhaps?) and the art was that mid-2000s Marvel weird.
September 9, 2022
This was fine, I guess.
A lesser effort from Peter David. Wonder Man is compelled to pull a "My Fair Lady" on a female assassin, and it ends tragically.
The framing device is Simon reminiscing about the event in the far future as he walks an Earth ravaged by centuries of war and climate change in existential quandary because he's immortal and having a sad about it. It's pretty trite. And the dialogue in the "present" is lousy with movie references. I get that Simon is an actor, but this seems to be a tick of Peter David's. I noticed it in the early issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man too. I mean, it's not that bad, but it's noticable.
And, I should mention: oh my God has the primary artist on the series even seen a human woman's face before? I mean, everyone is stylized a bit, and that's fine, but Carol Danvers's eyes wander around her head like a lava lamp. It's not great.
I don't know. I've read a lot worse comics. This just felt unnecessary.
A lesser effort from Peter David. Wonder Man is compelled to pull a "My Fair Lady" on a female assassin, and it ends tragically.
The framing device is Simon reminiscing about the event in the far future as he walks an Earth ravaged by centuries of war and climate change in existential quandary because he's immortal and having a sad about it. It's pretty trite. And the dialogue in the "present" is lousy with movie references. I get that Simon is an actor, but this seems to be a tick of Peter David's. I noticed it in the early issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man too. I mean, it's not that bad, but it's noticable.
And, I should mention: oh my God has the primary artist on the series even seen a human woman's face before? I mean, everyone is stylized a bit, and that's fine, but Carol Danvers's eyes wander around her head like a lava lamp. It's not great.
I don't know. I've read a lot worse comics. This just felt unnecessary.
March 26, 2013
Wonder Man is one of those second-tier heroes; he wwas a member of the West Coast Avengers and a pretty good character, but not one you're ever likely to find on a t-shirt or movie poster. As one can tell from the title, this is a PYGMALION tale, featuring Simon (with help from Beast and Ms. Marvel) attempting to turn an evil assassin known as Lady Killer into a heroine to be known as Ladyfair. It's a very wel-done story, very nicely written, but I didn't care at all for much of the art. Hank is drawn as some kind of weird puppet Smurf, Carol as an aging shrike, and for some reason many of the characters are drawn as having huge elephant feet (or perhaps wearing huge clown shoes), with tiny little tooth-pick ankles sticking out of them. I wasn't sure if some of the scenes were supposed to be funny or not, because they were written in a serious manner, but drawn in a very odd cartoonish fashion. A nice book, but it doesn't near its potential.
May 15, 2014
Peter David really has a knack for taking D-List characters and making them shine. He does a fantastic job with this story that turns out to be touching and engaging. I picked this up due to his name in the credits, and I was well rewarded. Unfortunately the art does not match the quality of the writing. The only reason I am not giving this 3 stars is due to how much the story really grabbed me. From the dialogue (which PAD is a master) to the narrative to the characters themselves, this is a wonderful story well worth the time to read. Once you get past the terrible art, the story shines and rewards your patience.
January 31, 2017
Decent enough concept and moment-to-moment writing hamstrung by nonsensical "twists", a framing device that goes nowhere, art that looks like it was ripped from a Prozzak music video, and a central relationship that not only lacks chemistry, but feels actively creepy throughout.
September 3, 2011
A light, fun story. Currie's art is great, and it's a surprisingly effective ending, though there's an odd framing sequence about Wonder Man being the last person alive that serves no purpose.
July 23, 2016
I like the general concept behind this comic, but I have never liked Wonder Man and this comic left me very cold. The art certainly didn't help.
May 5, 2022
I find myself in a weird position with this one. the concept was one of those that could work really well or spiral out of control really easily, and I wasn't sure before reading it which way it would go, which is fine. But on the other hand, now that I HAVE read it, I'm STILL not sure which way it went. And that is an uncomfortable feeling.
My Fair Super Hero is, as the name suggests, a take-off of Pygmalion (and to be fair, it's not a story I particularly like in the original either). In this version, a future Wonder Man is reminiscing about a woman he met in the present time -- a trained assassin named Ladykiller who he tries to rehabilitate.
That sounds fine, right? Interesting? But then you remember she's a trained assassin. So how do you get her to stick around and be rehabilitated? Why,. with essentially a shock collar. Like a disobedient dog. Wow! So they kidnapped this woman and collared her to try to "help her."
Now, I give this book a lot of props for actually having the characters comment on how they're doing a kind of awful thing that isn't really justified because she's an assassin, and they do eventually take it off. But still, it's a weird, weird idea and it spends a lot more time centering Simon's feelings about the bad thing they're doing than the bad thing itself. In the end, it's ... ok? But it's hard to feel like Ladykiller is a character in her own right, rather than a mcguffin for Wonder Man to act upon so the story can happen. It's a little hard to describe, but it made the ending fall flat for me.
Then there's the art. I know it's subjective and all that, but most of this book had an art style that just did not work for me. People faces felt way too high on their heads, proportions were exaggerated, and it all felt like a style that would have worked for something more goofy or slapsticky -- but this wasn't it.
My Fair Super Hero is, as the name suggests, a take-off of Pygmalion (and to be fair, it's not a story I particularly like in the original either). In this version, a future Wonder Man is reminiscing about a woman he met in the present time -- a trained assassin named Ladykiller who he tries to rehabilitate.
That sounds fine, right? Interesting? But then you remember she's a trained assassin. So how do you get her to stick around and be rehabilitated? Why,. with essentially a shock collar. Like a disobedient dog. Wow! So they kidnapped this woman and collared her to try to "help her."
Now, I give this book a lot of props for actually having the characters comment on how they're doing a kind of awful thing that isn't really justified because she's an assassin, and they do eventually take it off. But still, it's a weird, weird idea and it spends a lot more time centering Simon's feelings about the bad thing they're doing than the bad thing itself. In the end, it's ... ok? But it's hard to feel like Ladykiller is a character in her own right, rather than a mcguffin for Wonder Man to act upon so the story can happen. It's a little hard to describe, but it made the ending fall flat for me.
Then there's the art. I know it's subjective and all that, but most of this book had an art style that just did not work for me. People faces felt way too high on their heads, proportions were exaggerated, and it all felt like a style that would have worked for something more goofy or slapsticky -- but this wasn't it.
June 4, 2017
Why Peter David? With such a stellar career and library why did this happen? This book is terribly conceived, poorly crafted, and utterly indefensible. I'm not sure why it happened. Great characters act unlike themselves and sound worse. The plot is so pedestrian its amazing. The art is comic strip worthy, not comic book worthy. Rough, all the way around.
January 12, 2020
wonder man will forever be the bane of my existence. annoying, unexciting, and ineffectual. carol is thrown into his stories to be a love-interest, while simultaneously she uses and leaves him with no thought on it otherwise. this story was no different from simon himself - boring, and unimportant.
November 29, 2022
Simon x PAD! <3
September 1, 2025
A superhero version of My Fair Lady/Pygmallion. It's told as a retrospective by Wonder Man wandering through the wasteland of a dead earth as he recounts trying to rehabilitate the femme fatale assassin, Lady Killer.
TBH, I've never understood the fixation on Shaw's story as a romance trope when he explicitly wrote in his text that the Dolittle/Higgins relationship was entirely platonic, bordering on a divine love akin to the charity described by Chesterton. But shippers gotta ship.
TBH, I've never understood the fixation on Shaw's story as a romance trope when he explicitly wrote in his text that the Dolittle/Higgins relationship was entirely platonic, bordering on a divine love akin to the charity described by Chesterton. But shippers gotta ship.
January 1, 2011
I especially liked Andrew Currie's art work. What's he up to why didn't he draw the 5th and final issue/chapter? His work didn't grab me via the covers, but the inside swooped me in from a storytelling POV and he has this polished, slick caricature Mad Magazine style. The story was fine as PAD always can deliver a decent script, but the story is really more about Ladykiller and less about Wonder Man, whom I wanted to learn more about as he's this Avenger with several different costumes/interpretations: from the red glasses and jacket, to the W-chest emblem, to a blue-flesh energy thingy. (On the current Avengers cartoon he's a blue energy bad guy.)
May 17, 2016
This is the most amazing superhero story I've ever read. I'm not terribly thrilled with the artwork, but the story... Wow! Tour de force. And of course, the fact that the story is about one of my absolute favorite characters doesn't hurt at all.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews