Release: April 2026 | Writer: Gerry Duggan | Artist: Mark Buckingham & Aure Jimenez | Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg | Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Hot off the heels of the Disney+ show, Wonder Man is back with a BRAND NEW #1? But things don't seem to be going as he or Randolph expected. Crimes, conspiracies and failed actors galore are ahead for us in WONDER MAN #1!
*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!*
FAILED MOVIE STAR
A long time ago, in his luxury car, Wonder Man enjoyed success. Talking to his agent and jumping into action, Wonder Man is a successful hero and actor. Fast forward to now, and his time in the limelight has seemingly darkened. He can barely even get in touch with his studio at this point.
As he speaks with an assistant at Timely Studios, they tell him that they have a job with him that they hope he can solve pretty quickly. Wonder Man says he's down for the job as long as its not him having to deal with Randolph again.
It is.
After launching his phone a mile away and catching it, he accepts the job.
Randolph Chancellor, voice of Ziggy Pig & Silly Seal and most importantly, long-time friend of Wonder Man, lunges into Wonder Man's arms for a hug before telling him that he's in some serious stuff right now and he could use a person like Wonder Man right now.
Flashback to Wonder Man arriving at a prison in his past. Behind him is Randolph who is talking his ear off. These two become very close in prison, with Randolph being the person who got Wonder Man into being an entertainer, but his life had another direction when Baron Zemo and The Enchantress showed up at his doorstep.
Back in the present, Wonder Man tells Randolph that he can help with him the issue. But first wants to know where his car was that Randolph stole. Randolph insists that he didn't "steal" it, he simply just borrowed it from Wonder Man before SOMEONE ELSE stole it from him. So he has no clue where it is. Back on the task as hand Wonder Man tries to get information out of Randolph seeing what situation needs to be investigated that they asked him about.
Randolph explains that since he's in the new Darkhawk live action movie, the studio wants to keep this investigation short and out of the public's eye. Before Randolph can get any further in this explanation, he's interrupted by a familiar face in the history of Wonder Man, Hellcat. She was sent by the LA district attorney's office to investigate why thirteen million dollars went missing. Upon hearing this Randolph flees in his golf cart saying he truly didn't do this but he may know who is framing him.
Wonder Man and Hellcat reminisce about old times. Like the time Wonder Man almost killed her in Defenders #47 during a battle. Before leaving Wonder Man to stew in his thoughts, Hellcat says adios to Wonder Man and gets on her way!
TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Times definitely aren't the same for Wonder Man. From being the star at conventions and the main focus to being a forgotten face at current comic signings. Even someone like Killerwatt that has recently joined the Avengers gets more of a spotlight than Wonder Man. During one of these signings, a hitman tries to kill Randolph while he's with Wonder Man, Killerwatt and their agent at a taco booth. When the laser gun strikes Wonder Man instead and doesn't do any damage, the man realizes this is the ACTUAL Wonder Man and not some cosplayer.
So as any smart person would do, he tries to get the hell out of dodge. Even running into a car with an entire family inside of it. Luckily Wonder Man is there to zig zag through traffic, save this man and the family from the explosion he caused.
The police take away the hitman but before he's put away he's able to take one more jab at Wonder Man basically calling him irrelevant and that he has been for a long time now.
This causes a media mess.
News of famous actor Randolph Chancellor's attempted assassination has hit the news rooms. Everyone swarms him and his agent denies any rumors of missing money or other ridiculous rumors.
In this time Wonder Man finds some time for himself grilling outside of his house. Hellcat shows up again to catch up with him about everything that's going on. Hellcat squeezes by Wonder Man without him wanting her to, causing her to see THE GRIM REAPER on Wonder Man's couch?!
While being a villain, The Grim Reaper at the end of the day is Wonder Man's brother and he’s here to simply have some hot dogs with his family member, as can be seen by his casual appearance. Of course, Hellcat doesn't know this, but Wonder Man is able to cover for him in a pinch.
This isn't what Hellcat is here for, she's here to tell Wonder Man that his missing car has been found. The bad news is that it's been fished out of the sea with the body of Randolph's manager inside of it.
UNIQUE ART DIRECTION
What a fun book to look at! From the art styles to the bright colors, this book really POPS!
Mark Buckingham flex some creative muscles in this issue. Himself and the Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg really gel well together, making for a colorful smash of action and drama. Especially with the changing art style to differentiate a flashback from what's going on currently. Was a really fun touch.
Another kudos goes to Gerry Duggan on the creative team for the effort put into this. There are some great callbacks throughout this book with the labeled books associated with the scene being shown. The callbacks to him meeting Hellcat and his villainous origin story is great to see a team actually research and put some time into doing research for the character being written. Shows the reader that they care about the character in question.
CONCLUSION
A breath of fresh air for sure! From including characters we don't see a lot of like Hell Cat getting some time on the page for a book is nice to see. This captures a fun Wonder Man feel while mixing in a detective story that has you wanting to read more. As stated in the art section this was a book that is a shout out to the 80's era of Marvel. There's really no other book like this on the shelf currently. If there is then I'd love to see it. And that's what comics are all about, being different and popping off the page.
In my personal opinion, Wonder Man has set itself up for success with Issue #1!