Holo-Man
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
who starred in a 1978 single-issue comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
about holography
Holography
Holography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that when an imaging system is placed in the reconstructed beam, an image of the object will be seen even when the object is no longer present...
, The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man, published by Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records is a record label specializing in children's music. It was created in the late 1940s. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s....
. 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.
Publication history
The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man was advertised in late 1976 in Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. 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
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, N.J.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
07105". The advertisement offered the comic book; "The Holodisc", described as "a real laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
-produced, 3-dimensional
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...
pendant
Pendant
A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...
" 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
Scott Shaw
Scott Shaw is an American actor, author, journalist, film director, film producer, musician, professor and martial artist.-Early life:...
reference a 1978 Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records is a record label specializing in children's music. It was created in the late 1940s. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s....
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
Joe Giella
Joe Giella is an American comic book artist best known as a DC Comics inker during the late 1950s and 1960s period historians and fans call the Silver Age of comic books.-Early life and career:...
and Audrey Hirschfeld, and illustrated by Giella. The cover art is credited to Giella and Bob Larkin
Bob Larkin
Bob Larkin is an American artist primarily known for his painted covers for Marvel Comics' magazine-format titles, published under the imprints of Curtis Magazines and Marvel Magazines in the 1970s and early 1980s....
.
The plot ends on an unresolved cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
. 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 cover and on the Holosquad page does not appear in the comic's story itself.
Synopsis
Holo-Man is Dr. James Robinson, a leading scientist whose work on thermonuclear fusion has brought a visit from United States President Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. Just before the first experiment is initiated, Robinson explains to the President that a special apparatus has been erected that would allow them to safely witness the fusion process: by simultaneous activation of two smaller lasers, which are not part of the demonstration, a three-dimensional image of the reaction will be projected onto two mirror plates, displaying the process while not endangering the spectators.
However, the night before, two foreign agents have infiltrated the institute in which the demonstration is conducted and wired the power systems to overload, in the hopes the resulting explosion will kill the President. As Robinson activates the reaction, the laser overloads and explodes; Robinson is destroyed by the blast, shielding the President, but his body's molecular structure is holographically recorded on one of the plates. In addition, a rift is torn through time and space, into a strange dimension where Robinson encounters a strange being called Laserman. Laserman explains to Robinson that the accident has turned the scientist into "the world's first living hologram", with the power to create and control holograms, including his now-converted body. He also presents Robinson with a "holodisc" from a "future time dimension" to recharge his "holo-energy" every 12 hours in order to maintain his powers.
Robinson reawakens in the devastated laboratory, where he finds his associate, Dr. Hugo Petrovich, dying. Before expiring, Petrovich reveals his assistance in the sabotage because he was coerced by countrymen from his homeland of Surria, who hold his family hostage. He also reveals the reason for this assassination attempt on the President: Surria intends to invade the United States by first launching a fake attack with holographic missiles, upon which a real missile strike will follow immediately to exploit the confusion caused by the holograms; the President's death was intended to add to the resulting chaos.
By using his new-found powers to warp his body to Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(in a process relating to lightspeed), Robinson/Holo-Man appears before the President and uses his powers to convince him of the seriousness of the situation. Right after delivering his warning, Holo-Man prepares to use the holodisc to recharge, but then a swarm of holographic missiles darkens the sky over Washington: the Surrian invasion has already commenced.