 |
| Mr. Hero | |
|---|---|
 Mr. Hero Ted Slampyak | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Tekno Comix |
| First appearance | Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero, The Newmatic Man #1 (March 1995) |
| Created by | Neil Gaiman |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Primus |
| Place of origin | Kalighoul |
Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man is a comic book published by Tekno Comix from March 1995 to June 1996. The original character concept was created by Neil Gaiman, but the books were written by James Vance and penciled mostly by Ted Slampyak.
Mr. Hero is a steam-powered automaton created by the villainous Henry Phage. Intended to be a force of evil, he proves noble instead.
Henry Phage created Mr. Hero as a sleeper agent to send to Earth until such a time as he wished to conquer Earth. He was discovered in the 1800s by a farmer, who later sold him to a magician. The magician trained Mr. Hero to box and used him as a prop in his act. Using Mr. Hero's second head (the "Ratiocinator"), Mr. Hero would give advice to the audience. Then, his less rational but more physically able head would be fitted to his body and he would engage in Queensbury Rules boxing with a member of the audience.
During the boxing, a member of the audience would be challenged to knock out Mr. Hero, while he would not attack. However, at one event he mysteriously lost control of his left hand, and inadvertently attacked an influential participant. This ended his career in shame, and he was crated and put into storage.
In the mid-1990s, he was discovered and reconstructed by Jennifer Hale, a struggling street magician.
Mr. Hero, the Newmatic Man was originally published by Tekno Comix under the header Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero, The Newmatic Man. It enjoyed an 18-issue run. Its first 17 issues were published under the logo "Tekno Comix" and were appropriately numbered 1–17. The 18th issue carried the logo "Big Entertainment". Also, the 18th issue was intended to start volume 2 of the title, and so was numbered "Volume 2, No. 1". The title was then placed on hiatus until Big Entertainment ceased its publication of comic books.
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and a screenwriter. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and the novels Good Omens, Stardust, Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London.
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Paul Jenkins is a British comic book writer, screenwriter, novelist, and narrative director. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, Jenkins had a big part shaping the characters of the company, helping via the Marvel Knights imprint to propel Marvel from Chapter 11 bankruptcy before choosing to focus on independent publications. He is also noted for his groundbreaking narrative work in the field of video games, and is recognized as one of the world's preeminent "cross-media" creators for his work across such multiple media as animation, video games, comic books, and film.
Tekno Comix was an American publishing company that produced comic books from 1995 to 1997.
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Element Girl is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Metamorpho #10, written by Bob Haney and drawn by Sal Trapani. Element Girl's death was featured in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series in issue #20, "Façade". A similar character named Element Woman appeared during the events of Flashpoint and later appearing in The New 52 as part of the Justice League. Both characters are similar in design to Metamorpho and have the same powers.
Ted Slampyak is an American comic strip cartoonist who drew Little Orphan Annie until its cancellation in 2010. He also draws the color webcomic Jazz Age Chronicles, a comic based in 1920s Boston. He is now the artist contributor to the Art of Manliness, a popular blog.
Primortals was a comic book series published by Tekno-Comix from 1995 to 1997. The characters and concept were created by actor Leonard Nimoy, who developed the idea for the series after visiting the SETI project. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was credited with providing additional concepts. The script of the debut issue of Primortals was credited to Kate Worley and Lawrence Watt-Evans with art by Scot Eaton and Mike Barreiro. Eaton and Barreiro illustrated the comic for most of its run, while the book was most often scripted by Christopher Mills and later James Chambers.
This is a list of works by Neil Gaiman.
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