Shaloman
Continued from Page 27
“I noticed all the comic books that were out, or at
Wiesner created an origin story for Shaloman:
least most of them, had Jewish authors, but nothing
A trio of men in Israel named Justice, Equity and
in the story itself was Jewish in its entirety,”
Wisdom (or JEW) sheared the top off of a moun-
Wiesner recalled. So he took matters into his own
tain with lightning and turned it into the Hebrew
hands. Cape optional.

letter shin, the first letter of shalom.

First, he created a set of stories featuring the Y-
“Something the ‘regular’ world wanted and the
AL WIESNER
Guys after reading Stan Lee’s (or Stan Lieber’s) X-Men.

Jewish world wanted was peace,” he said.

“X-Men was very popular, and I thought, ‘How can
Though he was inspired by Superman’s story and
I make it Jewish?’” said Wiesner, who belongs to Ohev
powers, “I wasn’t going to make [Shaloman] a man of steel,”
Shalom of Bucks County. “After X comes Y, and the Y is for the
Wiesner said, “but I thought I could make him a man of stone
YMHA where young Jewish boys grew up. So I came up with Y-
because stone is permanent and stone is here to stay.”
Guys, as opposed to X-Men, and they were boys that had different
After looking at the letter shin, Wiesner noticed the top of the
mutant powers and they lived at the Y.”
letter looked almost like a man flexing his muscles, which
He even met Lee at one point and gave him a copy of Y-Guys.

informed Shaloman’s transformation from stone to man.

By 1983, after serving in the Air Force and spending 45 years
And when there’s trouble afoot, one just yells “oy vey!” and
as a women’s hairdresser in Oxford Circle, Wiesner was still think-
Shaloman transforms from stone and comes to save the day.

ing about the lack of Jewish superheroes.

Of course, Shaloman isn’t without his weaknesses. After all,
“I had said to my wife, ‘I really would like to get back to my
“stories are boring when nothing in the world can stop them or hurt
artwork.’” The time seemed right given Israel’s place in the world.

them and there’s no vulnerability to the superhero,” Wiesner said.

“With Israel becoming a country and a powerful country for its
So when the three wise men took the lightning and created the
size, I felt that now people could envision a Jewish superhero that
shin out of the mountaintop, the pieces that “flew every which
has strength as well as intelligence.”
way” became shinite, similar to Superman’s kryptonite. When
After a few exchanges with a DIY comics place in Norristown,
Shaloman gets too close, they drain his strength.

Wiesner started on the first of 42 issues that would feature his
Wiesner took cues from the radio shows he listened to growing
Jewish superhero: the Man of Stone, or Shaloman. He formed his
up and used them to create adventure stories for the Shaloman, as
own comic book publishing company, Mark 1 Comics, named for
well as using Jewish narratives he’d learned.

his son, and Shaloman debuted in 1988.

There are many Shaloman stories modeled after holidays. One
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