Wonder Man Annual #2 contained 3 separate stories:

HITMAKER

writer: Gerard Jones

penciler: Gordon Purcell

STORY: Hitmaker, a new Hollywood superhero, is hired to discredit Wonder Man.

RECURRING CAST: Beast Megan McCambridge

ANALYSIS: All 1993 Marvel Annuals were introducing a new character, and Hitmaker is a product of that marketing strategy. However, unlike some of the other characters created that year, Hitmaker has never returned.

The continuity for this story is a bit fuzzy. It takes place after Wonder Man #25, but since the annual was released before the conclusion of the Hidden Depths arc, a couple of things about that story are conveniently forgotten (i.e. Wonder Man's new costume, his new powers, the "death" of the Grim Reaper, etc.) One nice thing is that the Beast is still around, providing much appreciated comic relief. He gets some really great lines this issue.

This story picks up on a few loose plot threads that have been dangling for a while. Finally, someone is making Simon face consequences for his actions and crimes he committed during his whole madness/fluctuating powers thing. Of course, instead of the police, it ends up being the movie studios of all people! They are trying to repair the damage that has been done to their reputation by one of their movie stars running around causing chaos and destruction. Where is Neal during all this?? Isn't this the type of public relations issue that an agent should be involved in?

We also see the return of the two members of Rampage's Recession Raiders who fled the battle at the end of issue #6. They became involved with some hidden power who is upgrading L.A.'s gangs, and who was responsible for the creation of Hitmaker's battle suit.

Who this mysterious new power is has never been revealed, however, since Lotus' "death" in #25 was revealed to be a hoax, it is entirely possible that she is behind this, since she has had plenty of prior involvement with L.A. gangs and with Clarke technology.

As for Hitmaker himself, he is an interesting character. He is multiethnic (his father is black and his mother is Mexican) and he is a quadriplegic. In some ways, his origin sounds similar to Splice's. He tried to get a career as an actor, but got rejected and eventually got a high tech suit and was hired to be a hit man. I have to wonder if this Annual was originally supposed to be about Splice, but got reworked to become Hitmaker due to the "new-character" drive. Of course, that is just a theory.

In any case, Hitmaker didn't take the hit-man job, and instead decided to become a Hollywood hero. By the end of the story, Simon and Hitmaker have formed an uneasy alliance, and Hitmaker helped to redeem Simon's public image.

The end of this story left the future of Hitmaker up in the air, leaving us with another minor character floating around in Marvel Limbo. I think that was the primary flaw in Marvel's "new-charcater-annuals" event; it left us with a whole bunch of extra second-stringer characters who no one really cares about or wants to see again. Hitmaker could have had some potential, but since he was never seen again, who knows what would have become of him.

SPLICE IN

writer: Dan Slott

penciler: Stephen B. Jones

STORY: Splice eliminates a group of people who tried to keep money from him.

ANALYSIS: A nice highlight for Splice, showing once again how good he is at his job. Aside from Splice running around killing people, there isn't much story to comment on, but we did see an interesting quirk of Splice. He had his assassinations filmed into a kind-of movie. At last Splice is starring in his own films. Nice to see Splice again, and this story was creepy and effective showcase for his talents.

RETURN OF THE LIVING COLOSSUS

writer: Barry Dutter

penciler: Stephen B. Jones

STORY: A bitter special-effects man sends a replica of It, the living colossus, on a rampage. ANALYSIS: This story was basically a light comedy piece, with Simon suffering one indignity after another. Also, he had to find a nondestructive way to beat the robot, since It is worth more than him! Not a great story, but not bad either. Like I said, just a light, humorous story that is basically filler material.

Overall, this annual wasn't bad, but between the main story being about a new character, and one of the back-ups being about It, I think Simon and his supporting cast kind of lost the spotlight of what is supposed to be their annual.

I have mixed feelings on this Annual. The first story that featured the origin and debut of Hitmaker sucked. I'm sorry, but Hitmaker seemed like a goofy, politically correct, multiethnic cookie cutter character who's origin was almost the same as Splice. This just seemed like they didn't put too much effort into making Hitmaker a believable and likable character. Even his costume was silly and awkward looking. I think the only other character more pathetic than him to come out in the 1993 Annuals that year was the Battling Bantam. Nothing like a boxer dressed like a big yellow and red rooster to throw the fear of God into an armed and dangerous criminal. Most of the new characters in the 1993 Annuals that year pretty much sucked, and Hitmaker was one of many forgettable characters. I think the only characters who survived to become anything were BloodWraith, Annex and Legacy. BloodWraith is still around causing trouble. Annex had his own limited series, but disappeared afterward. And Legacy went on to take his father's place as Captain Marvel and has his own ongoing series. The highlight of the story was the Beast and Wonder Man teaming up again but Hitmaker and all the mistakes that Dermie points out in his review ruined this story for me.

The second story featuring Splice was a cool short story and it really showed how damn cool Splice is and how stupid someone would be to cross him. I thought the filming of the hits was pretty cool and it shows how much Splice still wants to be on film and in charge. God, I wish Splice would make a return to comics already! The third story with It, The Living Colossus was funny. After all of the darkness and drama of that years past issues, it was nice to see a more comedy oriented story. I especially liked how Wonder Man kept getting smashed into different sets on the studio lot and ruining all of these movies.

All in all it was a good annual, but the main story could have been so much better with a better character than Hitmaker.

There are a few other of those new characters who stuck around. Darkling (from the New Warriors annual) appeared in at least 4 issues of the NW main book, and the next year's annual. X-cutioner has popped up in a few issues of Gambit. Wildstreak (from the FF annual) appeared in an issue or two of Thunderstrike. Irish Wolfhound (Guardians of the Galaxy annual) temporarily joined the Guardians (issues 51-53) And of course, Legacy and Bloodwraith have become fairly regular parts of the MU.

However, most of those new characters did end up forgotten (i.e., Hitmaker, Raptor, Lazarus, etc.)

Thank you for another great review, Dermie. This annual and issue 26 I don't have with me but I do remember not liking the art or the stories that much. I think the obligatory introduction of new character rendered some pretty forgettable characters and lame stories in many annuals that year.

I can say that overall if we forgive Gerard Jones for his errors in continuity this series has been a pretty good and an entertaining read. I wanted to check out what Gerard Jones has done after Wonder Man(besides Green Lantern) and found out this neat online comic published by Darkhorse, here is the link: http://www.hauntedman.com/index.html