Wonder Boy (comics)

Wonder Boy
Quality Comics' Wonder Boy
Publication information
Publisher	Quality Comics now DC Comics
First appearance	I: National Comics #1 (1940) II: Team Titans #19
Created by	I: Jerry Maxwell II: Jeff Jensen, Phil Jiminez
In-story information
Alter ego	Bobby Barnes
Team affiliations	II: Team Titans
Abilities	Superhuman strength & stamina

Wonder Boy is the name of two fictional characters who have appeared as superheroes in comics published by Quality Comics and DC Comics. The original was an alien who appeared in National Comics. The second was a time-traveler from an alternate future who appeared in Team Titans.

Wonder Boy was a fictional Quality Comics character and superhero who first appeared in National Comics #1 (July 1940), in the story "The Boy From the Meteor". The character was created by writer Toni Blum and artist John Celardo.

With "the strength of a hundred full grown men", the nameless Wonder Boy fell to Earth from the planet Viro, destroyed when it "collided" with a star. Finding himself in Chicago, Illinois, he joined forces with Sgt. Crane of the Army Air Corps and began using his superhuman abilities to fight the Nazis, Axis spies and big-city crime. Cheering him on from the sidelines was sweetheart Sally Benson, an earth girl.

Wonder Boy last appeared under the Quality Comics banner in National Comics #26 (Nov. 1942), in an untitled story beginning "...The long bloody hands of America's enemies..." The character reappeared two years later in Elliot Publishing Co's Bomber Comics (along with several other characters that originally appeared in National Comics). The circumstances behind the move are unclear. In 1955, he was one of the characters to be used by Ajax-Farrell Comics in Terrific Comics #16 and Wonder Boy #17 and 18. The character has not reappeared outside reprints since. Another refugee from the Golden Age of Comic Books to turn up in Wonder Boy #17 was Phantom Lady.