Shaloman is a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

with powers similar to

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

. Known as "The Man of Stone," "Defender of the Downtrodden," and the "Kosher Crusader,""Comic-Con International Special Guests," Comic-Con Magazine (Winter 2010). Shaloman was created by Al Wiesner.

Publication history

Shaloman was created by Wiesner in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

because he believed there were few Jewish heroes serving as positive role models. Wiesner drew inspiration from the creation of Superman by

Jerry Siegel Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./ Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of ...

and Joseph Shuster, both of whom were Jewish. Although Wiesner was an admirer of Siegel and Shuster's work on

, he commented that the ethnicity of the character was rarely brought up and that many fans assumed Superman was a

WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

. The last ''Shaloman'' comic was printed in 2012.

Fictional history

Three wise men used magic to give a rock (shaped like a Shin after being struck by lightning) the power to become Shaloman and stop the evils of the world. They named him "Shaloman," because

shalom ''Shalom'' ( ''šālōm'') is a Hebrew word meaning ''peace'' and can be used idiomatically to mean ''hello'' and ''goodbye''. As it does in English, it can refer to either peace between two entities (especially between a person and God or b ...

can mean "peace" in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Powers

Shaloman is normally an inanimate rock, until someone cries out the words of help "

Oy vey ''Oy vey'' () is a Yiddish phrase expressing dismay or exasperation. Also spelled ''oy vay'', ''oy veh'', or ''oi vey'', and often abbreviated to ''oy'', the expression may be translated as "oh, woe!" or "woe is me!" Its Hebrew equivalent is ''o ...

!" These words transform the rock into a muscular, curly-haired man. In human form, Shaloman has

superhuman strength Superhuman strength is a superpower commonly invoked in fiction and other literary works, such as mythology. A fictionalized representation of the phenomenon of hysterical strength, it is the power to exert force and lift weights beyond what is ...

, an unspecified degree of invulnerability and does not need to breathe. He can fly and is so fast he can create

vortices In fluid dynamics, a vortex (: vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

. He has super hearing (he is able to distinguish different sounds even if he is above the atmosphere of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

) and "sensor vision" (a kind of telescopic vision). In one story he has

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

. In ''Shaloman'' Vol.1, #3, a substance called "She-nite" can weaken him.''Shaloman'' #3 (Mark 1 Comics, 1989).

Notes

References

Shaloman entry, International Catalogue of Super-Heroes
*Stevens, Diana (Fall 2000). "The Legend of Shaloman", ''The United Synagogue Review'', pages 32–33

External links

Shaloman at JewishStore.com
Comics characters introduced in 1988 Jewish superheroes Male characters in comics 1988 comics debuts 2012 comics endings Comics characters with superhuman strength Comics about anthropomorphic objects Fictional objects Telepath characters in comics {{Comics-char-stub