Shaloman

Shaloman is a Jewish superhero with powers similar to Superman. Known as "The Man of Stone," "Defender of the Downtrodden," and the "Kosher Crusader,"^[1] Shaloman was created by Al Wiesner.

Publication history

Wiesner created Shaloman in 1985,^[1] because he felt that there were few Jewish heroes that were a positive role model. Wiesner also looked at the creation by Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster, both of whom were Jewish. Although Wiesner was an admirer of Siegel and Shuster's work of Superman, he commented that the ethnicity of the character was rarely brought up and that many fans assumed Superman was a WASP. The last Shaloman 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 can mean "peace" in Hebrew.

Powers

Shaloman is normally an inanimate rock, until someone cries out the words of help "Oy vey!" These words transform the rock into a muscular, curly-haired man known as Shaloman.

As Shaloman, he has superhuman strength, undefined degree of invulnerability and does not need to breathe. He can fly and is so fast he can create vortexes. He has super hearing (able to distinguish different sounds even if he is above the atmosphere of the Earth) and "sensor vision" (a mix of telescopic vision). He also has superhuman senses. He also once had telepathy, but it was only for one story.^[2] In Shaloman Vol.1, #3, a substance called "She-nite" can weaken him. .^[3]

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