‘Wonder Man’ #2 is mostly flash with some substance

As far as a Hollywood Hills murder story goes, it’s doing exactly what one would expect.

April 29, 2026

Wonder Man #2 starts like something out of the silver screen, with a further expansion into Simon’s ex-prison-mate-turned-professional-problem Randolph’s background. In a callback to every classic adventure story, Randolph found himself accidentally awakening old magic in the form of Fortuna, the goddess of both good and bad fortune. If it sounds a bit schlocky, well, it may very well be. Simon himself says what follows is only the public story, likely embellished or with purposeful omissions to the whole tale.

And speaking of embellished truths, the groundwork is being laid for Eric Williams aka the Grim Reaper otherwise known as Simon’s malcontent older brother to be the culprit of the crimes Randolph stands accused of by Patsy Walker aka Hellcat and the LAPD.

Marvel

There’s some truly fun moments in this issue, with the image of the Grim Reaper in full costume attending therapy. While the idea of Eric attending therapy isn’t completely unimaginable, it is pretty absurd to see him in his full villain gear attending if he isn’t being made to go by any sort of governmental authority. However, I did let out a genuine belly laugh at Eric questioning if medication would make him ‘weird’ and the therapist’s face in the next full panel, clearly showing that that wouldn’t make a man who goes by the Grim Reaper, weird.

Randolph and Simon meet up with Eric in the most glory-obsessed place a person could in Los Angeles, the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That, alongside Simon filming a self-tape with Killerwatt, who was first introduced in Duggan’s West Coast Avengers, shows the way that both Williams brothers are tied to their alter egos, both for better and oftentimes worse.

In an interlude to the east coast, the Spot’s on the phone with whoever has been hired to kill Randolph, Simon, and the would-be assassin. Gerry Duggan and Stefano Raffaele, whose on pencils for present-day pages, waste no time reminding the audience the Spot is a very serious contender for real, dangerous supervillain.

So many of Wonder Man’s stories focus on the consequences of his own actions and/or in-actions, and how those waffle out into the larger framework of his relationships with fellow heroes. With this second complete issue, I can’t say that I’m entirely convinced this will be a Simon story to remember. The supporting characters, sans his brother, are all characters created for Duggan’s WCA or Patsy Walker, a woman we are meant to believe he’s really never met, ignoring that the two share a very good common friend: Hank McCoy, aka Beast.

Here’s to hoping Simon’s once again put misplaced faith in his brother who will inevitably disappoint him, the Williams brothers’ angst always a good well to draw from.

The end of the issue sets up Wonder Man’s race to save Randolph from the Spot, who has already killed once and with his ability to appear in an instant, is well on his way to killing again.

As far as a Hollywood Hills murder story goes, it’s doing exactly what one would expect. Setting up a few red herrings, the detective in the form of Patsy Walker and Simon in the role of unlucky man at the center of it all. There’s enough intrigue in Simon’s dynamic with his brother, but more time to show why one would want Simon and Patsy to work out would be nice, instead of the paint-by-numbers genre the pair currently feel like.