E-Man is a comic-book character, a superhero created by writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton for the American company Charlton Comics in 1973.

[1] Although the character's original series was short-lived, the lightly humorous hero has become a cult classic occasionally revived by different independent comics publishers.

After editor Dick Giordano left the Derby, Connecticut-based Charlton Comics, in 1968,[2] the publisher ended its superhero line.

[3] A later editor, George Wildman, persuaded the publisher to try superheroes again, prompting writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton to devise E-Man.

[3][4][5] Cuti said that his inspirations included the Golden Age of Comics superhero Plastic Man, such that he wanted to create a similarly fun and whimsical character.

[6] Cuti asked Staton to design the costume, requiring only that the character not wear a cape and that the formula E=mc2 be his chest emblem.

[8] Cuti enjoyed scripting wisecracking banter between E-Man and his girlfriend, Nova Kane, inspired by movies like The Thin Man and Mr. and Mrs. North.

[6] Cuti promoted E-Man in advance of the first issue by sending letters to assorted fanzines, such as Rocket's Blast ComiCollector[9] and The Comic Reader,[10] with a photostat illustration of the titular hero.

This gap in publication also gave Staton the opportunity to refine the title's art style, making it darker and moodier.

[34] In 1977, six issues were reprinted under the Modern Comics label for sale as bagged sets in North American discount department stores.

[57][58] E-Man appeared in the two-page story "Come and Grow Old With Me", by Cuti and Staton, published in the magazine Comic Book Artist #12 (March 2001).

His emblem was the famous mass-energy equivalence formula "E=mc2", and his powers included firing energy blasts from his hands and transforming his body into anything he could envision (e.g., turning his feet into jet engines so he could fly).

During their early adventures they acquired a pet koala named Teddy Q, whose intelligence grew to the point where he had a job waiting tables in a café.