Horace Throstle (Earth-One)

Paper-Man
Mainstream Universe‎, 1950s-1986‎
Gallery
Real Name	Horace Throstle
Main Alias	Paper-Man
Status
Alignment	Bad
Identity	Public Identity
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Clerk, criminal
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Brown
Origin
Universe	Earth-One · Earth-Forty
Creators	Robert Kanigher · Ross Andru
First Appearance	Wonder Woman #165 (October, 1966)
Appearance of Death	Wonder Woman #165 (October, 1966)

The Paper-Man was an enemy of Wonder Woman.

History

Horace Throstle was a meek janitor at a chemical company. Lanky and clumsy, he was a constant target for bullying coworkers. The visiting Diana Prince was the only one who was ever nice to him, which caused him to become infatuated with her. Before she had even left the factory, he clumsily fell into a vat of chemicals. He became paper-thin and, still bullied, escaped.

He decided to turn to crime to get Diana gifts. He stole a precious perfume from a Helen of Troy movie set and escaped from Wonder Woman. Diana would not accept a stolen gift, which sent him into a rage. After stealing precious fur coats, he escaped Wonder Woman and her robot plane by blowing up a nearby dam. Again, Diana refused him. But as she used the same phrase Wonder Woman had used on him earlier, his infatuation turned into a hatred for the Amazon and his rival, Steve Trevor.

He attempted to steal a crown next, but Wonder Woman anticipated it and came prepaired. She blew the Paper-Man, who had folded himself as a kite, out of the building. Unfortunately, he landed in the newspaper company next door and was cut up by the printing press. Though the media touted his death, Wonder Woman feared he might have survived.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Unique Physiology: The Paper-Man is paper-thin. He retains a roughly humanoid shape, but can disguise himself as other paper surfaces that are both smaller and bigger than he is himself, like posters and type machine paper.
  • Flight: After folding himself like a paper airplane or a kite, the Paper-Man can glide on air currents.

Notes

• This version of the Paper-Man, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–1986 crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the 2022-2023 crossover event Dark Crisis. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
• Horace Throstle's only appearance was during the "Golden Age Wonder Woman" that ran from Wonder Woman #159-165 (with a final story in issue #168). Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium (2005) places these stories on Earth-Forty (with the Earth-Two Wonder Woman having similar adventures), while The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia (2010) places them on Earth-One. This means that there was a Horace Throstle on all three Earths who each had nearly identical histories.

Related

• 2 Appearances of Horace Throstle (Earth-One)
• 1 Images featuring Horace Throstle (Earth-One)
• Quotations by or about Horace Throstle (Earth-One)
• Character Gallery: Horace Throstle (Earth-One)

Footnotes

Wonder Woman Villain(s) This character has been primarily an enemy of Wonder Woman and the Amazons in any of her various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Wonder Woman Villains category."