That would be old original Z-Man, who is now (according to today’s Zippy the Pinhead strip) your flight-empowered guide into the pop-cultural past:
(#1) The first of (at least) three incarnations of Z-Man since he entered the Zippyverse in 2005
As a Z-person, I am especially attentive to words with Z in them (like whizz), especially names (like Buzz and Graz), especially names beginning with Z (like Zelda, Zorn, and Zorro). So Zippy and his superhero Z-Man characters catch my eye and get my attention, independently of the absurdist attractions of the strip (and, in the case of #1, without regard for my appreciation of the Marx Brothers, Ida Lupino, and Daffy Duck).
The first appearance. On 2/1/05:
(#2) Z-Man’s first mission was merely to appear comprehensible to only a few cognoscenti, but over the years he has refined his tasks
The 2008 adventures. In 2008, the green-garbed superhero with the polka-dotted cape was featured in a series of strips in which he explored his abilities. From 5/14/08:
(#3) Poof! You’re a performance artist!
Red Z-Man and black Z-Man. So much for green Z-Man. The previous Z-Man postings on this blog showed other incarnations of the character.
— from 8/8/12 in “The caped psychopath gets flown to Ashtabula”:
(#4) A superhero garbed in red, with a Z emblem on his chest and a yellow cape with red polka dots
— from 8/8/17 in “Who was that masked Pinhead?”:
(#5) [This] Zippy takes us to the land of softserve and rootbeer floats, where Z-Man’s tags abound… Black-caped Zorro marks his territory with a whiplashed Z; black-caped Z-Man marks it with a spray-painted black Z.
… [This] Z-Man is something of a cross beween Batman and Zorro. Black cape and mask, like both of them. Like Zorro, no emblem (Batman displays a batlogo, different ones for different incarnations of Batman.) Unlike both of them, black-caped Z-Man has a Pinhead polka-dot shirt and nothing on his head but his Pinhead signature topknot. (Batman has a black or gray shirt; Zorro has a black shirt. Batman has a bat-eared hood on his head, Zorro has a black hat.)
Are there more Z-Men in the wings? There are more colors to explore. This being Pride Month, I can hope for a Z-Man to appear in pastel pink, in neon pink, in lavender, in purple, in rainbow stripes, and so on. Absurd and queer, that’s the ticket. Griffy, get out your pens, it’s time to ink and color.
