Creator John Geering never acknowledged that the cartoon is a parody of the DC comic book Shazam! and if he read the comics and if Shazam! inspired the character. In the comics, a young boy called Billy Batson magically transforms into the adult superhero Shazam when he is given his magic powers by a wizard. In the cartoon, Eric Wimp (a boy) magically transforms into Bananaman (an adult superhero) when he eats a banana.
Bananaman famously lives at 29 Acacia Road, in The Goodies season 4 episode Camelot (1973), the address of Camelot is 33 Acacia Road making the joke that a castle is on an otherwise normal suburban street. This was continuing a recent British trend of naming streets 'Acacia' as a synonym for suburbia beginning with the 1945 film '29 Acacia Avenue' and continuing with works such as the 1960's sitcom 'Here's Harry' set on Acacia Avenue and the 1982 Iron Maiden song '22 Acacia Avenue'.
The cartoon premiered 2 weeks before the premiere of an American cartoon entitled He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) which was about the cowardly Prince Adam whom uses his magic sword which transforms into the mighty warrior He-Man.