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- Marvel's Iron Man debutted in Tales of Suspense No. 39 in February 1963. Gold Key released Magnus Robot Fighter No. 1 the same month. Showcase No. 43 in March 1963 featured an adaption of the James Bond Dr. No film. May 1963 brought Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos No. 1, set in World War II. DC's The Doom Patrol premiered in My Greatest Adventures No. 80 in May. With
Avengers #1 Avengers #1, Marvel's 1st team of it's previously solo superheroes
No. 86 in March 1964, the title changed to Doom Patrol. Dr. Strange first appeared in Marvel's Strange Tales No. 110 in July 1963. With all these solo heroes running around, Marvel decided it was time for a team and released Avengers No. 1 in September 1963. The original Avengers lineup was Ant-Man, The Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk. No. 3 featured the return of the Sub-Mariner in January 1964." - Marvel published it's first annual, Strange Tales Annual No. 1 in September 1962. It reprinted material from various Marvel science-fiction titles. The Human Torch got his own title with Strange Tales No. 101 in October 1962.
The same month, after breaking with Dell, Western Publishing began publishing as Gold Key, starting with Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom No. 1 at twelve cents. Dells titles were fifteen cents. """ - In Adventure Comics No. 299 in August 1962, Superboy made his final solo appearance and Gold Kryptonite, an ore that that could forever rob the power of Kryptonians, made it's first appearance. The following month, the Legion of Super-Heroes finally received their own comic, though still with Superboy, with Adventure Comics No. 300."
- Stan Lee had approached publisher Martin Goodman about publishing a Spider-hero. Goodman thought the public would dislike such a creepy premise.
Amazing Fantasy #15 Amazing Fantasy #15, the lame duck title that contained Spider-Man's 1st appearance
With Amazing Adult Fantasy to be cancelled and therefore the issue's contents being a low priority, Lee published this Spider-man in No. 15 (August 1962,) dropping the ""adult"" and making the title simply Amazing Fantasy No. 15. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, geeky high school wimp Peter Parker gained the proportional strength of a spider, the ability to stick to surfaces, and his ""spider-sense. This was a unique hero, he was more worried about his personal problems than saving the world, and, in the early issues, was believed by the public to be a criminal! He only turned to fighting crime after the death of his guardian Uncle by a criminal, a criminal Peter had had the chance
Amazing Spider-Man #1 March 1963 marked the release of Amazing Spider-Man #1, the first of many Spider-Man titles
to stop earlier but hadn't, figuring it wasn't his problem. So he learned that, ""with great power, comes great responsibility. No. 15 was the last issue of the title and in March 1963 Spider-man received his own title, The Amazing Spider-man No. 1. In January 1962 in
Tales to Astonish #27 Tales to Astonish #27, Henry Pym's 1st appearance, but not Ant-Man's
Tales to Astonish No. 27, scientist Henry Pym shrank to the size of an ant. Seeing promise, Lee brought the character back in Tales to Astonish No. 35 in September and called him Ant-Man." - In 1962 Marvel and DC raised their cover prices from ten cents to twelve cents. Dell went to a whopping fifteen cents! Despite these increases, industry sales continued to grow. Next up for Showcase was the Metal Men. The Metal Men, a team of robots, appeared in Showcase Nos. 37-40 from April to
Incredible Hulk #1 Incredible Hulk #1, Marvel's 2nd Silver Age hero, though it lasted only 6 issues
October 1962 and then received their own title with Metal Men No. 1 in April 1963.
Marvel rolled out it's second new Silver Age hero with Incredible Hulk No. 1, with the gentle Dr. Bruce Banner being transformed into the raging green Hulk. Under Marvel's distribution deal with DC Comics, they were limited to eight
Journey Into Mystery #83 Because of publication limitations, Thor 1st appeared in Journey Into Mystery #83
titles a month, so the next hero began in a existing title. Thor first appeared in Journey Into Mystery No. 83 in August 1962. """ - After learning of the incredible success of DC's Justice League of America, Marvel publisher Martin Goodman told Stan Lee and Jack Kirby he wanted a new Marvel superhero team. The result was the now legendary Fantastic Four No. 1 in November 1961. So began ""The Marvel Age of Comics.
The strange, natural, dialogue, the unique personalities, and the new dynamic art style made the Fantastic Four an instant hit with fans. After their spaceship passed through a cosmic storm, the four people on board found
Showcase #37 Showcase #37, the 1st appearance of the Metal Men
themselves with strange new powers. They became Mr. Fantastic, a new The Human Torch, Invisible Girl, and The Thing. They were also unique in that they had no secret identities. """ - Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, returned in The Flash No. 123 and the readers leaned of another world, Earth II, where the Golden Age heroes lived. Following the established path, The Atom was updated in Showcase No. 34-36 from September 1961 to February 1962 and received his own book in The Atom No. 1 in June 1962."
- Aquaman was up next for a revival, with Showcase Nos. 30-33 ending in August 1961, leading to his own title Aquaman No. 1 in January 1962. Hawkman followed in Showcase Nos. 34-6 and again in Nos. 42-44, ending in November 1962, then received his own title with Hawkman No. 1 in April 1964. He became a member of the Justice League of America in JLA No. 31 in November 1964."
- Charlton tried getting back into the superhero market with their first Silver Age hero, Steve Ditko's Captain Atom, in Space Adventures No. 60 in March 1960.
Schwartz, riding his wave of successful revivals, next tried the Golden Age Justice Society of America, replacing them with the Silver Age Justice League of America. The JLA first appeared in
Justice League of America #1 Justice League of America #1
The Brave in the Bold No. 28 in March 1960, with the cover available online. The JLA's original members were Superman, , Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Barry Allen Flash, and Hal Jordan Green Lantern. After appearing in The Brave and the Bold Nos. 29 and 30 in May and July, they received their own title with Justice League of America No. 1 in October 1960. The Elongated Man first appeared in Flash No. 112 in May 1960. """ - Showcase rolled on, this time spinning off Rip Hunter Time Master after his debut in No. 20 and subsequent appearances in Nos. 21, 25, and 26. Rip Hunter Time Master No. 1 hit the stands in March 1961. In a unusual move, DC produced
Green Lantern #1 (Silver Age) Green Lantern #1 (Silver Age)
five issues of Pat Boone, starring the music star, starting in October 1959 but didn't submit them to the Comics Code Authority, meaning it didn't feature the Comics Code logo on the cover. Julius Schwartz, having successfully revived The Flash, repeated the formula with The Green Lantern in Showcase No. 22 in October 1959. Written by Gardner Fox, who had also written The Flash's early Showcase adventures, with art by Bob Kane, the new GL, Hal Jordan, continued to appear in Nos. 23 and 24 before getting his own title with Green Lantern No. 1 in July 1960. The Flash No. 110 introduced Barry West's nephew Wally West, destined one day become The Flash himself, as Kid Flash in January 1960.
""" - Back at DC, The Green Arrow was revamped by Jack Kirby in the backup of January 1959's Adventure Comics No. 256. Aquaman made his first Silver Age appearance in Adventure Comics No. 260. Wonder Woman was revamped with No. 105, modernizing her and giving her a new origin. The Brave and the Bold started running tryouts with No. 23 like Showcase had been doing. The Suicide Squad first appeared in The Brave and the Bold No. 25 in September 1959. Already having tried Batwoman years ago, DC introduced Superman's cousin Supergirl in Action Comics No. 252, the creation of Mort Weisinger and Otto Binder who had created Captain Marvel's sister nearly two decades ago. A similar character had been tried out in Superman No. 123 nearly a year earlier."
- In the meantime, Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown premiered in Showcase No. 6 and starred in Nos. 7, 11, and 12 before receiving their own in April 1958 in Challengers of the Unknown No. 1. With her popularity on the then popular TV show, Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane received her own title in the appropriately named Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane No. 1 in April 1958 after tryouts in Showcase Nos. 9 and 10. April 1958 brought Adventure Comics
Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #1 Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #1
No. 247 featuring the appearance of one of the most enduring teen superteams of them all, the Legion of Super-Heroes. They didn't appear again until No. 267 in December 1959 but then guest starred in a number of other titles. July 1958 and Action Comics No. 242 brought the first appearance of one of Superman's most famous enemies, the interstellar villian Brianiac who travelled the universe gathering entire cities from innocent worlds for his private collection. The Space Ranger appeared in Showcase No. 15 in August and then again in No. 16 before taking over Tales of the Unexpected with No. 40. The legendary Bizarro appeared in Superboy No. 68 in November. Showcase No. 17 in December 1958 featured the first appearnce of Adam Strange. Following appearances in Nos. 18 and 19 he took over Mystery In Space with No. 53 (August 1959.)""" - Since the Comics Code had been created Timely(Marvel) had been having a hard time. In Summer 1957 these problems, combined with dropping sales and distribution problems, caused Editor Stan Lee to have to cancel 55 titles in a three month period. Gone was Atlas, and, along with it, it's distribution, leaving Lee with Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, a handful of other titles, no distribution and no company logo. Publisher Martin Goodman worked out a deal with American News to distribute, however American suddenly also went under. A publisher with no way to get it's products to market doesn't survive for along, and Goodman was forced to salvage what he could, negotiating a deal with rival DC Comics to distribute Timely comics through DC's newsstand system. Under this restrictive system the now nameless Timely stumbled along, filling the next two years of it's releases with leftover material from the 55 cancelled titles and generally producing little of note. Others weren't so lucky. Lev Gleason, Ace Magazines, Superior Comics and Quality among others, with Quality having been able to sell off it's existing titles to DC COmics before ceasing publication. The publication of the final issue of Plastic Man, No. 64 in November 1956, saw the end of the last non-DC Golden Age superhero."
- In October 1956, Showcase No. 4 rolled off the presses and so offically began the Silver Age. It featured the ""Whirlwind Adventures of the
Flash #105 Flash #105, the first Silver Age issue
Fastest Man Alive -- the Flash!"" Julius Schwartz, who had worked on the Golden Age Flash, thought about bringing him back, but instead opted to create a new character with the same powers, same name, and little else in common. ...and so Barry Allen was born. Robert Kanigher was assigned to write it, with Carmine Infantino drawing it and Joe Kubert inking. The Flash was the first Silver Age superhero and he was an incredible success. Barry Allen went on to also appear in Nos. 8, 13 and 14 but now with Gardner Fox and John Broome doing the story and Joe Giella the inks as Kanigher and Kubert had moved on. Depsite his success, it was not until February 1959 that DC gave him his own title with The Flash No. 105, picking up the numbering of the Golden Age series. """ - Harvey closed the year with the release of three titles. Baby Huey, The Baby Giant No. 1 in September and Little Lotta No. 1 and Spooky, The Tuff Little Ghost No. 1 in November. However, by then Showcase No. 4 had hit the stands, offically starting The Silver Age."
- Following the Senate report comic publishers decided to band together and self-regulate, forming The Comic Magazine Association of America Inc. on October 26, 1954. They developed a code that members would adhere to and a print a logo on the cover assuring the public that the book in question met with the Comic's approval. A copy of theStandards of the Comics Code Authority they developed is available online. Wertham didn't consider self-regulation enough. Fans considered it too much, causing the death of many of their favorite titles.
The Code created massive restrictions. Horror and crime comics became nearly extinct. Westerns had to have fewer gunfights. Romance comics couldn't have much romance. Even funny animal comic violence was limited. In addition to genres going under, a number of publishers went out of business as well. Among them were Fiction House, Eastern Color, United Feature, Star Publications, Toby Press, and Sterling Comics. Many artists were also forced to leave for ecomonic reasons, among them Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett, John Buscema, and Gene Colan. """ - Spring 1954 was the start of one of the darkest periods in comic history. Dr. Frederick Wertham's book, The Seduction of the innocent was released. His book was very critical of and damaging to the comic the comic industry. Dr. Wertham was the psychiatric consulant to the Chief Censor of the United States Treasury Department, a lecturer at Yale Law School, a consultant to the Juvenile Aid Bureau and had been the senior psychiatrist for the New York Department of Hospitals.
For years he had believed comics to be a major cause for the delinquency of the nation's youth and a vocal critic. Seemingly never having said enough on the subject, he did a series of public lectures and print interviews, ending with the publication of his anti-comic book. It was a work filling with half-truths and statistic manipulation that nearly became the tombstone for the industry. """ - By 1953 superheroes were being outsold by nearly every other genre. DC now only published Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman titles. The last Fawcett Captain Marvel comic was The Marvel Family No. 89 in January 1954. DC's lawsuit against Fawcett had finally ended the year before, but by that tim it no longer mattered, Captain Marvel's popularity was gone. Later, in the 1970's DC would purchase the rights to Captain Marvel and company. """
- With the ""police action"" in Korea, war comics once again soared in popularity. EC began Frontline Combat No. 1 in Summer 1952. Marvel added Battle No. 1 in March 1951. Star Spangled Comics became Star Spangled War Stories with No. 131 in August 1952 and DC also added Our Army at War No. 1 the same month. In October
Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad #1 Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad #1, later to become Mad Magazine
1952 EC added Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad No. 1, which would later become the famous Mad Magazine." - Seeing EC Comics' success, other publishers decided to give it a try. DC published Strange Adventures No. 1 in August 1950. Harvey tried Witches Tales No. 1 in June 1951 and Chamber of Chills No. 1 in June. DC premiered Mystery in Space No. 1 in Spring 1951. Marvel, under it's Atlas group, published Strange Tales No. 1 in June 1951. American Comics Group added Forbidden Worlds No. 1 in July.
In other genres, DC Comics added The Adventures of Bob Hope No.1 in Winter 1950, and The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis No. 1 in July 1952. """ - In April 1950 William Gaines and EC Comics, no longer Educational Comics but now Entertaining Comics, began
Crypt of Terror #17 Crypt of Terror #17
Weird Fantasy #13 First issue of EC's Weird Fantasy title, #13
their New Trend line with Vault of Horror No. 12 and Crypt of Terror No. 17 followed by Haunt of Fear No. 15 the following month. These stories, even by today's standards, were incredibly shocking and violent with gruesome panels and disgusting storylines. Evil regularly won over the forces of good. Children loved them but they only served further strengthen and increase the anti-comic movement. Complaints from parents and teachers poured in, however EC Comics didn't change at all. In May 1953 they added two science-fiction titles, Weird Fantasy and Weird Science. Interestingly, a number of these featured adaptions of Ray Bradbury tales, done without his permission. Only when caught did they pay the appropriate fees." - Since the Comics Code had been created Timely(Marvel) had been having a hard time. In Summer 1957 these problems, combined with dropping sales and distribution problems, caused Editor Stan Lee to have to cancel 55 titles in a three month period. Gone was Atlas, and, along with it, it's distribution, leaving Lee with Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, a handful of other titles, no distribution and no company logo. Publisher Martin Goodman worked out a deal with American News to distribute, however American suddenly also went under. A publisher with no way to get it's products to market doesn't survive for along, and Goodman was forced to salvage what he could, negotiating a deal with rival DC Comics to distribute Timely comics through DC's newsstand system. Under this restrictive system the now nameless Timely stumbled along, filling the next two years of it's releases with leftover material from the 55 cancelled titles and generally producing little of note. Others weren't so lucky. Lev Gleason, Ace Magazines, Superior Comics and Quality among others, with Quality having been able to sell off it's existing titles to DC COmics before ceasing publication. The publication of the final issue of Plastic Man, No. 64 in November 1956, saw the end of the last non-DC Golden Age superhero."
- In October 1956, Showcase No. 4 rolled off the presses and so offically began the Silver Age. It featured the ""Whirlwind Adventures of the
Flash #105 Flash #105, the first Silver Age issue
Fastest Man Alive -- the Flash!"" Julius Schwartz, who had worked on the Golden Age Flash, thought about bringing him back, but instead opted to create a new character with the same powers, same name, and little else in common. ...and so Barry Allen was born. Robert Kanigher was assigned to write it, with Carmine Infantino drawing it and Joe Kubert inking. The Flash was the first Silver Age superhero and he was an incredible success. Barry Allen went on to also appear in Nos. 8, 13 and 14 but now with Gardner Fox and John Broome doing the story and Joe Giella the inks as Kanigher and Kubert had moved on. Depsite his success, it was not until February 1959 that DC gave him his own title with The Flash No. 105, picking up the numbering of the Golden Age series. """ - The Bat-Man had no superpowers. His main asset was his exciting stories, which were better than those of Superman, and Kane's new and different art style. Kane's cinematic angles and use of light and darkness created a unique fantasy world The twisted, dark villians, Bat-Man's quest for vengeance were unlike anything seen previously.
Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics No. 27 in May 1939. In the Spring of the following year, Batman No. 1, featuring the first appearances of The Joker and Catwoman appeared on newsstands. The Joker was created by Kane's assistant Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger supplied the look with a photo of actor Conrad Veidt in the movie The Man Who Laughs. The Penquin didn't appear until December 1941 in Detective Comics No. 58. """ - With the success of Superman, Bob Kane began taking his earlier idea of a costumed superhero seriously. First conceived in 1934, it wasn't until Kane heard of the vast money, up to $800 a week each, that Shuster and Siegel were earning with money from merchandizing. Kane, earning as much as $50 a week, spent entire weekend creating his new character, the Bat-Man.
Detective Comics #27
Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of The Batman
Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings of flying machines, Kane tried a number of names before settling on Bat-Man, Bird-Man, Eagle-Man, and Hawk-Man among them. The name again, was inspired by Da Vinci, this time with his quote ""remember that your bird should have no other model than the bat. Batman having a secret identity was influenced by the movie The Mark of Zorro which featured a masked mysterious hero. The identity of Bruce Wayne was created by writer Bill Finger however. Finger also named the Gotham City, after deciding he wanted anybody in any city to identity with it. The Bat-Man was a independent masked vigilante who, after his parents were killed by a mugger, turned to crime-fighting to exact vengeance on all those who broke the law. He was a loner and Kane expounded upon this by having Bat-Man work under the cover of darkness and outside the law. His costume was designed to be so awesome that it wonder throw fear and respect into all villians that he would encounter. """ - On January 16, 1939 Superman first appeared in a newspaper strip. By 1941, over 300 newspapers were publishing the daily Superman strip. Shuster continued drawing Superman until 1947. After those few early issues, they were paid $500 per 13 page story as well as a small part of merchandizing royalties. Siegel began a lengthy and bitter right for the rights to Superman, ending with DC attaching ""created by Siegel & Shuster"" to all Superman stories and paying them an annual stipend. Joe Shuster died in 1992. """
- Superman continued to appear in Action Comics, but only appeared on the covers of No. 7-10, 13, 15, and 17 after DC was told people were looking for the comic with Superman in it. Sales approached 500,000, double the average 250,000. From No. 19 onward, he has been on nearly every cover. His powers have changed since his first early appearances. It first he could not fly, only leap tall buildings in a single bound. He could outrun a train. Though not invulnerable, bullets merely bounced off his chest. He had no X-ray power."
- The conception finished, and the strips done, Joe and Jerry now set out to sell their new creation to newspapers, planning on syndication. The road was not a smooth one. Both frustration and rejections began piling up. Being a radical new idea, editors were reluctant to try it. Bell Syndicate told them, ""We are in the market only for strips likely to have the most extra-ordinary appeal, and we do not feel Superman gets into this catagory. United Features responded that Superman was ""a rather immature piece of work.
The strip made it's way into the hands of McClure Syndicate editor Sheldon Mayer who immediately fell in love with it. About the same time, Harry Donenfield of DC Comics, looking to publish a new anthology title, he contacted Gaines, Mayer's boss, looking for additional material. Having listened to Mayer praise this new strip idea, Gaines took it to Donenfield. Donenfield had already bought some work from Siegel and Shuster, particularly Federal Men, Slam Bradley, and Dr. Occult, so he wasn't completely unfamiliar with Joe and Jerry. He bought the strip and signed them to a standard release of rights. He told them to rewrite some of what he had seen and gave them just three weeks to complete the thirteen page story and paid them $10 a page. Those thirteen pages would be Superman's first appearance. Action Comics No. 1. Finally, five years after his conception, Superman was born.
Needing to save space, Donenfield ordered that the beginning of the story be cut, making it appear as the story was starting in the middle when published in Action Comics. The following year, in Superman No. 1, the pages would be reprinted completely. """ - The early Superman seems heavily drawn from Gladiator, where the hero has superstrength, is able to leap 40 feet high, and watches bullets bounce off his chest. He also was inspired by the pulp hero Doc Savage, who was advertised at the time at ""Superman Doc Savage, man os Master Mind and Body.
Over the rest of the year Joe continued to draw more of Jerry's scripts and the character, originally conceived as a villian hellbent on conquering the world, evolved into a hero, though he still had no name. He was eventually named and his appearance refined, with the duo immediately settling upon the initial costume design. """ - In June, 1938, Superman, the most famous, and first, superhero of them all made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1 and so launched the Golden Age. His story however, begins much earlier."
- With the end of the war in 1945, comics were in less demand as hordes of soldier that had been buying them no longer were in the service and were able to purchase them. Fawcett trotted out another Captain Marvel related title, this one called Marvel Family No. 1, in December 1945. Marvel Comics tried moving to girl comics with the release of Patsy Walker in Summer 1945 and Millie the Model that Winter. Harvey published Joe Palooka in November 1945. DC's Fox and the Crow premiered in Real Screen Funnies No. 1 in Spring1945. Marge's Little Lulu first appeared in Dell's Four Color No. 74 in june 1945, having previously been a newspaper strip. """
- By 1943 paper shortages caused by the war were limiting expansion of comics and fewer new titles were produced. Fawcett produced Don Wislow of the Navy No. 1 and Hopalong Cassidy No. 1 in February. Timely added All Select Comics, featuring Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and The Human Torch in the Fall after giving their ""Young Allies"" another new title, Kid Komics No. 1 in February. Also from Timely in the Fall was the humor title All Surprise No. 1 featuring Super Rabbit. The only new title from DC was All Funny Comics No. 1 in December, containing the first appearance of their answer to Archie, Buzzy."
- The first funny animal superhero, SuperMouse, a animal version of Superman, appeared in October 1942 from Nedor. Another Marvel family character appeared in Fawcett's Funny Animals No. 1, featuring Hoppy the Marvel Bunny."
- Kid teams began appearing. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon's Newsboy Legion, Tommy, Gabby, Scrapper, and Big Words, made their first appearance in DC's Star Spangled Comics No. 7 in April 1942. Three months later in July, The Boy Commandos, Alfy Twidget, Andre, Jan, and Brooklyn, made their premiere in Detective Comics No. 64. The receieved their own title at years end with The Boy Commandos No. 1."
- Walt Kelly's Pogo made his premiere in Dell's Animal Comics No. 1 in January 1941. Army soldier George Baker created The Sad Sack for publication in the army's weekly newspaper Yank.
- The Spirit started in September 1942 in Quality's Police Comics No. 11. He and his sidekick Ebony, the first regular blac comic book character, received their own title, The Spirit No. 1, in 1944."
- Fawcett's Captain Marvel Jr. appeared in December in Whiz Comics No. 25. He too proved popular and in November of the following year received his own title. In December 1942 Mary Marvel was added in Captain Marvel No. 18.
- The famous Archie first appeared in Pep Comics No. 22, offering a sharp alternative to the grim war and
Green Lantern Comics #1
Green Lantern Comics #1.
All Star Comics #8
All Star Comics #8, the first appearance of Wonder Woman, as the JSA's secretary!
Sensation Comics #1
Sensation Comics #1, the second appearance of Wonder Woman.
superhero stories of the day. By the end of 1941, more than 50 million people A MONTH were reading comics with the majority being male. M. C. Gaines, again looking to push forward, contacted Dr. Willaim Moulton Marston about creating a female superheroine and under the pen name of Charles Moulton he created Wonder Woman, the most famous heroine of all. She first appeared in December 1941 in All Star Comics No. 8, drawn by Harry Peter. Gaines was, once again, proved right as Wonder Woman was an instant hit with female readers. She was not however, the first superheroine, that was Black Fury. She first appeared in April 1941 and, in addition, was drawn by a female artist, Tarpe Mills." - May 1940 saw the publication of the first war comic,
Captain America Comics #1
Timely's Captain America Comics #1, the first appearance of Captain America
Daredevil #1
Lev Gleason's Daredevil #1, Daredevil vs. Hitler!
Police Comics #1
Quality's Police Comics #1, the first appearance of Plastic Man
appropriately called War Comics No. 1 from Dell. With war raging in Europe and coming soon for America, the Nazi theme ran wild through comics.
In March 1941 came one of the most patriotic heroes of them all, Captain America Comics No. 1 from Timely
All Winners Comics #1
All Winners Comics #1, teaming Captain America, Submariner, and The Human Torch
Comics created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The title was unusual in that the character was given his own title without the benefit of earlier appearances in other titles to guage reader interest.
Steve Rogers, a frail and thin young man deemed unfit for service in the army yet still wishing to do his patriotic duty, volunteers for a secret government progrma with the objective of creating supersoldiers. Steve takes the supersoldier-serum, building his muscle and brain tissue to perfection and transformed into the ultimate soldier. The only successful supersoldier, he goes undercover as a private on the front lines wreaking havok on the enemy. The cover to No. 1 (see right insert) showed Hitler being knocked out by Captain America. Simon and Kirby's young assistant, 17 year old Stanley Leiber, known as Stan Lee, received his first published work in Captain America No. 3, a two part text story. His first published comic story was in No. 5. Young Stan Lee would later go on to become the most famous writer and editor in the history of comics. """ - Green Hornet Comics No. 1 appeared in December 1940 from Helnit Publications. The Green Hornet originally appeared as a radio show, created by Fran Striker, who also created The Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet was the great-nephew of The Lone Ranger and a vigilante crime fighter."
- Owen Mercer, Captain Boomerang II, is the brother of Kid Flash II, formally Impulse."
- The Misfits were a punk rock band formed in 1977 in the town of Lodi, New Jersey and originally led by singer Glenn Danzig (born Glenn Anzalone).
Glenn was very interested in Marilyn Monroe, and took the band's name from The Misfits, Monroe's last film. The band's early lyrical and graphical focus was on retro (1930s-'50s) science fiction, horror films, and B-movies.
The early Misfits were often quite melodic, featuring Danzig's versatile singing, which had a style rooted in Italian tenors such as Mario Lanza and in 1950's doo wop. Early Misfits songs tended to have catchy, sing-along choruses backed by poorly recorded, sloppy instrumentals. The band began as a largely untrained ensemble. The song ""Last Caress"" (a very rare track for years) is now commonly regarded as the epitome of an early-Misfits song, with blaring instruments and Danzig's melodic vocals finding a medium between Frank Sinatra and the Sex Pistols (whose notoriously musically untalented bassist, Sid Vicious, at one point offered the rest of the band to back him as a solo artist).
By the original band's last album, Earth A.D., they had become a hardcore punk band, with Danzig's standout vocal tone floating over a torrent of thrashing guitar, bass, and drums.
It is useful to think of the early Misfits as a band of Jersey-Italians who were strangely attracted to punk due to the trends of the time, rather than as a traditional 'punk band'. While Danzig lived with his mother in Lodi and was supported by her during the band's early career, Jerry and Doyle Caiafa helped finance the band by working long shifts at the family lumber yard, later founding a knife factory in rural Vernon Township (which often employed later members such as Robo, a citizen of Colombia). The Misfits seldom mixed with other New Jersey punk bands, creating their own small scene locally, while holding early acclaim in New York and expanding it nationally, in part thanks to mailing lists and other networking, including their once-small, later-considerable 'Fiend Club' fan club.
The original Misfits broke up in 1983, having released several 7"" singles and 12"" records, all of which were DIY limited-edition and most of which were hand-assembled by the band, that have long been considered prime collectors' items. Epigones from Lodi, New Jersey, include the bands Mourning Noise and Rosemary's Babies, both of whom released records.
The band often wore ghoulish makeup when performing, and bassist Jerry Only invented a hairstyle called the devilock which is still worn by fans today." - Glenn Danzig (born Glenn Allen Anzalone on June 23, 1955 in Lodi, New Jersey, USA) is an accomplished singer and musician, and is one of the most influential individuals in dark rock music.
He is perhaps best known for his rich, crooning vocal style, which recalls a mix of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Jim Morrison. His supple, melodic vocals, combined with his passion for horror and the occult, has earned him the nickname of 'Evil Elvis'. His career spans nearly thirty years and encompasses a multitude of musical genres, from punk rock, to heavy metal, to blues, to industrial, and classical. He is a controversial figure who people tend to either love or hate, due in part to his flirtations with the Satanic, his larger than life persona, and his bold, often abrasive, attitude." - Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, the British Isles, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.
The term ""Halloween"" derives from Hallowe'en, an old contraction, still retained in Scotland, of ""All Hallow's Eve,"" so called as it is the day before the Catholic All Saints holy day, which used to be called ""All Hallows,"" derived from All Hallowed Souls. In Ireland, the name was Hallow Eve and this name is still used by some older people. Halloween was formerly also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries (along with Christmas and Easter, two other traditional northern European pagan holidays) and given a Christian reinterpretation. In Mexico, All Saint's Day, following Halloween, is the Day of the Dead.
Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the pookah, a mischievous spirit.
In the United Kingdom in particular, the pagan Celts celebrated the Day of the Dead on Halloween. The spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the Romans invaded Britain, they embellished the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the harvest and honoring the dead. These traditions were then passed on to the United States.
Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the ""liminal"" times of the year when the spirit world can make contact with the natural world and when magic is most potent (see, for example, Catalan mythology about witches).
Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed ""Halloween Capital of the World,"" celebrates with a large civic parade""" - The Man-Thing is a fictional comic-book creature created by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, and featured in various Marvel Comics titles, most often written by Steve Gerber.
Man-Thing is a large, vaguely humanoid, slow-moving green monster that lives in the Florida Everglades near the Seminole reservation. Unlike the intelligent and plant-based Swamp Thing of DC Comics, the Man-Thing is a nearly mindless mass of slime with no particular affinity to any living thing, but nevertheless it often becomes an accidental hero as it stumbles upon various crime and horror scenarios. It is able to sense human emotions, and is enraged by fear and automatically secretes a strong chemical corrosive; anyone clutched by the Man-Thing is prone to be chemically acid burned, hence the series' tag-line, ""Whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch. Though fear is understandably most people's response to the creature, typically only villains end up meeting an acidic death at its hands." - The Swamp Thing is a fictional character created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson for DC Comics, and featured in a long-running horror-fantasy comic book series of the same name. He is a humanoid mass of vegetable matter who fights to protect his swamp home, the environment in general, and humanity, from various supernatural threats. The series was continued by a number of writers, notably Alan Moore, whose reinvention of the character was particularly influential."
- Bernie ""Berni"" Wrightson (born October 27, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA) is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comics.
He received training in art from reading comics, especially those produced by EC as well as through a correspondence course.
Wrightson began working in 1966 for The Baltimore Sun as an illustrator. In 1967, after meeting artist Frank Frazetta in a comic convention in New York he was inspired to produce his own stories. In 1968 he showed copies of his sequential art to DC Comics editor Dick Giordano and was given a job. Wrightson began spelling his name ""Berni"" in his professional work to distinguish himself from an Olympic diver named Bernie Wrightson, but later restored the final E to his name.
Bernie Wrightson, 1977.
Bernie Wrightson, 1977.
His first professional comic work appeared in House of Mystery #179 in 1968. He continued to work on a variety of mystery and anthology titles for both DC and their principal rival, Marvel Comics. In 1971 he co-created the massive muck creature Swamp Thing with writer Len Wein for DC.
By 1974 he had left DC to work at Warren where he produced a series of original horror work as well as adaptations of stories by H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. Though he continued to produce sequential art, he also began producing artwork for numerous posters, prints, calendars, and even coloring books. He produced the poster for the film Creepshow and album covers for a number of bands including Meatloaf. He has also contributed illustrations for writer Stephen King's werewolf story ""Cycle of the Werewolf"".
Bernie Wrightson spent seven years drawing approximately 50 highly detailed pen-and-ink illustrations for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel, which some people consider his masterpiece.
Most recently, Wrightson contributed production designs for the Reavers in the 2005 film Serenity""" - While on a visit to Vietnam to see how his new mini-transistors could assist the American war effort, Tony Stark was caught in a booby trap. Captured by a Vietnamese warlord, Wong Chu and dying from a piece of shrapnel lodged in his heart from the booby trap, Stark was pressed into building weapons for Wong Chu, along with a fellow prisoner, the famed physicist Yin Sen. However, Stark and Yin Sen used the workshop to secretly design and construct a suit of powered armor G?? an iron exoskeleton that gave Stark tremendous strength as well as other abilities G?? that would keep Stark's heart beating, but allow him to escape and later develop himself, and the suit, into Iron Man."
- Emma Frost first appeared as the White Queen in Uncanny X-Men #129 as part of the Hellfire Club, a group of superhumans who dressed in 18th century clothing and plotted world domination. """
- Nocturne (Talia Josephine ""TJ"" Wagner) is a fictional character, a member of the reality-hopping team of superheroes the Exiles. She is from an alternate reality, where she is the daughter of Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch."
- The character, Dazzler, was a commissioned project from record company Casablanca Records in the late 70s. She was originally called ""The Disco Queen"" with the powers to make people tell the truth. The character was fleshed out by a committee of editors at Marvel Comics, and Casablanca kept making conceptual changes to the character. Eventually, Casablanca dropped out of the project before her first issue was released, and Marvel took ownership and creative control.
Though originally commissioned as a disco singer, the Dazzler was shifted to other musical genres including rock, country, and adult contemporary once Marvel Comics assumed creative control.
""" - Steve Englehart (April 22, 1947 - ) is an American comic book writer, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, particularly in the 1970s.
He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His first work in comics was as an art assistant to Neal Adams for Vampirella vol. 1 #10 ([[March, 1971). However Englehart found his true calling as a writer.
Influenced by writer Roy Thomas, Englehart brought a complex, freewheeling style to Marvel's comics, often dealing with philosophical or political issues in a superhero story - for instance, in a celebrated run on Captain America (with artist Sal Buscema) which reflected the then-ongoing Watergate scandal.
Apart from Captain America, Englehart is also known for a four-year stint (1972-1976) on Avengers, and for a brief but potent run on Doctor Strange (originally with artist Frank Brunner and later with Gene Colan).
In 1976, after a dispute with incoming Marvel Editor-In-Chief Gerry Conway, Englehart moved to DC Comics, where he wrote Justice League of America (with artist Dick Dillin) and a famous series of Batman stories (with artists Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin) before briefly leaving comics altogether.
After leaving comics, he published one fantasy/occult novel, The Point Man.
In 1983 he became the first writer at Epic, Marvel's short-lived line of creator-owned comics, launching Coyote (which he had earlier created at Eclipse Comics with Rogers) in collaboration with artist Steve Leialoha (and later Chas Truog and Todd McFarlane).
He returned to mainstream comics at Marvel and DC in the mid 1980s, with stints on West Coast Avengers, the second Vision and the Scarlet Witch miniseries (with artist Richard Howell), Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and Green Lantern. Also in 1987, he wrote the DC crossover series Millennium. In 1992 he co-created an entire comics universe, the Ultraverse, for Malibu Comics. His creation Night Man was later adapted for TV.
In recent years, Englehart has combined the occasional comics writing with scripting for TV, computer games design and his own books. He has also written a number of series novels under house pseudonyms." - Roger Stern (born September 17, 1950) is an American comic book author and novelist. He broke into the comics industry in 1975 at Marvel Comics, part of its 'third wave' of creators (others included artists John Byrne and Frank Miller, and writers Jo Duffy, Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio).
Stern had a brief stint as an editor (notably on Uncanny X-Men), but is probably better known for a brief run with John Byrne on Captain America and for his lengthy stints on Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers.
In 1982, he co-created Marvel's second Captain Marvel and the Hobgoblin, both with artist John Romita Jr.. In 1984, Stern co-created the Avengers spin-off West Coast Avengers with artist Bob Hall.
Also that year, and with Ron Frenz penciling, Stern wrote The kid who collects Spider-Man (which originally appeared in Amazing Spider-man Vol.1 #248) a story which is often cited as one of the best featuring the character. (Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has identified the story as one of his own favorites.)
In 1987, after a dispute with editor Mark Gruenwald over future storylines, Stern was fired from The Avengers. Effectively banished from Marvel, he started freelancing for DC Comics, where he was one of the core Superman writers for almost a decade, during which he helped to devise the Death of Superman storyline which revived interest in the character in the mid-1990s.
Stern also wrote a relaunched Atom series and co-created the 1980s Starman series starring the Will Payton version of the character, with artist Tom Lyle for DC.
In 1996, Stern returned to Marvel, to write the mini-series Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives. For the next four years he continued to freelance for Marvel, writing the short-lived Marvel Universe, as well as mini-series such as Avengers Two, Avengers Infinity, and Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin. Stern also collaborated with Avengers writer Kurt Busiek on Iron Man and the mini-series Avengers Forever, and with John Byrne on Marvel: The Lost Generation.
Since 2001, most of Stern's comic book work has been for European publishers Egmont Books (writing The Phantom) and Panini UK.
Stern has written a number of original graphic novels, including Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, Superman for Earth, The Incredible Hulk vs. Superman, and Superman: A Nation Divided.
In addition to his comics work, Stern has written three novels: The Death and Life of Superman (Bantam Books, 1993), Smallville: Strange Visitors (Warner Books, 2002), and Superman: The Never-Ending Battle (Pocket Books, 2005). The Death and Life of Superman was a New York Times bestseller in hardcover and was released as a mass market paperback in 1994; a new trade paperback edition was released by Barnes & Noble Books in 2004." - Gerry Conway (September 10, 1952 - ) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is best known for co-creating The Punisher (with Ross Andru) and the atomic-powered superhero Firestorm (with Al Milgrom) as well as for long runs on Amazing Spider-Man in the 1970s (which included the death of Gwen Stacy) and on Justice League of America in the 1970s and 1980s.
Conway was born in New York City USA
He was only nineteen years old when he began writing Amazing Spider-Man. While praised for having had such talent that he was recognized at such a young age, he has also been criticized for not having had the maturity (at the time) to properly develop Gwen Stacy's character and thus deciding to kill her off. It must be noted however, that at the time, the Amazing Spider-Man was being plotted in conjunction with John Romita, so the criticism is not necessarily valid.
It was during his run on Amazing Spider-Man (#129 in 1974) that Conway and artist Ross Andru co-created The Punisher. The character, who was originally conceived as an antagonist for Spider-Man, has gone on to become a popular star of numerous comic books as well as two Hollywood movies.
In the early 1970s, Conway published two science fiction novels: The Midnight Dancers (part of the Ace Science Fiction Specials line) and Mindship.
He replaced Marv Wolfman as the seventh Editor In Chief of Marvel Comics in 1976 but held the job extremely briefly, relinquishing the post before the year was out, being replaced by Archie Goodwin .
Conway moved into television writing in the 1980s, starting with Matlock and Jake and the Fatman. As of 2004, he is a writer and producer for Law & Order: Criminal Intent." - Steve Gerber (born 20 September 1947) is an American writer of comic books.
Gerber got his start at Marvel Comics in 1972, where he initially penned fairly standard superhero stories for titles such as Daredevil and Sub-Mariner. He soon developed a more individual voice, which mixed adventure stories with social satire and absurdist humour. In one issue of The Defenders, for example, a group of super-villains tired of always being beaten by the good guys seek out a self-help guru to motivate them.
Besides a lengthy run on The Defenders, Gerber is most noted for scripting Man-Thing (a quasi-horror title); Omega The Unknown (which explored the strange link between a cosmic superhero and a small boy); and Howard the Duck, probably his best-known work. He was also responsible for the short-lived but unique Marvel comic based on the band KISS.
Steve Gerber is noted for his memorable supporting or guest characters who become almost cult favorites in their own right. His best known such characters are probably the born loser Richard Rory, who has appeared off and on in most of the Gerber books, and the Foolkiller, a psychopathic vigilante who inspired several different individuals to adopt his identity over the years and acquired his own 10-issue limited series in 1990. He is also responsible for the creation of the Silver Samurai during his Daredevil run.
Gerber left Marvel in 1979, and launched a lengthy legal battle for control of Howard. During the late 1970s and 1980s he did some work for DC (including a 1981 Superman mini-series, The Phantom Zone) and for independent comic companies. In 1982 he teamed with Jack Kirby to create Destroyer Duck, a satirical comic which was intended to raise funds for his court case and Kirby's similar legal battles against Marvel. Gerber and Marvel reached a settlement on the case, and he has since worked sporadically in comics, writing several miniseries for Marvel and Vertigo; in 2002 he created a new Howard the Duck miniseries for Marvel's MAX line. He then created Hard Time, which has outlasted the short-lived imprint DC Focus.
He has also worked in television animation, working as story editor for G.I. Joe and Dungeons and Dragons, creating Thundarr the Barbarian, and winning an Emmy Award for his scripting of The Batman/Superman Adventures.
""" - Bill Mantlo was a lawyer and prolific writer of comic books for Marvel and (to a lesser extent) DC, for over 20 years.
During his career he wrote issues of nearly every title Marvel published, featuring nearly every character (including several which he created himself). His more notable work included stints as regular writer on Incredible Hulk, Spectacular Spider-man, Cloak and Dagger (whom he created), and Alpha Flight. He is probably best remembered for the work he did on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe, Micronauts and Rom (Spaceknight).
His work for DC included the Invasion miniseries.
In the late 1980s, shortly after finishing Invasion, he left comics to focus on his legal career as a public defender.
In 1992, Mantlo was struck by a car while rollerblading. He suffered severe head trauma and spent over a year in a coma; he has since been institutionalized and is not expected to ever fully recover.
Letters to Bill Mantlo can be sent to:
BILL MANTLO
c/o THE MANTLO FAMILY
1995 MILLER PLACE
MERRICK, NY 11566
""" - Tom DeFalco (born June 26, 1950) is one of the most prolific and well-known writers and editors in comic publishing today.
He was born in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The DeFalco family were owners of a supermarket. Tom was introduced to comic books at the age of five. An older cousin read to him an issue of Batman.
He began his career with Archie Comics, where he wrote for Archie and other titles including Scooby-Doo.
He later joined Marvel Comics, where he would spend the next twenty years of his career. He became one of the most popular writers for the Spider-Man comic book series whilst at the same time rising through the editorial ranks.
DeFalco succeeded Jim Shooter as the tenth Editor-in-Chief of Marvel. He served from 1987 to 1994, making him one of the longest serving individuals to hold that post. The only Editors-in-Chief with longer service than him were Stan Lee (1941 - 1942, 1944 - 1972) and Shooter (1978-1987)." - Silvio ""Sal"" Buscema (January 26, 1939 - ) also known as ""Our Pal Sal"" to the Marvel Comics bullpen is an American comic book artist, primarily for Marvel Comics.
Buscema was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. He got his start in comic books during the mid 1960s as an inker over the pencils of his older brother John Buscema; for at least 30 years after that he was one of the most prolific artists at the company. It would probably be easier to name the titles he hasn't drawn at some point, but in particular he's known for stints on Captain America (with writer Steve Englehart), the Incredible Hulk (with writers Len Wein, Roger Stern and Bill Mantlo), the Defenders (with Wein and Steve Gerber) and the various Spider-Man titles (with Gerry Conway and J.M. DeMatteis).He notably penciled and mostly inked an over 100 issue run on the title The Spectacular Spider-Man from 1988 on through 1996.
Buscema usually inked his own work from the late 1970s onwards. In the early 1990s he returned to inking, again notably over John Buscema on an Englehart-scripted run on Fantastic Four. His ability to meet quick deadlines and produce fast work has meant that in addition to his numerous regular titles he has also pencilled, inked or both many emergency fill-in issues for Marvel.
He went into semi-retirement in the mid 1990s. He has recently penciled the Spider-Girl title from issue 59 to present, working with writer Tom DeFalco." - John Buscema (December 11, 1927- January 10, 2002) was an American comic book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics in its 1960s and 1970s heyday.
Buscema was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. He was originally attracted to comics by Hal Foster's strip Prince Valiant, and his lush, detailed style bears comparison with Foster's.
Buscema's first hit was his run on Avengers (beginning in 1966, with writer Roy Thomas), and after that pencilled at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title (notable exceptions being Iron Man and X-Men, although he worked on some X-Men spinoff titles). In particular, he stepped into the breach when Jack Kirby left the company in 1970, helping it weather the loss much better than it may have otherwise.
Among the best-known work of Buscema are stints on The Avengers (both in the 1960s and a long 1980s run); Fantastic Four (with Thomas and writer Gerry Conway); Thor (with Conway); Silver Surfer (with Stan Lee); and a lengthy run on Conan the Barbarian (with Thomas). This last he often named as his favourite, as ironically enough he disliked superhero stories.
Buscema semi-retired in 1996, although he continued to do the odd pencilling job; one of the last was his DC Comics debut, a Batman story.
John Buscema died on January 10, 2002 due to cancer.
His brother Sal Buscema is also a comic book artist." - Don Heck (January 2, 1929-1995) was a comic book artist best known for co-creating the character Iron Man, based on designs by Jack Kirby, and for his long run penciling The Avengers in the 1960s. Before then Heck worked on many horror and romance comics."
- Peanuts was a syndicated daily comic strip written and drawn by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950 to February 13, 2000. The strip was one of the most popular in the history of the medium. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 40 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States. Reprints of the strip are still syndicated and run in many newspapers."
- Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She was a clone of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister. Although originally a supporting member of the X-Men cast for quite some time, a variety of troubles in her life (including being rejected by her husband and losing her son) eventually led to her manipulation into becoming a demonic-powered supervillain. Chris Claremont apparently got her name from Maddy Prior, lead singer of the folk-rock band Steeleye Span."
- The sister of the X-Man Cannonball, Paige Guthrie was born to a large Kentucky coal miner's family. As a teenager, she discovered her inborn mutant ability to shed her skin, metamorphosing into a different composition beneath. She has used this power to turn her body into stone, glass, and an acid-like substance, among other materials. She can also use her power to heal herself by shedding a damaged form in favor of an intact one. She normally cannot change the shape of her form, only its composition."
- In Batman: Death and the Maidens, it is revealed that Ra's al Ghul had a love child born during his travels in Russia in the 18th Century called Nyssa. Enamored by the romantic stories that her mother would tell her about Ra's as a child, Nyssa set out to find Ra's and eventually located him at his headquarters in North Africa.
Nyssa is in possession of the world's last Lazarus Pit which has granted her longevity, the ability to heal her wounds, and survival of the Holocaust. She also possesses condsiderable amounts of wealth and resources (which has doubled since assuming control of Ra's al Ghul's organization as well as joining forces with Talia) and is aware of Batman's secret identity including the location of the Batcave.
""" - A Lazarus pit is a fictional tool in the Batman comics used most commonly by Ra's Al Ghul to regenerate his body. In addition to bringing the user back to life, however, it makes the user temporarily insane. It has been used by multiple people throughout the Batman universe including Ra's Al Ghul's daughter Nyssa, The Black Canary, and The Riddler. Later all of the Lazarus Pits were destroyed by Bane and Batman, except for one. And since the Lazarus Pits can only be used once, Ra's Al Ghul had to accept that he would soon be dead. His daughter Nyssa, however, had discovered a way to make the Lazarus Pits last indefinitely, but rather than let her father use it, she stabbed him to death."
- The Black Canary was originally a non-superpowered crimefighter who relied on martial arts and detective skills to combat crime. Later the character was given a superhuman sonic ""Canary Cry"" that could be used to shatter objects or disable opponents."
- Beatriz daCosta, aka FIRE has the power to generate and breathe green flame came from being exposed to an organic energy source called Pyroplasm. However, years later after the Dominators set off a ""metagene bomb"" in the upper atmosphere during an alien invasion, she was one of the superheroes affected and, after a period of illness, found her powers considerably enhanced, able to turn into a being of green flame, in which form she could fly and fire off huge blasts of flame. Unfortunately, it took her some time to come to terms with her increased powers, and she often ""flamed on"" involuntarily when stressed or angry.
""" - Sinestro is a fictional supervillain within the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in the comics Green Lantern Vol. 2 #7 (July-August 1961), created by John Broome & Gil Kane, and has since been featured in cartoons such as Super Friends (where he was part of the ""Legion of Doom"") and Adventures of Superman. He is considered both the Green Lantern Corps's greatest foe, and - as he was originally one of their own - their greatest failure."
- Mr. Mxyzptlk (roughly pronounced Mix-yez-pit-lick, also nicknamed Mxy) is a supervillain who appears in DC Comics' Superman comics.
Introduced in Superman #30 (September 1944) as ""Mr. Mxyztplk"", he was an imp from the fifth dimension. Not being bound by our physical laws, he could do things that seemed to be magical. In this first appearance, Mxyztplk wreaked havoc across Metropolis by using his powers to pull all manner of pranks. He soon told Superman that he was a jester in his home dimension, explaining why he used his powers to play practical jokes. Superman soon discovered he was able to send Mxy back to the fifth dimension by making him say his name backwards.
Originally, Mxy had designs on conquering the planet for himself, but soon settled for tormenting Superman whenever he got the opportunity. His only weaknesses were that he could not stand being ridiculed and if he said or spelled his name backwards, Kltpzyxm, he was involuntarily sent back to his home dimension for a minimum of 90 days. Mxy would often look for ways to counter the latter weakness, but he always proved gullible enough for Superman to trick him time and time again.
Mxy appeared originally as a small bald man in a purple suit, green bow tie and purple derby hat. This was changed to a futuristic looking orange outfit with purple trim in the mid-1950s, although the hat remained. At around this time the spelling of Mxy's name changed (by mistake) to ""Mxyzptlk"".
After the establishment of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, it was later explained that the purple-suited Mxyztplk lived in the fifth dimension connected to Earth-Two and the orange-costumed Mxyzptlk in the fifth dimension connected to Earth-One. The Earth-One version was also retconned into Superboy stories as ""Master Mxyzptlk"".
Mr. Mxyzptlk continued to be a thorn in Superman's side for many years. Despite Alan Moore offering a radically different interpretation of the character in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, he made it through the Crisis on Infinite Earths relatively unchanged, although the unpleasant nature of his pranks and the psychological effects they had on others was played up more, at least initially. In early post-Crisis stories the ""condition"" that would send him back to the fifth dimension was anything he wanted it to be but, since Lex Luthor taught him how to lie, making this meaningless, the stories have reverted to Mxyzptlk saying his name backwards. Many of Mxy's later stories have a post-modern feel to them, similar to Ambush Bug, as he comments on editorial decisions, cliches of the genre, etc. This was most obvious in Superman: The Man of Steel #75, a pastiche of Superman's death in Superman (series 2) #75, which culminates with Mxyzptlk meeting the Supreme Being... who turns out to be Mike Carlin, the then-editor of the Superman titles, who promptly brings him back to life.
Although Mxy does not appear in Grant Morrison's JLA, Morrison took advantage of certain similarities to tie Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt and Aquaman character Qwsp to the fifth dimension, implying the dimension may be the origin for legends of djinn. This story also saw the first (and so far only) post-Crisis appearance of Mxy's Earth-One girlfriend, Ms. Gsptlsnz (described as his ""quinto-partner"").
More recently, Peter David showed us Mxy's origins as a serious-minded researcher in Young Justice and, in a multipart story throughout the Superman titles, he had his powers temporarily stolen by the Joker. It has also been implied that he sees himself as serving an important purpose, in teaching Superman not to take everything seriously.
He has also encountered Batman's implike tormentor Bat-Mite twice. The first was in Karl Kesel's World's Finest book, in which they forced the heroes to compete against each other. The second was in the World's Funnest oneshot, in which they travel to various parallel Earths, including the worlds of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew and Alex Ross's Kingdom Come.
In Adventures of Superman #617 (2003), Mxyzptlk was reinvented as different-sex twins with a serious hatred of Superman. A year later, in Superman Secret Files and Origins 2004 (2004), he returned to his usual self. The reasons for this remain obscure.
""" - Bat-Mite is a fictional comic book character who appeared in stories published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Detective Comics #267 (May 1959).
Bat-Mite is an imp similar to the Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk. He appears as a small childlike man in an ill-fitting Batman costume, with a black lightning bolt instead of the Bat-insignia. Bat-Mite possesses near-infinite magical powers and comes from another dimension, much like Superman's foe Mr. Mxyzptlk. In Bat-Mite's dimension, the resident imps idolize the heroes of the DC Universe and impersonate them, re-enacting their heroic feats and adventures. Bat-Mite's favorite hero is Batman, and thus the imp visited Batman on various occasions, often setting up strange events so that he could see his hero in action. Despite this, Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a supervillain, and often left his hero alone when he realized he had angered his idol again. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages of World's Finest Comics to plague Superman and Batman together, as well.
Bat-Mite regularly appeared in Batman, Detective Comics and World's Finest Comics for five years. However in 1964, when the Batman titles were revamped with a more serious tone under new editor Julius Schwartz. Bat-Mite vanished along with the other extraneous members of the Batman family such as Ace the Bat-Hound. After this, only three more Bat-Mite stories were published in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe: two Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk teamups in World's Finest Comics #152 (August 1965) and #169 (September 1967) (which were not edited by Scharz but by Mort Weisinger), and ""Bat-Mite's New York Adventure"" from Detective Comics #482 (February-March 1979), in which the imp visits the DC Comics offices and insists that he be given his own feature in a Batman comic.
After the continuity-revising 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths was published, Bat-Mite was mostly removed from the Batman comics canon. Bat-Mite made an appearance in the series Legends of the Dark Knight, although he may have been the hallucination of a minor character. This version of Bat-Mite later appeared in Mitefall, a one-shot story that was a parody of the ""Knightfall"" Batman storyline. He also appeared in the one-shot comic special World's Funnest, in which he battles Mr. Mxyzptlk, destroying the pre-Crisis multiverse of DC Comics as well as the post-Crisis DC universe, the universe of Kingdom Come, and the universe of the Superman and Batman animated series. Bat-Mite may or may not have been formally reintroduced into the modern DC Universe in a 1990s World's Finest miniseries (where he teams up with Mr. Mxyzptlk to ""test"" Superman and Batman), but this isn't entirely clear.
Apart from World's Funnest, there has been no direct connection between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk; the World's Funnest special implied that different rules applied to their powers. In the Bizarro Comics anthology, Mxyzptlk's native fifth dimension seemed to include beings similar to Bat-Mite and Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt. Neither of these comics are considered canonical, however." - After John Byrne rewrote Superman's origins in the 1986 miniseries Man of Steel, Metallo was also given an altered backstory.
In the current version, John Corben was a small-time con man who was fatally injured in a car crash, but to his luck Professor Emmet Vale happened to pass by. Professor Vale was a pioneer in robotics, and erroneously believed that Superman was the first in a wave of superpowered Kryptonian invaders. Vale transplanted Corben's brain into a robotic body, which was powered by a two-pound chunk of kryptonite, and instructed him to kill Superman. Metallo---the alloy his body was made of, and now Corben's new moniker---thanked Vale by snapping his neck, killing him.
Despite ignoring Vale's commands, Metallo came into conflict with Superman on various occasions, in large part to his continued activities as a petty thug. Metallo later lost his kryptonite heart to Lex Luthor, though back-up life support systems allowed Metallo to reactivate himself and escape. He remained a thorn in Superman's side, and due to his sheer power no other superhero save Superman could quickly and effectively handle him. Metallo later received a major upgrade via an unholy bargain with the demon Neron. As a result, Metallo was now able to morph his body into any mechanical shape he could imagine (turning his hands into guns or ""growing"" a jet-pack from his back) and project his consciousness into any technological or metallic device. As Superman and others learned on various occasions, the most effective way to neutralize Metallo was to remove his (largely invulnerable) head and isolate it from other metallic items.
In recent comics, evidence was uncovered that implicated John Corben as the criminal who shot and killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, the parents of Bruce Wayne. This proved to be a ruse by Lex Luthor, however, orchestrated in order to lure both the Dark Knight and Superman into a ""final"" confrontation. More recently, Corben's mind was removed from the Metallo body, and placed into a cloned version of his original human body, by the (second, post-Crisis) Toyman, Hiro Okamura, whose family had invented the metallo alloy. Despite the fact he is once again just a man, he is still a dangerous foe to Superman.
""" - Bizarro World was erased from the history of the DC Universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, two Bizarros have been created by Lex Luthor. However, in the post-Crisis version, the imperfections in the duplicates are eventually fatal. The first Bizarro created Post-Crisis appeared in Man of Steel #5 (1986). A Bizarro-Superboy was created by Project Cadmus, when they used the same process in their attempts to clone Superman. It was also used to create a Bizarro-Harley Quinn after Bizarro developed a crush on Quinn. The current version of Bizarro has a very different origin, having been created by the Joker by the use of the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk; his first appearance was in Superman Vol. 2 #160, and he seems to be the longest lived Post-Crisis Bizarro yet."
- Solomon Grundy:
Cyrus Gold was murdered in the later part of the 19th Century, where his body was left in Slaughter Swamp. The corpse remained in the swamp for decades where the organic swamp muck and decomposing flora collected, until one day it took on it's own life. After the monster rose from the swamp, he wandered into a hobo camp. Upon questioning, the monster revealed that he did not know his own name and could only remember that he was born on a monday. Remembering the nursery rhyme, a hobo dubed the monster Solomon Grundy.
""" - Recently, Barbara Gordan, aka Oracle, was diagnosed with a cybernetic form of cancer, given to her by Brainiac. The surgery to remove it, done by Dr. Mid-Nite, Superman and an anestesiologist was successful. As an after-effect, Barbara has regained some motion in her legs. She may become Batgirl again."
- Superboy, a clone grafted with Superman's DNA (as opposed to a younger version of Superman), was introduced in 1993. He was created by Project Cadmus to replace Superman following the Death of Superman story, and was artificially aged to mid-teens and implanted with the necessary knowledge of someone his biological age. As he is only a partial clone of Superman, he does not have all of the Man of Steel's powers, and it remains to be seen what range of powers he will ultimately develop. Conner, the ""human name"" he has adopted has just recently found out that the remaining human DNA that was grafted to him is from Lex Luthor. """
- The Golden age Flash, Jay Garrick was a college student in 1940 (suggesting he was born around 1922) who accidentally inhaled hard water vapors after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been smoking. As a result, he found that he could run at superhuman speed and had similarly fast reflexes."
- Wolverine discovered through S.H.I.E.L.D. that Hydra had created a female clone of himself. This clone can erect two claws from each hand (instead of three like Wolverine), and can erect one claw from her foot (an ability Wolverine lacks). The clone was named X-23, since this was Hydra's 23rd attempt at creating a clone."
- April 1940 featured the release of Detective Comics No. 38 and the first appearance of Robin, the Boy Wonder. Bob Kane wanted to introduce a sidekick for two reasons. It would give Batman an associate to talk to and, at the same time, give the youngsters reading Batman someone with which to identify. He felt every boy would want to be like Robin, no school, no homework, living in a mansion, riding in
All American Comics #16
The Green Lantern first appeared in July 1948's All American Comics #16
the Batmobile, it was a fantasy come true! Jack Liebowitz, Kane's boss, didn't agree however. Kane was able to convince his to try Robin for one issue though and was proved right. Detective Comics No. 38 sold almost twice as many copies as the usual Detective Comics and Robin was here to stay." - The powerful and ghostly The Spectre first appeared in February 1940 in More Fun Comics No. 52, though he had appeared in one panel of More Fun Comics No. 51. Hourman, a hero who swallowed pills giving him superpowers for exactly 60 minutes, premeired in March 1940 in Adventure Comics No. 48, the same title in which The Sandman had earlier appeared in issue #40. Spring 1940 brought New York World's Fair which featured Batman and Superman together on a cover for the first time. It featured all of their main characters, was 100 pages with cardstock covers, and retailed for fifteen cents. Interestingly, the 1939 edition retailed for twenty-five cents and sold poorly. DC repriced the returns with a fifteen cent sticker and gave a free Superman No. 1 or No 2 to all those who had paid twenty-five cents."
- Timely Comics, which would later become Marvel Comics, began in Fall 1939 with Marvel Comics No. 1 featuring the first appearances of Prince Namor the Submariner and The Human Torch, created by Bill Everett and Carl Burgos respectively. The first eight pages of the Submariner story had appeared earlier in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, a promotional project, earlier however. In January 1940 Fiction House published the first science-fiction comic, Planet Comics No. 1."
- Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics No. 27 in May 1939. In the Spring of the following year, Batman No. 1, featuring the first appearances of The Joker and Catwoman appeared on newsstands. The Joker was created by Kane's assistant Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger supplied the look with a photo of actor Conrad Veidt in the movie The Man Who Laughs. The Penquin didn't appear until December 1941 in Detective Comics No. 58."
- Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings of flying machines, Kane tried a number of names before settling on Bat-Man, Bird-Man, Eagle-Man, and Hawk-Man among them. The name again, was inspired by Da Vinci, this time with his quote ""remember that your bird should have no other model than the bat. Batman having a secret identity was influenced by the movie The Mark of Zorro which featured a masked mysterious hero. The identity of Bruce Wayne was created by writer Bill Finger however. Finger also named the Gotham City, after deciding he wanted anybody in any city to identity with it. The Bat-Man was a independent masked vigilante who, after his parents were killed by a mugger, turned to crime-fighting to exact vengeance on all those who broke the law. He was a loner and Kane expounded upon this by having Bat-Man work under the cover of darkness and outside the law. His costume was designed to be so awesome that it wonder throw fear and respect into all villians that he would encounter."
- With the success of Superman, Bob Kane began taking his earlier idea of a costumed superhero seriously. First conceived in 1934, it wasn't until Kane heard of the vast money, up to $800 a week each, that Shuster and Siegel were earning with money from merchandizing. Kane, earning as much as $50 a week, spent entire weekend creating his new character, the Bat-Man."
- On January 16, 1939 Superman first appeared in a newspaper strip. By 1941, over 300 newspapers were publishing the daily Superman strip. Shuster continued drawing Superman until 1947. After those few early issues, they were paid $500 per 13 page story as well as a small part of merchandizing royalties. Siegel began a lengthy and bitter right for the rights to Superman, ending with DC attaching ""created by Siegel & Shuster"" to all Superman stories and paying them an annual stipend. Joe Shuster died in 1992."
- Superman continued to appear in Action Comics, but only appeared on the covers of No. 7-10, 13, 15, and 17 after DC was told people were looking for the comic with Superman in it. Sales approached 500,000, double the average 250,000. From No. 19 onward, he has been on nearly every cover. His powers have changed since his first early appearances. It first he could not fly, only leap tall buildings in a single bound. He could outrun a train. Though not invulnerable, bullets merely bounced off his chest. He had no X-ray power."
- In June, 1938, Superman, the most famous, and first, superhero of them all made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1 and so launched the Golden Age. His story however, begins much earlier.
Picture it: Cleveland, 1933. One hot summer night in Cleveland, Jerry Siegel, still a child, unable to sleep, lie awake fantasing, not of girls or cars, but of a new breed of comic. Inspired by Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator and science-fiction pulps, he dreamed of a futuristic man with incredible powers. As Jerry tells it, the Superman concept came to him piece by piece over the night. He would rise from bed and scribble down each detail as it came to him, and when morning came, he had a complete story. Having now fully realized his hero, Jerry quickly ran the 12 blocks to his buddy Joe Shuster's home at first light. Joe quickly became just as excited, and they immediately began developing the script.
The early Superman seems heavily drawn from Gladiator, where the hero has superstrength, is able to leap 40 feet high, and watches bullets bounce off his chest. He also was inspired by the pulp hero Doc Savage, who was advertised at the time at ""Superman Doc Savage, man os Master Mind and Body.
Over the rest of the year Joe continued to draw more of Jerry's scripts and the character, originally conceived as a villian hellbent on conquering the world, evolved into a hero, though he still had no name. He was eventually named and his appearance refined, with the duo immediately settling upon the initial costume design. """ - In 1933, after seeing the Ledger syndicate publish a small amount of their Sunday comics on 7 by 9 inch plates, an idea hit upon two printer employees. Sales manager Harry L. Wildenberg and saleman Max. C. Gaines, employees of Eastern Color Printing Company in New York, saw the plates and figured two of these plates could fit on a tabloid page and produce a 7 1/2 by 10 inch book when folded. Gathering 32 pages of
Famous Funnies Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics
newspaper reprints including Mutt and Jeff, Joe Palooka, and Reg'lar Fellas, they created Funnies on Parade. This was the first comic produced in a format similiar to modern comics. Looking to test their product, they published 10,000 copies to be given out as premiums by Proctor and Gamble.
Impressed by this success, Gaines convinced Eastern Color that he could sell thousands of these to big advertisers like Kinney Shoe Stores, Canada Dry, and Wheatena to be used as premiums and radio giveaways. Because of this, Eastern followed by printing Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics and later Century of Comics, both containing Sunday newspaper reprints. M. C. Gaines was able to sell these in quantities of 100,000 to 250,000 copies. Century of Comics was the 2nd comic book and the first 100 page comic." - In January 1929 George Delacorte, working for pulp publisher New Fiction Company, published The Funnies No. 1, the first four-color comic newstand publication, featuring original comic pages and a cover price of 10 cents. Until No. 5, it was a weekly publication the same size as the free Sunday supplements, making confusion easy and ensuring it's failure. In an attempt to save the publication, Delacarte reduced the price to 5 cents with No. 25, however The Funnies ceased publication with No.36. Among The Funnies historic firsts was the publication of work by Victoria Pazmino, the first published female comic book artist."
- Late in 19th century America, comic strips began to appear in the Sunday supplements of newspapers. The first among these comic strips was
The Yellow Kid 1896's The Yellow Kid, considered the 1st comic strip
Richard Felton Outcault's The Yellow Kid which appeared in the February 16, 1896 Hearst New York American. In March 1897, these strips were compiled into Hearst's Sunday Journal and and sold for 5 cents. From this humble beginning an industry was born, though it would not have immediate success." - Rom the Spaceknight is a fictional character, a cyborg outer space hero.
Originally, the character was produced as a toy with electronic light and sound effects, by the toy company Parker Brothers. The company arranged to have the Marvel Comics company put out a comic starring the character. This comic was published between 1979 and 1985 and actually outlasted the toy by several years. The comic book version was adapted by writer Bill Mantlo, illustrated by Sal Buscema and was made a part of the Marvel Universe.
In the comics, it was explained that Rom was originally a young man from Galador, a paradisical planet from the so-called Golden Galaxy, whose inhabitants closely resembled humans. Rom led a happy life until Galador was threatened by the evil, shape-changing aliens known as the Dire Wraiths. The planet's ruler, the Prime Director, called for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called 'Spaceknights' so they could defend the planet from the invaders. It was promised that their humanity (that is, the body parts that would be removed to accommodate the bionic armor) would be preserved and restored to them after the danger was over. Rom was the first one to volunteer, and was transformed into a silvery, robot-like being. He was also given Galador's greatest weapon, the Neutralizer, which, among other powers, could banish the Wraiths into the dimension known as Limbo. Inspired by his example, a total of 1,000 Galadorians volunteered and were transformed into Spaceknights, each with his or her own unique armor, powers and code names.
Rom fights the X-Men in Rom #17 (April, 1981). -? Marvel Comics.
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Rom fights the X-Men in Rom #17 (April, 1981). -? Marvel Comics.
The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the wraith invasion. Rom, however, decided to follow the escaping fleet of starships back to its home planet, Wraithworld, and banish them all. The wraiths, panicking, abandoned the planet and scattered in all directions through space. Rom, feeling that he was now responsible for spreading the wraith's evil across the universe, swore he would not reclaim his humanity until all the wraiths in the universe had been defeated. Again, his fellow Spaceknights swore to do the same. They then left Galador.
200 years later, Rom arrived on planet Earth. It is at this point that the Rom comic begins. He landed near Clairton, a (fictional) town in West Virginia, USA, located near where many wraiths had landed years before. The first human that Rom encountered was a girl named Brandy Clark. Brandy befriended Rom, but was forced to help him hide from the public, since the use of the Neutralizer caused onlookers to believe that Rom (whom they thought a robot) was disintegrating people (actually wraiths in human form.) Brandy's boyfriend, Steve Jackson, also helped Rom to track down the wraiths hidden in Clairton. However, as time passed, Brandy began to fall in love with the noble Rom, straining his relationship with Steve. One of the menaces they fought in Clairton was the Hybrid, a monster created from the mating of a human and a Dire Wraith.
Eventually, Starshine, a female Spaceknight who was secretly in love with Rom, followed him to Earth. She died in combat, but her armor was magically transplanted onto Brandy's body by a Wraith sorcerer called Doctor Dredd, as part of a plan to use her against Rom. Brandy secretly yearned for this, since she wanted to stay by Rom's side.
At one point, Rom was briefly transported to his home world,were he found that the Prime Director was now an evil Spaceknight. He was killed, but not before Rom's human body was apparently destroyed by Galactus. Rom was then transported back to Earth.
With Clairton now free from wraiths, Rom and Brandy, now Starshine, left to track down more wraiths elsewhere on Earth. In the process they met many of Marvel's superheroes. Unknown to them, however, the female Dire Wraiths rebelled against their mates, whom they saw as failures. They killed all the male wraiths on Earth and then began to attack human civilization openly. Their first target was Clairton; they killed all of its inhabitants while Rom and Starshine were away, using their horrible ability to eat a person's brain, reducing their victims to slime (and gaining their memories in the process). Steve was one of their victims. Brandy was very traumatized by this event.
Eventually, Rom and Starshine were able to convince the Terran authorities of the threat of the Dire Wraiths, especially after the species make the strategic blunder by breaking their cover and opening attacking the intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D., at their headquarters, the helicarrier and were barely beaten off. With definite proof of the enemy, the various Earth nations directed their forces to counter it.
Shortly thereafter, the Hybrid returned, using Wraith magic to separate Brandy from her armor, making her human again. Rom defeated the monster again, but he chose to leave the now-human Brandy behind, for her own sake.
Soon, the Wraiths launched their master plan: they cast a spell on Earth's Sun, that used its energies to draw Wraithworld across space, close to Earth, since they gained their magical abilities from it. The wraiths then attacked New York city en masse, and were resisted by an alliance of most of the city's superheroes. Rom, with help from the mutant inventor Forge, created a satellite that could boost the power of the Neutralizer, enough to banish all wraiths on Earth. But there was a danger that it would also permanently cancel the powers of all superhumans on Earth. So, Rom instead directed its effects on Wraithworld itself, banishing it to Limbo. This caused the wraiths to lose all their powers. Rom then banished the remaining wraiths as well.
Afterwards, Rom left the Earth, and returned to Galador. Before he reached it, however, Brandy, having accidentally met the cosmic entity called the Beyonder, asked him to send her to Galador, which he did. But to her dismay, she found out that, in the absence of the original Spaceknights, a new group was created to protect Galador. But these Spaceknights felt superior to humans, and killed all the galadorians, and destroyed all the frozen bodies as well. Rom reached Galador in time to save Brandy but not in time to prevent the massacre. With the help of the original Spaceknights, the evil ones were destroyed. Rom then found that his original humanity had actually only been hidden by Galactus. Reclaiming it, Rom, now human again, finally admitted his love for Brandy, and stayed with her on Galador, hoping to repopulate the planet. The other Spaceknights, their humanities forever lost, set out to continue protecting the universe from evil, as well as safeguarding Galador for its new inhabitants.
Note: Since Marvel no longer has the rights to the character of Rom, it is unlikely that they will ever use him again, at least not in the form it had as a toy. The human version of Rom, however, has been seen in other comics after this comic's cancellation, and so have other concepts from the series, such as the Dire Wraiths, which were invented by Marvel writers." - Shogun Warriors were a line of toys, made by Mattel during the late 1970s that consisted of a series of imported Japanese robots all based on then-popular giant robot anime shows. They were originaly manufactured in three sizes, the 24 inch plastic versions, the 3.5 inch diecast metal versions and the slightly taller but much more detailed and articulated 4"" diecast versions. There were later offered special versions of the more popular robots that could be manipulated into an alternate configuration. Shogun Warriors included the following:
* Raideen
* Getter Dragon from Getter Robo G (AKA Dragun)
* Dangard Ace
* Mazinger
* Great Mazinger
* Gaiking
* Getter Poseidon from Getter Robo G (AKA Poseidon)
* Combattler V (AKA Combattra)
* Grendizer
* Godzilla (only in ""jumbo"" form)
* Rodan (only in ""jumbo"" form and rare)
The most attractive features on these toys were the spring loaded launcher weapons such as missiles, star shuriken, and battleaxes. Some robots were able to launch their fists. The later diecast versions of these toys were also attractive for the ability to transform into different shapes. Grandizer, for instance, was changeable into a saucerlike spaceship. These ""convertable"" editions were the precursors to the ""Transformers"" line of toy robots but unlike the later toyline it was not unusual for minor dissasembly to be required to achive the secondary form. Also the second form was not always an apparently usefull one, a ""giant skull"" for instance.
Shogun Warriors was also licensed in 1979-1980 for a 20-issue Marvel comic written by Doug Moench where several of the robots (Raideen, Combatra, Dangard Ace) were incorporated into Marvel Universe stories.
Like certain other toylines of the 70s, the Shogun Warriors came under pressure due to safety concerns regarding their spring loaded weapons features. Toy manufacturers were facing new regulations due to reported child injuries as a result of playing with these toys. Consequently, many toy companies were forced to remodel existing toylines with child safe variations (such as spring loaded ""action"" missiles that would remain attached to the toy). For this reason, as well as decreasing sales, the Shogun Warriors toyline disappeared by 1980.
Several of the anime from this toyline were seen in the 80s as part of Jim Terry's Force Five series." - Secret Wars II was a 9-issue comic book miniseries and crossover published by Marvel Comics from 1985 to 1986. The series was written by Marvel's then Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and primarily pencilled by Al Milgrom.
The series was a sequel to 1984s Secret Wars, though unlike its predecessor it occurred on Earth and took place simultanously with other Marvel comic books, enabling tie-in crossover stories in multiple issues of various titles.
The covers of each of these tie-ins issues featured a logo in the top right hand corner which read ""Secret Wars II continues in this issue"" to indicate that it was a part of the story.
The broad plot of the series involved an enigmatic, all-powerful, godlike creature called the Beyonder who comes to Earth in search of enlightenment and then inevitably comes into conflict with the planets' superhumans.
Taking a number of different human forms, eventually settling on a dark haired caucasian male with a taste for white jumpsuits, the character wandered in and out of the lives of various Marvel characters often challenging them in philososphical as well as physical ways.
One example of this is Daredevil #223, (October, 1985) ""The Price"" by writers Jim Shooter and Denny O'Neil and artist David Mazzucchelli.
In that story the Beyonder encounters Daredevil's alter ego, lawyer Matt Murdock, while seeking to legally buy up all the property on the planet. When he first meets Murdock he notices that he is blind and restores his sight as a gift. Daredevil initially enjoys this boon, but soon begins to question whether he has lost something essential to himself.
The storyline ended on a sombre note in Secret Wars II #9 (March, 1986) as the Beyonder's quest to understand the nature of desire was thwarted by a large group of super-heroes assembled by the Molecule Man, who viewed him as a threat to reality.
The last page of the final issue showed that the events of the story had resulted in the creation of a new universe. Some fans have speculated that this was a reference to the New Universe line of books Shooter was launching at Marvel at the time, though he has subsequently denied this.
Secret Wars II went far beyond any previous crossover by having minor and major tie-ins with nearly every other title in the Marvel Universe. Some tie-ins consisted of little more than a cameo by the Beyonder. A collector trying to own the ""whole"" story would need to have purchased nearly 42 comics in less than a year.
Though the story could be understood by reading the main miniseries alone, the number of tie-ins was controversial at the time. Also some readers criticised the series for its meandering storyline and its perceived philosophical clumsiness [1]. The series was a big sales success however, and most comics which crossed over with it saw a modest rise in sales.
An epilogue to the story by Roger Stern and John Buscema ran in Avengers #265 and 266 (March-April, 1986). This story detailed the aftermath of the events of Secrets Wars #9 and explained what had happened afterwards to important characters such as the Molecule Man and Volcana.
Later Steve Englehart wrote a nominal sequel to the miniseries, ""Secret Wars III"" published in Fantastic Four #319 (October, 1988). This story featured the return of the Beyonder and retconned his origin, revealing him to be an evolved cosmic cube. The story ended when the character developed further into a new being - ""Kosmos"".
In the years since, the covers' of various Marvel Comics have occasionally featured the ""Secret Wars II continues in this issue"" corner box logo as a humerous reference, when their stories touch on the events of the miniseries in some way." - Secret Wars (full title Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars) is the name of a Mattel toy line and a 12-issue Marvel Comics comic book miniseries which were produced between 1984 and 1985.
The series, which was conceived to launch the toy line, was written by Marvel's then Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and primarily pencilled by Mike Zeck.
The story was a large scale fictional crossover, in which many of Marvel's most popular super-hero and super-villain characters were transported to an alien planet and pitted against each other in an all-out battle billed as ""the ultimate clash of good versus evil"".
Although the toy line was discontinued in 1985, the miniseries was an enormous hit for Marvel, breaking sales records for a monthly comic at the time of its release and spawning an almost immediate sequel: Secret Wars II.
""" - Contest of Champions is a 1982 mini-series by Marvel Comics. This was Marvel's first-ever mini-series. This involved Elder of the Universe Grandmaster and a hooded female (eventually revealed to be Death) playing a game for the fate of the Collector. They use various heroes, mostly from other nations, to collect the four pieces of the Golden Globe. If the Grandmaster's team collects the most pieces, the Collector will live again. If Death's team collects the most pieces, the Collector will remain dead.
The Grandmaster's team was: Captain America (USA), Talisman (Australia), Darkstar (USSR), Captain Britain (England), Wolverine (Canada), Defensor (Brazil), Sasquatch (Canada), Daredevil (USA), Peregrine (France), She-Hulk (USA), Thing (USA), and Blitzkrieg (Germany)
Death's team was: Iron Man (USA), Vanguard (USSR), Iron Fist (USA), Shamrock (Ireland), Storm (Kenya), Arabian Knight (Saudi Arabia), Sabra (Israel), Invisible Girl (USA), Angel (USA), Black Panther (Africa), Sunfire (Japan), and Collective Man (China)
Six of these heroes (Blitzkrieg, Collective Man, Defensor, Peregrine, Shamrock, and Talisman) debuted in this mini-series. Other heroes that appeared in the storyline, but took no active part, were:
El Aguila, Ajak, American Eagle, Ant-Man II, Aquarian, Aurora, Beast, Black Bolt, Black Knight III, Black Widow, Blue Shield, Brother Voodoo, Captain Ultra, Captain Universe, Colossus, Crimson Dynamo V, Crystal, Cyclops, Dazzler, Devil-Slayer, Doc Samson, Doctor Druid, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Firebird, Gargoyle II, Gorgon II, Guardsman II, Havok, Hawkeye, Hellcat, Hercules, Hulk, Human Torch, Iceman, Ikaris, Jack of Hearts, Jocasta, Karkas, Karnak, Ka-Zar, Living Mummy, Lockjaw, Machine Man, Madrox, Makkari, Medusa, Mister Fantastic, Mockingbird, Moondragon, Moon Knight, Namorita, Nightcrawler, Nighthawk II, Night Rider IV, Northstar, Paladin, Polaris, Power Man II, Professor X, Quasar III, Quicksilver, Razorback, Red Wolf III, Rom, Scarlet Witch, Sersi, Shaman, Shanna the She-Devil, Shooting Star, Shroud, Silver Surfer, Snowbird, Son of Satan, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Sprite II (Kitty Pryde), Stingray, Sub-Mariner, Tamara Rahn, Texas Twister, Thena, Thor, 3-D Man, Tigra, Torpedo III, Triton, Union Jack III, Ursa Major, Valkyrie III, Vindicator, Vision, Wasp, Werewolf by Night, Whizzer, Wonder Man
At the end of each issue, Marvel catalogued all of the heroes and made summaries of them, leading us to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
An unrelated sequel, Contest of Champions II, was published in 1999.
""" - Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12 issue comic book mini-series produced by DC Comics in 1985 in order to simplify their 50-year-old continuity. The series was written by Marv Wolfman, and illustrated by George P+?rez (pencils/layouts), with Mike DeCarlo, Dick Giordano, and Jerry Ordway (who shared inking/embellishing chores). The series eliminated the concept of the Multiverse in the fictional DC Universe, and depicted the deaths of such long-standing superheroes as Supergirl and The Flash II.
The title of the series was inspired by earlier crossover stories involving the multiple Earths of the Multiverse, such as ""Crisis on Earth-Two"" and ""Crisis on Earth-Three"", but instead of lasting 2-5 issues and involving members from as many superhero teams from as many parallel worlds, it involved virtually every significant character from every parallel universe in DC's history. It has in turn inspired the title of the late-2005 DC crossover series Infinite Crisis.
The series (usually referred to as simply Crisis) was highly successful from a marketing standpoint, generating renewed interest in the company's books, enticing readers with the clich+?d -- but in this case accurate -- promise that ""things will never be the same"". The story itself was rooted firmly in the clich+? of ""superheroes battle to save the world"", but its unprecedented scope and its great attention to both drama and detail satisfied most readers with its story. Along with Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, it contributed to the commercial and creative revitalization of DC Comics, which had been dominated in the market by Marvel Comics through the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Crisis also helped popularize the formula of the line-wide ""crossover"" comic book series (a concept first seen in Marvel Comics' Contest of Champions (1983) and Secret Wars (1984)). Since 1985, superhero publishers such as DC and Marvel have had frequent ""summer crossover"" series designed to tie many of their comic book titles together under a single storyline (and thus sell more comic books)." - Richard Joseph ""Dick"" Giordano (July 20, 1932 - ) is a United States comic book artist and editor. He was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Giordano is probably best-known as an inker, particularly over the pencils of Neal Adams, on an influential late 1960s and early 1970s run at DC Comics that redefined the characters of Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, although he has also pencilled. He is also known as a mentor to an entire line of inkers, including Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob Layton, Steve Mitchell and Mike DeCarlo.
He has been equally as influential as an editor, first making his mark at Charlton Comics in the mid 1960s with such characters as Blue Beetle, The Question and Captain Atom. In 1969 he was hired by DC's then-publisher Carmine Infantino. While none of his titles (such as Bat Lash and Deadman) was a commercial hit, they were critical successes, but by the early 1970s Giordano had left DC, helping to set up Adams' Continuity Studios (which produced comics and commercial art).
In the late 1970s Giordano was lured back to DC by its new publisher, Jenette Kahn. Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981. With Kahn and Paul Levitz, Giordano was an integral part of the DC ""new look"" that spawned successful relaunches of its major characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Justice League, Teen Titans et al) as well as the Vertigo universe (under editor Karen Berger) and the influx of UK talent such as Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Giordano also continued to ink, such as over George Perez's pencils on the 1986 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Giordano went into semi-retirement in the early 1990s, although he does the occasional inking job, and in 2002 was part of the launch of Future Comics (with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton).
Since 2002 he has also drawn several episodes of The Phantom published in Europe and Australia." - Neal Adams (born June 6, 1941) is a comic book artist best known for his superhero stories which have a very naturalistic style of illustration.
He was born in Governors Island, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.
His period of greatest fame and influence in the medium was in the late 1960s and 1970s with the characters Deadman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and, most famously, Batman. His best known collaborator is writer Dennis O'Neil who created noteworthy stories that reestablished Batman's dark brooding nature and experimented with social commentary in the Green Lantern title.
During the 1970s Adams mostly did illustration for paperback publishers and some film work but with the Independent Comic Publishing Boom of the early 1980s he did work for Pacific Comics and other publishers. Adams later started his own company, Continuity Press, which featured artwork by various artists who predominantly imitated their boss's illustration style.
In recent years DC Comics published deluxe hardcover collections of Adams works including:
Green Lantern Green Arrow Collection
Deadman Collection
The Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams - series that aims to reprint every Adams Batman story and cover in three volumes:
Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams Vol 1
Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams Vol 2
Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams Vol 3
Adams has gained notoriety in recent years for his promotion of a theory that the Earth is hollow and is growing." - A young mutant girl named Foxx arrives at the Xavier Institute, chased by hunters, and immediately flirts openly with Gambit. Gambit dreams and fantasizes about Foxx, even as he continues to reject her aggressive advances. Eventually, she reveals herself to be Mystique, and claims that she's trying to get him to sleep with her so he can blow off steam and thus repair his troubled relationship with Rogue. """
- Because he is not an exact clone of Superman, Superboy's abilities differ. His primary power is a limited form of telekinesis that mimics super-strength and flight. He is also able to disassemble objects with a touch. As he's aged, Superboy has manifested a certain amount of non-psychically derived super-strength, but it remains to be seen if Superboy will develop any other attributes that possesses the Man of Steel.
Recently, Superboy has developed heat vision and super-hearing, although he has not learned to fully master these new abilities.
""" - Wonder Girl II is a precocious and outgoing girl named Cassandra ""Cassie"" Sandsmark, the daughter of noted archaeologist Helena Sandsmark and the Greek God Zeus. """
- Speedy II
When Mia Dearden tested positive for H.I.V., she was more determined than ever to do something special with her life. Green Arrow felt he at last owed it to Mia to give her a chance. Mia became sidekick to Green Arrow as Speedy. To complement her training, Mia also joined the Teen Titans.
""" - The Surfer was originally Norrin Radd of the planet Zenn-La.
- Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and archenemy of Superman. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Luthor first appeared in Action Comics #23 (1940). His history has been retconned several times since then, with his current canonical origin being Mark Waid's 2004 miniseries Birthright.
The (usually) bald-headed Luthor has been Superman's main foe for most of the superhero's existence and has unveiled countless plots to destroy him and take over the world. Originally Luthor was a mad scientist but has since been rewritten as a Machiavellian industrialist and white-collar criminal. For a brief period in the early 2000s, he was president of the United States.
Luthor is one of several Superman characters with the initials ""LL,"" including Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Letitia Lerner and Lori Lemaris.
Luthor has been featured in most adaptations of Superman outside comic books. In the film series of the late 1970s and 1980s, Gene Hackman took a comical approach to the character. In Smallville, a retelling of Superman's early years, a young adult Lex is played by Michael Rosenbaum. The role of Lex Luthor will be played by Kevin Spacey in the upcoming movie Superman Returns." - Kandor is the name of a fictional Kryptonian city in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe that was shrunken and stolen by the supervillain, Brainiac.
In his battle with the supervillain, Superman rescued the city and kept it in his Fortress of Solitude while looking for a way to restore it. In return, the Kandorians provided the superhero with a place where he was an honoured guest, various professionals to assist him when asked and even occasionally assisted him in the outside with the Superman Emergency Squad.
Eventually, Superman was able to restore the population's size and they settled on another planet which revolved a red sun. The Kandorians decided to name their new homeworld Rokyn, which is the Kryptonian word for ""gift from God.
Post-Crisis, the bottle city has a somewhat different history, having been created by an alien wizard named Tolos, who trapped representatives of various races (including Valor's uncle) within, in order to possess their bodies. This city is not literally shrunk, but exists in an extra-dimensional space, occasionally connected to the Phantom Zone. Superman has not, as yet, managed to restore it.
Since then, Kandor has undergone many revisions to its history. The city is once again from Krypton (but still populated by non-Kryptonian aliens). The citizens also recall Brainiac stealing their city from Krypton, and not the wizard Tolos. Apparently, a hundred years have passed in the city (while the world outside has aged normally). Because of this, Superman (or the ideal of him) is worshipped as a god in Kandor." - Krypton is a fictional planet. In comic books, it is the birthplace of the superhero Superman.
Named after the chemical element Krypton, the planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for the syndicated daily newspaper strip in 1939 and later brought into the comic books. Krypton no longer exists in the DC Comics universe, as it exploded as a result of highly unstable geological conditions. The entire civilization and race of Krypton perished in the explosion, except for one sole survivor: the baby Kal-El, who was placed in an escape rocket by his father Jor-El and sent to the planet Earth. Kal-El grew up to become Superman. In some versions of the mythos, a few additional survivors, such as Krypto, Supergirl and the criminal inhabitants of the Phantom Zone, were also survivors of the cataclysm." - Doomsday is the name of a fictional supervillain in the Superman comic book series.
Doomsday was artificially created by Bertron, a mad scientist working on Krypton, Superman's home world, though neither he nor his creator were Kryptonian (although Bertron had used a cadre of Kryptonian scientists who assisted him in his lab). Doomsday hated Superman because whenever he looked at a Kryptonian, he saw his creator who had subjected him to death over and over again in order to create the perfect life form. In order to do this, they sent a baby onto the surface of Krypton, where it would be killed by the harsh environment or vicious creatures. Each time, the lifeform's remains were harvested and used again, to create a better, stronger version of the last. Through decades of this process, the being which would eventually become Doomsday was forced to endure the agony of death, thousands upon thousands of times; the memory of these countless deaths drove it to hate all life, and especially Kryptonians." - Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is a cartoonist and a writer.
He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, United States.
He is best known for his work as a comic book writer for DC Comics on such titles as Batman, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Gotham Central (with Greg Rucka) and Sleeper. He has also written Captain America for Marvel Comics." - Joseph Michael Straczynski (born July 17, 1954) is an award-winning American writer/producer of television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is also a playwright, journalist and author of a well-regarded tome on scriptwriting. He is most famous as the creator, executive producer and head writer for the science fiction TV series Babylon 5 and Crusade.
Straczynski wrote most of the Babylon 5 episodes, notably an unbroken 59-episode run including all of the third and fourth seasons. He is also a noted participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1985.
Straczynski's professional name is J. Michael Straczynski, although informally he goes by ""Joe"". In print, and particularly on Usenet, he is often referred to by his initials jms.
Straczynski is a graduate of San Diego State University, having earned degrees in psychology and sociology (with minors in philosophy and literature). While at SDSU, he wrote prolifically for the student newspaper, at times penning so many articles that the paper was jokingly referred to as the ""Daily Joe.
He is a friend and collaborator with speculative fiction author Harlan Ellison, a student and friend of Norman Corwin and an outspoken admirer of the work of Rod Serling.
Straczynski currently resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife, fellow writer Kathryn M. Drennan." - Steve Ditko retired from the mainstream in 1998. Since then, his strictly solo work has been published intermittently by independent publisher and long-time friend, Robin Snyder, who was his editor at Charlton, Archie (where Synder scripted Ditko's plots on a revival of Simon and Kirby's The Fly) and Renegade in the 1980s. The Snyder-published books have included Static, The Missing Man, The Mocker and, most recently, Avenging World (2002), a giant collection of stories and essays spanning 30 years.
Ditko currently resides in New York City. Though a prolific and hard-working artist he is also an intensely private man. Preferring to speak for himself (through both his comics work and numerous essays), he has refused to give interviews since the 1960s." - Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific writer of short stories, novellas, essays and criticism. His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of Star Trek, edited the award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions and served as creative consultant to the science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (1980s version) and Babylon 5.
A great deal of Ellison's career has been spent within the science fiction genre and community. Most of his most famous stories have been published within that genre, and he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. He was also very active in the science fiction community (he was a founder of the Cleveland Science Fiction Society and edited its fanzine as a teenager), and has made appearances at science fiction conventions. However, Ellison is disdainful of the label, explaining that his fiction is closer to surrealist fantasy or magical realism than science fiction." - Aslan is a speaking character in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. A noble lion and the King of Narnia, he appears in all seven books of the series. Throughout the series it is often repeated that he is ""not a tame lion"", since despite his gentle and loving nature, he is powerful and can be dangerous. He takes the role of a Christ-like figure, though he is not an allegorical portrayal of Christ.
In the course of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan is put to death in the place of a traitor, is subsequently resurrected, and makes appearances in the remaining books in the series. For example, he appears as the creator of Narnia in the prequel The Magician's Nephew.
The books also make reference to an Emperor-Over-Sea, whose son Aslan is said to be, further highlighting his Christ-like status. The Emperor-over-the-Sea is similar
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