By 1949, the sun was setting for most of the great super heroes of the Golden Age of Comics. In the postwar period, public tastes had shifted to other genres and subject matter in terms of what was popular in the comic book medium. In particular, horror, crime, western, teen humor and romance comics had … Continue reading The Last Bulletman Story
After Superman had opened the floodgates and showed publishers that there was money to be made in comic books by putting out the adventures of costumed heroes, Fawcett jumped into the field with both feet. They were an established publisher already, and so had staff and connections in place to produce and distribute their new … Continue reading The First Bulletman Story
A while ago, when I ran a piece on the first appearance of Captain Comet, certain fans were upset that I'd labeled it as the first Silver Age super hero. And I get what they're saying--the specific codifications of the different eras of comics are hardly universally agreed-upon, and pieces like that one do make … Continue reading The Last Captain Comet Story
It's a fact of comic book publishing that many of the key names of characters have, over the years, been recycled from earlier sources. So while the Marvel Comics Doctor Strange doesn't really have anything to do with his earlier namesake, and while Steve Ditko and Stan Lee were in no way influenced by this … Continue reading The First Dr. Strange Story
KID KOMICS was a bit of a hybrid production of Timely Comics, at least at the start. Launched in 1943, it split its focus between super hero adventure strips like the cover-spotlighted Captain Wonder and comedy series such as the unfortunate Whitewash and Knuckles, starring two of the Young Allies. Eventually, within a few issues, … Continue reading The First Subbie Story
As I spoke about last week, the early Marvel Comics was relatively consistent with the manner in which it dealt with death. As a general rule, when a character was genuinely killed (as opposed to suffering a "super villain death" at the climax of a story where they fell into the river or some such) … Continue reading The First Marvel Resurrection
If there's one thing that's become apparent over the past 80 years of comic book publishing, it's that death sells. The demise of a beloved character can create great interest in a series, as well as potentially delivering an emotional impact that the audience will remember. The whole job of storytelling is to evoke a … Continue reading The First Marvel Fatality
Just as DC/National Comics and other outfits were still dabbling with super hero characters as the 1940s transitioned into teh 1950s, the same was true of Timely Comics, which would one day become Marvel. The firm has lasting success with three characters throughout the 1940s: the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. But all … Continue reading The First Silver Age Marvel Super Hero
As the 1940s transitioned into the 1950s, the heyday of the typical costumed super hero appeared to be in its twilight. While big marquee characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman continued to post sufficient sales to continue in their respective titles, all across the field, other less fortunate crusaders were hanging up their … Continue reading The First Silver Age DC Super Hero
In 1953, after an absence on the newsstands of four years, Martin Goodman resurrected his company's three big successful super hero characters from the 1940s; Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. By all accounts, this decision to bring back these heroes appears to be in response to the strong reaction the new ADVENTURES … Continue reading The Last Sub-Mariner Story (of the 1950s)
