The History of Superhero Comic Books - part 2

                      By Jamie Coville

@~Continued from last issue

Later on in October, 1939, Marvel Comics #1 came out. A group of
successful superhero veterans from Funnies Inc. contacted
publisher Martin Goodman. The Funnies group told him that they
would present to him a prepared, finished comic book every month,
for a service fee. Among this group was Bill Everett, who created
Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner for this book. Other heroes from this
comic are The Human Torch, created by Carl Burgos, Ka-Zar, The
Angel, and The Masked Raider (who was a Lone Ranger rip-off).

This company would go through three different name changes. The
first was Timely Comics, the second was Atlas, and the third and
present is Marvel Comics.  The Human Torch was re-done as a
teenage member of the Fantastic Four in 1961, but The Original
Human Torch was brought back for a short time in the 80's. The
Angel was re-done as an X-men member, and Ka-Zar still lives on
today, he recently got his own series.  The Shield made his
appearance in Pep Comics #1. The comic hit the stands in January
1940. The Shield was the very first patriotic American hero. His
star spangled costume and fight for America created many
imitators, Captain America being one of them. This comic book was
published by MJL Magazines. This character along with many other
heroes were used by Detective Comics in the 80s and had new
adventures in a 1991 Legends of The Shield book under a !mpact
Comics imprint.

In February of 1940 More Fun #52 came out with a new hero. DC made
a mistake with this new superhero because they made him too
powerful. The Spectre was a police officer that died, and upon
talking to God he was sent back down to Earth as a ghost.
Possessing almost unlimited superpowers, he would turn all the
evil doers into ash. But the character wasn't a big success
because he was quite cold, humorless, and unstoppable. Bullets
would pass right through him, he could walk through walls; he had
no weaknesses. Despite the initial failure, The Spectre was
brought back by DC three times and today has a ongoing series.
Also in February 1940, Whiz Comics #2 came out. This comic had a
character that would cause DC trouble for some time. His name was
Captain Marvel. Some interesting footnotes about this book was
that in Thrill Comics #1 (which was an ashcan - promotional small
comic) had a character called Captain Thunder, but quickly found
out that the name was already taken, so it was changed to Captain
Marvel and the title of the comic changed. This comic was also
supposed to be named 'Flash Comics', but a few days before their
distribution DC put out their own Flash Comics title, featuring
The Flash and Green Lantern.

The very first sidekick came out in April of 1940. His name was
Robin the Boy Wonder. He first appeared in Detective Comics #38.
Batman and Robin would be the best known 'dynamic duo' in comic
books. Robin was important in comic books because he was a hero
that the younger readers could relate to. Because of the
popularity of Robin, other superheroes got their own teen- aged
side kicks. Three different characters have filled the Robin
costume. The first was Dick Grayson, the second was Jason Todd
(who will be talked about later), and the third and current one is
Timothy Drake.

In the Winter of 1940 the very first superhero team formed. It was
called the Justice Society of America. They appeared in All Star
Comics #3. The original members included: The Flash, The Green
Lantern, The Spectre, The Hawkman, Dr. Fate, The Hour-man, The
Sandman, Atom, and Johnny Thunder. All of these characters were
great in their own titles, but readers responded with excitement
to putting them all together. Creating superhero teams is still a
very common thing today.

In 1941, Wonder Woman first appeared in All Star Comics #8.  She
started out as the Justice League Society secretary, but she would
later become the first big name super heroine to go toe to toe
with Superman and Batman. Not only could she battle them on equal
terms, her book would last as long as theirs. During a time when
superheroes were not so popular, Wonder Woman comics, like
Superman and Batman, remained strong.

Captain America made his first appearance in March, 1941. But the
way he appeared was just as exciting as the character.  Captain
America #1 was his first appearance; Captain America was never
tested in another book before receiving his own comic title. This
was unheard of in comics to that date. Comic companies did not go
out and hire a group of people to produce a comic title if they
didn't know the character could sell it. They always tested out
the character in another comic first, and gauged reader reaction
to the character via sales figures. They did it with Superman in
Action Comics #1; it was a year before he got his own book. The
same went for Batman. But Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman
saw the rough sketch of Captain America by Joe Simon and knew
immediately it would sell. So he gave Captain America his own book
right away and was successful with it.

Captain America wasn't like Superman who spoke of "Truth, Justice
and the American way". Superman was an alien from outer space;
Captain America was a "real" American. Also, Captain America was
fighting the Nazis long before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
happened, after which America entered the Second World War. Even
though there were other patriotic heroes in comics, Captain
America was the first one to be really successful with readers.

Also in 1941 Pep Comics #22 came out. Little did people know that
the superheroes on the cover would not be the big attraction.  A
story in the back of the comic about a teenaged boy in a love
triangle named Archie Andrews would become the draw for this book.
Archie Andrews would completely take over this company and keep it
successful to this day. In this issue Archie's friends called him
'Chic'; Archie was modelled roughly around Mickey Rooney's Andy
Hardy character. By 1943 this company, known then as MJL
Magazines, would change its name to Archie Comics.

After WWII, superhero comics began to loose their popularity - but
not because kids didn't like them. It was because other people
didn't like them.

@~Find out why next issue.

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