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DC Comics Timeline

1934

National Allied Publications (the first incarnation of DC) is founded by Major Malcom Wheeler Nicolson

1935

New Fun Comics #1 is published it is the first comic book to contain all original material

1937

Detective Comics #1 is published it is the comic book that would eventually give DC its company name

1938

Action Comics #1 is introduced and with it the first true superhero Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, not only is Superman is introduced but his secret identity Clark Kent is as well also his love interest Lois Lane

1939

Detective Comics #27 introduces the second most iconic superhero Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger along with his secret identity Bruce Wayne as well as his longtime ally Commissioner Jim Gordon

Superman gets his own comic book series in his first issue we learn about his adoptive parents

Detective Comics #33 reveals Batman's tragic origin story

1940

The original Flash Jay Garrick premieres in Flash Comics #1

Captain Marvel premieres in Whiz Comics #2 at this point he was not owned by DC and was considered a rival for Superman

The Spectre first appears in More Fun Comics #52

Superman's most iconic villain Lex Luthor first appears in Action Comics #23

Batman's iconic sidekick Robin appears in Detective Comics #38 as the first superhero sidekick

Batman gets his own comic book series the first issue introduces 2 of his most iconic villains Joker and Catwoman

The original Green Lantern Alan Scott first appears in All American comics #16

The original Atom AL Pratt first appears in All America Comics #19

The Justice Society of America appears as the original superteam for the first time in All Star Comics #3

1941

Green Arrow and Aquaman appear for the first time in More Fun Comics #73

1942

Wonder Woman debuts in Sensation Comics #1 as the first and most iconic superheroine created by William Moulton Marston

1943

Batman's iconic butler Alfred appears in Batman #16

1945

Superman's adventures as Superboy are shown for the first time in More Fun Comics #101

1946

Black Canary appears for the first time in Flash Comics #86

1949

Superboy gets his own comic

1952

The Phantom Stranger premieres in the first issue of his own comic

The first Superman TV show premieres starring George Reeves

1954

Superman and Batman work together for the first time in Worlds Finest Comics #71

1955

Superman's dog Krypto first appears in Adventure Comics #210

The Martian Manhunter first appears in Detective Comics #225

1956

The second version of The Flash Barry Allen is introduced in Showcase #4

1958

The iconic teen superhero team from the future The Legion of Superheroes are introduced in Adventure Comics #247

Superman's iconic alien nemesis Braniac is introduced in Action Comics #242 as well as the bottled Kryptonian city of Kandor

1959

Superman's cousin Kara aka Supergir first appears in Action Comics #252

The second version of Green Lantern Hal Jordan appears in Showcase #22

1960

The Justice League first appears in The Brave and The Bold #28 they will go on to become DC's most iconic superhero team and one of the most famous superhero teams period

The second Green Lantern Hal Jordan gets his own comic book series

1961

In Flash #123 The first and second Flashes meet for the first time revealing that all the golden age adventures and stories took place in an alternative universe (later dubbed Earth 2) thus introducing the DC Multiverse for the first time

1962

Aquaman gets his own comic book series for the first time

1963

The Doom Patrol first appear in My Greatest Adventure #80

The Justice League and The Justice Society team up for the first time during The Crisis of. Earth 1/Earth 2 in Justice League of America #21 and #22 it is the first multiverse story to have the word crisis in the title

1964

The first version of the Teen Titans premieres in The Brave and The Bold #54 it consisted of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl would later join

The villainous Crime Syndicate from Earth 3 first appear in Justice League of America #29

The First Superhero wedding happens in Aquaman #18 between Aquaman and Mera

1966

The Teen Titans get their first comic book

The first Batman TV series premiers Starring Adam west as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin

The Flash Barry Allen and Iris West get married in The Flash #165

1967

Barbra Gordon becomes Batgirl in Detective Comics #359

1970

In Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 the two heroes begin traveling across the country dealing with the social issues of the time

In Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 the iconic villain Darkseid first appears although it's brief

1971

The New Gods of the Fourth World first appear in Forever People #1, Mister Miracle #1 and New Gods #1 all helmed by Jack Kirby, to this day the New Gods remain one of the most important parts of The DC Universe

Ra's al Ghul arguably Batman's most powerful and resourceful recurring nemesis first appears in Batman #232 as does Talia whom Batman has an on again off again relationship with

Green Arrow's sidekick is shockingly revealed to be a heroin addict in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86

1973

Shazam #1 sees Captain Marvel become a DC property for the first time

1976

The Earth 2 version of Supergirl known as Power Girl first appears in All Star Comics #58

DC and their arch rival Marvel crossover for the first time in Superman vs The Amazing Spiderman #1

Wonder Woman's first TV show premieres starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

1978

The first Superman movie comes out starring Christopher Reeves as Superman and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor

1979

DC's first miniseries World of Krypton is published

The tale of how the Justice Society originally disbanded is told in Adventure Comics #466

1980

Batman's first miniseries The untold Legend of Batman is published

A new series called The New Teen Titans is published, created by George Perez and Marv Wolfman the series introduced a new incarnation composed of Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, ex Doom Patrol member Beast Boy as well as new characters Cyborg, Starfire and Raven, it is this version of the team that made it iconic

Superman 2 hits theaters with the same actors reprising their roles as well as newcomers like Terrence Stamp playing General Zod

1981

Detective Comics reaches issue #500

1982

The iconic Legion of Superheroes story The Great Darkness Saga begins in issue #290

1983

Batman forms his own superhero team in Batman and The Outsiders #1

1984

The iconic Teen Titans storyline Judas Contract begins in Tales of the Teen Titans #42 In it Dick Grayson retires from being Robin and becomes Nightwing

1985

In celebration of their 50th and in an attempt to simplify what they felt had become an over complicated mythos, DC published the legendary 12 issue crossover event Crisis on infinite earths, created by George Perez and Marv Wolfman in the story the multiverse was being destoryed by the merciless Anti Monitor and in order to save what was left of creation all the heroes and villains were pulled together from across time and space by his opposite The Monitor, in the end a single universe emerged with a totally revamped history and with only four survivors of the multiverse (Superman and Lois of Earth 2, Alexander Luthor of Earth 3, and Superboy of Earth Prime) to live in a nameless nexus dimension, many well established characters were killed during the event most notably Supergirl who then had her whole history erased, and Barry Allen The Flash whose nephew Wally West having been Kid Flash up until that point took up the mantle, this is considered one of the most important events in DC history as not only was it the first time everything was changed about their universe, not only was it the first the multiverse played a major role in what was going on, but it was the first real time a story was so massive that it was connected to nearly every other title that the company was publishing at the time

1986

Frank Miller seminal and iconic story Batman: The Dark Knight Returns premieres set 50 years in the future this darker version of Batman forever changed the publics view of the hero

Alan Moore's 12 issue series Watchmen is published showing more mature and complex characters and issues it is considered by many to be the greatest comic book of all time

Alan Moore's Superman story Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow takes place in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 showing how Superman's story would have ended if not for Crisis on infinite earths

Man of Steel #1 is published delving into Superman's post Crisis origins

The first post Crisis crossover Legends premieres in this story the evil new god Godfrey under orders from Darkseid tries to turn the population against all Superheroes

1987

Batman #404 kicks off Frank Miller's Batman Year One storyline that delves into the Dark Knights post Crisis origins

The post Crisis version of Wonder Woman appears in Wonder Woman #1

A new version of The Justice League appears in Justice League #1 this incarnation will later be known as the Justice League International

The Suicide Squad appears for the first time in the first issue of their own series

The post Crisis version of the second Robin Jason Todd first appears in Batman #408

1988

The crossover event Millennium happens in which the robotic manhunters try to stop the Guardians of the universe and the Zamarons from evolving a selected group of individuals

The grim and iconic story The Killing Joke is published in which Joker shoots and paralyzes

Barbra Gordon

The crossover event Invasion happens in which the metagene is first introduced

The second Robin Jason Todd is killed by the Joker in the historic Death in the Family storyline after his death is voted on by the fans

1989

Neil Gaiman's seminal and iconic Sandman premieres, focusing on the nigh omnipotent Dream of The Endless, the series has things like imaginative lands and characters, appearances of other DC characters (some revamped for the series) and beings from classic religions, mythologies and folklore

Grant Morrison's surreal Batman graphic novel Batman: Arkham Asylum premieres

Batman #442 kicks off the lonely place of dying storyline that introduces Tim Darke and makes him the third Robin

Tim Burton's Batman hits theaters starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as Joker

1991

The first Robin miniseries premieres

The crossover event Armageddon 2001 takes place, in this story as dystopia future is ruled by a superhero turned dictator known as Monarch, the hero known as Waverider goes back in time to prevent this future, many potential futures are shown in this event

The crossover event War of Gods happens in which the Greek and Roman gods make war with each other

1992

Superman seemingly dies in the Death of Superman storyline in Superman #75 the issue would become one of the best selling comic books of all time

Tim Burton's second Batman movie comes out, Michael Keaton plays Batman once again Michelle Pififer plays Catwoman and Danny Devito plays Penguin

The legendary and iconic Batman the animated series comes out completely changing how superhero cartoons are done as well as being the first cartoon of the DC animated universe

Harley Quinn first appears in the Batman episode Jokers Favor she will later go on to become one of DC's biggest characters

1993

The villainous Bane breaks Batman's back during the Knigntfall story in Batman #492 temporarily putting him out of action

The Reign of The Supermen story kicks off in The Adventures of Superman #500 introducing the new hero Steel, a new Superboy who's a clone of Superman, the mysterious Eradicator and the villainous Cyborg Superman

Superman officially returns in Superman #82 to stop Cyborg and the alien warlord Mongul in the process however Green Lanterns hometown of Coast City is destroyed

DC launches the imprint Vertigo the imprint would focus on mature and original stories

The Batman animated series based movie Mask of The Phantasm briefly hits theaters before coming to video it is considered by many to be the best animated Batman movie ever

1994

Driven by the loss of his city Green Lantern Hal Jordan goes on the warpath killing many of his fellow Green Lanterns, The Guardians of the universe as well as absorbing the power of the central Green Lantern power battery he then takes the name Parallax, the last surviving guardian Ganthet chooses Kyle Rayner as the new Green Lantern in the Emerald Twilight story arc starting in Green Lantern #48

Bruce Wayne returns as Batman in Batman #509

The crossover event Zero Hour commences in which Parllax and Extant (formerly Monarch) try to remake the universe by the end of the event several changes are made to the continuity including a complete reboot of the Legion of Superheroes

1995

The Crossover event Underworld Unleashed happens in which the devil Neron convinces many villains (and even some of the heroes) into giving him their souls in exchange for their hearts desires

Batman Forever hits theaters this time directed by Joel Schumacher the film has a lighter tone and stars Val Kilmer as Batman, Chris O'Donnell as Robin Jim Carrey as The Riddler and Tommy Lee Joans as Two Face

1996

The limited series DC vs Marvel comes out in the series the characters of both universes are pitted against each other by a pair of cosmic beings known as The Brothers

The iconic miniseries Kingdom Come is released written by Mark Waid and beautifully illustrated by Alex Ross the story takes place in another universe where Superman and the other heroes have retired and a new generation of violent amoral heroes has replaced them

The crossover event Final Night happens in which the sun goes out by the end Parallax gives his life to reignite it

Superman and Lois are finally married in Superman The Wedding Album

Superman The Animated Series as the second show set in the DCAU

1997

Grant Morrison pens a new incarnation of the Justice League composed of 7 members in JLA #1

The heroes powers are altered by the godwave in the crossover event Genesis

The second Joel Schumacher Batman movie Batman and Robin comes out Chris O'Donnell plays Robin again while this time Batman is played by George Clooney also Batgirl is played by Alicia Silverstone Poison Ivy is played by Uma Thurman and Mister Freeze is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is considered one of the worst comic book movies of all time

1998

The Justice League's post Crisis origin is told in JLA Year One

A new superteam is introduced in Young Justice #1 composed of Robin, Superboy and the speedster Impulse the team will later grow to include other members such as the second Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark

Grant Morrison pens the event DC One Million that takes place partially in the present and partially in the 853rd century

1999

The Kingdom Come sequel known as The Kingdom comes out and introduces the on again off again concept known as Hypertime

The original Titans reunite for a new series

A new Justice Society series begins written by Geoff Johns

The crossover event Day of Judgement is published in which the fallen angel Asmodel takes control of The Spectre and brings literal Hell to Earth, by the end of the even the spirit of Hal Jordan becomes the new Spectre

The third DCAU animated series Batman Beyond premieres, taking place in 2039 the show introduces Terry McGinnis as the new Batman being mentored by an elderly and retired Bruce Wayne

2000

The fourth DCAU show Static Shock premieres it is the first show to star a black superhero

2001

Lex Luthor becomes president in Superman: Lex 2000

The crossover Our Worlds at War takes place in which the galaxy fights against the primordial entity Imperiex, by the end several heroes are killed most notably Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta

The Superman prequel show Smallville premieres

The fifth DCAU series Justice League premieres

2002

The beloved Batman storyline Hush begins in Batman #608 in which a mysterious new villain enacts an elaborate plan to take Batman down during the story Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman

2003

The 3 issue miniseries Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day is published in which the arrival of a android from the future causes a series of events that results in the death of the original Wonder Girl Donna Troy after which both teams disband

A new Teen Titans series written by Geoff Johns premieres introducing a new team consisting of Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, Robin, Superboy, Cassie Sandsmark's Wonder Girl and Impulse (who later becomes the second Kid Flash)

The last DC/Marvel crossover story JLA/Avengers is published in which both teams work together to stop the universe destroying mad scientist Krona

A new Superman/Batman series is published, in the first arc Lex Luthor is stripped of his presidency and disappears after trying to use a kryptonite asteroid to turn the population against Superman

The first Teen Titans animated series with a team consisting of Raven Robin Starfire Cyborg and Beast Boy it is one of the few superhero shows to be influenced by anime

2004

A post Crisis version of Kara Zor El is finally introduced in Superman/Batman #8 she becomes the new Supergirl

The seven issue event series Identity Crisis is published in which the Elongated Man's wife Sue is murdered during the investigation several Dark secrets about the Justice League are revealed

The 4 issue series Green Lantern Rebirth is published in which Hal Jordan breaks free of the Spectre and is resurrected to stop Parallax who is revealed to be a yellow fear causing entity that possessed Jordan and manipulated him into becoming a villain at the end of the series the Guardians of the universe return and start to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps

The sixth and final DCAU show Justice League Unlimited premiers

A new Batman cartoon simply called The Batman premieres unlike its predecessor it does not take place in the dcau

2005

a new version. Of the Red Hood is introduced in Batman it is later revealed to be a resurrected Jason Todd

Grant Morrison's meta series Seven Soldiers is published, bookended by two one shots and consisting of 7 miniseries 7 heroes must fight against the Invasion of the sheeda

The Infinite Crisis storyline begins in the one shot Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1 in which Blue Beetle investigates several mysterious happenings in the DCU at the end he's murdered by Maxwell Lord who is revealed to be the leader of Checkmate and wants to kill all super powered individuals

In the Countdown spinoff miniseries Day of Vengance a group of mystical heroes gather to stop a rogue Spectre from destroying all magic

In the Countdown spinoff miniseries Rann/Thanagar war nearly all space faring heroes are embroiled in a war between the two planets

DC Special The Return of Donna Troy sees the resurrection of the titular heroine as well as the unveiling of DC's new logo

In the Countdown tie in miniseries Villains United a group of villains known as The Six are gathered to fight against Luthor's society of villains

In the Countdown tie in miniseries OMAC Project Maxwell Lord tries to use Batman's secret satellite known as Brother Eye to kill all super powered beings

In a tie in to Omac Lord gets control of Superman and Wonder Woman ends up having to kill Lord to free him

The events of the year culminate in the seven issue event series Infinite Crisis, acting as the first true sequel to Crisis on infinite earths the survivors of the original multiverse return out of disgust for what the world and its heroes have become later it is revealed that Alexander Luthor and Superboy Prime are revealed to be the ones behind all the events started in Countdown and briefly bring back the multiverse in an attempt to create the perfect reality before being stopped by the heroes like the crisis before it many established characters are killed most notably Superboy by the end Superboy Prime is the last survivor of the original multiverse and is now a full villain having been imprisoned by the Green Lantern Corps

Batman Begins hits theaters directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman

2006

Grant Morrison pens the 12 issue series All Star Superman many consider it the best Superman story ever made

All DC titles jump one year from the events of Infinite Crisis

The cosmic Monitor race is introduced in the one shot Brave New World

DC's first year long weekly series 52 is published, written by Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid and Greg Rucka as it fillis in the gap between Infinite Crisis and the one year jump the series tells several stories focused on lesser known heroes at the end it is revealed that the events of Infinite Crisis caused a new multiverse of 52 universes to be born

Grant Morrison begins their run on Batman starting with Batman #655 in the first story arc Batman and Talia's son Damian is introduced

2007

The six issue miniseries Amazons Attack is published in which Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta is resurrected

The Flash Bart Allen (formerly Impulse and then Kid Flash) is killed in the last issue of his series

DC's second year long weekly series Countdown to Final Crisis is published like 52 it features several stories this time however it explores recent facets of DC's cosmology such as the Monitor race and the new multiverse

The Sinestro Corps is introduced in the one-shot Green Lantern: Sinestro Corp Special written by Geoff Johns, powered by yellow colored fear the Corps is lead by Hal Jordan's nemesis Sinestro and a resurrected Anti Monitor, as well a joined by Parallax and Superboy Prime, The Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps fight in a war that spans all Green Lantern titles at the end the emotional spectrum is revealed and the blackest night is foretold

In the Countdown tie in Death of the New Gods the celestial race is being slaughtered by a mysterious assailant

DC starts releasing direct to home animated movies aimed at an older audience the first one is Superman: Doomsday

2008

The Batman event Batman RIP begins in Batman #676 written by Grant Morrison Batman and his allies fight against the mysterious yet malicious Dr. Hurt

The seven issue event series Final Crisis is published, written by Grant Morrison, the story sees the multiverse assaulted by Darkseid and Mandrak The Dark Monitor, in this event both Martian Manhunter and Batman are killed (though at the end it's revealed Batman was just sent back in time) however Barry Allen The second Flash is resurrected

Grant Morrison pens the two issue Final Crisis tie in Superman Beyond in which the multiverse is further explored and the origin of the Monitor race is revealed introducing Monitor Mind the Overvoid is introduced

Geoff Johns pens the five issue miniseries Final Crisis Legion of 3 world's in which Superman helps The Legion of Superheroes fight against the United force of their enemies led by Superboy Prime in the end Bart Allen is resurrected as Kid Flash and Superboy is resurrected as well

Christopher Nolan's second Batman film The Dark Knight hits theaters Christian Bale reprises his role as Batman, Aaron Eckhart plays Two Face and Heath Ledger gives a legendary performance as Joker winning a posthumous Oscar in the process, the film by many to be the best Superhero movie of all time

Batman The Brave and The Bold premieres unlike previous Batman cartoons this one is lighter and takes inspiration from the silver age of comics

Animated movies released this year: Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight

2009

Geoff Johns pens the six issue Flash Rebirth series fully reintegrating Barry Allen back into the DCU the series makes major changes to both Barry's history and the origins of the Speed Force (the source of all speedsters powers)

Grant Morrison continues their Batman run with the Batman and Robin series having Dick Grayson as the new Batman and Damian as the new Robin

Geoff Johns pens the 8 issue series Blackest Night in which the heroes of Earth as well as the seven colored Corps of the emotional spectrum take on the Black Lantern Corps, lead by the dark cosmic entity Nekron and composed of the reanimated corpses of fallen heroes and villains by the end of the event 12 characters are resurrected

Geoff Johns pens the miniseries Superman Secret Origin in which Superman's post infinite Crisis beginnings are explored

A movie adaptation of Watchmen hits theaters this year directed by Zack Snyder

Animated movies released this year: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

2010

The weekly 24 issue miniseries Brightest Day is published written by Geoff Johns The series follows several of those who were resurrected during Blackest Night as well as their purpose

Grant Morrison's miniseries Return of Bruce Wayne comes out in which Bruce travels through time finally arriving in the present and becoming Batman once again

Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated #1 comes out in which Batman forms a global team to fight the terrorist organization Leviathan

Animated movies released this year: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

2011

-The first live action Green Lantern film is released in theaters it stars Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern

-In response to declining sales and interest DC uses the mini series Flashpoint to reboot it’s continuity, the new continuity is called The New 52

-A new Justice League series begins written by Geoff Johns the first arc explores The New 52 origin of the team and makes Cyborg a founding member

A new Batman series begins, written by Scott Snyder the first arc sees Batman go against the mysterious Court of Owls

-The animated series Young Justice (based on the comic of the same name) premiers

-Animated movies released this year: All Star Superman, Green Lantern-Emerald Knights, Batman Year One

2012

-Green Lantern the animated series premiers and is aired on Saturday mornings with Young Justice and one minute shorts starring various DC characters on Cartoon Network, this is referred to as DC Nation

-DC releases a new company logo

-DC releases Before Watchmen a group of miniseries prequels to the iconic 1986 story

-DC creates a series of ongoing comics that are first available digitally

-Christopher Nolan's final Batman Film The Dark Knight Rises premieres with Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane

-The New 52 version of Earth 2 is introduced in its own series

-Simon Baz becomes the first Muslim Green Lantern

-Arrow premieres on the CW starring Stephen Amell as Green Arrow

-Animated movies released this year: Justice league:Doom, Superman vs The Elite, The Dark Knight Returns Part One

2013

-75th anniversary of Superman

-Teen Titans Go (a comedic parody of the 2003 series) premiers

-Beware The Batman premieres, it is the first Batman animated series to be done in cgi

-Man of Steel premieres starring Henry Cavil as Superman, it is the first movie to be set in the DC cinematic universe

-The New 52 has its first line wide crossover entitled Forever Evil written by Geoff Johns in which the heroes and villains of the DCU fight against The Crime Syndicate of Earth 3

-Animated movies released this year: Dark Knight Returns part 2, Superman Unbound, Flashpoint paradox (after this movie, nearly all animated movies take place in the same continuity)

2014

-75th anniversary of Batman

-Batman Eternal, a year long weekly series reintegrates Stephanie Brown into The New 52

-Futures End, a year long weekly series integrates Terry McGinnis into The New 52

-The year long weekly series Earth 2: Worlds End sees Darkseid go to war with Earth 2

-The highly anticipated miniseries Multiversity premiers exploring The DC Multiverse written by Grant Morrison

-In the aftermath of Forever Evil Lex Luthor not only joins the Justice league for the first time but discovers Batman is Bruce Wayne

-Jessica Cruz first appears in Justice league, she will become the first Hispanic Green Lantern

-The Flash premieres on the CW starring Grant Gustin as The Flash, it takes place in the same continuity as Arrow

-Constantine premieres on NBC

-Gotham premieres on Fox

-Animated movies released this year: Jla Adventures: Trapped in Time, Justice league War, Son of Batman, Batman: Assault on Arkham

2015

-The month long event Convergence takes place, it not only reintegrates the pre-New 52 Superman and Lois back into the DCU, but also revives every previously destroyed universe and continuity

-Superman and Lois' son Jonathan is introduced in Superman:Lois and Clark

-DCs two most iconic cosmic villains Darkseid and The Anti-Monitor fight in the Justice League story Darkseid War

-A new line of ongoing series that reimagine various Hanna Barbera characters is released

-DC moves it’s publishing office from New York to Burbank

-The 24 issue weeklong series Batman and Robin reintegrates Cassandra Cain in to the New 52

-A new Supergirl show premieres on CBS it will later be moved to CW and will become part of the Arrowverse continuity

-The show Izombie (based on the vertigo comic) premiers on the cw

-The first incarnation of DC Superhero girls premieres as a YouTube series

-Animated movies released this year: Justice league throne of Atlantis, Batman VS Robin, Batman Unlimited Animal Instincts, Justice league Gods and monsters, Batman unlimited monster mayhem

2016

-DC initiates it's third major reboot this time called DC Rebirth which aims to merge the pre and post Flashpoint continuties at the end of the one shot (written by Geoff Johns) that starts it all it is revealed that the new 52 was caused by Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan, a host of new and revamped titles are also introduced

-DC gets a new logo

-Legends of Tomorrow premieres as the fourth show to be set in the Arrowverse continuity

-The show Lucifer premieres (very loosely based on the vertigo title) on Fox (later moves to Netflix)

-Preacher (based on the Vertigo title) premiers on AMC

-Justice League Action premieres on Cartoon Network

-Batman and Superman meet for the first time on the big screen in Dawn for Justice

-Suicide Squad gets its first major motion picture

-Animated movies released this year: Batman The Killing Joke, Batman Return of The Caped Crusaders, DC Superhero girls Superhero high, Justice league vs Teen Titans, DC Superhero girls Hero of the year, Batman unlimited Mechs VS Mutants

2017

Dark Nights Metal event premieres, written by Scott Snyder this event introduces the dark multiverse as well as the demon Barbatos who dwells there also introduced is The Batman Who Laughs a dark multiverse being that's a combination of Batman and the Joker it is also the only crossover event to have Dream of the Endless as one of the characters

The 12 issue bookend to DC Rebirth Doomsday Clock premieres, written by Geoff Johns it is the first crossover between the DC and Watchmen universes and effectively completes the reboot it also introduces a new explanation for the DCU called The metaverse

Both Wonder Woman and The Justice League make their silver screen debuts this year

Animated movies released this year: Justice League Dark, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, DC Superhero girls intergalactic games, Batman and Harley Quinn, Batman VS Two Face

2018

A new Justice League series comes out written by Scott Snyder it deals with the aftermath of Metal as well as virtually revamping DC's cosmology the most notable new character to appear is the nigh omnipotent Perpetua

The critically panned miniseries Heroes in Crisis premieres in which the heroes try to solve the murders of a bunch of other heroes

The DC Imprints Black Label and Sandman Universe begin this year, Sandman Universe features series starring characters from the beloved Neil Gaiman series while Black Label tells out of continuity stories aimed towards adults

Black Lightning premieres on the CW as the latest show to be part of the Arrowverse

Titans premieres on streaming as both the first live action Teen Titans show and the first one aimed at adults

The first Aquaman movie premieres in theaters

Teen Titans Go to the movies premieres as the first Teen Titans movie to premiere in theaters

Batman Ninja premieres as the first DC animated movie to be made in Japan

Animated movies released this year: Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, The Death of Superman, DC Super Hero Girls: Legends of Atlantis

2019

Iconic Batman character Alfred Pennyworth is killed by the villain Bane in Batman #77

Batwoman premiers on the CW as part of the Arrowverse

Watchmen premieres on HBO as a sequel to the comic

Young Justice returns on streaming

The very first show centered on the Doom Patrol premieres on streaming

A new DC Superhero girls show premieres on Cartoon Network this one set in a different universe than the previous incarnation

Harley Quinn gets her own show on streaming it is the first DC Animated series aimed towards adults

Shazam's first movie comes out this year

Joker comes out this year and wins 2 Oscars

The original animated Teen Titans return in the movie Teen Titans Go vs Teen Titans

The Arrowverse is rebooted in the massive CW crossover Crisis on infinite earths

Animated movies released this year: Reign of the Supermen, Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman: Hush, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

2020

The sequel to Dark Nights Metal premieres this year entitled Dark Nights Death Metal, in this event the heroes are pitted against Perpetua and The Batman Who Laughs (now called The Darkest Knight), at the end all past events are declared canon and DC is given an omniverse for the first time in its history

Long running DC imprint Vertigo is ended

Batman loses his fortune in The Joker War story

Stargirl premieres on streaming (later moved to the CW)

Harley Quinn and The Birds of prey costar in their first movie

Wonder Woman gets her second movie Wonder Woman 1984

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War premiers as the final move set in the shared universe started in Flashpoint paradox by the end of the movie the continuity is rebooted

Superman: Man of Tomorrow premieres as the first movie set in the new continuity

Animated movies released this year: Superman: Red Son, Batman: Death in the Family

2021

At the beginning of the year a two month line wide event called Future State happens showing possible futures of the DCU

In the aftermath of Death Metal a new publishing initiative is started called Infinite Frontier is started introducing a bunch of new and revamped titles it is also the name of a six issue miniseries written Josh Williamson that acts as the first part of a three act meta story

Superman and Lois premiers on the CW

An extended 4 hour cut of the Justice League movie called the Snyder Cut premieres on streaming it is considered to be much better than the theatrical cut

The 5 issue miniseries Justice League Incarnate premieres as the second act of the meta story it also acts as pesudo sequel to Multiversity it is also written by Josh Williamson

The second Suicide Squad movie premiers in theaters it is considered to be much better than the first one

Animated movies released this year: Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Justice Society: World War II, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two, Injustice

2022

DC's parent company Warner Media merges with Discovery to create Warner Discovery

Dark Crisis premieres not only as the third and final act in the meta story written by Joshua Willamson but as the first major crossover event to have the word crisis in the title in 14 years, in this story the Justice League is thought dead and the remaining heroes must fight against Pariah and The Great Darkness, by the end of the story the infinite pre crisis on infinite earths multiverse is restored and the Justice League disassembles promoting the Titans to the premiere super team, Amanda Waller also begins working with a mysterious organization known as The Light in a plan to kill all super powered beings on earth

A sequel to Flashpoint entitled Flashpoint Beyond premieres organizing all of DC's cosmological structures (including the omniverse) into one unified whole called The Divine Continuum which is categorized nto 2 parts (space and time) by the end of the miniseries 13 lost original golden age characters are introduced to the DC Universe

The New Golden age one shot comes out picking up where Flashpoint Beyond left off and doing things such as giving the back story of all but one of the 13 new characters, introducing a new version of the Helena Wayne Huntress, and setting up the first Justice Society title in over a decade as well as a new Stargirl miniseries (as well as others)

A new Peacemaker show premieres as a Spin off of the last Suicide Squad movie

Neil Gaiman's Sandman gets an adaptation on Netflix

The preschool show Batwheels premieres on Cartoon Network

The Batman premieres in theaters with Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader

Black Adam gets his own theatrical movie

The animated DC League of Super pets hits theaters

DC Superhero girls ends it runs with a crossover film entitled Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse

Animated movies released this year: Catwoman: Hunted, Green Lantern: Beware My Power, Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons

2023

In the aftermath of a fight between Batman, Robin and a demon Lazaruz chemicals rain down on the earth affecting everyone especially those with super powers this is the Lazarus Planet event

The Dawn of DC publishing event happens unlike previous publishing events new titles will be rolled out across the year instead of all at once

The Titans start operating out of Bludhaven in a new series

The 2 month line wide event Knight Terrors happens in which the new villain Insomnia traps nearly everyone in their nightmares

My Adventures with Superman premieres on Adult Swim as well as streaming

The Flash gets his own theatrically released movie

Blue Beetle gets his first movie that also acts as the first movie to star a Latino character

#dc comics #dc universe #superman #batman #wonder woman #the flash #green lantern #justice league #teen titans #comic books #superheroes

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daydreamerdrew · 1 year

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Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Captain America (2005) #1-10

These issues were published across November 2004 to September 2005, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Ed Brubaker. Issues #1-6 were primarily drawn by Steve Epting with some flashback/dream scenes being drawn by Michael Lark. Issue #8 was mostly drawn by Steve Epting, though Mike Perkins did some of the inking. Issue #9 was drawn by Michael Lark. Issues #7 and #10 were interlude issues, the first being about Jack Monroe and the second a tie-in to the House of M event, and both were penciled by John Paul Leon. John Paul Leon inked issue #7 himself and issue #10 was half inked by Jesse Delperdang with John Paul Leon and half finished by Mike Perkins. Issues #1-9 were colored by Frank D’Armata and issue #10 was colored by Matt Milla.

I’m finding this series so far to be really well-executed. This is the book that first established that Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s WWII kid sidekick, was still alive and had been made into the assassin the Winter Soldier. I know that when the Captain America: Winter Soldier movie came out I saw side-by-side gifsets of the “Who the hell is Bucky?” scene next to the panels of that line and in that movie it’s a sudden reveal that Bucky’s alive when Steve knocks off his mask in a fight and recognizes his face, so that’s what I was expecting here. So I was really surprised when Steve gets told that it’s suspected that the Winter Soldier is Bucky before Steve ever sees him. So far Steve has been really insistent that the Winter Soldier cannot possibly be Bucky while also being really desperate to figure out who the Winter Soldier is, which makes me think that he does actually know it’s Bucky deep down but doesn’t want to admit it.

I had really liked Steve and Bucky’s charming adult hero and kid sidekick dynamic in Captain America Comics (1941) #1, but I’m also really enjoying how Bucky is presented here: “The official story said he was a symbol to counter the rise of the Hitler youth… And there was some truth to that. But like all things in war, there was a darker truth underneath. Bucky didn’t the things I couldn’t. I was the icon. I wore the flag… But while I gave speeches to the troops in the trenches… He was doing what he’d been trained to do… And he was highly trained. He wouldn’t have been out there with us if he wasn’t.”

Also, part of the Cosmic Cube’s role in this story so far is that it’s being used to minorly mess with Steve’s mind. He had a dream of Bucky being fatally injured during the war in a way that never actually happened, but he’s also accessed memories he believes are real of being forced to watch Zemo torture Bucky before the rocket explosion that had Steve and Bucky both reported dead. I believe I’ve heard before that Steve eventually uses the Cosmic Cube himself to help Bucky regain his own memories and break free from the brainwashing he’s been subjected to that made him the Winter Soldier. When I watched the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon as a kid my favorite character was Captain America and in that show it wasn’t known by the characters whether or not the Cosmic Cube, which is said to grant the wishes of whoever touches it, actually worked and when Steve touches the Cube it seems like nothing happened. He’s asked what he would have changed if it actually worked and he, lying, says that he wouldn’t change a thing. Immediately after this the scene of the rocket explosion from Captain America’s backstory episode is played again but this time there’s an added shot of Bucky opening his eyes in the water, implying that he didn’t survive the explosion and then go on to be made into the Winter Soldier until Steve changed history with the Cosmic Cube. That Bucky was still alive in the present day was later suggested before the Winter Soldier reveal when Steve is sent to the Asgardian afterworld and is confronted by the spirits of his fellow soldiers and realizes that Bucky isn’t among them.

Iron Man (1968) #86-89

In this batch of Iron Man issues I went from February 1976 to May 1976, according to the Marvel Wiki. Issues #86-87 were written by Bill Mantlo and issues #88-89 were written by Archie Goodwin. All were penciled by George Tuska and inked by Vince Colletta.

In issue #86 Pepper was really angry with Tony, blaming him for Happy getting hurt when he was pretending to be Iron Man to help protect Tony’s secret identity and wondering “whether it’s finally all over or whether it will keep happening again and again!” But then when she realizes that Tony is in danger, she chooses to follow him into that dangerous environment to give him crucial information, thinking, “No matter how I feel about him- Tony’s got to be warned of what he’s up against!” In issue #87, when she mistakenly believes that Tony was killed, she thinks, “Now I understand why Happy was willing to sacrifice himself for Tony! I understand- but now it’s too late!” When Tony is revived he tells her, “I chose this life- the constant heroics- the danger. You and Happy- there’s no reason for either of you to lay your lives on the line, or to fight my battles!” But Pepper says, “Except one, Tony! The fact that we love you- and if you’re willing to face anything for us- the least we can do is face some things- the things we’re able- for you!” However, in issue #88 Pepper reveals to Tony that she and Happy are moving away and won’t be coming back to Stark International, raising the question, “How long would it be before some danger threatened us… some circumstances made Happy take your place again as Iron Man or become the Freak again…?” She starts, “That ex-pug of mine and I respect and love you too much not to get involved if we’re there when trouble threatens. That’s why-” And Tony finishes, “The only answer is for you not to be there.”

Fawcett Comics:

the Captain Marvel stories in Whiz Comics (1940) #72 and Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #55-57

In this batch of 13 classic Captain Marvel stories I read the Captain Marvel appearances published in March 1946, according to the issue cover dates. These stories ranged from 7 to 12 pages.

The story “Captain Marvel Fights the Gorgon’s Head” (written by Bill Woolfolk; possibly drawn by Pete Constanza) in Captain Marvel Adventures #55 featured Professor Edgewise Smith, who I believe last appeared Captain Marvel Adventures #17 in November 1942. Also, Station Whiz was preparing to expand into television in Captain Marvel Adventures #54 and that was depicted casually for the first time in this story.

#comics read this past week #my posts

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sunsoakedhighhopes · 1 year

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All Winners #1 (1941) - The Case of the Hollow Men

I promise I’m not going to do a full write up for every single case, just the ones that I find fun or interesting.

So, in June of 1941, Timely Comics (the precursor to Marvel comics, yes Captain America is older than Marvel) started releasing a line of comics called All Winners that was basically a collection of stories from each of their biggest heroes. The first issue contained stories for The Human Torch, Black Marvel, Captain America, Sub Mariner, and The Angel. They were released semi-sporadically, and there were a total of fourteen issues released.

I did really enjoy Steve’s case in this. It’s definitely not fun, but I did think it was interesting. This is the first case where we’ve had some comic book science happening, and it’s actually quite dark, I think.

There’s a lot of death in these early comics, like, there will be a single panel and it will just say “the villain did x, killing thousands of people”. And I guess, coming from a time of war when thousands of people were dying every day this seemed reasonable. But this issue felt different to me, and I realize that I’m looking at it through a modern lens, but I want to talk a bit about why I think this was so dark compared to the rest and why I think it may have been done intentionally.

Part of this is because they put a face to the literal hundreds of people dying, and part because they go out of their way to show that these people are part of a vulnerable population.

Also, on a character note, both issues released in June 1941 (this and Captain America issue #4) show Steve giving money to a beggar with no very little hesitation. In this issue, the beggar asks him for money to buy a cup of coffee, and in CA, the beggar is sitting on the street, and Steve gives him money without being asked.

Also I find it funny that fic writers tie themselves into knots to get Steve to smoke in their fics by saying he smoked asthma cigarettes (which don’t have tobacco) but in the comics, this man is like, literally never seen without a pipe in his mouth.

The reason for this is, I suspect, that the vast majority of pre-serum Steve canon comes from after he was resurrected in the 1960s. Because even when they refer to him as “unhealthy” in issue #1, unhealthy seems to simply mean skinny. He’s taller than Dr. Rosenstein (Erskine in the MCU). In fact, I don’t think the serum changes his height at all, it really just gives him muscles. There also has been no mention of disabilities or illness. I mean, we basically no nothing about pre-serum Steve at this point.

Okay, so the plot of this case is that some Nazi scientist has found a way to create hoards of unkillable zombies, and he uses these zombies to take out infrastructure around the tri-state area. Military infrastructure, but also just regular infrastructure like bridges.

Unfortunately for Steve, the shipyard where he is assigned overnight guard duty is attacked by one on these zombie hoards.

Note Bucky’s use of the words Bowery Bums. The Bowery was a low income area of New York where a lot of low quality tenement housing was built to house the influx of immigrants moving to the city. It’s also where Steve and Bucky were earlier in the day. Bowery Bums were essentially homeless men, though not necessarily unemployed.

Steve and several other soldiers are unable to hold back the hoard of zombies, as they are “unkillable” and bullets don’t affect them, so the zombies manage to set fire to one of the ships that Steve is supposed to be guarding.

Before they can burn down another one, Steve and Bucky change into their uniforms (I like the implication that Steve is just wearing his uniform under his clothes at all times) and rush the zombies off the pier into the water, where they all drown.

Here’s where it starts to get dark…

Yep. Steve recognizes one of the zombies as the man he gave money to for coffee earlier in the day.

Steve returns to base where he gets in trouble for “letting” the zombies burn down the boat. This time he’s punished by having to shine boots.

Shining boots gives Steve the idea to go undercover in The Bowery as shoe shiners.

Bucky does not approve.

Not gonna lie, I kinda dig Steve’s bum look.

A flop house was not exactly a shelter. You had to pay rent to stay there, but it was cheap, not very nice, and you paid by the night.

The Lord of Death, our Nazi scientist, takes Steve and Bucky to his lab where he explains that he takes these men, drains them of their blood, then fills them with “Dy-namo fluid” instead, which turns them into mindless, violent, unkillable zombies for twenty-four hours.

I think this is really dark, because Steve killed all these men the night before. They drowned, and now we’re told they would have gone back to normal the next day (I assume, or that’s the implication that I took away). We know they drowned, because the Lord of Death talks about how easy they are to replace after Captain America “interfered”.

I just feel like the first really dark storyline targeting a group of vulnerable people is intentional. That they were turned into weapons for the enemy against their will reminds me of the line from LOTR where Faramir says “The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is, where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home. If he would not rather have stayed there in peace. War will make corpses of us all.”

I’m also reminded of the horrible South Park episode where they made homeless people out to be mindless zombies asking for money. Idk, something something, social commentary on the way we view the homeless.

Anyway, back at camp, Steve is still shining boots.

Clearly Steve and Bucky think they’re very funny with this.

#marvel #marvel comics #steve rogers #captain america #marvel 616

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marvel911 · 1 year

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Exploring Marvel Comics from the Early 2000s

In 2002, an issue of Wizard Magazine re-ignited my interest in superhero comics. It was perfect timing.

I was in 7th grade, young enough to still be unabashedly enthralled by superheroes, and just becoming old enough to understand darker stories and more ambitious themes. (My first read of Watchmen would come months later, borrowed from the public library and hidden under the bed from my parents.)

Marvel Comics, meanwhile, was in the midst of the Ultimate Marvel project, a sort of side imprint that reset its major characters back to issue 1, reimagining their origin stories as taking place in the new millennium instead of the 1960s. This eliminated the need for young or new readers to have decades of knowledge about characters in order to enjoy the story. That issue of Wizard Magazine, by the way, was the “Ultimate Marvel Spectacular” with the Ultimate versions of Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Jean Grey on the cover.

The cover also had a conspicuous red, white, and blue memorial ribbon in the corner. A similar emblem, with the ribbon above the silhouette of the Twin Towers, graced the cover of Marvel issues for years to come.

And so most importantly, the timing was perfect because the concept of HEROES had a gravitational pull in the months after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. Watching the towers burn on a CRT television on a roller cart in a school classroom, I clearly remember thinking that a Bruce Willis-type action hero was going to fly in on a fighter plane and fix things. (My brain must have made a towers connection with Die Hard. How I expected a fighter plane to help after the towers had already been hit, I’m not sure.)

As we heard the stories of first responders and Flight 93 passengers in the days after the attack, and as we sent soldiers to war a few years later, the presence and concept of heroes was pervasive in the United States.

Where did that leave SUPERheroes?

How are the superheroes of the funny pages meant to combat real-life dangers such as international terrorism? Do we need fictional heroes more or less in times of crisis?

Those questions date back at least to the inception of Captain America, who fights Hitler and a roomful of Nazis on the cover of the first issue of his comic series, published in 1941. And those questions persist today. Should Marvel superheroes be punching out fossil fuel executives, who exacerbate and deny climate change, on the covers of comics? How do superheroes battle a problem as abstract and far-reaching as global warming? Or, if they can solve global warming with their fantastical powers, what value do their stories have to people who must seek out real-world solutions, and live through the real-world consequences?

All this to say, it was an interesting time to be a comic book fan and is an interesting period to revisit with a critical eye. And although 9/11 has its own gravitational pull, and is a helpful historical marker, the 2000-2005 time period is an interesting one for Marvel Comics for many additional reasons.

Already mentioned: The birth of Ultimate Marvel.

These years can be seen as a last hurrah for the focus on comic books before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Ang Lee’s Hulk in 2003 and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man in 2008.

In ways, this period also set the stage for the success of the Marvel leap to cinema. The Ultimates – the name for the Ultimate line version of the Avengers, sometimes confusingly – deliberately used actors as the models for how some characters were illustrated, including “casting” Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury years before the real actor appeared as the character on screen. (Today, major screen stars such as Keanu Reeves are directly involved in creating comics that use their own likeness.) The Ultimates also favored “tacti-cool” armor to spandex costumes, providing inspiration for many on-screen interpretations to come.

These years are arguably the middle act of writer Grant Morrison at the height of their powers, penning a legendary run on New X-Men, after coming off their work on The Invisibles (1994 to 2000) and before what was to come on All-Star Superman (2005 to 2008).

As a company, Marvel is still recovering from its 1996 bankruptcy.

Back on 9/11 and politics: Comics, previously regarded as a pretty counterculture medium, have moments during the early 2000s when they continue that tradition, when they betray it (becoming effectively an arm of the state – presaging Marvel’s military alliances that helped make movies like Iron Man), and when things are murky (Ultimate Captain America after using his famous shield to cut a Reptilian Nazi in half: “You think this letter on my head stands for France?”).

And of course, the time period stands out to me as formative because of my age and my interest level in these comics.

As a caveat, I’m not an expert in Marvel Comics now or then, and I might not always hunt down every fact from every existing resource and opinion on the web. These days, I head to the local comics shop to touch base with Marvel a few times a year to see what Iron Man is up to, or what favorite creators such as Mike Allred have on the shelf. But most of my comics reading is dedicated to independent comics (from artists such as Connor Willumsen and Julia Gfrörer to publishers such as kuš! and 2dcloud and Peow Studio) and a handful of manga titles (Delicious in Dungeon might be the best thing on the market). The recent Marvel comics I really enjoyed are the collected edition of House of X / Powers of X by John Hickman and co. (thanks to a friend’s recommendation) and Tradd Moore’s insanely good Doctor Strange mini-series, Fall Sunrise.

Finally, why Marvel and not DC? Well, one, I always made mine Marvel. So, there’s an aspect of nostalgia and personal preference. But Marvel comics also stand out for their stronger relationship to the real world, from the fact that many are set in New York City itself (not a fictional Metropolis or Gotham), to comics that prioritize keeping up with and responding to real-life events (as explained on the website “Fantastic Four 1961-1989 Was the Great American Novel”). Marvel reflected and was affected by 9/11 and this broader time period in ways DC or other superhero comics couldn’t.

This blog will be a place to occasionally look back at some familiar (to me) and new (to me) Marvel comics from roughly the 2000-2005 time period. Two things this blog will not seek to be, yet, are (1) good, or (2) authoritative. I just want to flex the public writing muscle a little. (It also makes me laugh that the blog format itself is a bit of a throwback to the early 2000s.) But hopefully this will be fun!

#marvel #marvel comics #comics #9/11 #early 2000s #2001 #2002 #Ultimate Marvel #Wizard Magazine

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imperiuswrecked · 2 years

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Tenoch has got me curious about Namor. Like a good curious. Yes he is a beautiful man, but now I wanna learn about Namor. I had a co worker say Aquaman and Namor came out at the same time, comics wise

Hello Anon! I can definitely talk about Namor XD it's my favorite subject.

Namor was actually created in April 1939 by Bill Everett, his first comic was in Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly which was a promotional thing to be given out in theaters his first story was then later reprinted and expanded in Marvel Comics (1939) #1 (November 1939). So he was actually created one month before Batman, and two years before Aquaman (November 1941).

So a lot of people compare Namor and Aquaman but they are actually different; Namor has always been born of human father/atlantean mother, his father is a Sea Captain, Leonard McKenzie, and his mother is Princess Fen.

Meanwhile Aquaman was totally human at first, his dad did some experiments on him to give him the ability to breath underwater, etc. (More Fun Comics (1941) #73) However later Aquaman would change to have the same backstory as Namor, human father/royal atlantean mother.

Marvel Comics (1939) #1

Namor is the first superhero in comics to fly, even before Hawkman, Shazam (captain marvel) and Superman, he is also the first comic anti-hero. Namor is also the first Marvel Mutant before the X-Men's creation. Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 1 published July 1963, that is still a couple of months before Uncanny X-Men (in September 1963)

Namor’s character is really interesting and unique, he is seen as a villain by the surface world, and a hero to his people. He is the protector of his people, Atlantis, and the seas. He has the blood of Neptune and is a descendant of him. Namor is a Prince who was caught between two worlds and never belonging to either world, his people saw him as too human, and humans saw him as too atlantean. So he is often mistrusted and betrayed by both the Atlanteans and the Humans.

Rise of the Black Panther (2018) #2

Not to mention that Namor and Aquaman both have very different personalities and morals, Namor tends to operate in a more gray area than Arthur does.

Sub-Mariner (2007) #4

Namor used to be a very popular character in the Golden and Silver age of comics but due to Marvel not handling his character well and canceling his comics, etc., he has been in a steady decline until recent MCU Namor news, although Namor has always had a small loyal fan following.

Origins of Marvel Comics: X-Men (2010)

In addition to being on several teams/starring in several books in the Marvel Universe, both hero and villain; X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Cabal, Avengers, Super Villain Team Up. He also co-founded some teams; Invaders, The Illuminati, The Defenders.

The Defenders art by Jorge Molina

Namor has a very long history, he fought in WWll against the Nazis. In fact he was the first Marvel character to be featured fighting against Nazis on the cover of Marvel Mystery Comics (1939) #4 even before Captain America was created. Aquaman’s first appearance years later would also feature him fighting Nazis, but Namor did it first.

Namor canonically has Mental Health Issues, his PTSD was finally acknowledged in Marvel’s Snapshot: Sub-Mariner (2020)

Namor has always been coded as biracial man in the comics. His first enemies were white people who harmed his people, the subamariners (what the Atlanteans were called in the Golden Age) are also coded as a indigenous sea people. Namor means “Avenging Son” in Atlantean. (Bill Everett wanted a cool sounding name so he wrote a bunch of names backwards and settled on Roman > Namor.)

Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly (1939)/Marvel Comics (1939) #1

Namor has had three major love interests in his life:

Betty Dean - a Human cop who was the first surface friend Namor ever had. They split up after the war as Namor had to return to Atlantis. She grows old while Namor stays young, but they reconnect as friends again later in life. Betty becomes the foster mother to Nita (Namor’s little cousin) and then later she dies after trying to protect Namor.

Lady Dorma - Namor’s first wife, an Atlantean Noble Woman who had been friends with Namor since they were young, both growing up in Atlantis. Dorma had been in love with Namor for years before he realized he had feelings for her too. She was murdered on their wedding day by Empress Llyra, when she tried to save Namor, she dies in Namor’s arms.

I had this gorgeous art of Namor/Dorma on their wedding day commissioned from @pointdotiozao

Marrina Smallwood - an Aquatic Alien who was raised by humans. She and Namor meet many years after Dorma’s death and Namor falls in love. They were married and lived happily for a time until Marrina began to turn into a sea monster. She begs Namor to end her life before she takes another life as she was a very good kind person who could not stand the thought of hurting people.

If you want to read up more about Namor then I have a reading guide here

Namor is a very arrogant, proud, and emotional flawed character and under all his salty bitchiness he has a good heart. He isn’t afraid to stand up for people who can’t defend themselves and is often conflicted with his human and atlantean sides.

Art by Nick Robles

Also his catchphrase is IMPERIUS REX!

#namor #namor mckenzie #namor the sub mariner #long post #imp answers #if you have any specific questions then please let me know

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batboyblog · 3 years

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What's in a name: Captain Marvel Vs. Shazam

It's come to my attention I must once again teach you all the history of comics, Captain Marvel and Copyright so here we go

April 18th 1938 National comics (they officially changed their name to DC in 1977) published Action Comics #1

bring the world Superman and the dawn of the age of Superhero comics. needless to say superheroes and Superman in particular was as popular with children of the late 1930s and early 40s as marbles and chewing gum (it was a much more boring age)

enter Fawcett Comics a somewhat struggling publisher. Fawcett looked at Superman and said "we need us one of those!" so in 1940 Whiz Comics #2 they did just that:

we can see how the guys at National got a little annoyed. Today many many years into Superheroes being a thing no one would think to sue over a character so different from Superman. But in 1941 Superheroes as an idea were less than 5 years old and the beefy, black haired hero with a cape and chest symbol, and also super strength and flight seemed to the DC people to be just like they're Superman. Now of course the powers came from different places, Superman is an Alien, Captain Marvel got his powers from a wizard.

but most importantly while Superman out of tights was an adult, Clark Kent, with a job, reporter Daily Planet, Captain Marvel's secret identity was a kid, the 9 year old Billy Batson.

The comic reading public of the 1940s was almost exclusively 7 to 13 year old boys. So nationally making a hero who was also a boy in that age group made Captain Marvel insanely popular. In 1941 Captain Marvel overtook Superman as the most popular comic in the market.

So DC sued Fawcett for copyright. The suit was filed in 1941 but pre-trail nonsense dragged it out so the case didn't make it into court till 1948 (that'll be important later).

The Case had one of the most jaw dropping rulings in Copyright history and it still keeps me up at night. National Comics basically got Fawcett employees to testify that they'd been ordered to copy Superman and had lots of comic panels where Captain Marvel was doing basically the same thing as Superman had in issues that came out earlier. Fawcett's lawyers did what I think they thought was a Hail Mary, they claimed National had no copyright on Superman, and they won.

You see in 1939 National comics signed a deal with the New paper company, McClure, to publish a Superman comic strip in their news papers

The Court found that National had failed to put copyright notices on some of the strips. As such the court ruled that DC had abandoned the copyright to Superman and so had no right to sue anyone about it. The Court also found that Captain Marvel had been an illegal copy of Superman, but again National had no rights to Superman so it didn't matter.

Understandably DC basically shit their pants, they'd just lost the rights to their most important asset. They appealed in 1951 Judge Learned Hand (I only put his name because it's a great name for a judge) ruled that 1. DC did have rights to Superman, but the comic strips were in public domain. 2. Captain Marvel himself was not an illegal copy of Superman but some stories were clear copies of Superman stories and were infringement.

The fact that the law suit had stretched out to 1948-51 is a key part of the story. After WWII the superhero comic market crashed. Comic book stores didn't exist at the time, comics were sold at news paper stands and corner stores. There was no where to get a back issue. Kids who were 12 or 13 in 1938 got drafted off to war in 1943-44. As part of the war effort there was a massive drive to recycle everything including paper. Moms across America were more than happy to recycle "trashy" comic collections.

the crash was so bad effectively every superhero comic publishing company went broke, the field went from about a dozen companies to just one, DC. Only Superman and Batman proved popular enough to stay in the popular imagination, you didn't need a back issue because every then, like today knew the backstory of Superman and Batman.

Fawcett Comics was not so lucky, while Captain Marvel had been a great hit none of their other comics had done as well. By 1951 they were broke and couldn't fight National in court any more, they paid National $400,000 and agreed to never publish another Captain Marvel comic again. And with that Fawcett Comics effectively ended.

You may have noticed I said only DC made it through the post war Superhero Comic crash. That's mostly correct, in the 1940s a young Stan Lee worked for an outfit called "Timely Comics" which brought you Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Namor. Timely went bust in 1951, they limped on as Atlas Comics till 1956 when outside legal problems forced them to turn to DC for distribution and finally dying in 1957.

The original crew from Timely would reunite in 1961 to start Marvel and kick start the Sliver Age of comics.

All of this is relevant to Captain Marvel because in 1967 Marvel comics came up with it's own Captain Marvel. Now comes an important legal distinction, the difference between Copyright and Trademark. A Copyright is on a whole idea, So I can't take Superman the character and put him in a book, however, in theory I could nickname a character "superman" because he's really good at... baseball, or name a character "Clark Kent" the middle school science teacher. This is where Trademark comes in, trademark holds that certain words or images (such as a Superman S) can not be used to market things. So for example the words "Captain Marvel" are trademarked so can't be used to sell something.

The cover of a comic is marketing, it's trying to sell the comic to you, so a trademark means only Marvel Comics can put the words "Captain Marvel" on the cover of a comic (or movie, or say it in a trailer for a movie, etc) Marvel's Captain Marvels were never very popular but they kept them going because....

In 1972 DC bought the rights to Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel. However they found they couldn't use his name on his comics. DC at different times tried to get Marvel to give up the trademark but they never did so DC did it's best to work around, generally bring out books with the "SHAZAM" title

I wish I could find it there's a comic I remember very clearly where they had him on the cover and it was like "guest starring you know who" and he was going "shhhh don't say the name"

any ways this was basically the status quote till 2012 when Marvel shifted it's popular Ms. Marvel character over to take over Captain Marvel's title and they finally had a popular Captain Marvel for the first time in 40 years. With that and the DC universe getting rebooted in 2011 for the New52 DC finally decided to cut losses and give up on calling the Big Red Cheese "Captain Marvel"

he's somewhat awkwardly just used "Shazam" for a name ever since though fans largely ignored it till the 2019 movie when new fans who only knew him as Shazam started to out number older fans, particularly after Marvel's Captain Marvel movie in 2019 clearly pushed her into the lead on "who's Captain Marvel" in the public imagination.

#Captain Marvel #billy batson #Superman #copyright #Shazam #Trademark

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orlissa · 3 years

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Women in the Golden Age of Comics (1938-1956)

I promised @mercurygray a little overview some time ago, so here we go:

The first thing that we would consider a comic book today was published in 1934 (Famous Funnies #1); the early comics only featured reprinted materials from newspaper strips, but soon new comics were commissioned especially for comic books

The first superhero comic was published in 1938 (Adventure Comics #1, it featured Superman on the cover, and the first Superman story inside, which was only 13 pages long. The creators, high school buddies Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, who had been working on different versions of the character since 1932/3, were paid $130 for it)

Most comics during these days were anthologies, featuring several shorter stories in several, very different genres (superhero, western, talking animals, etc.) usually on 64 pages; most of them featured at least one story with a female lead to, presumably, attract female audiences.

Everyone was reading comics. “[A]n average of two to three comics per week were read by over 90 percent of six- to eleven-year-olds, 84 percent of twelve- to seventeen-year-olds, and 35 percent of those eighteen and older. In each age group, the numbers of males and females reading comics were roughly equal.”

But working on comics was uncool. If you wanted to be taken seriously as a writer/illustrator, you didn’t really want it to be known that you have worked on comics (e.g Stan Lee’s real name was Stanley Lieber; he started working at Marvel—then known as Timely Comics at 17, and, wanting to be a serious writer one day, he decided not to use his real name for his comics). Academically this is a problem, since many, many comics from this era are uncredited.

Also, many of the early comic book creators were Jewish (often second generation immigrants), so comics were pretty quick on condemning Hitler/WWII. The cover of the first issue of Captain America featured him punching Hitler a year before the USA entered the war.

Okay, so, female characters in this era! There were many of them, but most of them never got their own book, were only featured in a few anthology issues, and were soon forgotten. Mike Madrid puts them into four categories: the Debutantes, the Partners, the Victory Girls, and the Glamour Girls

Debutantes: usually bored heiresses who practice vigilantism for the thrill of it, and to find personal freedom through it.

Phantom Lady (1941): society girl Sandra Knight, who fights spies and criminal using “a blinding black light that renders her foes helpless,” while wearing what’s essentially a yellow swimsuit. She never wears a mask, and yet her senator father and her fiancé, Don, never recognize her.

Spider Widow, Grandmother of Terror (1942): another society girl, Dianne Grayton, who wears a hideous witch mask, long black dress, and a floppy hat, to literally scare her foes into submission

Miss Fury (1941): SUPER IMPORTANT! The first superheroine to be written by a woman (June Tarpé Mills), and one of the first to get her own series. Marla Drake is also a reluctant hero: when preparing for a masquerade ball she learns that another girl is about to wear the same dress as her, she puts on a leopard skin attire that her uncle got her from an African witch doctor—which then gives her powers. She gets attacked on her way to the party, defends herself, and then gets into a whole bunch of misunderstandings that gets her fighting Nazis and spies, not really because she wants to, but because she needs to protect her reputation.

Lady Luck (1940): Brenda Banks, a “modern lady Robin Hood,” who uses her jiu-jitsu and marksmanship skills to fight crime while wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a veil to cover her face.

Partners: lesser appendages of already established male heroes

Shiera/Hawkgirl (1941)—Hawkman’s girlfriend, there is not much to say

Doris Lee—Starman’s sweetheart; Owl Girl—The Owl Rocketgirl—Rocket Man; Doll Girl—Doll Man; always girls, never women.

Mary Marvel—the exception. Captain Marvel’s sister (okay, this is where it gets confusing: this Captain Marvel is who we know today as Shazam. He was published by Fawcett, who then were sued by DC because they said Captain Marvel was too similar to Superman, then Fawcett eventually went under, DC bought to rights for the character, but by then Marvel had their own Captain Marvel—Mar-Vell, in whose story Carol Danvers was a supporting character in the late 60s, who then would go on to star in her own title Ms. Marvel in 1977, and then would become Captain Marvel in 2012, while the Ms. Marvel title was taken up by Kamala Khan in 2014. I know.). You know, the kid who yells Shazam!, and turns into an adult superhero. He shared his powers with his friends, who then became characters like Captain Marvel Jr. and Lieutenant Marvel. But when he shared his power with his twin sister Mary, she 1, turned into a slightly older version of herself instead of an adult and 2, was simply named Mary Marvel. But she was cute and popular and got her own series.

The Victory Girls—women from all walks of life who usually take a double role in the war effort; some regular job during the day, and superheroing during the night

I mean, there were a bunch of patriotic superheroes already: Captain America, Captain Victory, Yankee Eagle, Fighting Yank, Captain Flag, Minute Man, Flag Man, The Shield, etc.

Joan Dale—ordinary reported granted powers by the Statue of Liberty to become Miss America

Joan Wayne—DC stenographermoonlighting as “dreaded bundle of female dynamite” Miss Victory

Linda Turner—Black Cat, Hollywood starlet destroying nazi spy rings to defeat boredom

Pat Parker—War Nurse; nurse during the day, masked hero during the night

Sylvia Manners—Black Angel, masquerading as a frail girl living with her aunt in the English countryside, she is actually a ruthless aviatrix, shooting Nazi planes off the sky

Glamour Girls: since these are post-WWII, I don’t really wanna get into the details. Basically: noir-inspired, darker and grittier, with more emphasis on sex appeal. Basically more for the male gaze at this point.

Not categorized, but Madrid also mentions them:

The Woman in Red—thought to be the first female crime fighter in comics, who wore a sweeping scarlet cloak with a matching mask and skullcap

Fantomah—“a beautiful blonde protectress of the jungle,” who would turn into a terryfing skull-faced goddess in trouble

Madam Fatal—actually a guy, retired stage actor Richard Stanton dressed as an old lady

Red Tornado—Ma Hunkel, a burly working class mother with a cooking pot over her head

And of course Wonder Woman, created by William Moulton Marston in 1941. Marston’s WW is a whole another can of worms I do not want to open now (I can literally fill a 90 minute lecture with Marston)

Some creators—well, there wasn’t many, especially not in the superhero business (just to get a taste: in 1972, Marvel wanted to publish three series aimed at women, written by women, but they had no women on stuff, so they gave the job to the wives of three staff members.

Marjorie Henderson Buell (1904-1993), credited as Marge, creator of the strip Little Lulu (1935-1944)

Edwina Dumm (1893-1990), cartoonist suffragist, the first full-time female editorial cartoonist, creator of the comic strip Cap Stubbs and Tippie (1918-1966)

Dalia “Dale” Messick (1905-2005), comic strip artist, creator of Brenda Starr Reporter (1940-1980), a reflection of herself

June Tarpé Mills (1912-1988), creator of Miss Fury, one of the first female comic book artists, who had a background in fashion. She both wrote and drew Miss Fury, and, fun fact, in 1943 she once draw Miss Fury in such a tiny bikini made of leaves that 37 newspapers cancelled the strip at once (most sources say it was because the outfit was too revealing, but given that she has an apple in one hand and snake around the other, I’d say the reason was blasphemy.

EDIT: I totally forgot: after WWII superheroes went out of fashion, and only a few characters remained in publication. Instead there were horror and true crime comics (which were mostly read by returning GIs, and which would lead to a moral panic over comic in a couple of years) and romance comics for the women. The first romance comic, Young Romance #1 (1947) was created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, the creators of Captain America. Even Wonder Woman took on a romance-approach under Robert Kanigher, who took over writing the character in 1947, after the death of Marston.

Bibliography/Recommended reading:

Cocca, Carolyn: Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation Gomez, Betsy (ed.): She Changed Comics: The Untold Story of the Women Who Changed Free Expression in Comics Howe, Sean: Marvel Comics: The Untold Story Madrid, Mike: Divas, Dames, & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of the Golden Age of Comics Madrid, Mike: The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines

#comics history #comics #golden age of comics #mine

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kayvsworld · 2 months

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they're just so cute when they match...matching dad & son outfits...

#i'm eating SOUP and lying on a HEATING PAD i'm gonna FIX myself. with BUCKY comics #kayvscomics #Captain America Comics (1941) issue 1

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geekynerfherder · 3 years

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First comics appearance of #CaptainAmerica in 'Captain America Comics' issue #1, published #OnThisDay in 1941 by Timely Comics (later known as #MarvelComics (@marvel)). #CoverArt by #JoeSimon & #JackKirby #OTD #BuckyBarnes #Comics #ComicArt #ComicCover #ComicCoverArt #Marvel https://www.instagram.com/p/CXtzLx7BLno/?utm_medium=tumblr

#captainamerica #1 #onthisday #marvelcomics #coverart #joesimon #jackkirby #otd #buckybarnes #comics #comicart #comiccover #comiccoverart #marvel

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sineala · 3 years

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Does Steve or Tony smoke?

This question has a few possible answers, actually! So, I mean, yes, but also no. Comics are great.

The answer as it currently pertains to canon is that no, Steve and Tony do not smoke. In 2001, after Joe Quesada became EIC at Marvel, he instituted a policy that heroic characters would not be allowed to smoke; villains still could. If you look this up you can see, like, graphic novel covers that were originally comic covers except someone has edited the cigar right out of Wolverine’s mouth. I don’t know if this policy is still current (I kind of suspect it is, at least in some form), but I feel like, yeah, I wouldn’t expect Steve and Tony to smoke now.

(Incidentally, I’m pretty sure there’s also a smoking ban in the MCU.)

But, as we know, Steve and Tony have existed since long before 2001, and so that means that, absolutely, yeah, there are panels of both of them smoking.

Let’s start with Steve! Steve as a character dates from 1941, and it probably will not surprise you to learn that Golden Age Steve smoked like a chimney. He smokes in pretty much every issue, as far as I can tell. Like, I opened up Captain America Comics #1 and I found him with a pipe in his mouth at least three times. In one issue!

Interestingly, the recent Captain America Anniversary Tribute, which features modern Marvel artists doing a panel-for-panel redraw of Captain America Comics #1 (and Avengers #4) does have this panel, and guess what Steve isn’t doing?

He’s not smoking! (This is why I suspect the no-smoking policy is still current; this issue came out maybe three weeks ago.)

But, yeah, if you’re reading actual Golden Age Cap comics, Steve is absolutely definitely smoking:

However, in modern comics featuring Steve that are set during World War II, he’s not only not smoking, he explicitly doesn’t smoke. This is Captain America: Theater of War: Prisoners of Duty, which is from 2009. (Which is, yes, during Quesada’s EIC tenure.)

So it sure seems like he’s been retconned into not smoking due to the no-smoking policy. (Though, really, if you wanted some kind of in-universe explanation that keeps Steve a smoker at that point in time, “I don’t smoke” is also probably what you’d say if you did smoke but didn’t want to share your cigarettes with whoever was asking.)

But there are certainly Silver Age comics where Steve is smoking; it’s not just a Golden Age thing. The latest I’ve found is Captain America #110 (from 1969), which opens with Steve leaning against a wall lighting his pipe, and starting to smoke it:

So that’s Steve.

As for Tony, there are definitely Silver Age panels of him smoking, too.

Here Tony is in Avengers #3 with a pipe and a very fetching smoking jacket:

And here Tony is again in Avengers #7, enjoying a cigarette and a television program while he is charging up his chestplate:

You get the idea.

And, twenty years later, there’s also Iron Man #144 from 1981. If you are an Iron Man fan, you will be familiar with this issue as the flashback issue that retcons Rhodey into Tony’s life as a Marine whom Tony meets in Vietnam when he has just become Iron Man, has escaped his captors, and is trying to get home.

What you may not remember is that this issue includes Tony and Rhodey sharing a joint. No, I’m not kidding.

Sadly, Tony doesn’t get a hit, because he accidentally crushes the joint in his big Iron Man hands, but he, uh, definitely doesn’t seem opposed to getting high with Rhodey:

I mean, okay, yeah, it doesn’t have to be marijuana. We aren’t told what it is, and it could conceivably be anything that’s hand-rolled, which would include tobacco, but come on. Come on. It’s weed. Right? Who’s with me?

For the record, Rhodey is Not Real Thrilled that Tony has accidentally crushed it:

So, anyway, yeah, there’s what I know about Steve and Tony smoking.

#Anonymous #replies

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funnuraba · 3 years

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A Rough Moral Overview of Archie Comics: Teen Propaganda Machine

Part 1: The 1940s

1941: Archie first appears in a small feature near the end of PEP Comics #22. His popularity builds rapidly, with the audience apparently writing in to express immense interest in the short monthly Archie comic.

At first the Archie story isn’t even mentioned on the cover, but Archie himself slowly starts appearing on the cover, always with PEP’s big star at the time, The Shield. The Shield on the cover is at first much larger than Archie, but he shrinks over time, and after Veronica’s introduction, she and Betty start to feature on covers as well. The Shield continues shrinking...

And by issue #49, the magazine is PEP Comics: Starring Archie Andrews! Archie quickly becomes its own imprint, and the only one of PEP’s lineup that survives into the present day. Ads in the magazine advertise an Archie radio show that was spurred by what was a apparently a massive outpouring of interest from PEP’s teenage subscribers. The concept of teenagerhood itself was a new invention dating from 1944. Archie’s reality included things like school, dating, and modern teen problems like trying to maintain a car and deal with wartime rationing.

Also, sending your dog to fight Nazis. (Note: the above are two separate stories; no Nazis ever actually invaded Riverdale. Oscar, Archie’s dog, gave birth on at least two occasions, including during her army tour, and eventually faded from existence.)

At this stage, minstrel-style caricatures of black men appear on occasion in Riverdale (as train attendants and no-account bums who steal clothing out of the trash), and Yellow Peril-style caricatures of Japanese people are a regular fixture in other PEP features like “Captain Commando and the Boy Soldiers”. As a side note, Chinese people are depicted quite differently in Captain Commando. At this point in US history, they were seen as important potential allies in the war against the Japanese. In Captain Commando, they’re drawn like actual humans in comparison to Japanese soldiers. One story shows a Chinese warrior who’s been bamboozled by foolish Buddhist ideals of peace, but finally snaps out of it and gets his followers to join up with US forces in resisting Japanese occupiers. Chinese-Americans were depicted less frequently, but also running in PEP for a time was a rather remarkable depiction (for the time) of a Chinese-American hero: Fu Chang, International Detective. Chinese people would later be collapsed into the Yellow Peril phenomenon in US pop culture and there were some very racist depictions within Archie Comics, but in the 40s there was a different perspective on display for a while.

(Captain Commando and his Boy Soldiers have since lapsed into the public domain; evidently the heroic quality of child soldiers lost its gleam after WWII and reviving the property was never deemed profitable.)

Also in the 40s, many, many stories end with a quite literal punchline in which Archie gets taken out to the woodshed and beaten by his father for causing trouble. This was PEP’s light-hearted humorous fare that apparently spoke quite deeply to a teenage audience of this era. The depiction of corporal punishment is neither “pro” nor “anti”, it’s simply an unavoidable consequence handed down from on high. Archie’s misadventures lead inevitably to physical punishment from an authority figure, no matter how much or how little he’s to blame for things going wrong. Mr. Andrews himself is sometimes a figure of fun during this period, but the 40s and 50s are the time when he most often feels like a self-insert for the writers and artists, who would have been closer to his position in life than Archie’s.

Archie’s position, though, isn’t entirely as the object of abuse. It’s pretty safe to assume that the writers and artists also grew up with corporal punishment and can sympathize with the experience--though they’ve now entered the stage of life where they understand that it was done only for their own good. Archie at the end of these stories is both resentful and rueful; he wishes it hadn’t happened, but there’s no room in the pages of PEP to contemplate a world where it doesn’t have to.

Violence was much more accepted in the 40s, including against the girls themselves--for their own good, in this case, but it’s still jarring to see a man give Betty and Veronica black eyes. Their crime in this case was, of course, being so silly and man-crazy that they nearly drowned him and themselves.

Often the violence was more cartoonish in nature, but it was only in the 40s that you’d see Betty showing up at Veronica’s door with Moe Szyslak’s weapon of choice.

The porter in this panel is one of the kindest portrayals of a black man in this period; the others (and the one depiction of a black woman that I noticed) are frankly unreproducible without heavy content warnings. Also in the 40s, fat and/or ugly women exist only as an object of fun or outright cruelty.

Vague “reducing plans” were advertised in the pages of Archie in the 1940s. This particular method was, as the name suggests, seaweed pills that were also marketed as chewing gum.

You may notice in some stories that the “ugly” and undesirable woman has very nearly the same face as Archie himself; the irony here is very likely unintentional. It’s rarely (seriously) suggested that there’s anything morally wrong with Archie aspiring to a girl much prettier than he is, but an ugly girl expressing interest in any boy is a figure of fun right up into... well, the present day. The Gabby pictured in the panel above her was a semi-recurring character, one of the only plus-size recurring characters ever depicted in Archie. As her name suggests, she was a gossip and one of the undesirable girls, but she was sometimes allowed to be friendly with Veronica or Betty without immediate karmic punishment. She’s also notable because she’s not only one of the only plus-size characters, she’s one of the very few plus-size female or teenage characters. Mr. Andrews, Mr. Weatherbee and Pop Tate all survived the 40s, but Gabby didn’t.

Betty at the inception of “Archie” (the comic) was just Girl. She rather liked Archie and he liked her, and he would try to impress/date her but end up having his monthly funny adventure. But only once Veronica was introduced did she start to gain more dimension, this time as Other Girl. Veronica was rather nice to begin with and it took a short while for them to start getting played off each other as “characters”. There was still little difference. Veronica was always rich and as a result became snooty fairly quickly, but her flaws were the flaws of an object. They existed to create difficulties for Archie, in his struggle to impress her, and Betty was differentiated only by not being snooty.

When Betty and Veronica were allies, it was because Archie had blown it somehow, and they were naturally compelled to be allies by virtue of both being girls. (When they didn’t like each other, it was also because they were both girls, and such was the natural state of being girls.) The panel above--both in the same pose, their identical faces lifted in scorn towards all men--would be echoed in other later stories, whether by chance or by accident.

Their posing in the 40s was frankly pretty ludicrous and transparent in its intentions.

Sexual attraction wasn’t explicitly commented on in the 40s comics in the way we understand “explicit” today, but it’s allowed to exist more openly than in later years. The va-va-voom effect highlighting the breasts would have to become more euphemistic as the decades passed.

In general, there was very little pretense in the 40s.

Artists had no qualms about showing the girls nearly in the nude (I cropped out a panel of Veronica in the bath above), nor about showing adult men leering at them. Even Mr. Weatherbee was occasionally moved by their charms. Generally adult men were “punished” for showing visible attraction, but only in humorous ways. It was more common for the teenage boys to drool over the girls, but the only disapproval shown when grown men did it came from women their own age, playing the role of scold or prudish spinster. There was also the occasional gag in which an adult man was misunderstood as a “masher” or peeper and received undeserved punishment from the supposed target.

There were various write-ups of celebrity activity in the 40s and 50s, and there too the attitudes towards women were pretty much what you’d expect, but even in the late 1940s the realities of life were not entirely veiled from teenage eyes. There was room for what would now be considered adult jokes.

Also in the 40s, Archie cross-dressed, like, a lot, in a way that noticeably vanished once the 50s rolls around. It’s always as a gag, and it’s usually noted that he makes an ugly girl, but in this era it seems to have been an idea that could be poked fun at without threatening the moral fiber of all America by the mere suggestion.

In fact, one semi-famous 1948 story, “The Battle of the Jitterbugs” (reproduced more fully elsewhere) revolves entirely around the girls and the boys competing in a “fair contest’ to see which sex is better at dancing--since boys only lead and girls only follow, it’s impossible to determine who can dance better overall. The obvious solution is for two girls to dance with each other and two boys to dance with each other.

Crucially, the idea is suggested by Reggie, the prankster of the group, framing it as a joke from its inception. Archie, the main character, follows through with it as a means of asserting male superiority. There’s also no possibility that two boys could dance, or two girls could dance, without the conceit of one performing the role of the opposite gender. But in practice, the whole thing does involve a lengthy depiction of two boys dancing together, and indeed, jokingly flirting with each other.

Again, the joke-flirting comes in the form of mocking from Reggie, both en femme and en homme. Archie, the protagonist and everyman, is uncomfortable throughout and finally throws Reggie right out Pop Tate’s door after Reggie goes too far in impugning his masculinity.

At this stage, the usual band of crones step in to punish him for imagined crimes against women, and he finishes the story sitting in bed with a broken leg, making a pronouncement that stands out rather sharply to the modern eye: “Confidentially, Jug! I’m no longer interested in women... or dancing!”

Veronica and Betty are significantly more comfortable with each other. In fact, it’s a rare 1940s story where they don’t quarrel with each other at all! Veronica’s femininity is seemingly unthreatened by the hat and pants, even though Archie Comics would continue issuing dire warnings against women in pants up through the mid-1970s.

It’s hard to imagine they lost after this! The tone of this page is downright celebratory, a rare occasion of early Betty and Veronica working together and coming out the victors of the story, not by one of them winning Archie, but by both of them showing their own skill at something without trying to show the other up. “Battle of the Jitterbugs” is a true rarity in these early years, a depiction of female triumph that doesn’t exactly defy the era’s pop culture as a whole--women were creating their own art even in the 1940s--but it does defy nearly every other Archie story up to the mid-1970s.

#archie comics #archieganda #i couldn't possibly put enough content warnings on this #content warning just about everything

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