The Phantom I think was the first superhero. So it should be him. Superman(popularity), Wonder Woman(female superheroes) and Galactus(cosmic/abstract characters) would be 2nd, 3rd and 4th IMO.
He was the first cosmic god to ever appear in comics. Unicron, Living Tribunal, Anti-Monitor, Imperiex, Eternity, Beyonder etc all derive from him bascially. Even Jack Kirby stated that Galactus was his ultimate creation. Guys like Uatu, Doom, Fantastic Four were mainly created so that a character like Galactus would ever appear in comics. That's gotta be worth something.
Actually the Fantastic Four have been outright stated to being based off a previous Kirby creation: the Challengers of the Unknown. He only came up with the idea of Galactus 5 years into the FF's run.
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“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
As far as I can tell, the first modern character predating the superhero as we know it, appeared in 1930. This was Hugo Danner, the superhuman protagonist in Wylie's novel, Gladiator. In 1933, the pulp-mag, larger-than-life Doc Savage appeared: both are said to have been big influences in the creation of Superman. So was the Phantom, who debuted in 1936 and I believe was the first hero to wear "spandex."
They all appeared during the Depression years.
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Last edited by Mindship on Apr 30th, 2010 at 10:32 PM
The number 1 has to be Superman. The original, the classic, the father of them all.
I would say that the second is a tie between Hulk and Spider-Man. Because they were back in the days what comics are now: conflicted heroes. If Superman is the father of all comics heroes, these two are the father of modern comics.
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Apr 30th, 2010 09:48 PM
