The Shadow was around in comic books in 1929 but despite his gadgets he was still human (Ithink he was a superheroe though)
New Fun would be the first comic book that a company later called "DC" would publish. It was the first comic book to contain advertisements. By issue #6 New Fun would increase their comic books to 64 pages, and in issue #6 was a team-up of two important people. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created a character known as Dr. Occult. They later created Superman. Dr. Occult had an earlier appearance under the name Dr. Mystic in The Comic Magazine, which came out in 1936.
This comic is the first American publishing of The Phantom, who is now a worldwide hero. The Phantom made his debut on February 17th, 1936 and he was the first costumed hero. He was created by Lee Falk, who still today is working on his stories. The Phantom was the kind of hero that despite his normal "human" capabilities, fought crime with bravery and death defying stunts. Many future heroes would follow his lead. For more information about this breakthrough hero read The Phantom biography. Also in 1936 The Clock appeared in Funny Pages #6. The Clock was a masked detective; this is the first time a character used a mask to hide his face. Later on, masks would be used in most costumes so the hero could disguise his or her true identity.
In June 1938, Action Comics #1 came out, featuring a man in a red and blue costume lifting a car over his head! This was Superman, the very first comic character to have powers far beyond a normal human being. Sure, Flash Gordon and The Shadow were neat, but they couldn't lift a car over their heads and throw it at someone! Nor could they let bullets bounce off their chests, or run faster than a train, or leap over tall buildings in a single bound. To say the least, Superman was a fitting name.
When Siegel and Shuster were younger they tried pitching the Superman idea at newspapers and comics. One of their earliest proposals was a cartoon character called The Superman in 1933. They were constantly rejected, to the point that artist Joe Shuster once tore up his Superman artwork and stated that he'd redo the character properly if the time ever came. Today Superman is one of the 10 most recognized 'people' on the face of the planet. He has been in several movies, cartoons and TV series.
prior to this lots of Super Characters had existed in books and pulps e.g. John Carter on Mars by Edgar Rice Buggoughs who created Tarzen,
Wylies Gladiator (Superman borrowed strongly from this) etc, etc.
What about mythological figures. i.e. Beowulf who can survive underwater for 3 days or Coyote who can sing the dead back to life (i.e. "superpowers"). I'd say that predates Superman.
Myth heroes wer exactly the base that led to the creation of Superman and the pulp heroes that came before like Tarzan.
They had "superpowers", they had abilities beyond other mortals.
But "comic book superhero" its the whole secret identity, crazy costume issue while still being better than the other men. Thats something the "old" heroes didnt have. They are something else.
While i dont agree (by the fact there were people who could match them) Zorro and Phantom can qualify to the group.
Beowulf for example doesnt. Why? While no "mortal" was better or could do what he did, he "lacks" the rest of the kitch stuff to be a conventional comic book superhero.
Wow that was long...
And yes i prefer the old badass heroes.
Last edited by olympian on Nov 27th, 2005 at 12:50 AM
superman WAS the first superhero in comic books (the term SUPERheroes was used by other charachters as a mark of respect to SUPERman) I thought that marvel didnt become an independant company until the 1960's
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Nov 26th, 2005 10:19 PM
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