The History of Team-ups

[Air Wave]

So I'm interested in the history of team-up stories and the whole fleshing out of the idea of a shared universe. Aside from the JSA and the Seven Soldiers of Victory, were there ever any instances during the Golden Age of any characters appearing in each others' stories? 1952 saw the first actual team-up of Superman and Batman. Then aside from that we get nothing till the creation of the Justice League in 1960, am I right? AND it wasn't till 1963 when Brave & the Bold started real team-ups in issue #50 with a team-up of Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. After that, of course, it happens all the time. Is there anything I'm missing?

[Montressor]

I know one of the earliest team-ups was between the Sub Mariner and the original Human Torch in the early 40's.

[Air Wave]

I know one of the earliest team-ups was between the Sub Mariner and the original Human Torch in the early 40's.

I was more talking about DC but of course that's a big one.

[Montressor]

I miss the days of team up books like Marvel 2-In-1 and DC Comics Presents (that one, especially). I truly MISS books like that--one and done stories with the main hero teaming up with the most disparate of characters. LOVED it--I think you've inspired me to pick up a few back issues and re-live those long-gone memories.

[Air Wave]

Team-up books are a GREAT way to use lesser known characters. BRAVE & THE BOLD really needs to be brought back.

[day_walker]

I remember reading a Black Canary-Starman (and Larry Lance) team-up in a reprint of a Golden Age story not too long ago. It appeared in one of the JLA 100 page giants from the 70's, but I don't remember what comic the story originally appeared in.

[day_walker]

I miss the days of team up books like Marvel 2-In-1 and DC Comics Presents (that one, especially). I truly MISS books like that--one and done stories with the main hero teaming up with the most disparate of characters. LOVED it--I think you've inspired me to pick up a few back issues and re-live those long-gone memories.

I love those too! Marvel 2-In-1 was probably my favorite, but I enjoyed all of them. I love the one-and-done format (Though Marvel 2-In-1 did have some great multi-issue stories) and the relative lightheartedness of them. I'd like to see some more of those. Plus, like Air Wave says, it's a great way to use lesser known characters.

[Air Wave]

I remember reading a Black Canary-Starman (and Larry Lance) team-up in a reprint of a Golden Age story not too long ago. It appeared in one of the JLA 100 page giants from the 70's, but I don't remember what comic the story originally appeared in.

I think early Brave & The Bold did a couple of those in the 60's. Is that what you're talking about?

[Air Wave]

I remember reading a Black Canary-Starman (and Larry Lance) team-up in a reprint of a Golden Age story not too long ago. It appeared in one of the JLA 100 page giants from the 70's, but I don't remember what comic the story originally appeared in.

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1965

[GlennSimpson]

So I'm interested in the history of team-up stories and the whole fleshing out of the idea of a shared universe. Aside from the JSA and the Seven Soldiers of Victory, were there ever any instances during the Golden Age of any characters appearing in each others' stories? 1952 saw the first actual team-up of Superman and Batman. Then aside from that we get nothing till the creation of the Justice League in 1960, am I right? AND it wasn't till 1963 when Brave & the Bold started real team-ups in issue #50 with a team-up of Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter. After that, of course, it happens all the time. Is there anything I'm missing?

As far as I know, the JSA was the first time in happened.

It might be that characters interacted on a cover or something before that, in a non-story situation.

[Montressor]

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1965

This is what I mean. The covers for these team up issues always looked great, too--I vividly remember Superman teaming up with The Unknown Soldier, whose spirit was rising from his grave as Superman approached. There was also a great team up with Kal meeting Sgt. Rock, and who can forget Superman (and Batman, separately) meeting Superboy in a one-and-done team up (not Superboy Prime--I mean Superman actually teaming up with his younger self from his own timeline...good times, man, good times.

[Jim Kelly]

In DAREDEVIL BATTLES HITLER (July '41)--which becomes DAREDEVIL COMICS thereafter--Daredevil battles Hitler (duh) but he also meets up with many of the other Lev Gleason heroes. It's one of those epic stories, divided up into six chapters as Daredevil teams up with the different heroes to battle Hitler. Other heroes featured: the Silver Streak, Lance Hale, Dickie Dean and the Pirate Prince.

The other big bad guy in that issue is the Claw. Created by Jack Cole and making his debut in SILVER STREAK No. 1 (December '39), the Claw had many battles with Daredevil and had his own feature in DAREDEVIL COMICS, where he would battle a number of other heroes.

[Air Wave]

In DAREDEVIL BATTLES HITLER (July '41)--which becomes DAREDEVIL COMICS thereafter--Daredevil battles Hitler (duh) but he also meets up with many of the other Lev Gleason heroes. It's one of those epic stories, divided up into six chapters as Daredevil teams up with the different heroes to battle Hitler. Other heroes featured: the Silver Streak, Lance Hale, Dickie Dean and the Pirate Prince.

The other big bad guy in that issue is the Claw. Created by Jack Cole and making his debut in SILVER STREAK No. 1 (December '39), the Claw had many battles with Daredevil and had his own feature in DAREDEVIL COMICS, where he would battle a number of other heroes.

These I did not know about. That's interesting.
But in the DCU I was right, wasn't I? The shared universe wasn't really a thing till the 60s. The JSA and SSV, and the early JLA for that matter, were more or less gimmicks and it didn't really bleed over into the universe as a whole. I don't mean to disparage them but you know what I mean.

[Air Wave]

These I did not know about. That's interesting.
But in the DCU I was right, wasn't I? The shared universe wasn't really a thing till the 60s. The JSA and SSV, and the early JLA for that matter, were more or less gimmicks and it didn't really bleed over into the universe as a whole. I don't mean to disparage them but you know what I mean.

With the exception of the Superman/Batman team-ups.

[Jim Kelly]

I haven't done an exhaustive study of this--I'm sure others have--but I believe if you went through the DC books from the '30s and '40s, you could probably compile a long list of guest appearances by characters in each others' features. The thing is these are rather random, so you'd have to go through a lot of comics to find them all.

For example, I know that Sandman, the Newsboy Legion and the Boy Commandos appeared in one another's comics--all by Simon and Kirby--at one time or another.

The DC shared universe was of the moment. Even in the case of the Justice Society members--outside of a JSA story--the heroes seemed to exist in their own worlds. Except when one happened to appear in another's feature. And crossovers were more often on the covers and not inside the comics.

But with Fawcett--like Lev Gleason--there was a greater sense of a shared universe. Heroes would share covers--with Captain Marvel often acting as pitchman for other heroes--but they would also cross over into each other's comics. The most famous example of this being when Captain Mavel crossed over into MASTER COMICS, to make a guest appearance in the Master Man story that introduced Captain Nazi. And then that story crossed over to WHIZ COMICS, with the introduction of Captain Marvel Jr.. And then the story crossed back again into MASTER COMICS with the debut of Junior's own feature in that comic.

It's surprising that Fawcett never tried to launch a team like the Justice Society. A formal group of Fawcett heroes would seem an obvious concept, given that the heroes all were friends and hung out with each other. Of course, later they did launch the Marvel Family--but that was strictly within the family and not open to just anyone from the Fawcett world.