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  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    Aside from the Barry Allen version of The Flash, how many other Silver Age superheroes were introduced that year?

    Remember, the beginning of Marvel Comics with Fantastic Four #1 wouldn't happen until five years later in 1961.
    EDIT--The list below is embarassingly bad!!! Don't bother with it. I've done a much better (but really long) list on here--
    https://community.cbr.com/showthread...-of-the-Supers

    Fawcett published the last issue of THE MARVEL FAMILY in September 1953--that was it for the three Cheeses. This was right at the time of the big 3-D comics boom.

    Charlton began publication of ATOMIC MOUSE in 1953, which lasted until 1963.

    edit: The first issue of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's THE FIGHTING AMERICAN (April-May 1954) went on sale in January of 1954, published by the Prize Group--it lasted for seven issues, ending its run in 1955.

    CAPTAIN AMERICA was revived for three issues in 1954. At the same time, the last two issues of MEN'S ADVENTURES had stories of the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Capt. America.

    Ajax reprinted four issues of PHANTOM LADY in 1955.

    Magazine Enterprises published four issues of THE AVENGER (a red super-suited crimefighter) in 1955.

    Charlton launched ATOMIC RABBIT, later called ATOMIC BUNNY, in 1955.

    THE ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY MOUSE, published by St. John, came to its end in 1955--it started in 1948, after previously published by Timely. Standard assumed publication of the mag in 1956, which lasted until 1959, when it was then picked up by Dell and ran through the 1960s.

    In 1955, Charlton published four issues of BLUE BEETLE (Dan Garrett), that title switched to MR. MUSCLES for two issues in 1956. They then put out three issues of NATURE BOY (a guy who had power over wind, rain and fire) and in that comic they published another Blue Beetle story.

    Lev Gleason's DAREDEVIL COMICS featuring the Little Wise Guys came to a conclusion in the summer of 1956, with the demise of the publisher.

    PLASTIC MAN 64 (November 1956) was the last issue of the Pliable Policeman published by Quality. BLACKHAWK 107 (December 1956) was the last Quality issue of that comic, but National Comics/D.C. picked up publishing the title without missing a beat with 108 (January 1957). However, they didn't do the same for Plas.

    Charlton's TOM CAT became ATOM THE CAT in 1957.

    In 1957, Ajax got the rights to Cosmo Cat who had been around since the 1940s, from different publishers, and they renamed him as SUPER CAT which had a short run.

    Harvey Comics published four issues of MAN IN BLACK, in 1957 and 1958. Harvey's BLACK CAT, which started with the title character in 1946, went through title changes and format changes, ending up as BLACK CAT MYSTIC in 1957 for the last five issues--but not quite because the title was revived in 1962 for three more issues reprinting Black Cat adventures.

    Herbie Popnecker made his first appearance in FORBIDDEN WORLDS 73 (December 1958), published by the American Comics Group.

    In 1959, Archie published two issues of THE DOUBLE LIFE OF PRIVATE STRONG, featuring the Shield but also introducing the Fly. In that same year, they began publication of THE FLY, which would last until the late 1960s (through title changes).

    Archie's SUPER DUCK COMICS, which started in 1944, met its end in 1960--but the "Cockeyed Wonder" wasn't very super for most of his run.

    Charlton introduced Captain Atom in SPACE ADVENTURES 33 (March 1960).

    ***

    There are probably some other supers from different publishers that had their moment in the sun during the 1950s, but these are the ones I could come up with for now.
    Last edited by Jim Kelly; 05-21-2021 at 05:21 AM.

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Fawcett published the last issue of THE MARVEL FAMILY in September 1953--that was it for the three Cheeses. This was right at the time of the big 3-D comics boom.

    Charlton began publication of ATOMIC MOUSE in 1953, which lasted until 1963.

    CAPTAIN AMERICA was revived for three issues in 1954. At the same time, the last two issues of MEN'S ADVENTURES had stories of the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner and Capt. America.

    Ajax reprinted four issues of PHANTOM LADY in 1955.

    Magazine Enterprises published four issues of THE AVENGER (a red super-suited crimefighter) in 1955.

    Charlton launched ATOMIC RABBIT, later called ATOMIC BUNNY, in 1955.

    THE ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY MOUSE, published by St. John, came to its end in 1955--it started in 1948, after previously published by Timely. Standard assumed publication of the mag in 1956, which lasted until 1959, when it was then picked up by Dell and ran through the 1960s.

    In 1955, Charlton published four issues of BLUE BEETLE (Dan Garrett), that title switched to MR. MUSCLES for two issues in 1956. They then put out three issues of NATURE BOY (a guy who had power over wind, rain and fire) and in that comic they published another Blue Beetle story.

    Lev Gleason's DAREDEVIL COMICS featuring the Little Wise Guys came to a conclusion in the summer of 1956, with the demise of the publisher.

    PLASTIC MAN 64 (November 1956) was the last issue of the Pliable Policeman published by Quality. BLACKHAWK 107 (December 1956) was the last Quality issue of that comic, but National Comics/D.C. picked up publishing the title without missing a beat with 108 (January 1957). However, they didn't do the same for Plas.

    Charlton's TOM CAT became ATOM THE CAT in 1957.

    In 1957, Ajax got the rights to Cosmo Cat who had been around since the 1940s, from different publishers, and they renamed him as SUPER CAT which had a short run.

    Harvey Comics published four issues of MAN IN BLACK, in 1957 and 1958. Harvey's BLACK CAT, which started with the title character in 1946, went through title changes and format changes, ending up as BLACK CAT MYSTIC in 1957 for the last five issues--but not quite because the title was revived in 1962 for three more issues reprinting Black Cat adventures.

    Herbie Popnecker made his first appearance in FORBIDDEN WORLDS 73 (December 1958), published by the American Comics Group.

    In 1959, Archie published two issues of THE DOUBLE LIFE OF PRIVATE STRONG, featuring the Shield but also introducing the Fly. In that same year, they began publication of THE FLY, which would last until the late 1960s (through title changes).

    Archie's SUPER DUCK COMICS, which started in 1944, met its end in 1960--but the "Cockeyed Wonder" wasn't very super for most of his run.

    Charlton introduced Captain Atom in SPACE ADVENTURES 33 (March 1960).

    ***

    There are probably some other supers from different publishers that had their moment in the sun during the 1950s, but these are the ones I could come up with for now.
    So, your examples are all over the calendar, and you neglected a conclusion. Are you saying 1953 is the most important year, or that there is no most important year, but the 1950s were "Yuge!"?

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    So, your examples are all over the calendar, and you neglected a conclusion. Are you saying 1953 is the most important year, or that there is no most important year, but the 1950s were "Yuge!"?
    Actually, I tried to put them in chronological order, so they wouldn't be "all over the calendar." But no, I didn't have some grand thesis in mind. MajorHoy's post reminded me that it wasn't actually just D.C. and Marvel and there were all kinds of endings, beginnings and false starts for the Supers in the 1950s from various publishers. I remembered reading an article in an OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE about this, but when I looked through my guides I couldn't find it, so I decided to do my own research which took me down this atomic rabbit hole.

    I leave it up to others to glean any meaning from this. I have a couple of observations--it seems there were all kinds of efforts by big companies and small to test the waters for super-heroes, any one of which could have been the hit and it looks like super-heroes survived by becoming funny animals.

    Charlton was really stuck on their use of Atomic or Atom, before they came up with Captain Atom. Over at National--as I know from the anthologies I've been reading, there were lots of stand alone stories about guys getting some super-powers--those stories just didn't lead to anything, like with the Flash. And in the Superman and Batman comics, there were characters that got temporary super-powers and the super-suits to match.

    There are probably a few Marvel anthologies I should have looked at, too--as I think some of their super-heroes first developed there.

    In any discussion of the super-hero revival, we should include Archie/Radio Comics and Charlton in the discussion. It wasn't just National/D.C. and Timely/Atlas/Marvel.

  4. #19
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Actually, I tried to put them in chronological order, so they wouldn't be "all over the calendar." But no, I didn't have some grand thesis in mind. MajorHoy's post reminded me that it wasn't actually just D.C. and Marvel and there were all kinds of endings, beginnings and false starts for the Supers in the 1950s from various publishers. I remembered reading an article in an OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE about this, but when I looked through my guides I couldn't find it, so I decided to do my own research which took me down this atomic rabbit hole.

    I leave it up to others to glean any meaning from this. I have a couple of observations--it seems there were all kinds of efforts by big companies and small to test the waters for super-heroes, any one of which could have been the hit and it looks like super-heroes survived by becoming funny animals.

    Charlton was really stuck on their use of Atomic or Atom, before they came up with Captain Atom. Over at National--as I know from the anthologies I've been reading, there were lots of stand alone stories about guys getting some super-powers--those stories just didn't lead to anything, like with the Flash. And in the Superman and Batman comics, there were characters that got temporary super-powers and the super-suits to match.

    There are probably a few Marvel anthologies I should have looked at, too--as I think some of their super-heroes first developed there.

    In any discussion of the super-hero revival, we should include Archie/Radio Comics and Charlton in the discussion. It wasn't just National/D.C. and Timely/Atlas/Marvel.
    But, remember, I had been asking a question based on this post:
    Quote Originally Posted by seismic-2 View Post
    One could argue that 1956 (the start of the Silver Age) was the most important year for the superhero genre, because sales of superhero comics had been in decline since the end of WWII as other genres (crime, Western, horror, and romance) had become increasingly popular and were taking their place. The introduction of the new Silver Age superheroes (along with the collapse of the horror market following the Kefauver hearings and the introduction of the Comics Code) revived the popularity of the superhero genre.
    NOTE: I had put those sections in bold, not seismic-2

    Yes, 1956 was a significant year because of the introduction of Barry Allen as The Flash, but I question it being the most important.

    Oh, and a few other 1950s DC-related introductions not listed were:
    * Showcase #22 (September–October 1959) was the introduction of Hal Jordan as Silver Age Green Lantern
    * Green Arrow's new origin (under Jack Kirby's tenure) was in Adventure Comics #256 (January 1959)
    * Martian Manhunter first appeared in Detective Comics #225 (November 1955)

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    But, remember, I had been asking a question based on this post:NOTE: I had put those sections in bold, not seismic-2

    Yes, 1956 was a significant year because of the introduction of Barry Allen as The Flash, but I question it being the most important.

    Oh, and a few other 1950s DC-related introductions not listed were:
    * Showcase #22 (September–October 1959) was the introduction of Hal Jordan as Silver Age Green Lantern
    * Green Arrow's new origin (under Jack Kirby's tenure) was in Adventure Comics #256 (January 1959)
    * Martian Manhunter first appeared in Detective Comics #225 (November 1955)
    Yep. I just went off on a tangent. I assume we all know the D.C. stuff, so I didn't get much into all that.

    Another important creation that I stupidly missed--but I added to the above list now--is Simon & Kirby's THE FIGHTING AMERICAN in 1954.

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Actually, I tried to put them in chronological order, so they wouldn't be "all over the calendar." But no, I didn't have some grand thesis in mind. MajorHoy's post reminded me that it wasn't actually just D.C. and Marvel and there were all kinds of endings, beginnings and false starts for the Supers in the 1950s from various publishers. I remembered reading an article in an OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE about this, but when I looked through my guides I couldn't find it, so I decided to do my own research which took me down this atomic rabbit hole.

    I leave it up to others to glean any meaning from this. I have a couple of observations--it seems there were all kinds of efforts by big companies and small to test the waters for super-heroes, any one of which could have been the hit and it looks like super-heroes survived by becoming funny animals.

    Charlton was really stuck on their use of Atomic or Atom, before they came up with Captain Atom. Over at National--as I know from the anthologies I've been reading, there were lots of stand alone stories about guys getting some super-powers--those stories just didn't lead to anything, like with the Flash. And in the Superman and Batman comics, there were characters that got temporary super-powers and the super-suits to match.

    There are probably a few Marvel anthologies I should have looked at, too--as I think some of their super-heroes first developed there.

    In any discussion of the super-hero revival, we should include Archie/Radio Comics and Charlton in the discussion. It wasn't just National/D.C. and Timely/Atlas/Marvel.
    Ah. Now I gotcha. I didn't catch it on the initial read.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by DanMad1977 View Post
    What about 1992? Rise of image comics and creator owned comic books. I think thats pretty significant.
    So, no one thinks this is one of the most important years in comic book history?

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by DanMad1977 View Post
    So, no one thinks this is one of the most important years in comic book history?
    Somewhat significant, but nowhere near "one of the most important years in comic book history".

    Besides, the way Image started with a gazillion promised titles that sputtered along with almost no regularity in the scheduling took some of the "importance" off of their start-up and potentially made them a bit of a joke early on. To me, it would take quite a few more years before Image overcame that and became a respectable force among comic book companies.

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    Somewhat significant, but nowhere near "one of the most important years in comic book history".

    Besides, the way Image started with a gazillion promised titles that sputtered along with almost no regularity in the scheduling took some of the "importance" off of their start-up and potentially made them a bit of a joke early on. To me, it would take quite a few more years before Image overcame that and became a respectable force among comic book companies.
    Yes, but it started there. It was a bumpy ride, and after all they succeeded. We have great creator owned books because the magnificent 7 tried...me thinks thats very important.

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