DC Hero Who Used To Be A Big Deal Now Doesn't Seem That Big Anymore

[9th.]

Superboys entire generation

[Jim Kelly]

Is he ever a big deal when he's around though? 'Cause I get the feeling DC stole Billy with that fradulent lawsuit and then didn't do much with him.

That's an abridged version of what actually happened. In the 1950s, Fawcett closed down their comic book division (temporarily) and settled the lawsuit with National Comics, putting Captain Marvel in limbo. Subsequently a few different publishers did their own Captain Marvel comics--the trademark having been abandoned by Fawcett--with Marvel Comics asserting its ownership of the trademark in the 1960s. Then in the 1970s, National Periodicals licensed Captain Marvel from Fawcett. The Fawcett publishers were getting paid to loan out Captain Marvel to D.C. Then in the 1980s, the Superman publisher decided to buy Captain Marvel outright from Fawcett.

By the time that SHAZAM! was in publication in 1973, the original Captain Marvel had been out of the spotlight so long that most readers had no idea who he was. For sure, he was a big deal at one time, as Gomer Pyle could tell you, but when he was published in the 1970s those days were long gone. So he was never really one of D.C.'s big properties. He did enjoy some fame on Saturday morning T.V. but it was a hard slog to get him recognition, especially since Marvel Comics had their own Captain Marvel.

I'd like to say he was a big deal--he was to me--but that's not really the truth, in terms of his history at D.C.

From what I hear, Legion were so big that they took over Adventure Comics from Superboy, and that's huge if true lol.

Now that's true. The Legion were big with fans in the 1960s when they appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS and they slowly squeezed out Superboy from the comic that he used to star in. But through stupid editorial decisions, they were denied their place in that comic. Then in the 1970s, when they were given a back-up feature in SUPERBOY, the same thing happened all over again as they pushed Superboy out of his own comic. Then in the 1980s, with direct sales being a larger slice of the pie and fan favourites being more important to the publisher, the Legion were one of the few properties that D.C. had that could compete with Marvel Comics in the specialty shops. So the Legion were three time winners, in the 1960s, in the 1970s, in the 1980s. Yet the publisher kept screwing with the team and getting in the way of their success.

[Factor]

Great idea for a thread. I'll second Linda Danvers.
She had one of the longest running books lead by a female character ever and now she barely exists.
The current Action Comics run would have been the perfect time to restore her place in the House of El.
She should be their supernatural expert and get a new codename like Seraph.

[Waterfall]

Green Lantern as a franchise altogether. New 52 Venditti run collapsed it. He's done a similar harm to Flash but Rebirth course-corrected the status quo.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

I don't consider Kyle Raynor a "true" Latino hero any more than I consider Dick Grayson a "true" Romani hero, either. Both were badly retconned changes in ethnicity that ignored the fact that both characters were not raised as culturally Latino or Romani, or any had any awareness of said ethnicities until Judd Winick and Devin Grayson decided to make those changes. (And in Grayson's case, not only was it done in ignorance of the term "gypsy" being considered a slur on Romani, but it's almost impossible to not conclude that making Nightwing a Romani was done because DC wouldn't let her make canon her fanfiction that he was bisexual.)

Jack Knight is not a big thing anymore because as far as his creator, James Robinson, is concerned, Jack's story came to the end that Robinson always wanted him to have. His book wasn't cancelled for poor sales or anything, it was ended because Jack gave up being a superhero so he could go be a father to his two sons. DC owns the character, but it's always been something of a "gentleman's agreement" with Robinson that DC respects Robinson's ending for Jack instead of hiring some different creative team to try to continue Jack as Starman in spite of Robinson's wishes.

My pick for "used to be a big thing until DC stopped pushing them is the L.E.G.I.O.N.

[Jim Kelly]

Great idea for a thread. I'll second Linda Danvers.
She had one of the longest running books lead by a female character ever and now she barely exists.
The current Action Comics run would have been the perfect time to restore her place in the House of El.
She should be their supernatural expert and get a new codename like Seraph.

If folks mean the SUPERGIRL title from 1996 to 2003 (seven years, 81 issues), that's hardly a long run compared to other titles (and other female led titles) that have had much longer runs. And since Seraph is the name of the Israeli super-hero created for the Global Guardians, I'd hate to see that name go to someone else, although granted the Global Guardians have fallen off the map.

[Digifiend]

Isn't it DC's longest running female solo superhero title other than Wonder Woman's books? None of Kara Zor-El's Supergirl books have run that long. And Marvel's longest running female led title is Spider-Girl, and even that was only 100 issues.

Firestorm = I was never a fan but he was huge at one point.

WW2 heroes. (Outside of the Bruce Campbell Sgt Rock mini) they've pretty much fallen to the wayside as time marches further and further away from the war.

Starman (Jack Knight) Hugely popular series in the 90's,....I hardly ever see him pop up anymore.

Starman is retired as already mentioned. He gave his Cosmic Staff to the Star Spangled Kid, resulting in Courtney becoming Stargirl.

Great idea for a thread. I'll second Linda Danvers.
She had one of the longest running books lead by a female character ever and now she barely exists.
The current Action Comics run would have been the perfect time to restore her place in the House of El.
She should be their supernatural expert and get a new codename like Seraph.

Yeah, I'd explain the timeline as follows: Kara died in Crisis on Infinite Earths as originally published, but wasn't erased. Matrix/Linda later becomes the new Supergirl, not knowing that Kara had actually used "Linda Danvers" as an alias. The same name thing would just be a coincidence. Later, when Tim Drake's Teen Titans team is active, Kara is resurrected, and Linda retires as Supergirl. But not before meeting Kara (which did happen as originally published), which explains why Kara decides to create a series of new secret identities (Claire Conners, Linda Lang, Kara Kent, and finally Kara Danvers when she ends up living with DEO agents who happen to have that last name, as seen in the Rebirth run). As Linda was never depowered she could return at any time - she'd just take a new codename out of respect to Kara.

[Jim Kelly]

Isn't it DC's longest running female solo superhero title other than Wonder Woman's books? None of Kara Zor-El's Supergirl books have run that long. And Marvel's longest running female led title is Spider-Girl, and even that was only 100 issues.

If you narrow down the qualifications to be that specific, then I guess you've got a point. Although seven years compared with Wonder Woman's 44 year straight run (329 issues) seems hardly the same thing. And if you bring in A DATE WITH JUDY and SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE, they lasted for many more years. And BIRDS OF PREY had a slightly bigger run. Then there's all the female led anthologies in the romance comic line.

And since Matrix Supergirl was later then Angel Linda Danvers, I find it confusing who exactly was which when or for how long. But I never read many issues of the title. I think this messed up continuity was one reason why they opted for something simpler--but granted each Supergirl has had her own weird convolutions of time and space, probably a left over result of Jimmy Olsen rubbing that magic totem and dooming a Supergirl to always come back into existence only to sacrifice herself for the greater good.

[Digifiend]

Isn't Matrix before Linda? She was the initial post-Crisis Supergirl who worked with Lex Luthor. She merged with Linda, that's the angel version who initially starred in the 90s Supergirl series. Then they split again and Linda was left with weaker powers, and started wearing a blonde wig in her Supergirl identity as her hair no longer naturally changed colour like when she was merged with Matrix. Then Kara returned, they met and Linda retired. That's how that book ended.

Also, if you count non-superhero books, then Spider-Girl wouldn't be Marvel's longest runner either - it's probably Millie the Model, with the pre-Hellcat female-Archie style Patsy Walker in second place.

[GreyFox]

And since Matrix Supergirl was later then Angel Linda Danvers, I find it confusing who exactly was which when or for how long.

The Matrix Supergirl appeared in 1988, and had a 4-issue miniseries in 1994. The Matrix merged with Linda Danvers to become a new version in the opening issue of the 80 issue (plus annuals and the 1 million issue, which did not feature her) Supergirl v4 series, which was from 1996 to 2003. Linda Danvers basically disappeared after that, and Dan Didio said she had been retconned out of existence by Infinite Crisis. There was an inaccurate (and rather insulting) appearance during the Reign in Hell event.

[Lightning Rider]

The original (and New) Teen Titans.

Half the Aquafamily.

Captain Atom, Kyle (GL), and the YJ4 are good shouts.

[thefinalguy]

Jamie Reyes was in a lot of outside media in the early 2010s. Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Young Justice: Invasion made him one of the lead characters within five years after his debut. I think his profile will be raised again with the movie, but for someone who got such a big push to the GP after his comic had already ended its kind of weird seeing how little he appears now in anything.

Also, speaking culturally... Superman. His placement as one of the top heroes amongst the public has gone down between the DCU mess and the rise of the MCU. Not saying he's unpopular or irrelevant in comics but considering where he used to be it's just not the same.

And of course, all the 90s legacies no longer do anything.

[Jim Kelly]

On the matter of original Kara Zor-El Supergirl (a.k.a. Linda Lee Danvers)--not to be confused with Kara Zor-L Power Girl or the new Kara Zor-El Supergirl--I'd argue that she had one of the longest runs, if you consider all of the titles she was in and not just the two series with SUPERGIRL in the title, in continuous publication since her first appearance.

Supergirl was in

ACTION COMICS 252 (May 1959) - ACTION COMICS 376 (May 1969)--as a back-up feature, sometimes cover featured and the star of Giant reprint issues--10 years, 125 issues;
ADVENTURE COMICS 381 (June 1969) - ADVENTURE COMICS 402 (February 1971), ADVENTURE COMICS 404 (March 1971) - ADVENTURE COMICS 424 (October 1972)--the cover featured star of the comic--3 years, 43 issues;
SUPERGIRL 1 (November 1972) - SUPERGIRL 10 (September-October 1974)--2 years, 10 issues;
THE SUPERMAN FAMILY 165 (June-July 1974) - THE SUPERMAN FAMILY 222 (September 1982)--in her own feature, either new stories or reprints--8 years, 58 issues;
THE DARING NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERGIRL 1 (November 1982) - SUPERGIRL 23 (September 1984)--2 years, 23 issues.

By my calculation that's 25 years, 259 issues in total. Somebody check my math.

She was around almost as long as the original Barry Allen Flash and like him gave her life in the Crisis. Yet, unlike Barry, her sacrifice was not remembered. She was doomed to be forgotten.

[caj]

Also, speaking culturally... Superman. His placement as one of the top heroes amongst the public has gone down between the DCU mess and the rise of the MCU. Not saying he's unpopular or irrelevant in comics but considering where he used to be it's just not the same.

Sad but so true. DC has definitely dropped the ball where Superman is concerned.

[Riv86672]

Who is one of your favorite DC heroes who used to be a huge deal in the DC Universe who just isn't such a big deal anymore…

^^^NOT one of my favorites, but Hitman fits.
He was written by golden boy Garth Ennis, and pushed hard during the nineties, then thankfully disappeared.