Which character became HUGE after a tiny first appearance and a long absence?

[tib2d2]

I was reading the first appearance of Hank Henshaw back in 1990 or so. He appeared in like 3 issues, then 2 years later he came back as Cyborg Superman and then became a huge Superman character.

Which character had a tiny first appearance, then a long absence, and then was brought back and became major character in your opinion?

[Dr Quinch]

Lobo is the first name that springs to mind.

[codystarbuck]

Depends on what you call a long time. Deathstroke appeared in New Teen Titans #2, then disappears until issue 10, the doesn't turn up again until #34. Marv and George really built him up. he's awesome in the first issue, though the story revolves more around the Ravager, his son. He comes back later to test the Titans. Then he stays away and plots. Wolfman and Perez were playing the long game, which is how we end up with the epic Judas Contract. Deathstroke was a hit from the start (he's only in silhouette, on the cover) and became massive. DC couldn't quite figure out what to do with him, though. I Like to use pro wrestling terms when talking about comic book characters, as they both deal with heroes and villains and serialized stories. Deathstroke is the cool heel, the one everyone loves, like a Shawn Michaels or a Ric Flair. Then, because of his popularity, he's turned babyface; but, he's too good as a heel, so the babyface run never works. He still gets cheers as a heel. You just have to go with it.

[colonyofcells]

Fire and Ice started out in the non continuity bronze age title Super Friends. Majority of the global guardians characters started out in the Super Friends title. Both Guy Gardner and John Stewart started out as quite obscure characters in the Green Lantern title pre coie. Guy Gardner seems to have started out as a throwaway character. John Stewart had rare appearances until he took over the Green Lantern title right before coie. Animal Man also had quite humble beginnings from the bronze age. Animal man seems to have started out as a one story non costumed character in Strange Adventures. Enchantress was about as obscure as Animal Man until she was used in post coie Suicide Squad. John Constantine started out as a background generic character in the pages of Swamp Thing. Element Woman is based on the obscure character Element Girl. Deadshot was not used for ages until he was revived by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers (designed the new red costume) during the bronze age. Both Lady Shiva and Bronze Tiger started out in the Richard Dragon title. Bork (from brave and the bold) was forgotten, revived and then forgotten again.

[armlessphelan]

Renee Montoya, possibly. Hung around for years before being a lead in the Gotham Central ensemble, then became one of the most memorable parts of 52.

[Aahz]

Some Batman villains like Riddler, Scarecrow and maybe Two-Face (in his case I'm not completly sure) they appeared in a few issues in the 40s, than disappeared till the mid 60s and are now some of the biggest Batman villains.

Deadshot is another example, he appeared in or two issues in the early 50s completly disappeared till the late 70s and became in the late 80s one of the core members of the suicide squad.

[colonyofcells]

Two Face had many appearances in the 1950s.

[Jody Garland]

Harvey Dent actually only appeared 5 times before the '60s (Three in the 40s, twice in the 50s). He was actually fixed in his third appearance, something that remained true when Harvey Kent reappeared in the Earth-2 Superman feature in Superman family. He didn't really appear in the 60s beyond a story where Batman became Two-Face in a World's Finest issue, #173. It wasn't until Denny O'Neil revamped the Bat books that Two-Face really became one of the Big League Batman villains.

There were a bunch of Two-Face replacements, though. Paul Sloane and George Blake were both from the 50s are were esentially Two-Face legacies. There was also Harvey Apollo from the Batman comic strip, though that's neither here nor there.

[colonyofcells]

I would guess that Riddler was helped a lot by the Batman tv show. There was a time when batman writers preferred to create new villains like calendar man, polka dot man, zebra man, zodiac master, etc. and doing science fiction stories so it is easier to find obscure batman villains getting revived and became more popular later on. The batmen of all nations was also gone for many years before it was revived by Grant Morrison.

[kevink31593]

Riddler is a good one. He made two appearances in the 1940s, then didn't show up again until the 60s.

Harvey Bullock is another good example. He made his first appearance (created by Archie Goodwin) in Detective Comics 441 in 1974, and that was his one and only appearance until Doug Moench brought him back as a regular supporting character in 1983.

I wouldn't count Rene Montoya because she was a very regular character in the Batman books from her debut in 1992 up thru the 2000s. She never really had a "long absence" until the new 52 started. She's currently showing up in Rebirth Detective Comics.

[Jim Kelly]

I was thinking about this in terms of Catwoman. She was around for a long time between 1940 and 1954, but then she was gone. She wasn't seen for another ten years--and not actually revived until after she appeared on the BATMAN television series in 1966. Given Catwoman is such a cultural icon now, it's strange to think that there was this period where she was completely non-existent.

A lot of Bat-villains have had to struggle for recognition. Poison Ivy made two appearances and then was hardly seen for some years and it took a long time for her to become a major Bat-foe.

Jimmy Olsen briefly appeared in the comics in the early '40s, but he was mainly a supporting character on the SUPERMAN radio show. He didn't return to the comics until around 1953--thanks to Jack Larson playing Jim on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television series. Then Olsen got his own title in 1954--SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN--which had a successful run for twenty years.

Vixen--created by Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner--was supposed to appear in her own title in 1978. However, VIXEN was cancelled before it ever got a chance to hit the newsstands. The pages were published in black & white in CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE. Mari McCabe had to wait for ACTION COMICS No. 521 (July '81), three years later, to finally debut in a mass distribution comic book--and then only in a team-up with Superman. Her next appearance was another three years after that, again teamed with Superman, in DC COMICS PRESENTS No. 68 (April '84). From there she went on to join the Detroit Justice League (1984 - 86). Since then she's bounced around with different teams, but her fortunes seem to be on the upswing of late.

[Lee Stone]

Vixen--created by Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner--was supposed to appear in her own title in 1978. However, VIXEN was cancelled before it ever got a chance to hit the newsstands. The pages were published in black & white in CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE. Mari McCabe had to wait for ACTION COMICS No. 521 (July '81), three years later, to finally debut in a mass distribution comic book--and then only in a team-up with Superman. Her next appearance was another three years after that, again teamed with Superman, in DC COMICS PRESENTS No. 68 (April '84). From there she went on to join the Detroit Justice League (1984 - 86). Since then she's bounced around with different teams, but her fortunes seem to be on the upswing of late.

I was actually going to mention Vixen. She was really the only new Detroit member that was League material, IMHO, as she was an already established DC character. And she really only got put in because Conway was writing at the time and saw an opportunity to revive her (he had previously brought in Firestorm, another one of his creations).
I think John Ostrander picking her up for Suicide Squad helped her a lot, as well, widening her exposure.

It's probably safe to say that she's reached a point now where she's found a place in the hearts of future DC writers and will continue making appearances.

[j9ac9k]

Geoff Johns made a habit of bringing back Alan Moore creations and making them important to the Green Lantern mythos. Mogo was the sentient planet featured in a backup in the 80's and now he's the home of the GLC. Sodam Yat was referred to in one panel and decades later became a big part of the GLC pre-52.

And now in "Green Lanterns", some random pilot from "Emerald Dawn" (and GL's origin in "Showcase") is now the GL villain possessing the Phantom Ring.

[Aahz]

I was thinking about this in terms of Catwoman. She was around for a long time between 1940 and 1954, but then she was gone. She wasn't seen for another ten years--and not actually revived until after she appeared on the BATMAN television series in 1966. Given Catwoman is such a cultural icon now, it's strange to think that there was this period where she was completely non-existent.

But she was allready a relativity prominent Batman villain before (probably number 3 after Joker and Penguin) back than. I wouldn call that a tiny first appearance (at least not in comparison to Riddler and Scarecrow).

Basil Karlo could also count, appeared first in the 80s and was gone till the 80s and is now the main Clay Face (seriously the number of Clayfaces in Canon is ridiculous.).

[colonyofcells]

Batman has a long history so has lots of supporting cast that could be revived. Leslie Thompkins appeared in detective comics 457 (bronze age) as sort of a throwaway character but was used more later on.