Amph 1001 Comic Books You Must Read: 280. "Superboy" #49

It certainly looks exciting...

The space helmet/short-shorts is a particularly interesting combination.

 

I like the woman in the skimpy clothing, who of course has already been grabbed by an alien.

 

13. More Fun Comics #52

[image=http://www.comics101.com/comics101//news/Comics%20101/47/morefun52.jpg]

Writer(s): Jerry Siegel

Artist(s): Bernard Baily

DC (February 1940 c. 1939 Detective Comics)

"Police detective Jim Corrigan is murdered by a gangster but restored to life by the Almighty. As The Spectre, he brings swift retribution to criminals; perhaps the most chilling superhero of them all, if only in his earliest adventures."

 

I love The Spectre, or at least his modern interpretation. A supernatural being so powerful that every other mage in the DCU is scared to death of getting on his bad side that is nonetheless forever tied to a host body? Priceless.

 

The setup sort-of reminds me of The Spirit.

 

Now that you mention it, it sort of does. It'd be interesting to read the older Spectre stories and see how much the characters compare - although I'm thinking the answer is "not much."

 

Yeah, that would be interesting. I don't think the omnipotent Spectre character was developed until much later, and even then, it was more of a gradual process. I don't know for sure. Was he made all powerful during his 60's silver age revival, or was it even after that?

That original Spectre issue makes him seem much more Earth-bound and limited in scope.

 

Not at all sure; I became a fan of The Spectre with Infinite Crisis and the follow-up to it-Day Of Vengeance. That cover of him beating the crap out of Captain Marvel is just amazing in and of itself, and the comic is just freaking epic.

 

14. Shadow Comics #1

[image=http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/shadow-comics/1-1.jpg]

Writer(s): Walter Gibson, Theodore Sturgeon

Artist(s): Uncredited

Street and Smith (March 1940 c. 1940 Street and Smith Publications)

"From the pulp magazines that inspired early comic book writers and artists, The Shadow, Doc Savage, Nick Carter, Bill Barnes, and others made their comic debuts. The prolific Gibson wrote most of the Shadow pulps and comis--and hundreds of other stories."

 

15. Whiz Comics #2

[image=http://media.comicmix.com/media/2008/06/08/whiz_comics_2.jpg]

Writer(s): Bill Parker

Artist(s): C. C. Beck

Fawcett (February 1940 c. 1940 Fawcett Publications)

"When Billy Batson says "Shazam!" the powers of six legends turn him into Captain Marvel, the only hero to give Superman a run for his money. Also introduced in this issue: Ibis the Invincible, Spy Smasher and the Golden Arrow."

 

I'm familiar with the Shadow from his radio incarnation which was quite a bit different from his pulp origins.

 

"When Billy Batson says "Shazam!" the powers of six legends turn him into Captain Marvel, the only hero to give Superman a run for his money.

Heh. So much so that DC comics sued Fawcett for copyright infringement, but that's because surprisingly at the time, Captain Marvel outsold Superman something like 3 to 1...

 

And then, as we all know, DC bought Captain Marvel later on, and now they've appeared in crossovers together. I get the strangest feeling that DC denies that such a turn of events was just as planned.

 

16. Detective Comics #38

[image=http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/detective-comics/38-2.jpg]

Writer(s): Bill Finger

Artist(s): Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson

DC (April 1940 c. 1940 DC Publications)

"Orphaned by protection racketeer Anthony Zucco, acrobat Dick Grayson trades his trapeze for a life of crime-fighting alongside his guardian and mentor, Bruce Wayne. Robin the Boy Wonder sets the standard for many costumed kid sidekicks to follow."

 

17. Batman #1

[image=http://www.goldenagebatman.com/bat1a.jpg]

Writer(s): Bill Finger

Artist(s): Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson

DC (Spring 1940 c. 1940 Detective Comics, Inc.)

"Three of Batman's greatest foes appear in his first solo comic book: the Joker, Professor Hugo Strange, and Catwoman. The Joker is in two stories and dies in the second. But, as readers and sales prove, you can't keep a good villain down."

 

Definitely two essentials. Allow me to repost what I said in the Batman thread about Batman #1 and why I think it is quite possibly the most significant issue in comic history.

*So, I think, three stories down, it?s safe to go ahead and make my case about Batman #1 being the most significant issue of Batman in history. It introduces The Joker and Catwoman, which are, in my opinion, two of the four most significant villains in the Batman mythos (the other two would be Two-Face and Ras Al-Ghul).

*What?s more it not only introduces us to these characters but gives them to us with all their subtext already inculcated. The Joker is significant because he is a figure of anarchy in contrast to Batman?s figure of obedience to the law. The Catwoman is significant because she represents the feminine sexuality in contrast to Batman?s male sexuality; she represents, essentially, what Bruce Wayne has given up to be Batman ? in various eras that thing is romance, or domesticity or in recent incarnations, pure sex. But whatever it is, it is the feminine other that Bruce Wayne, as long as he is Batman, cannot have. And both of these larger mythical symbolisms are already present here in the very first appearances of these two magnificent villains. I find this pretty shocking and impressive.

*But Batman #1 isn?t significant only because of that. It?s also this issue that really establishes Batman & Robin as a team and their rhythm of working together. They had worked together in Introducing Robin the Boy Wonder, which we?ll talk about shortly, but at the end of that story, Batman asked Robin if he intended to go back to the circus. Obviously, during the Boss Zucco matter, things were still on a highly temporary basis. It?s only in this comic that the partnership is entirely solidified. In all three of the stories that feature both Batman and Robin in this issue, they work together as a team, closing in on the villains like pincers.

*And then of course there?s the story that we talked about last time Hugo Strange and the Monsters, which is significant as the most gruesomely violent story of the pre-Robin era of the series and the comic that pushed Whitney Ellsworth to lay down the ground rules regarding Batman and his ethic on human life. This, of course, would grow to be a massively important part of the character as he now stands. Batman #1 was then an issue of sea change; two of the greatest villains of the entire series are introduced in all their glory and subtextual charge, Robin finally becomes a real integrated part of Batman?s world, and a central ethic of the character of Batman is solidified. I don?t think there are many issues that can stand up to this one for sheer significance.

 

18. The Spirit

For the very first time, I could not find a visual of the cover, possibly because it was a newspaper supplement (in the Philadelphia Record).

Writer(s): Will Eisner

Artist(s): Will Eisner

Register and Tribune Syndicate (June 2, 1940 c. 1940 Everett M. Arnold)

"Introduced in a weekly, comic-book sized newspaper supplement, Will Eisner's masked detective was quickly recognized as a classic work by an undisputed master of the art form. It pioneered storytelling techniques, inspiring comics creators and film-makers to this day."

 

Not sure if The Spirit was actually on the cover of that issue (It being an anthology, I kind of doubt it), but what the hell, here's page 1.
[image=http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp39/darthramza/Spirit400602-01.jpg]

I can't recommend The Spirit highly enough. It's pretty much the distilled essence of the entire golden age in a single work, the stories are presented in chunks reminiscent of modern British comics, and frankly, it's just plain fun. Granted it, like many older comics, suffers from some issues with the portrayal of minorities (The visual depictions of African-Americans are nothing short of cringe-worthy), but apparently it was progressive for its time. Or something. The point is it won't detract from an otherwise solid reading experience.

Sadly, it's a bit hard to track down legitimately (The complete collection is rare and thus expensive), but if you can find an... er... alternative source, it's well worth the read, and it's easy to see why Eisner went on to become such a legend.

 

Yup, that's the cover.

Thanks.

 

19. All-American Comics #16

[image=http://www.scifinow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/316454-20663-123898-1-all-american-comics_super.jpg]

Writer(s): Bill Finger

Artist(s): Martin Nodell

DC (June, 1940 c. 1940 All-American Comics)

"Inspired by a subway employee waving a lantern and the legend of Aladdin, Noedell conceived a super-hero whose powers derived from a ring carved from the metal of a magic lantern. Batman co-creator Finger fleshed out the concept."

 

Interesting that the Aladdin story (the version from Tales from 1001 Nights) was an inspiration for the Green Lantern. I'd never made that connection before.

 

Ah, Alan Scott. Like a vampire, he's most vulnerable to a sharp piece of wood.

 

Yeah, that's right, in keeping with his original mystical origin, the "original" Green Lantern had a total weakness to wood. I don't know which is worse- having a weakness to anything wood, or having a weakness to anything simply if it happens to be yellow. (Although the yellow weakness has been retconned to simply be the result of fear, and not of any actual weakness within the ring itself)

It's difficult to draw many connections between the Golden Age Green Lantern and his modern counterparts. The original was magic, the later ones advanced technology. The original was more limited, the later ones have unlimited power. Although again, the Green Lantern's origin has been changed so many times, collectively, it's one of the more convoluted ones, to the point that even the original Lantern was retconned to be part of the Green Lantern Corps without realizing it.

 

20. Marvel Comics #9

[image=http://members.fortunecity.com/holeymoley/covers/marvelmystery/Marvel%20Mystery%20Comics%2009.jpg]

Writer(s): Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, John Compton

Artist(s): Bill Everett, Carl Burgos

Marvel (July, 1940 c. 1940 Timely Publications)

"The title says it: "The Human Torch vs. the Sub-Mariner: The Battle of the Comic Century!: The future pals duke it out for 22 pages and the fight continues next issue. It was a landmark moment in Marvel Universe history."

 

20. Wings Comics #1

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/229/225381-19568-117010-1-wings-comics_large.jpg]

Writer(s): Uncredited

Artist(s): Arthur Peddy, George Tuska

Fiction House (September, 1940 c. 1940 Wings Publishing Co.)


"Fiction House publishing several pulp magazines devoted to air adventure/war stories, duplicating that success with such features as The Skull Squad, The Parachute Patrol, Jane Martin, Clipper Kirk, Suicide Smith, Greasemonkey Griffin and Powder Burns."