This year was the year of the anniversary. Not only did I turn thirty, but it also marked the 75th anniversary of the world's greatest superhero, and the world's greatest superhero team which includes the world's greatest superheroine and, arguably, the world's greatest supervillain. In fact, it was the 50th anniversary of a lot of things. Some good, like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. Some bad like the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But since this is an entertainment blog, let's not get too involved in world events like that.
It was also the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first #1 single and their first two albums. So for your listening pleasure, he's a clip of them performing in 1963, a year before they became truly famous in America, but at a time when they were the talk of Great Britain.
But to me, personally, no anniversary was more important than that of the Man of Tomorrow himself, so let's get down to it.
As you may have guessed from most of my other entries, Superman is my favorite superhero and this has been a hell of a 75th anniversary, even though some people don't seem to agree.
For one thing, the comics have been solid, despite some people still being unhappy with the overall reboot of the D.C. Universe called the New 52, which began in 2011. And if anyone from D.C. Entertainment is listening, I really hope you think about changing the name. The main story I followed was in Superman, Superboy and Supergirl called "H'El On Earth."
It began with Clark quitting the Daily Planet after a lapse of ethics on the paper's part, but the larger story is about a long-lost Kryptonian astronaut emerging on Earth trying to take it over, and getting Supergirl to join his side, while doing some serious damage to Superboy, such that he has to wear Superman's armored costume to stay alive. It also takes a look at Superman's new romantic relationship with Wonder Woman.
Speaking of that, I'm not thrilled with it and it doesn't really add much to the story. I always loved the dynamic of Superman being able to dazzle Lois Lane with his powers and abilities, but wanting to win her over as Clark Kent. When the reboot undid their marriage, I kind-of hoped they'd go back in that direction, but such was not the case. Also, I was never particularly enamored of Wonder Woman's main love-interest Steve Trevor, but I like how he's used in the new D.C. Comics (though I'm not sure if he shows up in the main W.W. title much) as he's sort-of a non-powered, non costumed Captain America.
I'm not saying I want them to run back into the arms of their regular lovers, but… I don't know, I'm just kind-of bored with them as a couple. They also got a new series together, but D.C. also gave Supes a title where he gets second billing with a certain hero who celebrates his 75th anniversary next year, the first saga of which was kind-of interesting, as it took place early-on in their careers and saw them journey to Earth-2 where they teamed up with the more experienced Superman and Batman of that universe.
We'll get to more about Superman and Batman in a bit, and don't worry, I'll be posting a lot of Batman-related posts in 2014 in commemoration of his 75th anniversary.
As well, D.C. continued to put out its Justice League comic, but I didn't really read it much. Maybe it was the steep cover price or the the fact that there wasn't much information about the stories floating around for such a high-profile book.
Finally, D.C. began putting out a series called The Adventures of Superman which seemed to be aimed at the casual reader. He wears his classic costume in it, and I'm not sure the stories follow any particular continuity. There was a massive controversy over Orson Scott Card writing an issue because of his opposition to same-sex marriage, but I really don't want to talk about that here.
D.C. Comics continued to publish Superman comics outside the normal continuity. I'm not sure if the kid-oriented series was still being published, but if not, I don't miss it. It was cute, but I don't think you need to draw like a kid to sell books to kids. Anyway, D.C. also put out a series that took place in the Smallville universe, taking off where the show left off (cool costume, but I rarely read it) and one that tied in with the game Injustice: Gods Among Us which I rarely read, and what I did read of it was vile.
Onto the game Injustice: Gods Among Us. When I heard that the plot was going to be about Superman going bad after the Joker killed Lois and starting his own regime. But then I learned that it was an alternate universe Superman that did that the real Superman was the one who saves the day, much like in the Justice Lords arc of animated Justice League series.
Here's a nice, typical battle, and no, this isn't me playing.
Injustice was a fun game, and had a fairly compelling story. Yes, it's ridiculous and yes it's dark, but it's still a lot of fun, and there's a lot of things you can unlock and items you can purchase, like alternate costumes, more playable characters and a series of mini-games under the S.T.A.R. Labs banner.
That might have been the big news, except for… well… this.
Yup. I'm not really in the mood to talk about how this film wasn't the dark morass of joyless hell that some people make it out to be, how it didn't "sell his soul," or the double-standard by which the people bitching about all the destruction in downtown Metropolis would squeal like a pig for it if it were in ANY OTHER MOVIE, so instead I'm just gonna say this: WE WON, YOU LOST!!!
Please see the very first entry in this blog for more information.
Man of Steel made more money both domestically and worldwide than Superman Returns which did far worse to what the character stands for. See my first entry in this blog. And with The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug pacing far behind Man of Steel, it looks like Superman will end up with the fourth biggest film of the year, which brings him almost back up to his late '70s/early '80s box office glory days (to be fair, Superman Returns made it to #6 in its year of release). I wasn't exactly shocked that Iron Man 3 and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire were bigger hits, though Despicable Me was kind-of an upset. But look at everything Superman did beat. Thor: the Dark World, Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z, Fast & Furious 6 and Oz: the Great & Powerful. Proof that Superman isn't some old relic of the past.
And those of you who said he was can get on your knees and kiss my ass.
If Man of Steel isn't quite your cup of tea, however, Warner Bros. did release a direct-to-DVD animated feature called Superman Unbound, which was based on a saga from the comics a few years ago called Brainiac featuring, as the main villain, well, Brainiac.
This film was pretty good. It had a great visual style and a terrific voice cast. The plot is a little predictable (though aspects of the ending were fairly novel) and it's not so great that it's really worth buying at full price. It's a Netflix kind of deal. The best thing about it was Supergirl (voiced by Molly Quinn) taking on a more aggressive approach when Superman finds himself off planet.
As with most of Warners' direct-to-DVD films based on the D.C. Comics characters, this film isn't set in an existing continuity and goes out of its way to be incompatible with any. That doesn't mean it's not entertaining, but I think overall, it would work better as the pilot for a new animated series. Something Warners doesn't seem to interested in for whatever reason.
That wasn't the only direct-to-DVD feature with Superman this year. The Flashpoint Paradox, based on the pivotal Flashpoint miniseries. As I said about Flashpoint, however, Superman's role was much as it was in the comics. That is to say that overall it was good, but don't watch it just for Superman's part because it's pitiful. That, by the way, is not a criticism of the story itself, it could very well be they wanted it to be that way for artistic reasons, I'm just saying this to fans hoping to see a lot of him.
Unfortunately, the Man of Tomorrow's 75th anniversary also finds him with a broken fan base. Often, the fandom of older Superman material means a hatedom for new and vice-versa. There are a lot of fans who can enjoy Superman regardless of when the material came out and base their opinions only on the comic/show/film/game itself. But we're becoming a dying breed, while battle-lines are being drawn.
On the one hand, you've got "culture aliens" who are usually younger and just seem to hate everything that came before 1986. They're usually "anarchists" believing that the character must be modernized and updated as much as possible, and references to silver age comics, the Christopher Reeve films, etc. should be kept to a minimum. Sometimes these fans aren't all that young, but they are "chicken littles" who, after the relative failure of Superman Returns, felt that if Man of Steel didn't do well, we could kiss any future Superman films goodbye.
While those fans can be annoying, many "old timers" have jumped on bandwagons of hatedom toward almost all new material. They too are "culture aliens," upset because the new stuff is supposedly darker (sometimes it is, but not as much as they make it out to be) and more realistic, as if anyone's ever complained about the later. They often drift into "mainstream militants," "unappeasable fans," and usually see themselves as "purists," even though they seem to forget that Siegel & Shuster's original comics were more down-to-Earth in their subject matter, and that the character was more of a tough guy.
Finally, each of these sides seems to have developed their own "hipsters," with the former seeming more interested in "saving" him with an "updated" movie than any actual material that exists; or self-proclaimed "purists" who really only seem to like the character because of the kitschier elements and really don't take him as a serious character at all. Extant fans can complain about the material, even if I think some people's criticisms on both sides are horseshit; but those who kind-of just pretend to care are honestly just embarrassing themselves and pissing me off.
Next year marks the 75th anniversary of Batman, and while the two characters have an incredibly symbiotic history, there are too many rival haters from the Bat-camp. Not to mention it'll be the 75th anniversary of Marvel Entertainment, which has too many rival haters who trash D.C. as a whole (sometimes with Batman and rarely Superman or Green Lantern as exceptions) so it's going to be a strange year. Don't get me wrong, I love Batman as much as the next guy, but part of being a true Batman fan means that even if you're not that familiar with Superman or don't read him regularly, trashing him isn't cool because if it weren't for Superman, Batman wouldn't exist.
And don't give me the "Batman was rebelling against Superman" crap. The people who say that usually act like Batman was the first superhero to have "flaws" when Superman certainly had "flaws" in those days. Heck, an early episode saw Superman destroy an entire ghetto. He was a tough guy first.
I'm tired of the haters. And for what it's worth, I'm also pretty tired of people who think that everything about the character sucked before 1986.
And yet, I'm just as tired of the longtime fans refusing to give the new material a shot or who think they must reject every change and I'm really sick and tired of people who are just marginally fans speaking for us, and in many cases, being just as guilty as the haters of rewriting history.
One of the main goals of this blog is to reinforce and clarify Superman's--and Batman's and everyone else's--history bringing forth different perspectives and questioning a lot of the sacred cows, whipping boys and preconceived notions of fandom.
And for a brief primer on the character's history, check this out from Zack Snyder and Bruce Timm…
A Brief Word on the 50th Anniversaries of the X-Men and the Avengers.
In a recent blog, I talked about the first appearance of the X-Men in 1963 and all-too-breifly touched upon how much they'd changed since then. And yet, the original, unfiltered X-Men of 1963 (comic book time) had come to the present to shake things up.
On top of this great arc, the most popular X-Men had a modest success at the box office with The Wolverine, which marked Hugh Jackman's fifth appearance as the character (sixth if you count a cameo in X-Men: First Class) while Famke Janssen also appeared as Jean Grey. I think of every film superheroine, Janssen as Jean is the greatest, because she had the beauty, poise and grace the role required, with acting chops to back it up; and while they never gave her anything even resembling a familiar costume from the comics, I never felt like it wasn't Jean we were watching.
Marvel's other big-time team obviously also had its share of things to celebrate. While last year was its major year of achievement, with the enormously successful eponymous film, Iron Man 3, was this year's top-grossing picture, and Thor: the Dark World held its own, so-far coming in at just under $200 million, and proving that a superhero movie can open in November (I honestly can't remember any others that did).
I didn't follow Infinity in the comics, but I have caught a few episodes of the new Avengers Assemble animated series, which ties into the excellent Ultimate Spider-Man show and already has a spinoff called Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. The roster of Avengers Assemble is the same as in the film, but with the addition of Falcon who will appear in Captain America: the Winter Soldier.
And so as we say goodbye to a truly remarkable year, remember: I am right and if you disagree with me, you're wrong; but are free to leave some comments.
Today's Christmas Eve, and I thought I'd take it easy on myself and post a list of the top ten cartoon theme songs.
Yeah, I couldn't think of a way to do a Christmas theme. Maybe next year, I'll talk about some classic Bible comics.
Anyway, because this is mainly a comic book blog, there will be a heavy bias in favor of comic-book based, animated and "boy"-oriented theme songs, but it's just for fun, and I don't want anyone to take this as some sort of definitive list or anything, it's just meant to be fun.
The main rule here is that it can't be an instrumental. An instrumental is not a "theme song," because it doesn't tell us anything about the characters, and while it may get us in the mood, most kids aren't going to go around humming it the way they'll sing a theme song, with a few exceptions.
But first… honorable mention.
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Great theme, but aside from using the term "Avengers, Assemble," it's more of a generic rock song that could go in a movie, and doesn't tell us about the characters.
10. WildC.A.T.S.
When I was a kid, I thought this was the cheesiest theme ever, but upon listening to it as an adult, it's actually got some pretty impressive harmonies. The rap in the middle is your typical example of "so bad it's good."
One thing that tips the cheese-scale is the fact that it refers to the team as "we," making it sound like it's supposed to be a couple of members of the team singing to us. Ugh.
For a series that brought a distinctly dark-age comic to Saturday mornings and therefore may have been meant to be taken as serious as a heart-attack, it's ridiculous, but that's what makes it fun in retrospect.
9. The Real Ghostbusters
Now, this one gets major demerits as it was already a #1 hit two years before the show came out, due to its inclusion in the blockbuster starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Obviously, this isn't the Ray Parker Jr. version, but it doesn't matter, it's still a great song no matter who sings it. I'm not sure I would have included it except that the animation itself is awesome and this rendition of the song at-least holds a candle to the film version. That's why this is here and "Back to the Future" isn't.
8. Teen Titans
A more recent addition. I hadn't really thought about it until someone pointed it out, but this epic series from the mid-'00s was one of few recent shows to actually have a real theme song to speak of (Psych is another, but that's live-action), and the visuals were great. It's performed by the Japanese group Puffy Amiyumi and what's strange is that they sometimes played it in Japanese. They also had an episode where the show's producer Glen Murikami did the vocals in Japanese to hilarious effect.
7. The Flintstones
One of the most memorable theme songs in history, this was the opener to the first prime-time animated series. Even people who have never seen the show know it well, and I've seen it lampooned, most notably on The Simpsons.
The sequence is also pretty clever, as it shows how the tropes of the prehistoric world are used to do things we do in the modern world.
Its sister show The Jetsons also had a memorable theme song, but this one wins just because it's better known.
6. Bucky O'Hare
I'm not sure how many people remember this one, but DAMN that's an awesome theme song. I mean, if someone managed to do a kid-friendly version of Faith No More singing about a spacefaring rabbit, this is what it would sound like.
I'll be honest, I don't remember much about the show itself, but for years, I kept thinking, "toads beware," and "this is it," don't rhyme; but then I realized "beware" was supposed to rhyme with "O'Hare," so yeah, it's cool.
5. Captain America
Of Marvel's stable of limited animation series during the late '60s, Captain America had one of the more memorable theme songs. It sounds like a World War II march, which puts the viewer in the proper mood.
4. G.I. Joe: a Real American Hero
A great theme, but there's a problem: the lyrics make it sound as if it's about a guy called G.I. Joe instead of a team, with lines like, "he never gives up…" The narration voiceover pops in to remind us that it is, in fact, about a whole team. Still, the harmonies and opening verse make this a winner. Sort-of a souped-up version of the old Captain America theme song.
3. Transformers
Oh man, this while I put the TMNT theme above this one, it did serve as the sort-of definitive rock cartoon theme song of the 1980s. The visuals got the blood pumping and the awesome "robots in disguise" talk-box effect made this beyond awesome.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
To my generation, this was the ultimate theme song. While it took a while for the Turtles to appear on Saturday morning per-say (when it first came on, it was usually at 4:30 on weekday afternoons) this is nevertheless what it's all about.
We don't simply get a nice catchy theme song, we get the lowdown on each Turtle and what he brings to the table: Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, etc.
When the show finally did come to Saturday mornings on CBS, the visual scene was altered for some unknown reason. Maybe to make it "softer." But with the 1994 (check date) revamp of the show, they gave it more of a heavy metal tinge (well, metal for a kid's cartoon) while the recent Turtles show on Nickelodean gives us a rap version of the tune.
1. Spider-Man
This song was included over the credits of the 2002 blockbuster that brought the character to the big screen, and has been covered by major rock bands such as the Ramones and Aerosmith. And yet, at its core, this song is quite simply the definition of Saturday morning.
Unlike some theme songs, it actually gives you the lowdown on the character's powers: we learn that he can do anything a spider can do, and that his radioactive blood makes him super strong.
I doubt too many kids these days have seen this show, especially with some quite admirable animated stuff popping up in recent years, but everyone seems to know the song, which is the world's greatest cartoon theme song.
One of the goals of this blog is to explore the history of comic books, and one of the most important aspects of comic book history is examining the first appearances of the major superheroes. The characters change over time, and it's not only interesting to see the differences, but it's also important to get a handle of what the original creators intended.
In my last First Appearances blog, I feel I could have delved deeper into examining the five biggest superheroes. Maybe I'll redo it sometime. In the meantime, here are the origins of five more superheroes. Well, actually, four solo superheroes, a couple of their sidekicks, one's mother who later became a superheroine and a team of young superheroes, their mentor, their enemy who later became a member and a brief look at the first appearance of a guy who later joined the team and basically took it over.
But I also want to take a look at how the characters have changed. That's something I only hinted at in the last superheroes blog, although when talking about those five, we'd probably need an entire blog entry for each of them.
Right off the bat, this issue has the greatest cover of all time. Just Captain America socking Adolph Hitler. It's also notable, because I honestly can't think of a superhero before Captain America, who was introduced in his/her own comic. Yes, the original Flash was introduced in Flash Comics #1, but that was very much an anthology, and you could argue the title wasn't about the character, and that it meant "flash as in "pizzaz." That said, Captain America Comics #1 (and possibly subsequent issues) include backup stories featuring other heroes, but we don't have to worry about them.
The issue is divided up into four different "cases" outlined on a black and white introductory page. The story is set in 1941, and it's worth noting that it was released in March, whereas the U.S. didn't officially enter World War II until December of that year. No matter, many Americans felt that we were bound to enter the war, a sentiment which this book echoed.
As we see the effects of NAZI sabotage on or soil, some members of the brass discuss the situation with President Roosevelt, who facetiously suggests, "a character out of the comic books? Perhaps the Human Torch in the army would solve our problem!" It's interesting to see the Human Torch talked about as fictional character when Cap would eventually team-up with him. Also, at the time, you'd think Superman or Captain Marvel would be a bigger part of the lexicon, but of course, why promote the competition?
FDR's flippant remark seems odd, however, as he summons Agent Grover of the F.B.I. to take the officers to a secret location wherein a Professor Reinstein is conducting an experiment. An experiment in which young Steve Rogers is transformed into Captain America.
Now, Cap's origin should be fairly familiar to most people reading this: he takes the Super Soldier serum, and transforms from a scrawny boy desperate to join the army, to the herculean figure we all know and love. Then, a NAZI spy who had infiltrated the hideout shoots Reinstein and Grover before Captain America can stop them. Conveniently, the spy crashes into some equipment while trying to escape, and dies.
Captain America is born! As the news of the star-spangled avenger reaches the paper, young camp mascot Bucky Barnes marvels at his feats and wishes he could meet the hero. No sooner does Steve give him the "tut tut, maybe you can one day," speech than Bucky finds him changing, causing him to say, "I ought to tan your hide!"
Instead of just saying, "well, let's keep a secret, he gives Bucky a red & blue costume and lets him fight alongside him. Here's my biggest problem with Bucky: are we to understand that everybody knows that he's Bucky Barnes, while Steve is supposed to have a secret identity? Sure, it's not like they have a guardian/ward relationship, but as we'll find out, they're hanging out together an awful lot.
It's obvious Timely (as Marvel was called back then) had big plans for Captain America when they introduced him. This issue has an ad for a fan club called the Sentinels of Liberty. This approach paid off as he became their biggest star of the golden age, and a hero who has lasted through the ages.
Anyway, we move onto another case in which Captain America and Bucky must foil a fortune-telling act consisting of a duo known as Sando and Omar. Sando hypnotizes Omar who then projects the image of an explosion at Fort Bix caused by enemy sabotage.
Captain America and Bucky read about the show, and decide to watch it and see what the deal is. As Omar predicts the destruction of the Hilltown Bridge, Captain America and Bucky spring into action. As they do, the bridge actually does blow up, they get captured, along with a spy named Betty Ross, a name that would be bestowed on the Hulk's love interest in the years to come.
You can probably guess how the rest of the story goes.
Next, there's a text story called, "Captain America and the Soldiers' Soup." These text stories were a staple of early comics, and in the third issue, Simon and Kirby's assistant--the publisher's nephew Stan--made his writing debut in such a story.
The next story introduces a villain known as Ratchcone who masterminds the deaths of certain generals and such. I'm going to skip it, however, because the next story has a similar theme, and it introduces yet another villain: the Red Skull.
Yes, the Red Skull. It's so interesting to think that in this one issue, we're introduced to the hero, the sidekick and the signature villain. Yes, the Red Skull would go on to be one of comics' most enduring villains. His story involves systematically killing off high-ranking members of the U.S. government. While people believe that he manages to frighten them to death, he's actually injecting his victims with a hypodermic needle. He also manages to sabotage a plane he's ostensibly selling to the U.S. under his true identity of Mr. Maxon of the Maxon air company.
It's kind-of exhausting talking about this book because there are four stories all told, but it's a fun book to read. In fact, I'd say that of every book from the golden age, it's the third greatest right after the respective first issues of Superman and Batman (first issues, not first appearances).
Now, in this "first appearances" blog and all future ones, I'd like to talk about what's changed, and with Captain America, the only thing that keeps him from being mostly fully-formed (aside from his shield not being the right shape and some minor costume issues) is just the fact that the story of him being trapped under ice and unearthed decades later is nowhere to be found because that--which has become just as much a part of his origin as anything else--has yet to happen.
For years, the main developments with Captain America concerned his place in the Marvel Universe. On the one hand, he's the stoic superhero whom others look up to. On the other hand, more than a couple of times, Marvel has had a story involving Cap. becoming disillusioned by the American government, and striking out on his own.
Captain America never had that much luck in live-action films or animation until recently. His only cartoon series as a solo hero was one of those dreadful cartoons that involved taking panels and just moving the lips. In live-action, there was a Captain America serial in the 1940s, but they changed so much (his secret identity, his weapon, a lack of origin, an original villain, no mention of wartime menaces or him actually being in the army, and no Bucky though there was a female sidekick) I honestly think they just took an existing script and slapped the costume on the guy every so often.
Captain America's death in 2008 was big news, but part of that was because it wasn't promoted at all and fans learned about it as they were reading the pages of Captain America Vol. 5 #25. The character was subsequently revived, but it took him a while to reclaim the mantle of Captain America, or so I understand because I haven't followed it in a while.
I should also mention Marvel's Ultimate line, in which alternate versions of the heroes appear. One day, I will do a super colossal overview of the Ultimate line, but for now, let's just say that that version of Captain America had an impact on the live-action version, the video games (in particular Marvel: Ultimate Alliance) and the current animated incarnation of Cap, Avengers Assemble. The film Captain America: the First Avenger was, in my opinion, one of the greatest superhero movies of all time, and it lead up to The Avengers wherein Captain America was underused, but well-played by Chris Evans. I'm looking forward to 2014's Captain America: the Winter Soldier.
That's right: like Captain America's Bucky, Speedy was around from Day 1. Because of all the sidekicks that came about during this period, I thought about including Robin's first appearance, and if this had come about sometime between 1995 and 2007, maybe I would have. Anyway, that's beside the point.
A few years ago, if you were to tell me that there would be any argument to be made that Green Arrow would be one of the biggest superheroes on the horizon, I'd have laughed. Yeah, he's cool, and the political aspects of the early '70s made him more than just "the bow and arrow guy," but he always seemed to be straddling the 2nd and 3rd tier of D.C.'s line of superheroes. That started to change with Kevin Smith's run on the character and his appearances on Justice League Unlimited and Smallville, and with the current series Arrow, he's achieved a certain level of live-action success where others had failed. Besides… archery is cool these days.
As you may have been able to tell by the cover, this is a back-up feature, in a comic where Dr. Fate's story is
the headliner. In any case, the deal in this issue is that the Green Arrow and Speedy have to foil a serial killer who murders the namesakes of famous men. One-after-one, the hooded killer shoots a guy named George Lincoln, hangs a man named John Hale, and stabs an individual named Anthony Caesar. All of them were members of a history club, and their deaths reach the airwaves, prompting Oliver Queen and his ward Roy Harper into action.
The two explicitly live in an apartment, and it's billed as both of theirs, so I'm a little confused. Was Roy originally not his ward? Is he a kid or just kind-of a short guy?
Anyway, despite living in an apartment, there's a "secret garage that harbors the fastest car on wheels--the Arrowplane--a super-streamlined racer capable of amazing speed. In other-words the Batmobile, but with an arrow theme. It also has a catapult which enabled him to "fly" unto a window and crash through it Superman-style.
Not the least bit upset by any of this, the members of the club tell the Green Arrow about how they're marked for having the same last name as famous historical figures. The man with the last name Achilles boasts that he has metal boots, so he won't injure him through his heel like the hero of Greek myth. As you may predict, by the time Green Arrow intuits that the killer may somehow use the metal boots to kill the guy, it's too late and he dies right before their eyes.
After this horrendous ordeal, Green Arrow goes undercover, but because he's still wearing his domino mask. This is one of those old-timey superhero conventions that makes absolutely no sense, nor does it make any sense that they wouldn't… y'know… try to remove his mask. Also, Speedy was captured and they tied them up together. Obviously, they manage to escape when Arrow kicked his shoe out through the window.
Anyway, they foil the next two attempts to kill people on the list of men with famous namesakes and it builds to an exciting car chase (by the standards of an early '40s comic book) cumulating in Arrow shooting, well, an arrow into the wheel of the bad guy's car, sending it off the bridge.
The story ends with Queen putting a bomb the villain was going to use in a souvenir case in his apartment.
Not a bad debut for the character, all things considered. A typical forgettable comic from the era, and it's a little strange that there's no origin. But then, what origin do they need? Our hero shoots criminals with an archery set.
The character's costume in this early stage is somewhat uninspired. It's really just a green tunic and pants, a domino mask and a Robin Hood hat. The character comes off incredibly conventional, with very little sense of what was to come. And there was a lot.
What's also strange is that there isn't much mention of Queen's fortune. In fact, the only thing that hints at it is the car, of course and the souvenir case. And even that doesn't mean he's particularly wealthy. On the other hand, if he was a wealthy, why would he be renting an apartment with a younger guy? Of course, it wouldn't be too long before the Green Arrow and Speedy were explicitly stated as a guardian and a ward, Oliver Queen was confirmed as a millionaire, and that he'd become such a great archer while marooned on an island.
It's also interesting to note that he was co-created by Mort Weissenger, later a famous (and incredibly controversial) editor for the Superman books. For the record, the artist was George Papp, as the "creator" credits for superheroes usually go to the writer and artist of their first appearance.
What made the Green Arrow special to a lot of people was that he became an unabashed leftist in the early '70s. Even if you don't agree with the politics espoused, or find it anvilicious, I think it made the character stand out in D.C.'s stable at a time when they still tended to write their main cast of male heroes (Superman, Batman, Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern) somewhat interchangeably. In fact, during his time as the leftist staple of the Green Lantern books, writers revealed that Speedy had become a heroin-user.
In recent years, D.C. has given the character a more youthful makeover, particularly in the New 52 comics and in his own television series Arrow. What was once easily one of D.C. Comics' second-stringers has become one of their biggest heroes. If Arrow can last through a third season, it will have been on TV as long as the television incarnations of Batman and Wonder Woman.
At this point, you may wonder why I'm bothering to do Wonder Woman in this as she hasn't had any success in live action since the late '70s and even her comics haven't sold that well historically (although, the October 2013 issues of Justice League and Wonder Woman are well in the top ten, her solo series came in at #77) and inevitably, the current casting of Gal Gadot is being picked apart; though honestly, I think they could have cast anybody and the asme thing would have happened. I like her.
But sometimes it's not all about success in other media, and while the claim that Wonder Woman was the first super heroine is simply false, most people at-least seem to know who she is, despite her last live-action adventures well over thirty years ago.
All Star Comics #8 begins with a brief introduction to the character touting how in a world of "the hatreds and wars of men," Wonder Woman is here as if she's here "to avenge an injustice or right a wrong," and that she has "the speed of Mercury and the strength of Hercules."
The story begins with Col. Steve Trevor piloting a plane that crashes on Paradise Island where men are forbidden. The island's princess known as Diana (yes, Wonder Woman was Princess Diana, we don't need to dwell on that, this was twenty years before the real Princess Diana was born) and her friend rescue the man and take him to the hospital.
Queen Hippolyte walks in and SWEET KATY PERRY, WHAT THE HELL IS SHE WEARING!?!?! I'm sorry, but the cone bra and really most of the costumes in this comic just kind-of undercut the femocentric message. Yeah, I know, I've offended some people by saying that Wonder Woman's costume is as stripperific as that of any '90s "bad girl," but it's true. I mean, no little girl is going to run around in a bathing suit because of it, but it has to be acknowledged that Wonder Woman's creator William Moulton Marston (credited here as Charles Moulton, while artist H.G. Peter doesn't seem to be credited at all) was living in a polyamorous household (basically, he had a wife and they had a mistress) and littered the subsequent comics with bondage images because of some theory about "loving submission."
However, while I think he had a questionable personality, it should be said that the writing in the two issues we're discussing is among the most complex of its day. It's also interesting to note that he's one of a handful of people in the comic book industry who was born prior to the 20th century.
Any whodilly doodle, Diana confesses that she "loves" the unconscious military man she just encountered, so Hippolyte gives her the lowdown in a couple of mostly-text pages of how she came to be where she is, why men are persona non-grata on the island and how she got a certain magic girdle then apparently being omniscient tells us how Col. Trevor got there thanks to some spies who knocked him out and put him in a plane inside a larger plane and dropped him over the water.
Hippolyte then holds a contest to see who should take the guy back to America in the Invisible Plane and stay there to fight for equal rights while trying to help defeat the evil NAZI forces who have opposed it. Diana wants to go, but is forbidden, however she enters the tournament and wins, so she gets to go to America and be Wonder Woman to her mother's dismay.
This classic tale of rebellion is told a little fast, but it's an effective origin. Sadly, in All-Star #8, we don't really see her in action, but in Sensation Comics #1, we do. I'm mostly going to skirt over it as it's not technically her first appearance anymore; but her origin does continue. She takes Steve Trevor to an American hospital leaving people bewildered, foils a typical robbery, enters showbiz but quits after realizing Steve is still in the hospital, then in an incredibly contrived moment, meets a young nurse named… lo and behold… Diana Prince who looks just like her. Ms. Prince laments that her fiancé moved to South America, and they have the brilliant idea that Wonder Woman give her the money she urned doing shows so Diana can fly to be with her beloved, while W.W. assumes her identity, especially since she had trained as a nurse on Paradise Island.
So then Steve sneaks out of the hospital, and goes on a mission. Just as someone shoots Trevor's plane down, Wonder Woman saves him in the Invisible Plane. They team up, and defeat some bad guys, then he heads back to the hospital where Diana is his nurse and thus begins the exploits of the world's greatest super heroine.
Now, there are many moments in this comic where if I were some self-proclaimed "feminist" who fumes over skimpy superheroine outfits and smarmy dialogue/narration and dressed like Indiana Jones for some reason, I'd probably think this was the worst comic book ever printed. But I'm not so I just kind-of roll my eyes at that stuff, while acknowledging that for 1941, it's actually very well-written.
As with other long-running superheroes, Wonder Woman has gone through an unending cycle of changes. In 1968, Dennis O'Neil attempted to revamp Wonder Woman by taking away her powers and costume and just making her a more generic spy heroine. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. Soon after, they made Batman's adventures darker and more streetwise to great effect, and not long after that, attempted to bring Superman's power level down which had mixed results. It was a new age for superheroes, but D.C.'s preeminent superhero and superheroine just didn't seem to get it right.
However, by the late '70s, things were looking up for the two of them as the Super Friends animated series gained popularity a Wonder Woman T.V. series materialized with Lynda Carter in the title role, while Superman streaked across the big screen played by Christopher Reeve, yet while Superman's comics have had their ups and downs over the years, Wonder Woman's sales have often been disappointing.
This despite a terrific 1987 reboot by George Pérez, who is not only one of comics' great artists, but I think a very underrated writer. The books went back to the idea of having a feminist message while not being overly preachy and tackling topical issues; while emerging the heroine in Greek mythology (rather than the mixed mythology of earlier comics) and pitting her against more myth-inspired villains. Other writers and artists came and went since then, and it never really flew off the shelves.
The current comics are also excellent with a more gothic look to them. They're interesting, if a little bizarre sometimes, but the character's main notability seems to come from her membership in the Justice League and a relationship with Superman (in the New 52 version, he was never married to Lois Lane) which seems to fit with the idea that while most people have heard of Wonder Woman, they don't know or care much about the actual stories.
While the follow-up to Man of Steel was at first talked about as a "Superman Vs Batman" movie, the inclusion of Wonder Woman has lead some to speculate that it's a Justice League film. Really, the character seems to have become primarily seen as a Justice League member almost to the point where that's eclipsed her reputation as a solo super heroine. That may not be the worst thing in the world, but for a character D.C. regularly bandies about as being part of a triad that also includes the two greatest, most influential superheroes, it's kind-of a shame and it gives the "if I were running D.C…" crowd plenty of ammo.
Finally, a new Justice League animated film--based on the ever-bollyhooed 2011 reboot--hits shelves February 4, 2014, and Wonder Woman will appear in a variation of her new costume.
Thor's debut in August 1962 came the same month as Spider-Man's, cementing what we now call the Marvel universe. Before these two heroes premiered, Marvel had a rag-tag team of superheroes, and a strange superhero-of-sorts who owed more to Frankenstein and the Wolf Man than Superman and Batman.
Thor was based on the Norse god of thunder, but it's just that: based on. The Thor of Norse mythology didn't wear a long, red cape or have long, blonde hair. He was a red-haired Viking warrior who didn't fly by the use of his hammer, but his chariot. This also wasn't the first time we saw a version of Thor in the comics. Thor may have his roots in Norse myth, but he's a Stan Lee & Jack Kirby creation through-and-through as the title "Thor: the Mighty! and the Stone Men from Saturn," surely indicates.
During a visit to Norway, the "frail" Dr. Donald Blake is the only person who believes an old man who claims to have seen some stone-like creatures come out of a spaceship and vaporize a tree. Blake does some investigating and finds the stone men whose attention he unwittingly garners while trying to escape.
He falls almost to his doom, losing his cane along the way, and crawls into a cave wherein he finds a wooden cane and decides to tap a giant boulder. Suddenly, the cane transforms into a hammer and he takes the form of Thor, the Norse deity who represents thunder. He finds that he now has the strength to lift the boulder as if it were cardboard. He also finds that if he lets go of the hammer, he ceases to be Thor and loses his powers, although he can hurl it and it will return. On top of that, he learns he can create snow, rain, lightning, etc. and he can even tap the hammer to turn back into Blake and turn the hammer back into a cane.
Meanwhile, NATO forces come after the stone men in fighter jets, but the stone men create a hologram of a dragon which frightens the pilots so they parachute out of their planes. Sometimes I wonder what old Stan had in mind when he got these ideas.
Now, the ending is pretty basic: he just shows up and kicks their asses. But the whole thing is just so random, it's a joy to read. This issue came out the same month as Amazing Fantasy #15, and it's interesting to think that Marvel had more faith in Thor, for reasons which are fairly obvious. He had a more traditional superhero look, and I'd even offer that there may have been some inspiration from Captain Marvel--once one of the most popular superheroes of them all, but seemingly relegated to the ash heap of history by this point--in that you had an underdog who magically becomes another being.
And yet, while the origin of Spider-Man was as down-to-Earth as a superhero origin (or story of any kind) had been in a long time, Thor was as outlandish and out-there as you could get. Yes, about half a year after slopping Spider-Man off into the dying anthology that was Amazing Fantasy, they brought him back in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and he became Marvel's signature superhero even when other Marvel heroes eclipsed him from time to time (Hulk in the late '70s, the X-Men in the early '90s, Iron Man these days) but the success of Thor: the Dark World shows that the Prince of Thunder has an appeal.
Having not particularly followed Thor, the biggest difference I see is that it looks like they've more-or-less done away with Don Blake. I can understand that, I mean, it's fascinating enough on its own, but it was kind-of a cool idea in keeping with the notion that these meek guys could secretly be superheroes.
Thor: the Dark World wasn't quite the hit that Iron Man 3 or Man of Steel was, but it's keeping the Marvel banner alive and it proves that they can open a November film and it can do okay.
Now, for the third comic on this list drawn by Jack Kirby and the second one written by Stan Lee.
I was actually going to do Wolverine's first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #181 (yes, technically, his first appearance was in #180, but from what I understand it was one panel) but I had a Hell of a time trying to find a reprint of it and when I was talking about it at my local comic book store, the guy said the owner had unloaded it for $2,000 so it's a bit out of my price range. I had also wanted to do a "firsts" installment on various original teams (original as opposed to the Justice League or the Avengers where they were comprised of existing heroes) and the X-Men may be the most popular of all.
But seeing as how I have the first issue of X-Men (later retitled The Uncanny X-Men) and it's their 50th anniversary, this is more timely. Besides, during their big five-oh, Marvel saw fit to bring back the original five and proved that Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Beast and Angel--as the teenagers they first appeared as--still rock and that's an important thing to remember as all-too-often, people still write them off as a poor man's Fantastic Four.
Before we begin, here's Wolverine's first appearance eleven years after the original team's introduction.
There, that's it. But while I've looked at The Incredible Hulk #181 in a collection and online (the first few pages of it anyway), I don't own a copy and can't find one, but since these two panels comrpise his first appearance as far as I know, there is the first dialogue spoken by him and the first illustration of him. Cat-like mask but otherwise the same costume as he had in the late '70s and the '90s. And yes, he's got an attitude and his trademark claws. That's all the information we get, and from what I've seen in my Marvel Masterworks: the Uncanny X-Men, that's all we see for a while.
But we're not talking about him today.
Nope, the story starts out with a training session between the four male members of the X-Men. Of course the name X-Men implies that they're all male, but in this issue, we also meet one of the greatest super heroines of all time. She's given a code name, Marvel Girl, but by the '90s, she was better known by her given name: Jean Grey.
Interestingly, many introductory installments of the X-Men focus on a female member joining the team, whether it's Jean in this issue, Kitty in Pryde of the X-Men, Jubilee in the first episode of the classic '90s series, Rogue in the first movie, or Magma in the first X-Men: Legends game.
One of the most interesting things fans have noticed about the early X-Men is that Beast is played as something of a "palooka" (in the words of podcaster Michael Bailey) which was common for the super-strong Marvel heroes. First, there was the Thing from Fantastic Four, then the Hulk. Within a few issues, however, Stan seemed to want to bring the character in a different direction. After-all, why does the strong guy have to be the brute as well? Why not a super-strong character who's also intelligent and studious?
The rest of the characters' personalities mirror the Fantastic Four as well. Iceman is the young guy like the Human Torch, though trading in the James Dean attitude for more of a prankster motive. Jean Grey was the beautiful and intelligent but naïve young woman that Invisible Girl was and Cyclops was a stone-faced leader in the vain of Mr. Fantastic, though without the scientific acumen and a way cooler power, and yet, the Angel was a bit of an aristocrat and fairly arrogant, so I guess that would make him the Sub-Marriner, given that the next few issues would have a bit of a love-triangle between the three of them.
After we're introduced to our teen heroes, we transition over to Magneto, who is busy taking over a military base. Like I said, Jean Grey may be the greatest super heroine of all time, and similarly, Magneto may be the greatest super villain of all time. Not only does he have the power to manipulate the magnetic field and all objects made of metal (a particularly lethal power when Wolverine and Colossus joined the team) but the way he saw himself as the true hero, at first simply hating humans and wanting to exterminate them. As the series rolled on, the idea that the X-Men were feared and hated by normal humans became a major theme, and Magneto's role was that of a sort-of radical who wanted his people--the mutants--to take over the world after being oppressed.
Back at the X-Mansion, Jean puts on her costume while the other X-Men sneak in and ogle her, except for Cyclops, (her future husband as it turned out). Then, they're interrupted by the news that Magneto is attacking a base, so they take a Rolls Royce to a secret hangar and board their own private jet to get to the base Magneto took over.
Cyclops get knocked out blasting Magneto's force field but Magneto launches a bunch of missiles. Angel draws their fire, but Iceman freezes some of them, while Beast grabs one with his feet and Marvel Girl uses her telekinesis to move one into the ocean. Magneto tries one last-ditch attempt at destroying them by forcing a cart full of rocket fuel at them, but Ice Man covers them up with an ice shield and they force the villain to retreat.
The army is grateful to for their help, but that gratitude is eventually whisked away as the concept that normal people hate and fear mutants--the race to which the X-Men belong--and the series is used as a metaphor for battling racism.
So how have the X-Men changed over the years? Well, at first, it just came down to adding the occasional new members and supporting characters, with even enemies turning into allies. They were also sometimes rewarded with their own individually-designed costumes. But then, the book was cancelled, although Marvel kept publishing it, using reprints of older stories.
The X-Men have probably had more personal changes than any original team, and debatably more than even teams like the Justice League and the Avengers. It's hard to even pick what the definitive team would be, but again, the most essential member doesn't seem to be one of the original five, it seems to be Wolverine. He was the first to get his own series, and his own solo films.
Another mid-'70s addition to the team who's proven invaluable was Storm, who's possibly the most famous black superhero of all time, and rivals Wonder Woman as the most beloved superheroine. In fact, she defeated Wonder Woman in the 1996 miniseries Marvel Vs D.C. which was, let's face it, a glorified popularity contest. Not only that, but playing Storm seemed to move Halle Berry's career up a notch, even though her role in the first film was somewhat small and utilitarian.
Storm, Wolverine and Cyclops seemed, for a while, to form a "big three" for the team, the way Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman did for the Justice League or Captain America, Iron Man and Thor did for the Avengers: the team could go through any number of line-up changes, but the nucleus of the team being intact was so all-important that without them, it just didn't feel right, although after a while, that just stopped being the case.
Back to Cyclops and the other original five. In 1982, Cyclops finally left the team after the other original four had quit years earlier (in fact, Jean died but it turned out to be a clone, while the real Jean was… you know, I honestly don't understand either). The original X-Men returned, however, in 1986's X-Factor series, in brand new costumes. This lasted a number of years, but the 1991 revamp of the team and ensuing towline, video games and animated series marked not only a growing interest among comic book readers, but an explosion of the characters in popular culture in general. All of this before the 2000 film X-Men ushered in a new generation of superhero films.
Days of Future Past, based extremely loosely on a pivotal two-parter from the 1980s, will hit theaters in 2014. In this trailer, we can see Professor X, Magneto, Beast and I think Iceman are there, and Jean Grey appeared in this year's The Wolverine, but I don't think Cyclops is coming back.
Meanwhile, the original team has returned. Starting this year, All-New X-Men saw the blue, furry Beast bringing the original team back from the past in an effort to talk some sense into Cyclops who had teamed with Magneto and become a militant mutant himself. It backfired and as of this entry, the original team has joined the older Cyclops' faction. How it plays out is anybody's guess because if there's one thing the X-Men aren't, it's predictable.
I'm not saying I want them to run back into the arms of their regular lovers, but… I don't know, I'm just kind-of bored with them as a couple. They also got a new series together, but D.C. also gave Supes a title where he gets second billing with a certain hero who celebrates his 75th anniversary next year, the first saga of which was kind-of interesting, as it took place early-on in their careers and saw them journey to Earth-2 where they teamed up with the more experienced Superman and Batman of that universe.
