Post by Adminenkainen on Aug 12, 2015 21:07:29 GMT
Well, that's quite a monumental task, isn't it? DC was huge, with a roster of heroes who could have easily filled 52 comic books a month (see that post and the three after it).
But DC didn't start out big. In the early days, it's best features were probably the little known Slam Bradley, Steve Carson of Federal Men, and Dr. Occult. These features were fresh and innovative, pushing the boundaries for comics in 1936-1938. And they were all by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, who changed everything in 1938 with Superman.
That Superman made DC Comics is indisputable; just look at their small output pre-Superman, before the Superman money started pouring in. That Superman is responsible for the superhero genre is impossible to ignore. Yes, there were precedents, and one could argue (others have) that Superman was an inversion of the John Carter of Mars character, with a little Moses thrown in. But that does not mean that the modern day superhero was an idea waiting to happen. The creation of Superman was an act of genius and a game changing moment in the history of comic books, popular culture, and...well, maybe everything!
But DC Comics didn't happen right away; National and All-American had a strange relationship of being friends and rivals for a long time before fully merging. Superman was National's baby and Superman money allowed them to lure Bert Christman away from the Scorchy Smith comic strip to create the Sandman and attracted talent like Fred Guardineer away from Chesler. Compared to this line-up, All-American's talent seemed like poor country cousins, though Gardner Fox freelanced for both sides of the company. One of All-American's strengths was young editor Sheldon Mayer, who would go on to turn Scribbly and the Red Tornado into the first and greatest of superhero parodies.
Before Superman, there was original content in some comic books, but it was comic strip reprints that carried the anthologies and no character was considered strong enough to carry a book entirely on his own. After Superman, it became a race to see which new hero would become the next Big Thing, with a strong enough audience to carry a solo title. Some companies tried to race new heroes into becoming the next Big Thing, like Centaur launching Amazing Man Comics without testing the character in the market first, only to see the hero eventually not go the distance. All-American came up with another strategy. They took the characters deemed most likely to succeed next from each of National and All-American's anthology books and teamed them up together in a showcase book called All-Star Comics. The theory seemed to be that the extra exposure would boost their popularity enough that they would warrant solo titles, and this seemed to play out well, at least initially, with Flash and Green Lantern. What they, perhaps unintentionally, did was to create the first organization of fictional heroes -- who were equals, not heroes and sidekicks -- since King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
But DC didn't start out big. In the early days, it's best features were probably the little known Slam Bradley, Steve Carson of Federal Men, and Dr. Occult. These features were fresh and innovative, pushing the boundaries for comics in 1936-1938. And they were all by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, who changed everything in 1938 with Superman.
That Superman made DC Comics is indisputable; just look at their small output pre-Superman, before the Superman money started pouring in. That Superman is responsible for the superhero genre is impossible to ignore. Yes, there were precedents, and one could argue (others have) that Superman was an inversion of the John Carter of Mars character, with a little Moses thrown in. But that does not mean that the modern day superhero was an idea waiting to happen. The creation of Superman was an act of genius and a game changing moment in the history of comic books, popular culture, and...well, maybe everything!
But DC Comics didn't happen right away; National and All-American had a strange relationship of being friends and rivals for a long time before fully merging. Superman was National's baby and Superman money allowed them to lure Bert Christman away from the Scorchy Smith comic strip to create the Sandman and attracted talent like Fred Guardineer away from Chesler. Compared to this line-up, All-American's talent seemed like poor country cousins, though Gardner Fox freelanced for both sides of the company. One of All-American's strengths was young editor Sheldon Mayer, who would go on to turn Scribbly and the Red Tornado into the first and greatest of superhero parodies.
Before Superman, there was original content in some comic books, but it was comic strip reprints that carried the anthologies and no character was considered strong enough to carry a book entirely on his own. After Superman, it became a race to see which new hero would become the next Big Thing, with a strong enough audience to carry a solo title. Some companies tried to race new heroes into becoming the next Big Thing, like Centaur launching Amazing Man Comics without testing the character in the market first, only to see the hero eventually not go the distance. All-American came up with another strategy. They took the characters deemed most likely to succeed next from each of National and All-American's anthology books and teamed them up together in a showcase book called All-Star Comics. The theory seemed to be that the extra exposure would boost their popularity enough that they would warrant solo titles, and this seemed to play out well, at least initially, with Flash and Green Lantern. What they, perhaps unintentionally, did was to create the first organization of fictional heroes -- who were equals, not heroes and sidekicks -- since King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
