Superheroes Galore

QUESTION: When I was a kid, I read comic books all the time. I’d even sneak a flashlight under the covers and read them when I was supposed to be a asleep. But over the years I drifted away from them. Recently, I went to a comic book show with a friend just to accompany him, but once there I got hooked again. Now I think I’d like to collect them. Can you give me a brief history of comic books so I have an idea of what’s involved? 

ANSWER: Comic books are not only fun to collect but are affordable. While there are some that sell at auction for stratospheric sums, the majority can be bought for reasonable amounts. 

Less than two decades ago, blockbuster movies featuring a raging green hulk, a group of mutant humans, a spider, and a man blinded by radioactive waste spurred the resurgence in comic book collecting. And who can forget the comic book store frequented by the nerdy guys in the hit T.V. show The Big Bang Theory.

While interest in comic books featuring superhuman characters increased in the early 21st Century, their origin goes back much earlier.

American comic books trace their roots back to 1933 when a syndicated newspaper published part of its Sunday comic's page on 7 by 9-inch plates. Eastern Printing employees Max Gaines and Harry Wildenherg believed two such plates could fit a tabloid-size page, producing a 7 by l0-inch book when folded. The two took newspaper strips and reprinted them in a booklet titled Funnies On Parade, which the Proctor and Gamble Company used as a premium.

Gaines convinced Eastern executives he could sell similar comics to large advertising firms. Eastern then produced and distributed Famous Funnies and Century of Comics. Both were highly successful.

Surprised with the popularity of the giveaway comics, Caine believed he could sell them to kids if it were reasonably priced, so the company printed Famous Funnies Series One and sold it for 10 cents. The comic was an immediate sellout. It became the first monthly comic and continued to be published until 1955.

Early comic books featured nothing more than reprinted material. In 1935, New Fun became the first comic to break the "reprinted material" barrier by featuring the antics of Oswald the Rabbit.

The comic book industry took a gigantic leap forward in June 1938 when the first issue of Action Comics featured the amazing feats of Superman. Just as his flying abilities allowed him to leap tall buildings in a single bound, they also catapulted him to the top of the sales charts.

But it took five years before Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created Superman, to sell their character to National Periodicals Publications. They had tried to market Superman to every newspaper syndicate but were repeatedly rejected. Superman was the first of many superheroes to become part of the Golden Age of Comics.

Superman’s success gave birth to dozens of other superheroes, such as Batman, who first appeared in Detective Comics 27. Artist Bob Kane modeled Superman on drawings of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines. Although Batman had no superpowers, he appealed to young readers: He was costumed, smart, and had a variety of neat gadgets at his disposal.

Batman received his own title in the spring of 1940 when Batman No. I appeared on newsstands. This issue also featured the first appearances of Catwoman and The Joker. Other main characters made their appearances in issues of Detective Cornics, which later became DC, before crossing over to the Batman title. Robin, the Boy Wonder, debuted in Detective Comics No. 38. The Penguin made his first appearance in Detective Comics No. 58. Robin made history in 1988 when fans voted to have him killed off.

In the fall of 1939, Timely Comics published Marvel Comics No. I, which contained the first appearances of The Human Torch. Eventually, Timely became Marvel Comics, who along with DC dominated the comic book publishing industry for decades.

Captain America, appearing in his own comic right from the beginning, made his debut in March 1941. Previously, all new characters appeared in another comic before being granted their own title. This way, publishers could judge reader reaction through comic book sales to see if the new character could stand on his own. Captain America began his career fighting Nazis months before America declared war.

In the spring of 1941, Wonder Woman appeared on newsstands, followed by Captain Marvel and The Green Lantern. By the end of the year, over 150 different comic titles appeared on the newsstands. 

World War II had a profound effect on comic books. Dell published the first war comic, appropriately titled War Comics No. I. Many superheroes rushed into the armed forces to battle the enemy, much as many young men did. Commando Yank, Major Victory, Jungle Jim, Spy Smasher and The Unknown Soldier all played hero to many teens on the home front.

The 1940s saw the creation of two teen idols—Archie Andrews and Katy Keene. After debuting in Pep Comics, Archie Andrews got his own comic title in 1942. Katy Keene made her first appearance in Wilbur Comics in 1945. Following appearances in three other comics, Pep gave the beauty queen her own title in 1950.

The end of World War II brought about the desire for change. Adventure writers were having problems developing new plots, while humor writers found it hard to be funny after a war that cost millions their lives. The comic book industry wasn’t any different. It needed to come up with new titles, categories, and formats if it was to survive.

The western comic was one of those new categories. In 1948, Hopalong Cassidy produced a huge hit for comic book publisher Fawcett. Other publishers scrambled to take advantage of the new category. All American Western, Annie Oakley, and The Two-Gun Kid all rode onto newsstands with the fury of a cornered desperado.

With the onset of the 1950s, comic book readership continued its downward trend. Even Superman began to falter. In an attempt to regain customers, several publishers turned to violence. William Gaines, the son of Max Gaines, left DC in the mid-1940s and formed Educational Comics. When Max died, his son inherited the Eastern Printing. William changed the name to Entertaining Comics (E.C.), launching several titles that caused serious controversy.

E.C. comics contained gruesome stories and gory covers. Crypt of Terror, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror. The extreme violence .eventually brought about the company's downfall. The only E..C. title that weathered the controversy was Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad No. 1, which later became Mad Magazine.

The Silver Age of comics began in 1956 with the publication of Showcase No. 4, featuring the adventures of the fastest man alive—The Flash. This character had the same name and same powers as his golden age counterpart, but the stories were completely different.

Marvel comics introduce a superhero team in November 1961 with Fantastic Four No. I. The title's main characters obtained their super powers when their spacecraft traveled though a cosmic storm. 

The most recognized Marvel superhero, Spider Man, first scurried across the pages of Amazing Fantasy 15 in August 1962. Peter Parker, aka Spider Man, was a geeky high school student who attained the traits of an arachnoid when a radioactive spider bit him. In March 1963, Spider-Man received his own title when The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 hit the newsstands.

But even some of Spider-Man stories were controversial. In the early 1970s, a Spider-Man one showcased the harmful effects of drugs. Two years later, The Amazing Spider Man #121 jolted the comic book world with the murder of Spider Man's girlfriend.  Marvel's next superhero, The Incredible Hulk, was the result of exposure to radiation. The Incredible Hulk No. 1 burst onto newsstands featuring the exploits of Dr. Bruce Banner.

The 1970s arrived with the birth of Conan the Barbarian, The Swamp Thing, and The Micronauts. Major publishers reprinted the most valuable comic titles from the past. Several of these, including Action Comics I, were stripped of their covers and sold as the real thing. 

Learn more about Marvel Comics by reading "Marvelous Superheroes" in #TheAntiquesAlmanac.

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Superman Returns Again...and Again...and Again

QUESTION: When I was a kid, I had a Superman lunchbox. Over the years, I forgot all about it, but recently, as I was going through some boxes in my attic, I discovered it again. If I remember correctly, it’s from 1954. Can you tell me anything about it and does it have any value or should I just put it out with the trash?

ANSWER: You had better take a closer look at that old lunchbox before you toss it out. This particular metal lunchbox, which includes a thermos bottle, depicts Superman doing battle with a robot and inclusive of the original thermos. One like it is presently for sale on eBay for $2,150. The lunchbox, considered rarer than most, joins other Superman collectibles, many of which have gone up in value in recent years. This is particularly the situation when it comes to rare Superman comic books. Depending on their condition and scarcity, the classic ones often fetch big bucks. The 64-page first edition from 1939, containing The Complete Story of the Daring Exploits of the One and Only Superman, including the four Superman stories from Action Comics No. 1-4, sold at auction for $26,000.01 a few years ago. And just the Action Comics #1 sold for $1 million in February 2010.

American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster created Superman in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio. Detective Comics, Inc., later D.C. Comics, bought the rights to the Superman story and debuted him in June of 1938 in Action Comics #1. At the time, America needed some type of hero, even a make-believe one. The Great Depression, a devastating Great Plains drought, and a swelling uneasiness about Nazism had wrenched people's spirits. The arrival of the "Man of Steel" offered a welcome fantasy for kids disheartened by the country’s dismal state of affairs. Over the decades, he subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games.

Widely considered to be an American cultural icon, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book. The character's distinctive blue, red and yellow costume, is said to have been influenced by such comic book characters as Flash Gordon and that of circus strongmen.

Rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father moments before his home planet’s destruction, he was discovered and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, then raised as Clark Kent who later became Superman’s alter ego.

Siegel and Shuster envisioned their character as one who would right wrongs, fighting for social justice and against tyranny. In the original stories, Siegel and Shuster made Superman rough and aggressive. The character attacked and terrorized wife beaters, profiteers, gangsters. Later writers have softened the character and instilled a sense of idealism and moral code of conduct. Although not as cold-blooded as the early Batman, the Superman featured in the comics of the 1930s is unconcerned about the harm his strength may cause, tossing villainous characters in such a manner that fatalities would presumably occur, although these were seldom shown explicitly on the page. By late 1940, editor Whitney Ellsworth instituted a code of conduct that banned Superman from ever killing again.

Today, Superman is commonly seen as a brave and kind-hearted hero with a strong sense of justice, morality and righteousness. After all, he’s the hero of a younger age group. Young people got hooked on Superman's exploits right away. Tales of his origin, superhuman powers and good-over-evil conquest' adventures were just part of the enticement. His, alter-ego as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent with love interest Lois Lane added human interest to the stories as well.

With the release of the next Superman film, there will be another deluge of Superman collectibles. Currently, there are nearly 131,000 Superman items up for auction, in both vintage and newer examples. There’s a huge array of Superman collectibles available to collectors, ranging from toys, games, dolls, lunchboxes; jewelry, clothing and watches to electronics, wall art, statues, records and DVDs.

The earliest paraphernalia, a button proclaiming membership in the Supermen of America club, appeared in 1939. By 1940 the amount of merchandise available increased dramatically, with jigsaw puzzles, paper dolls, bubble gum and trading cards available, as well as wooden or metal figures. By 1942, the character of Superman had been licensed to appear in other media, and the popularity of such merchandise increased. A surge of popularity seems to occur after the opening of each Superman film. The most popular Superman items on eBay seem to be from 1954, 1967, 1978, 1984, and 1998. 

Lunchboxes appeared from 1954 onward. A number of companies, including Adco, Hallmark, Thermos, King-Seeley, and Aladdin made them in either metal or plastic. While most are rectangular, there are some working-man dome-style ones.