156 – First Batmobile!
In Batman #5 (April 1941), Batman and Robin drive a suped-up vehicle adorned with bat wing fins and a cowl, the official first version of the Batmobile!
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155 – Bat-Man, Bad-Ass
Although Batman #5 (April 1941), features another tale of Bat-silliness with dragons, giants and flying carpets, it also features a separate story in which Batman finds the near-lifeless body of Robin, beaten up by criminals. He experiences terrible feelings of rage and vengeance; a dramatic departure from his silent, mysterious, and almost dispassionate first year […]
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153 – Luthor, Male-Pattern Villainy
In Superman #10 (March 1941), Luthor appears bald for the first time in a comic book, joining a whole host of other evil bald geniuses who stalk comic book universes: Ultra-Humanite, Hugo Strange, Doctor Sivana. I talked about the history of Luthor’s baldness here.
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148 – The Justice Society Goes to War
In All-Star Comics #4 (February 1941), the Justice Society of America goes to war against subversives and fifth-columnists… basically Nazis. This was the first adventure the team fought together (even though each character had his own mission that took up the bulk of the story).
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Joe Simon and Jack Kirby have their first hit with Captain America #1 (December 1940). Captain America is the first character to star in his own comic book, not as a try-out feature in another book, and comes complete with a fully-fleshed out (and interesting) origin, a sidekick and an iconic villain (the Red Skull) […]
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143 – The First Bat-Cave
By Detective Comics #48 (December 1940), Bob Kane and Bill Finger are starting to develop the Batman back-story a bit, giving the dynamic duo a secret tunnel leading to a seemingly abandoned barn with their “supercharged” car, called for the first time: the Bat-Mobile!
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142 – The Justice Society of America
The Justice Society of America debuts in All-Star Comics #3 (November 1940). In its first incarnation it consists of a whopping nine characters across Detective Comics Inc and All-American Comics (still separate companies at this point): The Flash, the Atom, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Spectre, Doctor Fate, Sandman and Hourman, with Johnny Thunder thrown in […]
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141 – A Little Privacy, Please
Lois Lane catches Superman changing into Clark Kent for the first time in Action Comics #32 (November 1940). Fortunately for Superman, Lois is under the influence of a fluid that makes her forget everything. Clark learns she will spend her days in a sanitarium so he tries super-hypnotism for the first time, which of course […]
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123 – A Wooden Heel
In All-American Comics #17 (June 1940), the Green Lantern story introduces the first example in comic book superheroes of an Achilles’ Heel, a specific vulnerability or weakness that could defeat the superhero. The Golden Age Green Lantern (Alan Scott) has a specific weakness to wood (non-metals). The Silver Age Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) would have […]
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122 – Johnny Thunder, More Clueless than a Locomotive
Still called Johnny Thunderbolt as of June 1940, it is revealed in Flash Comics #8 that Johnny Thunder probably lives in the same universe as Superman (or at least in a universe that knows of Superman’s exploits). It’s somewhat interesting though that Johnny Thunder, Flash, Hawkman and Green Lantern are all published by All-American Publications, […]
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