Hawkman also debuted in Flash Comics #1 (November 1939). He was created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville. Carter Hall, a research scientist and collector of weapons, has a dream of a past life as Prince Khufu, he discovers the Ninth Metal, creates wings which defy gravity and decides to use “weapons of the past” […]
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November 1939 was a big month for All-American Publications, as it debuted its second title, Flash Comics. In issue #1, Gardner Fox introduced a couple very important superheroes that would later become part of the DC Universe almost right away (even though All-American would not officially merge with DC for a half a decade). The […]
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In Action Comics #19 (October 1939), Zatara visits a city full of gorillas with human slaves, a full generation before Planet of the Apes. Crazily enough, this is not the fabled African Gorilla City that bothers the Flash decades later but a different city of gorillas in Mexico (?!?) made by a mad scientist who […]
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In Detective Comics #33 (October 1939), the Batman is finally given an origin story – and wow, what a powerful page and half that is! Apparently Bill Finger wrote this part of the story (the rest being written by Gardner Fox) and the words combined with the iconic imagery of Bob Kane continue the dark […]
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In Action Comics #18 (September 1939), Superman used his x-ray vision for the first time (his super-hearing had been hinted at in a previous story). I picture what is happening with Superman’s powers here as a sort of “arms race”, since I’m sure Jerry Siegel had constant pressure to make Superman more exciting than other […]
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Marvel Comics #1 (August 1939) also introduced another character that would live beyond the Golden Age of Comics: Namor, the Sub-Mariner created by Bill Everett. Namor debuted a full two years before that other famous aquatic superhero, Aquaman. Like the Human Torch, his origin was pretty unique: Namor is a young prince of the deep […]
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The Batman introduced two new gadgets in Detective Comics #31 (August 1939): The Bat-Gyro and the Bat-arang. It is also revealed that Bruce Wayne has a fiance named Julie Madison who is hypnotized by the second villain in Batman’s rogue’s gallery: The Mad Monk. In just five issues, Gardner Fox and Bob Kane have done […]
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Quality released Smash Comics #1 in June 1939. It featured a silly series called “Hugh Hazzard and his Iron Man”, who is turned from villain to crime-fighting slave and given the humiliating name of “Bozo” in this first story. Of course, Bozo the Iron Man predates Marvel Comics own Iron Man by decades.
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In June 1939, Detective Comics #29 is the first story to feature The Batman‘s use of gadgets. This much longer story (10 pages) featured Batman’s first “arch criminal”, Doctor Death and lots of action: Batman swinging around the city on his rope, Batman scaling a building, Batman getting shot, and finally vanquishing his foe. I […]
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In April 1939, DC also published a 96-page one-shot, the New York World’s Fair Comics. This featured stories of several established characters like Superman and Zatara promoting the 1939 World’s Fair. This was also the first time that Superman’s vision powers were mentioned as Superman stood atop the Trylon looking for Lois Lane.
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