In World’s Finest #82 (March 1956), Green Arrow’s relates his origin to a reporter, explaining that he was raised in the west and that Little Otter, a childhood friend of Sioux origin, was the first one who taught him to shoot arrows. This origin tale is counter to any others presented so I would call […]
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Although it borrows elements from the story of when Roy Harper met Oliver Queen 11 years earlier, the back-story to Speedy is given some retcon attention in the Green Arrow story in Adventure Comics #209 (Dec 1954). The new story is that Roy was orphaned when his scientist father blew up their cabin in the […]
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In Detective Comics #168 (December 1950), the Batman reminisces to a college class in criminal deduction about the Red Hood, a criminal that Batman failed to catch ten years ago. In their final encounter, Batman had chased him from a playing card factory and the Red Hood dove into a vat of chemicals to escape. […]
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Wonder Woman #45 (November 1950), includes a re-telling of Wonder Woman’s origin. It describes in detail how Aphrodite awarded Queen Hippolyte a magic girdle, and how Hercules tricked her into giving up the girdle, rendering the Amazons helpless against Hercules’ army. Hippolyte makes a plea to Aphrodite, who agrees to help the Amazons this one […]
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Speaking of world-building, in Action Comics #144 (March 1950), we are flashed back to the time when Clark Kent first tried to get hired by Perry White at the Daily Planet. Years after Perry White visited Smallville High School and suggested it, Clark moves to Metropolis and tries to take Perry up on this offer […]
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In Superboy #8 (March 1950), we get a little more world-building in a story that depicts the first appearance of Super-Baby / Super-Toddler and shows where Superboy’s super-suit was inspired from. Ma Kent sews blankets from the Kryptonian rocket into play clothes and gives him a cape. Another story in the issue has Superboy tricked […]
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The final issue of Sub-Mariner Comics #23 also came out in March 1949. Like the Human Torch’s last issue, it features an origin story for the Sub-Mariner that goes much deeper into Namor’s birth, early life, than has ever been seen before. I don’t know if this was just a backup story they had lying […]
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Although Superman had built his “sanctuary” back in 1942, it was more or less a one-off story that was never explored. Superman #58 (March 1949) firmly establishes that Superman has a “fortress of solitude” and it is in the “polar wastes”. Interestingly it looks a lot like an artist’s depiction of an older European town. […]
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In Marvel Mystery #92 (February 1949), the Human Torch‘s origin story is re-told, with a framing story of his creator, Professor Horton, passing away. This is also the last appearance for years of the original Human Torch. After this issue, Marvel Mystery Comics is renamed to Marvel Tales and becomes a horror / supernatural anthology […]
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For the tenth anniversary of Superman’s first appearance, DC re-told Superman’s origin in even greater detail in Superman #53 (May 1948) with a compelling splash page showing Superman’s sadness at losing two sets of parents. The first half of the story takes place on Krypton. In it, we see in greater detail how Jor-el tried […]
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