Vintage DC Comic Books

The roots of DC Comics go back to 1935, when Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications. One 1937 imprint of Wheeler-Nicholson’s was “Detective Comics,” whose initials eventually gave DC its name. In retrospect, an argument might have been made for naming the brand AC because in 1938, “Action Comics” debuted with a cover story about a guy in a red cape named Superman. The Man of Steel was joined in the DC universe the following year by Batman, which is also the year when Superman got his own comic book. Other mainstays of DC have included Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Justice League of America. The origin of DC coincides neatly with what we now call the Golden Age of comic books, which many comic-book historians and fans date to the June 1938 issue of “Action Comics,” whose cover featured the debut of the superhero from the planet Krypton lifting a car over his head. The brainchild of two high-school pals from Cleveland, Ohio, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman had been rejected since 1933, but editor and cartoonist Sheldon Mayer of DC selected it for “Action Comics” No. 1. “Action Comics” featuring Superman and subsequent issues of Superman’s namesake comic—whose 423 issues ran from the summer of 1939 to September 1986—probably spurred Jack Kirby and Joe Simon of Marvel to create Captain America in 1941. Batman has been a part of the DC franchise for almost as long as Superman. The Bat-Man, as he was first called, debuted in the May 1939 issue of “Detective Comics” (No. 27). Aided by Robin, “The Boy Wonder,” Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Whereas Superman relied on his otherworldly strength to vanquish foes, Batman was the alter-ego of a millionaire named Bruce Wayne, who revenged the murder of his parents by fighting crime in his city of Gotham—to the varying consternation and appreciation of Police Commissioner Gordon—aided by all sorts of gadgets, from the Batarang and Batgyro to the Batmobile. Batman got his own comic in the spring of 1940. In recent years, Batman has also become a successful film franchise, played by the likes of Michael Keaton, George Clooney, and Christian Bale. Another DC character with roots in the World War II era is Wonder Woman, who made her debut in December 1941 in issue No. 8 of “All Star Comics.” The next month, the superheroine was given the cover of the first issue of “Sensation Comics,” and by the summer of 1942, Wonder Woman got a comic book of her own. Wonder Woman was a team player for DC, appearing as a member of the Justice Society of America in 1941 and the Justice League in 1960—members of that latter group included Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. If Captain America was a reaction by Marvel to DC’s Superman, Aquaman is almost certainly an attempt by DC to catch up with Marvel when it came to Sub-Mariner, who first appeared in Marvel Comics in October 1939. For his part, Aquaman first appeared in “More Fun Comics,” No. 73, in November 1941. In addition to the obvious ability of breathing underwater, Aquaman could communicate with sea creatures, and his powers included telepathy. Green Arrow actually made his debut in the same comic (like Batman, his powers were aided by wealth and technology), while the first Green Lantern (“All-American Comics,” No. 16, July 1940) used the aforementioned lantern to charge his magic ring. As with Superman, DC was at the beginning of another comics era, the Bronze Age, when, in 1970, the amazing Jack Kirby did the unthinkable and left Marvel for its archrival. Kirby’s DC years saw the introduction of the “Fourth World” series, which was an offshoot in many respects of the Thor series he had worked on at Marvel. But Kirby’s association with DC was short-lived—he returned to Marvel in 1975, but only for three more years.