1.
Denver
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Denver, officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Colorado. Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the reference for the Mountain Time Zone. Denver is ranked as a Beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. With a 2015 estimated population of 682,545, Denver ranks as the 19th-most populous U. S. city, and with a 2. 8% increase in 2015, the city is also the fastest-growing major city in the United States. The 10-county Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 2,814,330 and ranked as the 19th most populous U. S. metropolitan statistical area. The 12-city Denver-Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 3,418,876, which ranks as the 16th most populous U. S. metropolitan area. Denver is the most populous city of the 18-county Front Range Urban Corridor, Denver is the most populous city within a 500-mile radius and the second-most populous city in the Mountain West after Phoenix, Arizona. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U. S. News & World Report and this was the first historical settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and by the summer of 1859 it was abandoned in favor of Auraria, Larimer named the townsite Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped the name would help make it the county seat of Arapaho County but, unbeknownst to him. The location was accessible to existing trails and was across the South Platte River from the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne, the site of these first towns is now the site of Confluence Park near downtown Denver. Larimer, along with associates in the St. Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria, in May 1859, Denver City residents donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express in order to secure the regions first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for passengers, mail, freight, and gold, in 1863, Western Union furthered Denvers dominance of the region by choosing the city for its regional terminus. The Colorado Territory was created on February 28,1861, Arapahoe County was formed on November 1,1861, Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the territorial capital, with its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver
2.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
3.
Manhattan
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Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
4.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
5.
Batman (comic book)
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Batman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics hero of the same name. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27, Batman proved to be so popular that a self-titled ongoing comic book series began publication with a cover date of Spring 1940. It was first advertised in early April 1940, one month after the first appearance of his new sidekick, Robin, the original series ended in 2011 and was relaunched with a new first issue. Using the end of the New 52 initiative as a launching point, Batman #1 was the debut bimonthly relaunch of the comic book series. The character of Batman made his first appearance in the pages of Detective Comics #27 in May 1939, in Spring of 1940, Batman #1 was published and introduced new characters into Batmans pantheon, most notably those of Catwoman and Batmans eventual nemesis, the Joker. Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne family butler, was introduced in issue #16, editor Whitney Ellsworth assigned a Batman story to artist Dick Sprang in 1941. Anticipating that Bob Kane would be drafted to serve in World War II, Sprangs first published Batman work was the Batman and Robin figures on the cover of Batman #18, reproduced from the art for page 13 of the later-published Detective Comics #84. Like all Batman artists of the time, Sprang went uncredited as a ghost artist for Kane, villains which debuted during this early era included the Mad Hatter in issue #49 and Killer Moth in issue #63. Bill Finger and Moldoff introduced Ace the Bat-Hound in #92, the early part of the era known to comics fans and historians as the Silver Age of Comic Books saw the Batman title dabble in science fiction. New characters introduced included Mr. Freeze and Betty Kane, the original Bat-Girl, in 1964, Julius Schwartz was made responsible for reviving the faded Batman titles. He jettisoned the sillier aspects that had crept into the series such as Ace the Bathound and Bat-Mite, schwartzs first issue of the Batman title was #164 which was written by France Edward Herron and drawn by Sheldon Moldoff. The Riddler returned after an absence in #171. Among the new villains introduced during this period was Poison Ivy in #181, in the 1960s, Batman comics were affected by the popular Batman television series, with campy stories based on the tongue-in-cheek premise of the series. After the Batman television programs influence had died down, writer Frank Robbins and artist Irv Novick sent Dick Grayson off to attend college, in 1971, writer Dennis ONeil and artist Neal Adams came aboard the title and re-infused it with the darker tones of the 1940s. ONeil and Adams introduced a new villain named Ras al Ghul, ONeil said his work on the Batman series was simply to take it back to where it started. I went to the DC library and read some of the early stories, I tried to get a sense of what Kane and Finger were after. Issues #254 to #261 of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format, the series reached its 300th issue with a June 1978 cover date and featured a story by writer David Vern Reed and artists Walt Simonson and Dick Giordano. Julius Schwartz ended his tenure as editor of the series with issue #309, marv Wolfman briefly wrote Batman and co-created the Electrocutioner in issue #331
6.
Detective Comics
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Detective Comics is the title of an American comic book series published by DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011, is best known for introducing the superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27, a second series of the same title was launched in the fall of 2011 but in 2016 reverted to the original volume numbering. The series is the source of its companys name, and — along with Action Comics. The series published 881 issues between 1937 and 2011 and is the longest continuously published comic book in the United States. His second effort, New Comics #1, would be retitled twice to become Adventure Comics, another series that ran for decades until issue #503 in 1983. Wheeler-Nicholson was forced out a year later and its first editor, Vin Sullivan, also drew the debut issues cover. The Crimson Avenger debuted in issue #20, Detective Comics #27 featured the first appearance of Batman. That superhero would eventually become the star of the title, the logo of which is often written as Detective Comics featuring Batman. Because of its significance, issue #27 is widely considered one of the most valuable books in existence. Batmans origin is first revealed in a story in issue #33. Batman became the cover feature of the title beginning with issue #35. Issue #38 introduced Batmans sidekick Robin, billed as The Sensational Character Find of 1940 on the cover and the first of several characters that would make up the Batman Family. Several of Batmans best known villains debuted in the pages of Detective Comics during this era including the Penguin in issue #58, Two-Face in issue #66, a female was chosen first, to offset the charges made by Fredric Wertham that Batman and Robin were homosexual. Writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff introduced Bat-Mite in issue #267, in 1964, Julius Schwartz was made responsible for reviving the faded Batman titles. Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Infantino introduced Barbara Gordon as a new version of Batgirl in a story titled The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl. in issue #359, Mike Friedrich wrote the 30th anniversary Batman story in Detective Comics #387 which was drawn by Bob Brown. Writer Dennis ONeil and artist Neal Adams had their first collaboration on Batman on the story The Secret of the Waiting Graves in issue #395, Adams introduced Man-Bat with writer Frank Robbins in Detective Comics #400. ONeil and artist Bob Brown crafted Batmans first encounter with the League of Assassins in Detective Comics #405, after publishing on a monthly schedule throughout its run, Detective Comics became a bi-monthly book from issues #435 to #445. Issues #438 to #445 of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format, ONeil and artist Dick Giordano created the Batman supporting character Leslie Thompkins in the story There Is No Hope in Crime Alley appearing in issue #457
7.
Alan Scott
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Alan Ladd Wellington Scott is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern. He was created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell first appearing in the comic book All-American Comics #16, Alan Scott fights evil with the aid of a magic ring that grants him a variety of supernatural powers. The original Green Lantern was created by an American artist named Martin Nodell, Nodell mentions Richard Wagners opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung and the sight of a trainmans green railway lantern as his inspiration. After seeing this opera, Nodell sought to create a superhero who wielded a variety of powers from a magic ring. Nodell wanted a colorful and interesting costume for his character, deriving from elements of Greek mythology, as Nodell recalled in an undated, latter-day interview, When I sent it in, I waited into the second week before I heard the word to come in. I was ushered into Mr. Gaines office, publisher, and after sitting a long time and flipping through the pages of my presentation, he announced, I did the first five pages of an eight-page story, and then they called in Bill Finger to help. We worked on it for seven years, Nodell chose the name Alan Scott by flipping through New York telephone books until he got two names he liked. The character of Alan Scott made his debut in All-American Comics #16 and he also appeared as part of the superhero team Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #3. He served as the second chairman in #7, but departed following that issue and returned a few years later. His villains tended to be humans, but he did have a few paranormal ones, such as the immortal Vandal Savage. Green Lantern proved popular and was given his own series, Green Lantern, most of his adventures were set in New York. In 1941, Alan Scott was paired with a sidekick named Doiby Dickles, a rotund Brooklyn taxi driver, in 1948, Alan also got a canine sidekick named Streak. The dog proved so popular that he starred in his own solo side-stories, after World War 2, superheroes declined in popularity. Green Lantern was cancelled in 1949 after 38 issues and All-American Comics dropped superheroes in favor of westerns, Alan Scotts final Golden Age appearance was in All-Star Comics #57. He remained out of publication for 12 years, and even after his revival he never got another solo series, in 1959, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz reinvented Green Lantern as a science fiction hero. The new Green Lantern, named Hal Jordan, was empowered by alien masters to serve as a lawman and had many adventures set in outer space. His powers were similar to Alans but he was otherwise completely unrelated—Alan Scott never existed as far as the new stories were concerned, Hal Jordan proved popular, but readers still had an interest in the old Green Lantern. Some years later, Alan Scott reappeared as a guest star in The Flash #137, to avoid continuity conflicts with the Hal Jordan character, Alan Scott and all his old stories were written as being from a parallel universe
8.
Comic strip
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A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. With the development of the internet, they began to online as web comics. There were more than 200 different comic strips and daily cartoon panels in American newspapers alone each day for most of the 20th century, Strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist. As the name implies, comic strips can be humorous, starting in the late 1920s, comic strips expanded from their mirthful origins to feature adventure stories, as seen in Popeye, Captain Easy, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, and The Adventures of Tintin. Soap-opera continuity strips such as Judge Parker and Mary Worth gained popularity in the 1940s, all are called, generically, comic strips, though cartoonist Will Eisner has suggested that sequential art would be a better genre-neutral name. In the UK and the rest of Europe, comic strips are also serialized in comic book magazines, storytelling using a sequence of pictures has existed through history. One medieval European example in textile form is the Bayeux Tapestry, printed examples emerged in 19th-century Germany and in 18th-century England, where some of the first satirical or humorous sequential narrative drawings were produced. William Hogarths 18th century English cartoons include both narrative sequences, such as A Rakes Progress, and single panels, in China, with its traditions of block printing and of the incorporation of text with image, experiments with what became lianhuanhua date back to 1884. The first newspaper comic strips appeared in North America in the late 19th century, the Yellow Kid is usually credited as one of the first newspaper strips. However, the art form combining words and pictures developed gradually, swiss author and caricature artist Rodolphe Töpffer is considered the father of the modern comic strips. In 1865, German painter, author, and caricaturist Wilhelm Busch created the strip Max and Moritz, Max and Moritz provided an inspiration for German immigrant Rudolph Dirks, who created the Katzenjammer Kids in 1897. Familiar comic-strip iconography such as stars for pain, sawing logs for snoring, speech balloons, hugely popular, Katzenjammer Kids occasioned one of the first comic-strip copyright ownership suits in the history of the medium. When Dirks left William Randolph Hearst for the promise of a better salary under Joseph Pulitzer, it was an unusual move, in a highly unusual court decision, Hearst retained the rights to the name Katzenjammer Kids, while creator Dirks retained the rights to the characters. Hearst promptly hired Harold Knerr to draw his own version of the strip, Dirks renamed his version Hans and Fritz. Thus, two versions distributed by rival syndicates graced the pages for decades. Dirks version, eventually distributed by United Feature Syndicate, ran until 1979, in the United States, the great popularity of comics sprang from the newspaper war between Pulitzer and Hearst. On January 31,1912, Hearst introduced the nations first full daily comic page in his New York Evening Journal, the history of this newspaper rivalry and the rapid appearance of comic strips in most major American newspapers is discussed by Ian Gordon. The longest running American comic strips are,1, barney Google and Snuffy Smith 5
9.
Comic book
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A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan and 1830s Europe, comic books were first popularized in the United States during the 1930s. Comic books are reliant on their organization and appearance, authors largely focus on the frame of the page, size, orientation, and panel positions. These characteristic aspects of books are necessary in conveying the content. The key elements of comic books include panels, balloons, text, balloons are usually convex spatial containers of information that are related to a character using a tail element. The tail has an origin, path, tip, and pointed direction, there are many technological formulas used to create comic books, including directions, axes, data, and metrics. Following these key formatting procedures is the writing, drawing, Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover, making it the first known American prototype comic book. The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shusters Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry, the Golden Age originated the archetype of the superhero. Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras, the Golden Age of Comic Books began with the introduction of Superman in 1938, spurring a period of high sales. The Silver Age of comic books is considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form. The demarcation between the Silver Age and the era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined. The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day, in response to attention from the government and from the media, the U. S. comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America. The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year and it was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA. In the early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what known as underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture. Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, frank Stacks The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon, has been credited as the first underground comic. The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for independent or alternative comics in the U. S, some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. A few represented experimental attempts to bring closer to the status of fine art
10.
Bob Kane
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Bob Kane was an American comic book writer and artist who co-created, with Bill Finger, the DC Comics character Batman. He was inducted into the book industrys Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994. Robert Kahn was born in New York City, New York and his parents, Augusta and Herman Kahn, an engraver, were of Eastern European Jewish descent. A high school friend of fellow cartoonist and future Spirit creator Will Eisner, Robert Kahn graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and he studied art at Cooper Union before joining the Max Fleischer Studio as a trainee animator in 1934. He entered the field two years later, in 1936, freelancing original material to editor Jerry Igers comic book Wow. Including his first pencil and ink work on the serial Hiram Hick, for that last title he went on to do his first adventure strip, Rusty and his Pals. In early 1939, DCs success with the seminal superhero Superman in Action Comics prompted editors to scramble for more such heroes, in response, Bob Kane conceived the Bat-Man. Bill Finger joined Bob Kanes nascent studio in 1938, an aspiring writer and part-time shoe salesperson, he had met Kane at a party, and Kane later offered him a job ghost writing the strips Rusty and Clip Carson. He recalled that Kane. had an idea for a character called Batman, I went over to Kanes, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of. Reddish tights, I believe, with boots, with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign, Finger additionally said his suggestions were influenced by Lee Falks The Phantom, a syndicated newspaper comic strip character with which Kane was familiar as well. Finger, who said he devised the characters civilian name, Bruce Wayne, wrote the first Batman story. Kane, who had submitted the proposal for Batman at DC. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the creation of artist Bob Kane, according to Kane, Bill Finger was a contributing force on Batman right from the beginning. He wrote most of the stories and was influential in setting the style. I made Batman a superhero-vigilante when I first created him, Bill turned him into a scientific detective. The character debuted in Detective Comics #27 and proved a breakout hit, within a year, Kane hired art assistants Jerry Robinson and George Roussos
11.
DC Comics
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DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. a division of Time Warner, the company has also published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo. The initials DC came from the popular series Detective Comics. Random House distributes DC Comics books to the market, while Diamond Comic Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market. DC Comics and its major, longtime competitor Marvel Comics together shared 70% of the American comic book market in 2016, entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications in autumn 1934. The company debuted with the tabloid-sized New Fun, The Big Comic Magazine #1 with a date of February 1935. That title evolved into Adventure Comics, which continued through issue #503 in 1983, in 2009 DC revived Adventure Comics with its original numbering. In 1935, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, created Doctor Occult. Wheeler-Nicholsons third and final title, Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936, the themed anthology series would become a sensation with the introduction of Batman in issue #27. By then, however, Wheeler-Nicholson had gone, Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfelds accountant, listed as owners. Major Wheeler-Nicholson remained for a year, but cash-flow problems continued, shortly afterward, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied, also known as Nicholson Publishing, at a bankruptcy auction. Detective Comics, Inc. soon launched a fourth title, Action Comics, Action Comics #1, the first comic book to feature the new character archetype—soon known as superheroes—proved a sales hit. The company quickly introduced such popular characters as the Sandman and Batman. That year, Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, and kept only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, at that point, Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics. Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961. The company began to move aggressively against what it saw as copyright-violating imitations from other companies, such as Fox Comics Wonder Man and this extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, at the time comics top-selling character. Despite the fact that parallels between Captain Marvel and Superman seemed more tenuous, the courts ruled that substantial and deliberate copying of copyrighted material had occurred, faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost, Fawcett capitulated in 1955 and ceased comics publication
12.
Batman
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Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, originally named the Bat-Man, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, and the Worlds Greatest Detective. Batmans secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, after witnessing the murder of his parents Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Wayne trains himself physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime, Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, with assistance from various supporting characters, including his butler Alfred, police commissioner Gordon, and vigilante allies such as Robin. A large assortment of villains make up Batmans rogues gallery, including his archenemy, Batman became popular soon after his introduction in 1939 and gained his own comic book title, Batman, the following year. As the decades went on, differing interpretations of the character emerged, the late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic, which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, the success of Warner Bros. live-action Batman feature films have helped maintain the publics interest in the character. The character has also intrigued psychiatrists, with trying to understand the characters psyche. In 2015, FanSided ranked Batman as number one on their list of 50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History. Kevin Conroy, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Anthony Ruivivar, Jason OMara, Batman has been portrayed in both film and television by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck. In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications to request more superheroes for its titles, in response, Bob Kane created the Bat-Man. Collaborator Bill Finger recalled that Kane had an idea for a character called Batman, I went over to Kanes, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of. Reddish tights, I believe, with boots, with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign, the bat-wing-like cape was suggested by Bob Kane, inspired by Leonardo Da Vincis sketch of an ornithopter flying device as a child. Finger suggested giving the character a cowl instead of a domino mask, a cape instead of wings. Finger said he devised the name Bruce Wayne for the secret identity, Bruce Waynes first name came from Robert Bruce. Wayne, being a playboy, was a man of gentry, I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism
13.
Green Lantern
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Green Lantern is the name of a number of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, the first Green Lantern character, Alan Scott, was created in 1940 during the initial popularity of superheroes. Alan Scott usually fought common criminals in New York City with the aid of his magic ring, the publication of this character ceased in 1949 during a general decline in the popularity of superhero comics, but the character saw a limited revival in later decades. Additional members of this agency, all of whom call themselves Green Lanterns, were introduced over time, prominent Green Lanterns who also have had starring roles in the books include Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. The Green Lanterns are among DC Comics longer lasting sets of characters and they have been adapted to television, video games, and motion pictures. Martin Nodell created the first Green Lantern and he first appeared in the Golden Age of comic books in All-American Comics #16, published by All-American Publications, one of three companies that would eventually merge to form DC Comics. This Green Lanterns real name was Alan Scott, an engineer who, after a railway crash, came into possession of a magic lantern which spoke to him. From this, he crafted a ring which gave him a wide variety of powers. The limitations of the ring were that it had to be charged every 24 hours by touching it to the lantern for a time, and that it could not directly affect objects made of wood. Alan Scott fought mostly ordinary human villains, but he did have a few paranormal ones such as the immortal Vandal Savage, most stories took place in New York. As a popular character in the 1940s, the Green Lantern featured both in books such as All-American Comics and Comic Cavalcade, as well as his own book. He also appeared in All Star Comics as a member of the team known as the Justice Society of America. After World War II the popularity of superheroes in general declined, the Green Lantern comic book was cancelled with issue #38, and All Star Comics #57 was the characters last Golden Age appearance. When superheroes came back in fashion in later decades, Alan Scott was revived, initially, he made guest appearances in other superheroes books, but eventually got regular roles in books featuring the Justice Society. He never got another solo series, between 1995 and 2003, DC Comics changed Alan Scotts superhero codename to Sentinel in order to distinguish him from the newer and more popular science fiction Green Lanterns. In 2011, the Alan Scott character was revamped and his costume was redesigned and the source of his powers was changed to that of the mystical power of nature. In 1959, Julius Schwartz reinvented the Green Lantern character as a science fiction hero named Hal Jordan, Hal Jordans powers were more or less the same as Alan Scotts, but otherwise this character was completely different and unrelated to the Green Lantern of the 1940s. He had a new name, a costume, and a rewritten origin story
14.
Jerry Robinson
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Sherrill David Robinson, known as Jerry Robinson, was an American comic book artist known for his work on DC Comics Batman line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and the Joker and he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004. Jerry Robinson was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Mae and he was of Russian Jewish descent. He attended Columbia University, but did not graduate, Robinson was a 17-year-old journalism student at Columbia University in 1939 when he was discovered by Batman creator Bob Kane, who hired him to work on that fledgling comic as an inker and letterer. Kane, with writer Bill Finger, had shortly before created the character Batman for National Comics, Robinson rented a room from a family in The Bronx near Kanes familys Grand Concourse apartment, where Kane used his bedroom as an art studio. He started as a letterer and an inker, shortly graduating to inking secondary figures. Within a year, he became Batmans primary inker, with George Roussos inking backgrounds, Batman quickly became a hit character, and Kane rented space for Robinson and Roussos in Times Squares Times Tower. In addition to Batman, Robinson and Roussos did inks and backgrounds on Target, Roussos recounted of his collaboration with Robinson, It was hard to make the deadlines, because Jerry was a heavy sleeper. I used to have to go to the Bronx to get him to come to work, id go and wake him up 2 oclock in the afternoon so we could work all night. We were committed to do about 13 pages a week, Jerry was always behind - he was always whiting out things and re-inking them. Bobs stuff was so sketchy, Jerry had to do a lot of work, approximately a year and a half after Robinson, Roussos, and Finger were hired by Kane, National Comics lured them away, making them company staffers. By early 1940, Kane and Finger discussed adding a sidekick, Robinson suggested the name Robin after Robin Hood books he had read during boyhood, saying that he was inspired by one books N. C. The new character, orphaned circus performer Dick Grayson, came to live with Bruce Wayne as his ward in Detective Comics #38. Robin would inspire many similar sidekicks throughout the remainder of the Golden Age of Comic Books, Batmans nemesis, the Joker, was introduced around the same time, in Batman #1. Credit for that characters creation, however, is disputed, Robinson has said he created the character. In 1943, when Kane left the Batman comic books to focus on penciling the daily Batman newspaper comic strip, only Kanes name appeared on the strip. From 1944 to 1946, Robinson and his friend Meskin formed a studio which produced material for the short-lived Spark Publications, Robinson worked on numerous other characters for several publishers, at one point doing freelance illustrations for a textbook publisher. After leaving superhero comics, he became a newspaper cartoonist and created True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs, Robinson also did a political satire cartoon panel feature, Still Life which began national syndication on June 3,1963
15.
San Diego Comic-Con
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San Diego Comic-Con International is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International, San Diego and it is a four-day event held during the summer at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the opening of the event, there is a preview for professionals, exhibitors. Comic-Con International also produces two other conventions, WonderCon, held in Los Angeles, and the Alternative Press Expo and it is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards. In 2010, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees, the convention was founded in 1970 by Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, and Greg Bear. Detroit, Michigan-born, comics fan Shel Dorf, had, in the mid-1960s, mounted the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the first commercial comics-fan conventions. When he moved to San Diego, California, in 1970, he organized a convention on March 21,1970. Dorf went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, variously, Alf co-chaired the first convention with Krueger and became chairman in 1971. Following the initial gathering, Dorfs first three-day San Diego comics convention, other locations in the conventions early years included the El Cortez Hotel, the University of California, San Diego, and Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1991. I was quietly walking the floor stunned and in awe of just how much bigger it really was, the convention is organized by a panel of 13 board members,16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers, and 80 volunteers who assist via committees. Comic Con International is an organization, and proceeds of the event go to funding it, as well as the Alternative Press Expo. The convention logo was designed by Richard Bruning and Josh Beatman in 1995, in September 2010, the convention announced that it would stay in San Diego through 2015. In 2015, working with Lionsgate, a channel was created to host Comic-Con related content. According to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, the convention has a regional economic impact of $162.8 million. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, like most comic-book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers. And like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an area, as well as the Artists Alley where comics artists can sign autographs. Despite the name, artists alleys can include writers and even models, academics and comic industry professionals annually hold the Comics Arts Conference at Comic-Con, presenting scholarly studies on comics as a medium
16.
American Jews
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American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are Americans who are Jews, either by religion, ethnicity, or nationality. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews and their US-born descendants, Minority Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Sephardic Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and a smaller percentage of converts to Judaism. The American Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, depending on religious definitions and varying population data, the United States is home to the largest or second largest Jewish community in the world. In 2012, the American Jewish population was estimated at between 5.5 and 8 million, depending on the definition of the term and this constitutes between 1. 7% and 2. 6% of the total U. S. population. Jews have been present in what is today the United States of America since the mid-17th century, however, they were small in number, with at most 200 to 300 having arrived by 1700. The majority were Sephardic Jewish immigrants of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry, until after 1720 when Ashkenazi Jews from Central, after passage of the Plantation Act of 1740, Jews were specifically permitted to become British citizens and immigrate to the colonies. Until about 1830, Charleston, South Carolina had more Jews than anywhere else in North America and they primarily became merchants and shop-owners. Jewish migration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution, many Jews also emigrated from Romania. Over 2,000,000 Jews landed between the late 19th century and 1924, when the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration, most settled in the New York metropolitan area, establishing the worlds major concentrations of Jewish population. In 1915 the circulation of the daily Yiddish newspapers was half a million in New York City alone, in addition thousands more subscribed to the numerous weekly papers and the many magazines. American Jewish writers of the time urged assimilation and integration into the wider American culture,500,000 American Jews fought in World War II, and after the war younger families joined the new trend of suburbanization. There, Jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising intermarriage, more recent waves of Jewish emigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American Jewish community. Americans of Jewish descent have been successful in many fields. Scholars debate whether the historical experience for Jews in the United States has been such a unique experience as to validate American exceptionalism. Korelitz shows how American Jews during the late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of Jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the ‘’Menorah Journal’’ between 1915 and 1925, siporin uses the family folklore of ethnic Jews to their collective history and its transformation into an historical art form. They tell us how Jews have survived being uprooted and transformed, many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the more in charge of his life
17.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
18.
The Bronx
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The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, within the U. S. state of New York. Since 1914, the Bronx has had the boundaries as Bronx County, a county of New York. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a section in the west, closer to Manhattan. East and west street addresses are divided by Jerome Avenue—the continuation of Manhattans Fifth Avenue, the West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914, about a quarter of the Bronxs area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the boroughs north and center. These open spaces are situated primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north. The name Bronx originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639, the native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace from the 1990s until today, the Bronx was called Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape, while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River, the origin of Jonas Bronck is contested. Some sources claim he was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the now known as the Bronx and built a farm named Emmanus close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem. He eventually accumulated 500 acres between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which known as Broncks River or the Bronx. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Broncks Land, the American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Broncks son or his younger brother. More recent research indicates that Pieter was probably Jonas nephew or cousin, the Bronx is referred to with the definite article as The Bronx, both legally and colloquially. The region was named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the Annexed District of The Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County
19.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
20.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
21.
DeWitt Clinton High School
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DeWitt Clinton High School is a public high school located in New York City. Opened in 1897 and all boys at first, it became co-ed in 1983. From its original building on West 13th Street in Manhattan, it moved in 1906 to its home on 59th Street and Tenth Avenue. After more than a century in existence and a raft of famous alumni, DeWitt Clinton High School has recently faced serious problems involving student performance and security. Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School. This school was renamed for New York politician DeWitt Clinton in 1900, the schools H-shaped building, designed by Charles B. J. Snyder, was said to be the biggest high school building in the United States at the time. After the school moved to the Bronx it became Haaren High School and it is now Haaren Hall on the campus of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Until a high school became compulsory in the early 1930s, Clinton, like all other public schools in the city, had a Classics Department. Perhaps its most famous teacher was history teacher Dr. Irwin Guernsey and he came to Clinton in the fall of 1914 and retired in the spring of 1959, due to illness. A cripple with two Irish canes, he taught from the chair and won twice in his lifetime the title of Master Teacher in New York City and he was also head of the Honors Association, Arista. The school moved to a new building on a 21-acre campus at 100 West Mosholu Parkway South and East 205th Street in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx in 1929, where it has remained. Paul Avenue, which runs to the side of the school from Mosholu Parkway to Lehman College, is named after a DeWitt Clinton High School principal and it was under this principal that the school moved to its current location in the Bronx. In the 1930s its enrollment peaked at 12,000 and it was said to be the largest high school in the world, enrollment by 1999 was about 4,000. It remained the last gender-segregated public school in New York City until 1983, in 1996, Clinton was selected by Redbook magazine as one of the five most improved schools in America. In 1999, US News and World Report designated Clinton as one of 96 outstanding schools in America, in 1999, Geraldine Ambrosio became the first woman to hold the principals post at the school. The school receives government aid because of the low status of its students. As of 2006, the school has a large Hispanic population, caucasians, primarily Albanians, comprise a tiny minority. Recently, DeWitt Clinton High School has received poor evaluations from the New York City Department of Education, in the latest Progress Report the school received a grade of F with the worst marks in school environment and closing the achievement gap
22.
Ghostwriter
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Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, or other written material. In music, ghostwriters are often used to write songs, lyrics, screenplay authors can also use ghostwriters to either edit or rewrite their scripts to improve them. Usually, there is a confidentiality clause in the contract between the ghostwriter and the author that obligates the former to remain anonymous. Ghostwriting also occurs in other creative fields, ghosting also occurs in popular music. A pop music ghostwriter writes lyrics and a melody in the style of the credited musician, in hip hop music, the increasing use of ghostwriters by high-profile hip-hop stars has led to controversy. In the visual arts, it is not uncommon in either fine art or commercial art such as comics for a number of assistants to do work on a piece that is credited to a single artist. However, when credit is established for the writer, the acknowledgement of their contribution is public domain, a consultant or career-switcher may pay a ghostwriter to write a book on a topic in their professional area, to establish or enhance her credibility as an expert in their field. Public officials and politicians employ correspondence officers to respond to the volume of official correspondence. A number of papal encyclicals have been written by ghostwriters, some university and college students hire ghostwriters from essay mills to write entrance essays, term papers, theses, and dissertations. This is largely considered unethical unless the actual ghostwriting work is just light editing, ghostwriters are hired for numerous reasons. In many cases, celebrities or public figures do not have the time, discipline, or writing skills to write and research a several-hundred page autobiography or how-to book. Even if a celebrity or public figure has the skills to pen a short article, they may not know how to structure and edit a several-hundred page book so that it is captivating. Ghostwriters may have varying degrees of involvement in the production of a finished work, some ghostwriters are hired to edit and clean up a rough draft or partially completed work, while others are hired to do most of the writing based on an outline provided by the credited author. For some projects, such as creating an autobiography for a celebrity, ghostwriters are also hired to write fiction in the style of an existing author, often as a way of increasing the number of books that can be published by a popular author. Ghostwriters will often spend a period from several months to a year researching, writing. Ghostwriters are paid either per page, per each word or via total word count, with a fee, with a percentage of the royalties of the sales. The division of work between the ghostwriter and the credited author varies a great deal, in some cases, the ghostwriter is hired to edit a rough draft of a mostly completed manuscript. In this case, the outline, ideas and much of the language in the book or article are those of the credited author
23.
Superman
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Superman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, high school living in Cleveland, Ohio. They sold Superman to Detective Comics, the future DC Comics, Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this success, Superman helped to create the superhero archetype, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, and The Last Son of Krypton. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farm couple, the child is raised as Clark Kent, very early on he started to display various superhuman abilities, which, upon reaching maturity, he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity through a secret Superman identity. Superman resides and operates in the fictional American city of Metropolis, as Clark Kent, he is a journalist for the Daily Planet, a Metropolis newspaper. Supermans love interest is generally Lois Lane, and his archenemy is supervillain Lex Luthor and he is typically a member of the Justice League and close ally of Batman and Wonder Woman. Like other characters in the DC Universe, several versions of Superman have been depicted over the years. Supermans appearance is distinctive and iconic, he wears a blue costume with a red-and-yellow emblem on the chest, consisting of the letter S in a shield shape. This shield is used in media to symbolize the character. Superman is widely considered an American cultural icon and he has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alike exploring the characters impact and role in the United States and worldwide. The characters ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel, the character has been adapted extensively and portrayed in other forms of media as well, including films, television series, and video games. Several actors have portrayed Superman in motion pictures and TV series including Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Siegels fanzine did not sell well. Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, which they self-published in a book they called Popular Comics, the pair dreamed of becoming professional authors and believed that syndicated newspaper strips offered more lucrative and stable work than pulp magazines. The art quality standards were lower, making them more accessible to the inexperienced Shuster. In early 1933 or in 1934, Siegel developed a new character, also named Superman, but now a heroic character and this first prototype of Superman had no fantastic abilities and wore casual clothing. Siegel and Shuster often compared this version to Slam Bradley, a character they created in 1936. Siegel shared his idea with Shuster and they decided to turn it into a comic strip, the first publisher they solicited was Humor Publishing in Chicago, after having read one of their comic books, Detective Dan
24.
Action Comics
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Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters as the term is popularly defined. The publisher was known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications and as National Periodical Publications. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the comic books with consecutively numbered issues. A second volume of Action Comics with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016, Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster saw their creation, Superman, launched in Action Comics #1 on April 18,1938, Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character originally conceived as a newspaper strip without success. Superman was originally a bald madman created by Siegel and Shuster who used his abilities to wreak havoc on mankind. He appeared in Siegel and Shusters book Science Fiction, Siegel then commented, What if this Superman was a force for good instead of evil. After seeing the published first issue, publisher Harry Donenfeld dismissed the featured strip as ridiculous, originally, Action Comics was an anthology title featuring a number of other stories in addition to the Superman story. Zatara, a magician, was one of the characters who had their own stories in early issues. There was the hero Tex Thompson, who eventually became Mr. America, vigilante enjoyed a lengthy run in this series. Sometimes stories of a humorous nature were included, such as those of Hayfoot Henry. The series saw the introduction of characters and themes which would become longstanding elements of the Superman mythos. Lois Lane made her debut in the first issue with Superman, Superman was first depicted as possessing the power of flight in issue #13. Other new superpowers depicted for the first time for the character included X-ray vision in issue #18 and telescopic vision, Luthor, a villain who would later become Supermans archenemy, was introduced in issue #23. The original Toyman was created by writer Don Cameron and artist Ed Dobrotka in issue #64, by 1942, artist Wayne Boring, who had previously been one of Shusters assistants, had become a major artist on Superman. Under editor Mort Weisinger, the Action Comics title saw an expansion of the Superman mythology. Gradually, the size of the issues was decreased as the publisher was reluctant to raise the price from the original 10 cents. For a while, Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were the two features in addition to Superman, the introduction of Supergirl by Otto Binder and Al Plastino occurred in issue #252
25.
Domino mask
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A domino mask is a small, often rounded mask covering only the eyes and the space between them. The masks have seen special prevalence since the 18th century, where they have become traditional wear in particular local manifestations of Carnival, Domino masks have found their way into a variety of high and popular art forms. The name in use to describe this partial mask derives from the Latin for dominus, for lord or master, Masks of this type became known as domini because they resembled French priests winter hoods, which were white on the inside and black on the outside. Domino masks are worn during Carnival, e. g. Domino masks have appeared in images in art. The image at right is La Femme au Masque, painting by Henri Gervex 1885, the subject is 22-year old Parisienne Marie Renard wearing only a domino mask. The mask is popular in superhero comics, where it is worn by costumed heroes. Harlequin La bottega dei Mascareri, see, accessed 13 October 2014, student Project, General Commonalities in the Masquerade, see, accessed 13 October 2014. History of Venetian Masks, at Masks of Venice retail site, see, accessed 13 October 2014
26.
Lee Falk
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Lee Falk, born Leon Harrison Gross, was an American writer, theater director and producer, best known as the creator of the popular comic strips The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. At the height of their popularity, these strips attracted over 100 million readers every day, Falk also wrote short stories, and he contributed to a series of pulp novels about The Phantom. A playwright and theatrical director/producer, Falk directed actors such as Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Chico Marx, Falk was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent his boyhood and his youth. His mother was Eleanor Alina, and his father was Benjamin Gross, both of his parents were Jewish. Lee was born and raised Jewish, Benjamin Gross died when Falk was just a boy, and after a time, his mother Eleanor married Albert Falk Epstein, who became the father figure for Lee Falk and his brother, Leslie. Falk changed his surname after leaving college and he took the middle name of his stepfather, but Lee had been his nickname since childhood, so he took that name also. His brother, Leslie, also took the name Falk, when Falk began his comic strip and comic book writing and drawing career, his official biography claimed that he was an experienced world traveler who had studied with Eastern mystics. In fact, Falk had simply made it up in order to more like the right kind of person to be writing about globe-trotting heroes like Mandrake the Magician. His trip to New York City to pitch Mandrake the Magician for publication by the King Features Syndicate was at time the farthest that he had traveled from home in St. Louis. Lee Falk married three times, to Louise Kanaseriff, Constance Moorehead Lilienthal, and Elizabeth Moxley, Elizabeth also sometimes helped him with the scripts in his later years. She even finished his last The Phantom stories after he died, Falk became the father of three children, Valerie, and Diane and Conley. Falk died of heart failure in 1999 and he lived the last years of his life in New York, in an apartment with a panoramic view of the New York skyline and Central Park, he spent his summers in a house on Cape Cod. He literally wrote his comic strips from 1934 to the last days of his life, however, new episodes of The Phantom, and also Mandrake the Magician, are still being drawn by others, both as comic strips and in comic books. New movie and TV versions of his comic strip characters are reported to be forthcoming. His interment was in Brooklyns Cypress Hills Cemetery, Falk had had a fascination for stage magicians ever since he was a boy. Falk, according to his own recollections, sketched the first few Mandrake the Magician comic strips himself, when asked why the magician looked so much like himself, he replied, Well, of course he did. I was alone in a room with a mirror when I drew him and he was fascinated by the Thugs of India, and hence based his first Phantom comic on the Singh Brotherhood. Falk originally considered the idea of calling his character The Gray Ghost, in the A&E Networks Phantom biography program, Falk explained that Ancient Greek stone busts inspired the notion of pupils of the eyes of The Phantom not showing whenever he wore his mask
27.
The Phantom
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The Phantom is a long-running American adventure comic strip, first published by Mandrake the Magician creator Lee Falk in February 1936, now primarily published internationally by Frew Publications. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla, the character has been adapted for television, film and video games. The series began with a newspaper strip on February 17,1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28,1939. In 1966, King Features stated that The Phantom was being published in 583 newspapers worldwide, at its peak, the strip was read by over 100 million people daily. Falk worked on The Phantom until his death in 1999, from then until the present, since 2016, it has been drawn by Mike Manley and Terry Beatty. Previous artists on the strip include Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, Bill Lignante, Sy Barry, George Olesen, Keith Williams, Fred Fredericks, Graham Nolan, Eduardo Barreto. In the strip, the Phantom was 21st in a line of crime-fighters which began in 1536, swearing an oath on the skull of his fathers murderer to fight evil, Christopher began a legacy of the Phantom which would pass from father to son. Nicknames for the Phantom include The Ghost Who Walks, Guardian of the Eastern Dark, unlike most other superheroes, the Phantom has no superpowers and relies on his strength, intelligence and reputed immortality to defeat his foes. The 21st Phantom is married to Diana Palmer, they met while he studied in the United States and have two children, Kit and Heloise and he has a trained wolf, Devil, and a horse named Hero. Like the previous Phantoms, he lives in the ancient Skull Cave, the Phantom was the first fictional hero to wear the skintight costume which has become a hallmark of comic-book superheroes, and was the first shown in a mask with no visible pupils. After the success of Mandrake the Magician, King Features Syndicate asked Falk to develop a new feature and his first effort was to write and draw a strip about King Arthur and his knights. When King Features rejected the strip Falk developed the Phantom, a mysterious and he planned the first few months of the story, and drew the first two weeks as a sample. During his first story, The Singh Brotherhood, before disclosing that Wells was the Phantom Falk changed the setting to a jungle and made the Phantom an apparently immortal, thinking that there were already too many characters called the Phantom, Falk considered calling his hero The Gray Ghost. However, he could not find a name he liked better, in the A&E American cable TV documentary The Phantom, Comic Strip Crusader, Falk explained that Greek busts inspired him to omit the Phantoms pupils when the character was wearing his mask. He incorrectly believed that ancient Greek busts had no pupils which gave them an inhuman, in a 2005 interview for Comic Book Marketplace Falk said the Phantoms skin-tight costume was inspired by Robin Hood, who wore tights in films and onstage. The Phantom began as a strip on February 17,1936 with The Singh Brotherhood, written by Falk. That year, The Phantom was serialized in the Australian Womans Mirror, a Sunday Phantom strip was added on May 28,1939. During World War II Falk joined the Office of War Information, Moore also served during the war and left the strip to his assistant, Wilson McCoy
28.
Robert the Bruce
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Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce, was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation and he fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotlands place as an independent country and is today revered in Scotland as a national hero. As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his familys claim to the Scottish throne, after submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to the kings peace, Robert inherited his familys claim to the Scottish throne upon his fathers death. In February 1306, Robert the Bruce killed Comyn following an argument, Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306. Bruce defeated his other Scots enemies, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland. In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the Declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotlands status as an independent kingdom. In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, Robert I died in June 1329. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in Melrose Abbey. Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale, the first of the Bruce, or de Brus, line arrived in Scotland with David I in 1124 and was given the lands of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, from his mother, he inherited the Earldom of Carrick, and through his father, a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. The Bruces also held estates in Aberdeenshire, County Antrim, County Durham, Essex, Middlesex. Although Robert the Bruces date of birth is known, his place of birth is less certain, although it is most likely to have been Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, very little is known of his youth. Annandale was thoroughly feudalised and the form of Northern Middle English that would develop into the Scots language was spoken throughout the region. Robert the Bruce would most probably have become trilingual at an early age and he would have been schooled to speak, read and possibly write in the Anglo-Norman language of his Scots-Norman peers and his fathers family. He would also have both the Gaelic language of his Carrick birthplace and his mothers family, and the early Scots language. As the heir to an estate and a pious layman, Robert would also have been given working knowledge of Latin. This would have afforded Robert and his brothers access to education in the law, politics, scripture, saints Lives, philosophy, history and chivalric instruction. That Robert took personal pleasure in such learning and leisure is suggested in a number of ways, as king, Robert certainly commissioned verse to commemorate Bannockburn and his subjects military deeds
29.
Scottish people
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The Scottish people, or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century, and are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celts. Later, the neighbouring Cumbrian Britons, who spoke a Celtic language, as well as Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons. In modern usage, Scottish people or Scots is used to refer to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, the Latin word Scotti, originally the word referred specifically to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Considered archaic or pejorative, the term Scotch has also used for Scottish people. John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Scotch documents the descendants of 19th-century Scottish pioneers who settled in Southwestern Ontario and he states the book was meant to give a true picture of life in the community in the early decades of the 20th century. People of Scottish descent live in countries other than Scotland. Scottish emigrants took with them their Scottish languages and culture, large populations of Scottish people settled the new-world lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in the world, Scotland has seen migration and settlement of many peoples at different periods in its history. The Gaels, the Picts and the Britons have their origin myths. The Venerable Bede tells of the Scotti coming from Spain via Ireland, Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxons, arrived beginning in the 7th century, while the Norse invaded and colonized parts of Scotland from the 8th century onwards. In the High Middle Ages, from the reign of David I of Scotland, there was emigration from France, England. Some famous Scottish family names, including bearing the names which became Bruce, Balliol, Murray. Today Scotland is one of the countries of the United Kingdom, culturally, these peoples are grouped according to language. Most of Scotland until the 13th century spoke Celtic languages and these included, at least initially, the Britons, as well as the Gaels and the Picts. Germanic peoples included the Angles of Northumbria, who settled in south-eastern Scotland in the region between the Firth of Forth to the north and the River Tweed to the south. They also occupied the south-west of Scotland up to and including the Plain of Kyle and their language, south-east of the Firth of Forth, then in Lothian and the Borders, a northern variety of Old English, also known as Early Scots, was spoken. The Northern Isles and some parts of Caithness were Norn-speaking, from 1500 on, Scotland was commonly divided by language into two groups of people, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders and the Inglis-speaking Lowlanders
30.
Anthony Wayne
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Anthony Wayne was a United States Army officer, statesman, and member of the United States House of Representatives. He later served as General in Chief of the Army and commanded the Legion of the United States, Wayne was one of four children born to Isaac Wayne and Elizabeth Iddings Wayne in Easttown Township, near present-day Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His father had immigrated from Ireland, and was part of a Protestant Anglo-Irish family, Wayne was born on January 1,1745, on his familys Waynesborough estate. He was educated as a surveyor at his uncles private academy in Philadelphia, as well as at the College of Philadelphia, in 1767 he returned to work in his fathers tannery, while continuing work as a surveyor. He became a prominent figure in Chester County and served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1774–80 and he married Mary Penrose in 1766 and they had two children. Their daughter Margretta was born in 1770 and their son Isaac Wayne, representative from Pennsylvania, was born in 1772. At the onset of the war in 1775, Wayne raised a unit and, in 1776. His service resulted in a promotion to general on February 21,1777. On September 11,1777, Wayne commanded the Pennsylvania Line at Brandywine, the two forces fought for three hours until the American line withdrew, and Wayne was ordered to retreat. Later, Wayne was ordered to harass the British rear in order to slow General Howes advance towards Pennsylvania, Waynes camp was attacked on the night of September 20–21, in the Battle of Paoli. General Charles Grey ordered his men to remove their flints and attack with bayonets in order to keep their assault secret, the attack earned General Grey the nickname No Flint, but the Americans used the tactics and casualties as propaganda regarding British brutality. General Waynes own reputation was tarnished by the American losses, only days later, on October 4,1777, Wayne again led his forces against the British in the Battle of Germantown. Waynes soldiers pushed ahead of other American units, and, according to his report, generals Wayne and Sullivan advanced too quickly, however, and became entrapped when they reached two miles ahead of other American units. As General Howe arrived and reformed the British line, American forces retreated, General Wayne was again ordered to hold off the British and cover the rear of the retreating body. After winter quarters at Valley Forge, Wayne led the American attack at the 1778 Battle of Monmouth, during this battle, Waynes forces were abandoned by General Charles Lee and pinned down by a numerically superior British force. Wayne held out until relieved by reinforcements sent by Washington, Wayne reformed his troops and continued to fight. Because the body of Lt. Colonel Henry Monckton was discovered by the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, in July 1779 Washington named Wayne to command the Corps of Light Infantry, a temporary unit of four regiments of light infantry companies drawn from all the regiments in the Main Army. Waynes successful attack on British positions at Stony Point, New York in the Battle of Stony Point was the point of his revolutionary war service
31.
Joker (character)
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The Joker is a fictional supervillain created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson who first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book Batman published by DC Comics. Credit for the Jokers creation is disputed, Kane and Robinson claimed responsibility for the Jokers design, although the Joker was planned to be killed off during his initial appearance, he was spared by editorial intervention, allowing the character to endure as the archenemy of the superhero Batman. In his comic appearances, the Joker is portrayed as a criminal mastermind. The Joker has had various possible origin stories during his decades of appearances, the most common story involves him falling into a tank of chemical waste which bleaches his skin white, turns his hair green, and his lips bright red, the resulting disfigurement drives him insane. The antithesis of Batman in personality and appearance, the Joker is considered by critics to be his perfect adversary, the 1990s introduced a romantic interest for the Joker in his former psychiatrist, Harley Quinn, who becomes his villainous sidekick. Although his primary obsession is Batman, the Joker has also fought other heroes including Superman, one of the most iconic characters in popular culture, the Joker has been listed among the greatest comic book villains and fictional characters ever created. The characters popularity has seen him appear on a variety of merchandise, such as clothing and collectable items, inspire real-world structures, Mark Hamill, Troy Baker, and others have provided the characters voice. Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson are credited with creating the Joker, Robinson claimed that it was his 1940 card sketch that served as the characters concept, and which Finger associated with Veidts portrayal. Kane hired the 17-year-old Robinson as an assistant in 1939, after he saw Robinson in a white jacket decorated with his own illustrations, beginning as a letterer and background inker, Robinson quickly became primary artist for the newly created Batman comic book series. In a 1975 interview in The Amazing World of DC Comics, Robinson said he wanted a supreme arch-villain who could test Batman and he wanted an exotic, enduring character as an ongoing source of conflict for Batman, designing a diabolically sinister-but-clownish villain. Robinson was intrigued by villains, his studies at Columbia University taught him that some characters are made up of contradictions, leading to the Jokers sense of humor. He said that the name came first, followed by an image of a card from a deck he often had at hand. I wanted somebody that would make an impression, would be bizarre. He told Finger about his concept by telephone, later providing sketches of the character, Finger thought the concept was incomplete, providing the image of Veidt with a ghastly, permanent rictus grin. In a 1994 interview with journalist Frank Lovece, Kane stated his position, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson came to me with a playing card of the Joker. Thats the way I sum it up, looks like Conrad Veidt – you know, the actor in The Man Who Laughs, by Victor Hugo. Bill Finger had a book with a photograph of Conrad Veidt and showed it to me and said, Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it, but hell always say he created it till he dies. He brought in a card, which we used for a couple of issues for him to use as his playing card
32.
Letterer
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A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic books text. The letterers use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, the letterer crafts the comics display lettering, the story title lettering and other special captions and credits that usually appear on a storys first page. The letterer also writes the letters in the balloons and draws in sound effects. Many letterers also design logos for the comic book companys various titles, by the late 1940s, it became possible to make a living just lettering comic strips and comic books for artists, studios, and companies that didnt have the time or desire to do it in-house. Letterer and logo designer Ira Schnapp defined the DC Comics look for nearly thirty years, starting in around 1966, Schnapps classic, art deco-inspired look was replaced by the pulsing, organic style of Gaspar Saladino, who redesigned DCs house style for the counterculture era. Gaspar became the cover letterer for all of DCs books throughout the 1970s, from the 1930 through the 1990s, the letterer plied his craft on the same page drawn by the penciler. At DC Comics during the Silver Age of the 1960s, pencilers were required to rough in balloons, an accomplished letterer was able to adapt his or her style to the style of the art for that particular book. The evolution of desktop publishing powered by computers, especially made by Apple, began in the 1980s. One of the first users of computer-generated lettering was writer/artist John Byrne, other early users of computer lettering were David Cody Weiss and Roxanne Starr, who experimented in computer lettering with Bob Burdens Flaming Carrot Comics. Computer lettering really started making an impact with the availability of the first commercial comic book font, in the early 1990s letterer Richard Starkings and his partner John Roshell began creating comic book fonts and started Comicraft, which has since become the major source of comics fonts. Wildstorm Comics was ahead of the curve, Marvel came around a few later, and DC held to traditional production methods the longest. In the early years of the 21st Century, the mainstream American comics companies moved almost exclusively to in-house computer lettering, Chris Eliopoulos designed the fonts for Marvels in-house lettering unit, and Ken Lopez did the same at DC. Since then the trend has swung the other way, with most comics publishers once again using freelance letterers rather than in-house staff, nearly all use computer and digital comic book fonts. The traditional comic book letterer needs little more than a guide, a pen or brush, India ink. Some situations required the letterer to use vellum overlays on top of the original art, the lettering in the comics of the sensationalist horror comics publisher EC Comics c. 1955 was different from other publishers — its mechanical appearance gave it a sterile aspect, eCs letterers achieved their particular look by using a Leroy lettering set, a device popular amongst draftsmen and architects. The Leroy lettering set consisted of a stylus and a pantographic lettering form, most Marvel and DC books are now lettered using a graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, and a font that resembles hand lettering. Computer lettering provides a lot of technical shortcuts, especially by combining the work directly with digital art files
33.
George Roussos
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Over five decades, he created artwork for numerous publishers, including EC Comics, and he was a staff colorist for Marvel Comics. George Roussos was born in Washington, D. C. the son of Greek-Americans William, Roussos was influenced by the art of cartoonist Frank Miller in the aviation comic strip Barney Baxter in the Air. Other influences included Chester Gould, Stan Kaye, Robert Fawcett, I had no schooling except the things I learned by myself, Roussos said. He entered comics in 1939 as letterer of the Spanish-language version of the newspaper panel Ripleys Believe It or Not, the following year, Bob Kane and Bill Finger hired him to assist inker Jerry Robinson on Batman stories. Roussos duties included drawing backgrounds, inking, and lettering, starting as early as Batman #2, at the same time, he did similar duties on Target and the Targeteers. He and Robinson would eventually leave the Kane studio to work directly for National Comics on Batman, Roussos worked on features starring the Vigilante, Johnny Quick, Superman, and Starman. He also did 16 internationally distributed educational pamphlets for General Electric, the survey The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books placed Roussos at #15, saying he was so adept with a brush in his hand that his co-workers appointed the nickname Inky to him. His style was thick, heavy with blacks, and sported nice contrasts which complimented one of his prime collaborators in the 50s. Comic-book clients during the 1950s included that decades Marvel precursor, Atlas Comics, along with Crestwood, EC Comics, for EC he did stories in Crime SuspenStories, Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. These included #21-27, which featured the first Hulk vs. Thing battle, as well, Roussos had inked the Kirby covers of issues #11,13, and 18-20. Roussos also inked the return of Captain America in The Avengers #4 — the cover of which has one of comics most famous — as well as Kirbys Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #3-7, in addition, though Marvel Comics did not credit colorists at this time, Roussos has since claimed that he has always followed the practice of coloring any comic that he inked. After doing some work for Warren Publishings black-and-white horror-comics magazines in 1970 and 1971, Roussos in 1972 succeeded Marie Severin as Marvels full-time, in the early 1980s, Roussos was Marvels cover colorist. Roussos was a Renaissance man whose interests included architecture, astronomy, automobiles, gardening, natural medicine. He took photographs of various Long Island estates, and his photographs at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park were collected in his book, Roussos died of a heart attack. He was married twice, to Viola Fink, followed by Florence Lacey, Roussos had three sons and a daughter. The Bayard Cutting Arboretum History, A History and Description of William Bayard Cutting and His Country House, Westbrook, Great River, oakdale, New York, The Board of Trustees and the Long Island State Park and Recreation Commission,1984. The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
34.
National Geographic
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National Geographic is the official magazine of the National Geographic Society. It has been published continuously since its first issue in 1888 and it primarily contains articles about science, geography, history, and world culture. The magazine is known for its thick square-bound glossy format with a rectangular border. The magazine is published monthly, and additional map supplements are also included with subscriptions and it is available in a traditional printed edition and through an interactive online edition. On occasion, special editions of the magazine are issued and this includes a US circulation of 3.5 million. From the 1970s through about 2010 the magazine was printed in Corinth, Mississippi, the current Editor-in-Chief of the National Geographic Magazine is Susan Goldberg. Goldberg is also Editorial Director for National Geographic Partners, overseeing the print and she is responsible for News, Books, National Geographic Traveler magazine, National Geographic History magazine, Maps, and all digital content with the exception of National Geographic Kids. Goldberg reports to Declan Moore, CEO of National Geographic Partners, the first issue of National Geographic Magazine was published on September 22,1888, nine months after the Society was founded. The June 1985 cover portrait of the presumed to be 12-year-old Afghan girl Sharbat Gula, shot by photographer Steve McCurry, in the late 1990s, the magazine began publishing The Complete National Geographic, a digital compilation of all the past issues of the magazine. It was then sued over copyright of the magazine as a work in Greenberg v. National Geographic and other cases. The magazine eventually prevailed in the dispute, and in July 2009 it resumed publishing a compilation containing all issues through December 2008. The compilation was updated to make more recent issues available. National Geographic Kids, the version of the magazine, was launched in 1975 under the name National Geographic World. The January 2017 issue of National Geographic has a nine-year-old transgender girl on the cover, the magazine printed articles on Berlin, de-occupied Austria, the Soviet Union, and Communist China that deliberately downplayed politics to focus on culture. In its coverage of the Space Race, National Geographic focused on the scientific achievement while largely avoiding reference to the connection to nuclear arms buildup. There were also articles in the 1930s, 40s and 50s about the individual states and their resources. Many of these articles were written by longtime staff such as Frederick Simpich, there were also articles about biology and science topics. In later years articles became outspoken on issues such as issues, deforestation, chemical pollution, global warming
35.
Dick Grayson
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Richard John Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 the character retires his role as Robin and assumes the superhero persona of Nightwing, created by Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. The youngest in a family of known as the Flying Graysons. Batman takes him in as a ward and the crime-fighting partner Robin. He is written by authors as the first son of Batman. As well as being Batmans crime-fighting partner, Dick establishes himself as the leader of the Teen Titans, as a young man, he retires as Robin and takes on his own superhero identity to assert his independence, becoming Nightwing. As Nightwing, he continues to lead the Teen Titans and later the Outsiders, in the first volume of his eponymous series, he becomes the protector of Blüdhaven, Gothams economically troubled neighboring city, the locale the character is most closely associated with. He has also served stints protecting the streets of New York, Chicago, Dick Grayson has taken on the identity of Batman on a few occasions. Dick again assumes the following the events of Batman R. I. P. As Batman, Dick moves to Gotham City following his mentors apparent death and partners with the fifth Robin, on Bruces return, both men maintained the Batman identity until 2011, when Dick returned to the Nightwing identity with DCs The New 52 continuity reboot. Following the conclusion of the Grayson series, and the restoration of his identity in the series final issue. Loren Lester voiced the character as Robin in Batman, The Animated Series, in May 2011, IGN ranked Dick Grayson #11 on their list of the Top 100 Super Heroes of All Time. In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Grayson as Nightwing as #1 on their list of the 50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics, the character was first introduced in Detective Comics #38 by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Robins debut was an effort to get readers to enjoy Batman. He was born on the first day of spring, son of John Grayson and Mary Grayson, in his first appearance, Dick Grayson is a circus acrobat, and, with his parents, one of the Flying Graysons. While preparing for a performance, Dick overhears two gangsters attempting to extort money from the circus owner. The owner refuses, so the gangsters sabotage the trapeze wires with acid, during the next performance, the trapeze from which Dicks parents are swinging snaps, sending them to their deaths. Before he can go to the police, Batman appears to him, when Batman recounts the murder of his own parents, Dick asks to become his aide
36.
Douglas Fairbanks
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Douglas Fairbanks was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood. Fairbanks was a member of United Artists. Fairbanks was also a member of The Motion Picture Academy. With his marriage to Mary Pickford in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty and Fairbanks was referred to as The King of Hollywood, a nickname later passed on to actor Clark Gable. Though widely considered as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the 1910s and 1920s and his final film was The Private Life of Don Juan. Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado and he had two half-brothers, John Fairbanks, Jr. and Norris Wilcox, and a full brother, Robert Payne Ullman. Douglas Fairbankss father, Hezekiah Charles Ullman was born in Berrysburg, Pennsylvania and he was the fourth child in a Jewish family consisting of six sons and four daughters. Charless parents, Lazarus Ullman and Lydia Abrahams, had immigrated to the U. S. in 1830 from Baden, when he was 17, Charles started a small publishing business in Philadelphia. Two years later, he left for New York to study law and he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1856 and began building a substantial practice. At the onset of the Civil War, Charles joined the Union forces and he engaged in several battles, was wounded, and later became a captain in the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves. Charles left the service in 1864 and returned to his law practice, law Association, a forerunner of the American Bar Association. Charles met Ella Adelaide Marsh, after she married his friend and client John Fairbanks, the Fairbankses had a son, John, and shortly thereafter John Senior died of tuberculosis. Ella, born into a wealthy southern Catholic family, was overprotected, consequently, she was swindled out of her fortune by her husbands partners. Even the efforts of Charles Ullman, acting on her behalf, distraught and lonely, she met and married a courtly Georgian, Edward Wilcox, who turned out to be an alcoholic. After they had a son, Norris, she divorced Wilcox with Charles acting as her own lawyer in the suit, the pretty southern belle soon became romantically involved with Charles and agreed to move to Denver with him to pursue mining investments. They arrived in Denver in 1881 with her son, John and they were married and in 1882 had a child, Robert and then a second son, Douglas, a year later. Charles purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains, and he re-established his law practice, Charles Ullman, after hearing of his wifes philandering, abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old
37.
Sherlock Holmes
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Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian periods, though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the most well-known, with Guinness World Records listing him as the most portrayed movie character in history. Auguste Dupin is generally acknowledged as the first detective in fiction and served as the prototype for many that were created later, Conan Doyle once wrote, Each is a root from which a whole literature has developed. Where was the story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it. Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes was inspired by the figure of Joseph Bell, a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing conclusions from minute observations. However, he wrote to Doyle, You are yourself Sherlock Holmes. Sir Henry Littlejohn, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, is cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, One is thought to be Francis Tanky Smith, a policeman and master of disguise who went on to become Leicesters first private detective. Another might be Maximilien Heller, by French author Henry Cauvain and it is not known if Conan Doyle read Maximilien Heller, but in this 1871 novel, Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed, anti-social, polymath, cat-loving, and opium-smoking Paris-based detective. Details about Sherlock Holmess life, except for the adventures in the books, are scarce in Conan Doyles original stories, nevertheless, mentions of his early life and extended family paint a loose biographical picture of the detective. An estimate of Holmess age in His Last Bow places his year of birth at 1854 and his parents are not mentioned in the stories, although Holmes mentions that his ancestors were country squires. In The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, he claims that his grandmother was sister to the French artist Vernet, without clarifying whether this was Claude Joseph, Carle. Mycroft has a civil service position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. He lacks Sherlocks interest in investigation, however, preferring to spend his time at the Diogenes Club. Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate, his earliest cases, the two take lodgings at 221B Baker Street, London, an apartment at the upper end of the street, up seventeen steps. Holmes worked as a detective for twenty-three years, with physician John Watson assisting him for seventeen and they were roommates before Watsons 1887 marriage and again after his wifes death. Their residence is maintained by their landlady, Mrs. Hudson, most of the stories are frame narratives, written from Watsons point of view as summaries of the detectives most interesting cases
38.
Jim Steranko
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James F. Jim Steranko is an American graphic artist, comic book writer/artist, historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator. His most famous comic book work was with the 1960s superspy feature Nick Fury, Agent of S. H. I. E. L. D. in Marvel Comics Strange Tales and in the subsequent eponymous series. Steranko earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in art during the Silver Age of Comic Books, particularly his infusion of surrealism, op art. His work has been published in countries and his influence on the field has remained strong since his comics heyday. He was inducted into the comic-book industrys Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006, Steranko was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. According to Sterankos authorized biography, his grandparents emigrated from Ukraine to settle in the anthracite coal-mining region of eastern Pennsylvania, Sterankos father, one of nine siblings, began working in the mines at age 10, and as an adult became a tinsmith. Steranko later said his father and uncles would bootleg coal – they would go up into a mountain, one of three children, all boys, Steranko spent his early childhood during the American Great Depression living in a three-room house with a tar-paper roof and outhouse toilet facilities. He slept on a couch in the living room until he was more than 10 years old. Sterankos father and five uncles showed musical inclination, performing in a band played on Reading radio in the 1930s. Steranko recalled beginning school at age 4, later, Because my father had tuberculosis, I began third grade at what was called an open-window school, a facility across the city that had a healthy program for kids with special problems. I was bused to school for four years, then dropped into junior high. His youngest brother was born when Steranko was 14, severing even the minimal interaction between me and my parents, Steranko had begun drawing while very young, opening and flattening envelopes from the mail to use as sketch paper. Radio programs, Saturday movie matinées and serials, and other popular culture also influenced him, Steranko in 1978 described some influences and their impact on his creative philosophy, Early influences were Chester Goulds Dick Tracy, Hal Foster, and Frank Robbins Johnny Hazard. I still think Robbins is one of the greatest storytellers of all time, fans seem to have a lot less opinion of Robbins for some reason, just because theyre more enamored of lines. Fans seem to think that the lines that go into a drawing the better it is. Actually, the opposite is generally true, the fewer lines you can put into a drawing the quicker it reads, and the simpler it is. Toth is one of the few guys who can simplify an illustration to a minimum of lines with a maximum of impact. At school, he competed on the team, on the rings and parallel bars
39.
Gardner Fox
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Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he more than 4,000 comics stories. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story Flash of Two Worlds, Fox was born in Brooklyn, New York. Fox recalled being inspired at an age by the great fantasy fiction writers. On or about his birthday, he been given The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. He read all of Burroughs, Harold Lamb, Talbot Mundy, Fox received a law degree from St. Johns College and was admitted to the New York bar in 1935. He practiced for two years, but as the Great Depression continued he began writing for DC Comics editor Vin Sullivan. Debuting as a writer in the pages of Detective Comics, Fox intermittently contributed tales to nearly every book in the DC lineup during the Golden Age and he was a frequent contributor of prose stories to the pulp science fiction magazines of the 1930s and 1940s. A polymath, Fox included numerous real-world historical, scientific, and mythological references in his strips, once saying. He revealed in letters to fan Jerry Bails that he kept large troves of reference material, mentioning during 1971, I maintain two file cabinets chock full of stuff. And the attic is crammed with books and magazines. Everything about science, nature, or unusual facts, Fox wrote a pair of science fiction novels titled Warriors of Llarn and Thief of Llarn. From 1969 to 1970, Belmont Books published a series of sword and sorcery novels by Fox and these were Kothar, Barbarian Swordsman, Kothar of the Magic Sword, Kothar and the Demon Queen, Kothar and the Conjurers Curse and finally Kothar and the Wizard Slayer. These were followed in 1976 by another series featuring the barbarian Kyrik, Kyrik, Warlock Warrior, Kyrik Fights the Demon World, Kyrik and the Wizards Sword and Kyrik and the Lost Queen. Foxs earliest stories for DC Comics featured Speed Saunders with art by Creig Flessel, Speed Saunders was initially credited to E. C. Stoner, which many believe to be a Fox pseudonym. As the 1930s progressed, Fox added writing credits for Steve Malone and Bruce Nelson for Detective Comics to his workload, during World War II, Fox assumed responsibility for a variety of characters and books of several of his colleagues who had been drafted. With the waning popularity of superheroes, Fox contributed western, science fiction, humor, romance, Fox returned to the Batman in 1964. Fox is credited with writing the first three of six stories in the issue of Flash Comics, including the debut of the titular character. With a hero described as a modern-day Mercury, the title feature saw college student Jay Garrick imbued with superhuman speed after inhaling hard water vapors
40.
Batmobile
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The Batmobile /ˈbætməˌbiːl/ is the primary vehicle driven by the superhero Batman in American comic books published by DC Comics. Kept in the Batcave, which it accesses through a hidden entrance, the Batmobile made its first appearance in Detective Comics #27. Then a red sedan, it was referred to as his car. Soon it began featuring a prominent bat motif, typically including distinctive wing-shaped tailfins. Depictions of the vehicle have evolved along with the character, with each incarnation reflecting evolving car technologies, some depictions present the Batmobile as able to be unmanned or remotely operated. It has appeared in every Batman iteration—from comic books and television to films, Batman drives a red convertible vehicle in Detective Comics #27, the first Batman story. However, this car was never mentioned by name as the Batmobile, although the Batplane was introduced in Detective Comics #31, the name Batmobile was not applied to Batmans automobile until Detective Comics #48. It became a specially built high-powered auto by Detective Comics #30, and in Batman #5, it featured a bat hood ornament, eventually, the predominant designs included a large, dark-colored body and bat-like accessories, including large tailfins scalloped to resemble a bats wings. Other bat-vehicles soon followed, including the Batcycle, Batboat, Batman #5 introduced a long, powerful, streamlined Batmobile with a tall scalloped fin and an intimidating bat head on the front. Three pages after it was introduced, it was forced off a cliff by the Joker to crash in the ravine below, however, an identical Batmobile appeared in the next story in the same issue. The live action series was so popular that its campy humor. But the high camp and general silliness of the show did not sit well with long-time Batman comic book fans. So, when the series was canceled in 1968, the comic books reacted by becoming darker and more serious and its replacement for a number of years was a much simpler model with a stylized bats head silhouette decal on the hood being the only decoration of note. The 1960s TV style Batmobile still appears from time to time in the books, most recently in Detective Comics #850. In mid-1985, a variation of the Super Powers toyline Batmobile appeared in both Batman and Detective Comics. This design had a set of front and rear canopies, Coke-bottle sides, integrated fins. The only difference between this car and its toy counterpart is the nose, which was drawn to appear longer. Beginning in the 1990s, the number of comics featuring Batman mushroomed with spin-off titles, limited series, at the same time, there was considerable experimentation with styles of illustration
41.
Batcave
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The Batcave is a fictional subterranean location appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Originally, there was only a secret tunnel that ran underground between Wayne Manor and a dusty old barn where the Batmobile and Batmicrolite were kept, later, in Batman #12, Bill Finger mentioned secret underground hangars. In 1943, the writers of the first Batman movie serial, titled Batman, gave Batman a complete underground crime lab, the entrance was via a secret passage through a grandfather clock and included bats flying around. Bob Kane, who was on the set, mentioned this to Bill Finger who was going to be the initial scripter on the Batman daily newspaper strip. Finger included with his script a clipping from Popular Mechanics that featured a cross section of underground hangars. Kane used this clipping as a guide, adding a study, crime lab, workshop, hangar and this illustration appeared in the Batman dailies on October 29,1943 in a strip entitled The Bat Cave. In this early version the cave itself was described as Batmans underground study and, like the rooms, was just a small alcove with a desk. Like in the serial, the Batmans symbol was carved into the rock behind the desk and had a candle in the middle of it. The entrance was via a bookcase which led to a secret elevator, the Batcave made its comic book debut in Detective Comics #83 in January 1944. Over the decades, the cave has expanded along with its owners popularity to include a vast trophy room, supercomputer, there has been little consistency as to the floor plan of the Batcave or its contents. The design has varied from artist to artist and it is not unusual for the same artist to draw the cave layout differently in various issues. The cave was discovered and used long before by Bruce Waynes ancestors as a storehouse as well as a means of transporting escaped slaves during the Civil War era, the 18th century frontier hero Tomahawk once discovered a gargantuan bat inside what can be assumed will become the Batcave. In addition to a base, the Batcave serves as a place of privacy and tranquility, in earlier versions of the storyline, Bruce Wayne discovered the cave as an adult. In The Origin of the Batcave in Detective Comics #205, Batman tells Robin he had no idea the cave existed when he purchased the house live in. He discovered the cave by accident when testing the floor of an old barn on the rear of the property, and this story also established that a frontiersman named Jeremy Coe used the cave as a headquarters 300 years earlier. Bruce Wayne discovering the cave as an adult remained the case at least through Whos Who #2 in 1985, upon his initial foray into crime-fighting, Wayne used the caves as a sanctum and to store his then-minimal equipment. As time went on, Wayne found the ideal to create a stronghold for his war against crime. The cave is accessible in several ways, another secret entrance, covered by a hologram, waterfall or a camouflaged door, allows access to a service road for the Batmobile
42.
Gotham City
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Gotham City or Gotham is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batmans place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4, the city is depicted as being within close proximity to Metropolis, and the vast majority of DC Comics references place Gotham City specifically in New Jersey. Cities such as New York City and Chicago have also influenced the look, within the DC Extended Universe, the 2016 film Suicide Squad reveals Gotham City to be located in New Jersey. Writer Bill Finger, on the naming of the city and the reason for changing Batmans locale from New York City to a city, said. Then I tried Capital City, then Coast City, then I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name Gotham Jewelers and said, Thats it, Gotham City. We didnt call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it, irving took the name from the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, England, a place inhabited, according to folklore, by fools. The villages name derives from Old English gāt goat and hām home, literally homestead where goats are kept, the Joker references this etymology in Detective Comics #880, in which he tells Batman that the word means a safe place for goats. In contrast, Gotham as used for New York has a different pronunciation by analogy to other words spelled with th and is pronounced as /ˈɡɒθəm/ GOTH-əm, like the word Goth. In Amazing World of DC Comics #14, publisher Mark Gruenwald discusses the history of the Justice League, Worlds Finest Comics #259 also confirms that Gotham is in New Jersey. In the World’s Greatest Super Heroes comic strip, a map is shown placing Gotham City in New Jersey, New Adventures of Superboy #22 and the 1990 Atlas of the DC Universe both show maps of Gotham City in New Jersey and Metropolis in Delaware. Detective Comics #503 includes several references suggesting Gotham City is in New Jersey, a location on the Jersey Shore is described as twenty miles north of Gotham, and Robin and Batgirl drive from a secret New Jersey airfield to Gotham City and then drive on the Hudson County Highway. Hudson County is the name of a county in New Jersey. Batman, Shadow of the Bat, Annual #1 further establishes that Gotham City is in New Jersey, sal E. Jordans drivers license in the comic reveals his address is 72 Faxcol Dr Gotham City, NJ12345. Gotham City is the home of Batman, just as Metropolis is the home of Superman, given the close proximity of the two cities, Batman and Superman often work together and frequent each others cities. Gotham City is usually depicted to be within driving distance of Metropolis, the Atlas of the DC Universe from the 1990s places Metropolis in Delaware and Gotham City in New Jersey. During the Bronze Age of Comic Books, the Metro-Narrows Bridge was depicted as the route connecting the twin cities of Metropolis. It has been described as being the longest suspension bridge in the world, a map appeared in The New Adventures of Superboy #22, that showed Smallville within driving distance of both Metropolis and Gotham City. However, the location of the two cities has varied
43.
Catwoman
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Catwoman is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. The character was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and she made her debut in Batman #1, depicted as a jewel thief in Gotham City, Catwoman has typically been characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman. However, since the 1990s, Catwoman has been featured in a series that portrays her as an antiheroine rather than a traditional villain. She is known for her complex relationship with Batman and has been his most enduring love interest. The original and most widely known Catwoman is Selina Kyle, the character was partially inspired by Kanes cousin, Ruth Steel, as well as actress Jean Harlow. For many years the character thrived, but from September 1954 to November 1966 Catwoman took a hiatus due to the newly developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of characters that were in violation of the Comics Code. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa both have adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina, a popular figure, Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to an audience on the 1960s Batman television series. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992s Batman Returns, halle Berry starred in a stand-alone Catwoman film, 2004s Catwoman, which was a critical and commercial flop, and bears little to no resemblance to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises and, most recently, Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGNs Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time list, and 51st on Wizard magazines 100 Greatest Villains of All Time list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGNs Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time list, Batmans creator, Bob Kane, was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. She was partially inspired by 1930s film star Jean Harlow who at Kanes then-early and, seemed to personify feminine pulchritude at its most sensuous. Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, at the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with their Catwoman, Kane states he, although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story involving the Joker. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman, Batman #62 reveals that Catwoman is an amnesiac flight attendant who had turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived
