1.
Fred Ray
–
His cover of Superman #14 is one of comics most famous. Fred Ray was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and began his career still in high school, influenced by the works of such artists as Howard Pyle, W. H. D. Koerner, Frederick Gruger. He later studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, at 20, he broke into National Comics, the future DC Comics, with illustrations for two-page text features in Detective Comics #45 and More Fun Comics #61. He penciled and inked his first feature with the six-page Radio Squad story Murder in the Street, by writer Jerry Siegel and he continued with that detective feature in most issues through #72. Ray debuted as the Superman cover artist with the one-shot promotional giveaway Supermans Christmas Adventure and his redesign of the S symbol on Supermans costume became one of the defining features of the characters look during the 1930s to 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Ray drew only one Superman story, the 12-page I Sustain the Wings, in Superman #25, written by Mort Weisinger while he and it was reprinted as the lead feature in DC100 Page Super Spectacular #DC-18. His cover of Superman #14 is one of comics most famous, Ray also drew occasional Batman covers for Detective Comics and Batman, and various heroes for covers of the anthology titles Star Spangled Comics and Worlds Finest Comics. Ray wrote and drew the jungle-adventure feature Congo Bill in DCs Action Comics, beginning with #39, as well as the Revolutionary War-era feature Tomahawk, Ray also drew the feature in the solo series Tomahawk that began running simultaneously in late 1950. As well, for a time in 1946, he drew the Sunday edition of the Batman newspaper comic strip distributed by the McClure Syndicate. Ray continued drawing Tomahawk tales for more than two decades, through at least Tomahawk #119, with work appearing in some issues afterward. In 1969, he began drawing and occasionally scripting anthological war-comics stories in DCs G. I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces, and Our Army at War, rays last known comics work was the eight-page anthological story The Lost Battle, written by Bob Haney, in Tomahawk #139. Ray, an authority on military uniforms of the Revolutionary War and a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution, also wrote books on American history, including Oh, Say, Can You See, and Alfred R. He drew covers and interior art for magazines including Historical Times, True Frontier, The West and Yank and he was living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the time of his death at age 80. Fred Ray at the Comic Book DB
2.
Silver Age of Comic Books
–
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. The popularity and circulation of books about superheroes declined following World War II. However, controversy arose over alleged links between comic books and juvenile delinquency, focusing in particular on crime and horror titles, in 1954, publishers implemented the Comics Code Authority to regulate comic content. In the wake of changes, publishers began introducing superhero stories again. In response to demand, DC began publishing more superhero titles including Justice League of America. Silver Age comics have become collectible, with a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, Comics historian and movie producer Michael Uslan traces the origin of the Silver Age term to the letters column of Justice League of America #42, which went on sale December 9,1965. Letter-writer Scott Taylor of Westport, Connecticut wrote, If you guys keep bringing back the heroes from the Golden Age, according to Uslan, the natural hierarchy of gold-silver-bronze, as in Olympic medals, took hold. Fans immediately glommed onto this, refining it more directly into a Silver Age version of the Golden Age, very soon, it was in our vernacular, replacing such expressions as. Second Heroic Age of Comics or The Modern Age of comics and it wasnt long before dealers were. Specifying it was a Golden Age comic for sale or a Silver Age comic for sale, a number of major superheroes were created during this period, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Captain America. In subsequent years comics were blamed for a rise in crime statistics. The result was a decline in the comics industry, to address public concerns, in 1954 the Comics Code Authority was created to regulate and curb violence in comics, marking the start of a new era. The Silver Age began with the publication of DC Comics Showcase #4, at the time, only three superheroes—Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—were still published under their own titles. According to DC comics writer Will Jacobs, Superman was available in great quantity, editor Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Carmine Infantino were some of the people behind the Flashs revitalization. Robert Kanigher wrote the first stories of the revived Flash, with the success of Showcase #4, several other 1940s superheroes were reworked during Schwartz tenure, including Green Lantern, the Atom, and Hawkman, as well as the Justice League of America. The DC artists responsible included Murphy Anderson, Gil Kane and Joe Kubert, in the mid-1960s, DC established that characters appearing in comics published prior to the Silver Age lived on a parallel Earth the company dubbed Earth-Two. Characters introduced in the Silver Age and onward lived on Earth-One and it was established that the two realities were separated by a vibrational field that could be crossed, should a storyline involve superheroes from different worlds teaming up. Unsuccessful attempts to revive the superhero archetypes popularity include Captain Comet, supermouse and Mighty Mouse were published continuously in their own titles from the end of the Golden Age through the beginning of the Silver Age
3.
American comic book
–
An American comic book is a thin periodical, typically 32-pages, containing primarily comics content. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics and this was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the book industry rapidly expanded, and genres such as horror, crime. The 1950s saw a decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television. The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a revival. Since the later 20th century, comic books have gained note as collectable items, Comic shops cater to fans, and particularly valuable issues have fetched in excess of a million dollars. Systems of grading comic books have emerged with plastic sleeves and cardboard backing available to maintain the condition of comic books, standard comics are 6.625 inches ×10.25 inches and about 32 pages long. While comics can be the work of a creator, the labour of making them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a writer and artist, or there may be separate artists for the characters. The process begins with the coming up with an idea or concept, then working it into a plot and story. After the art production, letters are placed on the page, the creative team, the writers and artists, may work with a comic book publisher for help with marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A distributor like Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest in the U. S. helps to distribute the product to retailers. Another part of the involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator. Fan art and letters to the editor were printed in the back of the book until the early 21st century. Comic specialty stores did help encourage several waves of independently-produced comics, the development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the U. S, the Yellow Kid in McFaddens Flats, in 1897. The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes text by E. W. Townsend, measured 5×7 inches. The neologism comic book appears on the back cover, despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Companys Comic Monthly, did not appear until 1922
4.
Comic book
–
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
5.
Superhero
–
A female superhero is sometimes called a superheroine. Fiction centered on characters, especially in American comic books since the 1930s, is known as superhero fiction. By most definitions, characters do not require actual supernatural or superhuman powers or phenomena to be deemed superheroes, some superheroes use their powers to counter daily crime while also combating threats against humanity from supervillains, who are their criminal counterparts. Often at least one of these supervillains will be the superheros archenemy, some long-running superheroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Spider-Man have a rogues gallery of many villains. The word superhero dates to at least 1917, antecedents of the archetype include such folkloric heroes as Robin Hood, who adventured in distinctive clothing. The 1903 play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs popularized the idea of a masked avenger, during the 1940s there were many superheroes, and only a few of these were female. The Flash, Green Lantern and Blue Beetle debuted in this era, most of the other female costumed crime-fighters during this era lacked superpowers. The most iconic comic book superheroine, who debuted during the Golden Age, is Wonder Woman, inspired by the Amazons of Greek mythology, she was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston, with help and inspiration from his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. Wonder Womans first appearance was in All Star Comics #8, published by All-American Publications, in 1952, Osamu Tezukas manga Tetsuwan Atom was published. The series focused upon a robot boy built by a scientist to replace his deceased son, the 1950s saw the Silver Age of Comics. During this era DC introduced the likes of Batwoman in 1956, Supergirl, Miss Arrowette,1958 saw the debut of superhero Moonlight Mask on Japanese television. In 1963, Astro Boy was adapted into a highly influential anime television series, Phantom Agents in 1964 focused on ninjas working for the Japanese government and would be the foundation for Sentai-type series. Another important event was the debut of Mazinger Z by Go Nagai, Go Nagai also wrote the manga Cutey Honey in 1973, although the Magical Girl genre already existed, Nagais manga introduced Transformation sequences that would become a staple of Magical Girl media. The dark Skull Man manga would later get a television adaptation, the protagonist was redesigned resemble a grasshopper, becoming the renowned first masked hero of the Kamen Rider series. Kamen Rider is a motorcycle riding hero in an insect-like costume, both major publishers began introducing new superheroines with a more distinct feminist theme as part of their origin stories or character development. Examples include Big Barda, Power Girl, and the Huntress by DC comics, and from Marvel, the second Black Widow, Shanna the She-Devil, and The Cat. In 1975 Shotaro Ishinomoris Himitsu Sentai Gorenger debuted on what is now TV Asahi, it brought the concepts of multi-colored teams, in 1978, Toei adapted Spider-Man into a live-action series. In subsequent decades, popular characters like Dazzler, She-Hulk, Elektra, Catwoman, Witchblade, Spider-Girl, Batgirl, volume 4 of the X-Men comic book series featured an all-female team as part of the Marvel NOW. branding initiative in 2013
6.
Superman
–
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
7.
Batman
–
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
8.
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
–
Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939, Captain Marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics #2, published by Fawcett Comics. Based on book sales, the character was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, Fawcett expanded the franchise to include other Marvels, primarily Marvel Family associates Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. who can harness Billys powers as well. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted into film, Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics, alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, DC licensed the Marvel Family characters from Fawcett, by 1991, DC had acquired all rights to the characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, DC later officially renamed the character Shazam when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011. In addition, since 1972, the character has featured in two television series adaptations, one live action and one animated, by Filmation, and an upcoming Warner Bros. Feature film scheduled for release in 2019 as part of the DC Extended Universe, Captain Marvel was ranked as the 55th greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Captain Marvel as the 50th greatest comic book hero of all time, UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, At his best, Shazam has always been Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun. Fawcett Comics executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers, Parker responded by creating a character he called Captain Thunder. Staff artist Charles Clarence C. C. Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parkers story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett’s first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were, Beck told an interviewer. The first issue of the book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low-print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark Captain Thunder, Flash Comics, or Thrill Comics, because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunders name to Captain Marvelous, the word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as Captain Marvel. Whiz Comics #2 was published in late 1939, inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, Fawcett Publications founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed Captain Billy, which inspired the name Billy Batson as well as Marvels title. Fawcetts earliest magazine was titled Captain Billys Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics, in addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero and incorporated them into Captain Marvel
9.
Captain America
–
Captain America is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 from Timely Comics, Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier who often fought the Axis powers of World War II and was Timely Comics most popular character during the wartime period. The popularity of superheroes waned following the war and the Captain America comic book was discontinued in 1950, since Marvel Comics revived the character in 1964, Captain America has remained in publication. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, near the end of the war, he was trapped in ice and survived in suspended animation until he was revived in the present day. Captain America was the first Marvel Comics character to have appeared in media outside comics with the release of the 1944 movie serial, in 1940, writer Joe Simon conceived the idea for Captain America and made a sketch of the character in costume. I wrote the name Super American at the bottom of the page, Simon said in his autobiography, there were too many Supers around. Captain America had a sound to it. There werent a lot of captains in comics, the boy companion was simply named Bucky, after my friend Bucky Pierson, a star on our high school basketball team. Simon recalled in his autobiography that Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman gave him the go-ahead, there were two young artists from Connecticut that had made a strong impression on me. Al Avison and Al Gabriele often worked together and were successful in adapting their individual styles to each other. Actually, their work was not too far from Kirbys, if they worked on it, and if one inker tied the three styles together, I believed the final product would emerge as quite uniform. The two Als were eager to join in on the new Captain America book, but Jack Kirby was visibly upset, youre still number one, Jack, I assured him. Its just a matter of a deadline for the first issue. Ill make the deadline, Jack promised, ill pencil it myself and make the deadline. I hadnt expected this kind of reaction, but I acceded to Kirbys wishes and, it turned out, was lucky that I did. There might have been two Als, but there was only one Jack Kirby, I wrote the first Captain America book with penciled lettering right on the drawing boards, with very rough sketches for figures and backgrounds. Kirby did his thing, building the muscular anatomy, adding ideas, then he tightened up the penciled drawings, adding detailed backgrounds, faces and figures. Al Liederman would ink that first issue, which was lettered by Simon and Kirbys regular letterer and we wanted to have our say too
