13 Freaky Facts You May Not Know About Comics And Their Creators

8. During The 1950s Superheroes Were Out - But Not Really

After WWII, the once skyrocketing popularity of comic book superheroes went into steep decline. As the 1940s drew to a close, most publishers mothballed their costumed characters with only a few exceptions. Such long running titles as DC's The Flash and Timely's Captain America ended abruptly, and for the next several years romance and horror dominated the newsstands. Most readers assume that as the decade of the 1950s dawned, the last (and only) superheroes standing were DC's big three: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Even DC "simplified" the truth by stating as much in articles throughout the sixties. But it's just not so. Fawcett Comics continued to publish the original Captain Marvel well into the fifties. Captain Marvel had been the best-selling superhero of the 1940s, selling 14,000,000 copies at its peak in 1944. (Shazam!) The character was still popular, and frequently outsold DC's Superman, but Fawcett was finally forced to cease publishing their superhero in 1953 - and not because of declining sales. DC had sued Fawcett way back in 1941, claiming Captain Marvel too closely copied Superman. Fawcett initially won the case, but DC then won an appeal; and the case had dragged on for years. Fawcett was tired of all the litigation, and its profits from the Marvel Family comics were being swallowed up in legal fees. So Fawcett threw in the towel, and pulled the last of its superhero comics. The only superheroes who still had their own titles were now at DC: Superman and Batman, who each appeared in multiple titles, and Wonder Woman. But the adventures of other costumed crime-fighters continued to be told, without missing a single bit, throughout the 1950s and well into the superhero renaissance known as the Silver Age. Aquaman and Green Arrow (along with GA's sidekick, Speedy) continued as backup features in titles such as Adventure Comics, well into the Silver Age. So when DC started rebooting its superheroes, beginning with the Flash in 1956, the eventual "makeovers" of Aquaman and Green Arrow were more subtle: no redesigned costumes, and only a few tweaks to their backstories. All of which proves the history of comic books is far too complex to to be told in generalities and superlatives.