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

7. The Flash Was NOT The First Superhero Rebooted In The 1950s!

In 1956, when DC decided to give superheroes another shot, The Flash was the first of their retired characters to be redesigned and reintroduced - as the modern version of the scarlet speedster fans recognize today, both in comics and on the CW's popular TV series. The reboot of The Flash is universally acknowledged as the single event that ushered in the renaissance of the superhero known as the Silver Age of Comics. Relaunches of other characters soon followed, and fantastic costumed heroes have ruled comics ever since. But The Flash was NOT the first superhero to get a 1950s reboot! Two years earlier, in 1954, Martin Goodman thought the time might be right to return to publishing superheroes. His company, then known as Atlas Comics (formerly called Timely), decided to relaunch its 3 most popular Golden Age heroes. "Captain America...Commie Smasher!" (Subtle, right?) hit the racks in May 1954. Neither Steve Rogers nor Bucky Barnes had aged a day, and they were still garbed in the familiar red, white and blue - only now they were tackling the Red Menace. Cap's new mission lasted only 3 bimonthly issues, so many readers in the 1950s who blinked probably missed the half-year run. (And in the early sixties, when editor Stan Lee was ready to add Cap to his burgeoning roster of Marvel Age characters, it was as though those 3 ill-timed issues had never happened. In fact, Marvel mythology now explains those 1954 appearances as being the adventures of two imposters surgically altered to resemble Steve and Bucky! Uh, whatever. The Human Torch (the flaming android, not the Fantastic Four character) and his partner Toro were relaunched two months earlier, in March 1954, and like Cap, fizzled out after 3 bimonthly issues. Timely's aquatic hero, Submariner, was relaunched in April 1954. His run was slightly more successful; it lasted for 10 bimonthly issues before sinking into obscurity. Obviously, most readers still weren't ready for comics' Silver Age renaissance, so The Flash remains the forerunner in the mass return of superheroes.