CBI Archive
DC Comics Comic Book Urban Legends
Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 at 9:55 PM EST
Updated: Friday, September 7th, 2007 at 3:22 AM EST
* Jim Shooter wrote comic books when he was 13 years old.
* DC must publish at least four issues of Wonder Woman a year or else lose the rights to the property.
* Youngblood was a reworking of a pitch Rob Liefeld made to DC for Team Titans.
* Wonder Girl was added to the Teen Titans by mistake.
* DC changed the outcome of a comic book because the original ending had been leaked to the public.
* All-Star Comics #3 was an inter-company crossover.
* Woody Allen was once featured in an issue of DC’s Showcase.
*After the Captain Marvel decision, DC bought Fawcett’s characters.
* DC had an ongoing comic that simply repackaged old TV tie-in comics.
* The woman on the cover of House of Secrets #92 (Swamp Thing’s first appearance) is Louise Simonson.
* A DC comic character invented in 1964 did not make his debut until 1992.
* Christopher Priest killed off a character in a comic because of ownership rights.
* Justice Society of America was cancelled for a reason other than sales.
* The Protector was created to co-star with the Titans in the pages of their Anti-Drug comic book.
* The Golden Age Green Lantern’s name was originally Alan Ladd.
* Elliot S! Maggin’s big break came from a story he got from Jeph Loeb!
* Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston invented the polygraph test!
* John Byrne wrote TWO separate first issues of Blood of the Demon!
* The characters in Watchmen were originally meant to be based on a defunct line of superheroes.
* DC was forced to change La Renard Rouge (”The Red Fox”)’s name to “Crimson Fox
* The DC character Triumph was gay.
* Ferro Lad was originally meant to be black.
* Aquaman was not from Atlantis for his first eighteen years of existence.
* DC produced a completely different version of Emerald Twilight before it was scrapped.
* Simon Bisley once drew a penis on Lobo’s arm on a comic cover.
* Elliot S! Maggin’s first comic book work was originally written for a college class.
* Green Lantern lost the cover of his own comic book to his dog.
* A change in postal laws led to the elimination of letters pages in DC comic books.
* The Comics Code Authority once banned not the content of a comic, but the art style of the artist.
* Julie Schwartz once had to write a comic story in a day because of an mistaken cover instruction
* Alan Scott intentionally created a garish costume.
* The Spectre had a comic relief sidekick.
* Wildcat was inspired to become a superhero by the comic book character Green Lantern.”
* Warlord was cancelled after its third issue.
* Black Canary was raped in Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters.
* Nancy Collins’ Dhampire series was scrapped due to behind-the-scenes tragedy.
* Keith Giffen managed to destroy the Earth in Legion of Superheroes due to nobody watching the book.
* Archie Goodwin’s passing led to how the last Manhunter story appeared.
* Earth X was originally going to be called Earth [Swastika].
* DC licensed characters for use in alcoholic drink mixes.
* Ethan Van Sciver took over from Alan Davis on Green Lantern: Rebirth.
* Seaworld once had a DC Superhero water skiing feature.
* DC produced comics for the CIA.
* Masters of the Universe was a reworked Fourth World movie.
* Blue Beetle gained weight as an homage to Nite-Owl from Watchmen.
* Rob Liefeld drew the Chaos dimension sideways for no reason in an issue of Hawk and Dove.
* DC made Bart Allen the Flash because he was the Flash on Smallville.
* The Kingdom was originally meant to be an ongoing series.
* Musician brothers sued DC over the use of their likeness in a Jonah Hex comic book.
* DC almost had a black Captain Marvel.
* DC had a completed Xena/Wonder Woman crossover comic book but decided not to publish it..
* DC Comics almost bought Diamond Comics Distrubutors.
* A character who was appropriate enough for a DC cartoon was found not appropriate for a DC toy.
* Terra was created as a sort of parody of Kitty Pryde.
3 Comments
Lyle
March 3, 2007 at 7:33 am
A friend of mine recently told me that the word ‘triplicate’ came from the Legion of Super Heroes character, Triplicate Girl. This seemed a bit absurd to believe, but I looked it up anyway and have been unable to find proof for or against this. Could you set the record straight on this? Lyle MacDougall
David Burns
March 8, 2007 at 2:04 pm
The Oxford English Dictionary has references for “triplicate” going back to the 15th and 16th centuries.
Lothor
July 28, 2007 at 1:03 am
The “Batman had a brother” link is wrong. It should be http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/12/14/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-81/