Comic Book Resources

Makes you wonder.

To me, that looks like one of those “That Explains It” scenarios. Schwartz updated the popular characters he used to work on. It makes perfect sence to me. Kirby did the same thing with Captain America. If it worked then, it can be re-worked to work now.

Yeah, when I thought of it, it struck me as, “Wow, that really seems like it fits.”

That said, I think it actually is probably just a coincidence, only because in all the stuff I’ve read about Schwartz rebooting these characters, I don’t recall ever seeing him mention, “I picked these characters because I had worked with them at All-American Comics in the 1940s,” and you figure that’d be something he would mention, right (again, taking into consideration that he could have said this in an interview I just never read)?

You… you discovered the deep dark secret that has lain dormant and unrevealed all these years!

The secret REVEALED! The mystery UNDONE!

Julius Swartz will now have to ingest the cyanide pill he’s kept in his molar for over 40 years.

…er… sorry.
Got carried away there.

Perhaps Julie, as a creator, HAD other concepts in his noodle for those characters while he was working on them, or would bounce ideas around in his mind over the years.
Then, when he had an opportunity to try them out, he went for it.
Makes sense. He had worked on those entities, had working knowledge of them, their backstories, what made them work, what didn’t… Hmmmmm.

But, It DOES strike you as an odd coincidence (IS IT a coincidence?!?)…
Dun-Dunn-DUNN!!

Nice catch.

~P~
P-TOR

Blue Beetle got reworked for the ’60s. I don’t know what company published Golden Age Blue Beetle comics.

The Human Torch: Johnny Storm was totally different than the android version. The Golden Age Torch came back, but so did the Golden Age versions of the All-American Comics characters, so I think it counts as a reboot.

I don’t think the Vision counts, necessarily, but I will note that the Avengers character was co-created by Golden Age-fetishist Roy Thomas, probably the only writer to remember the Golden Age Vision.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear, Mike, I was only referring to DC revival of Golden Age heroes (as that’d be the only thing Julie Schwartz would be involved in )

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord is created mid-Silver Age)? Sort of kind of Black Canary in what must be the creepiest reimaging of a character ever?

Of course that’s as opposed to National Allied Publications characters like Superman, Batman, Aquaman, and Green Arrow, and All-American ones like Wonder Woman, who weren’t rebooted because they had never actually gone away between the Golden and Silver ages.

But yeah, if they’d introduced new versions of National characters like Sandman, Starman, Dr. Fate and Hourman to kick off the Silver Age, it might have gone pretty differently.

(I’m not saying Johnny Quick because he only finally disappeared two years before the new Flash was introduced and could easily have gone on with his business the same way Aquaman did.)

Brian- Add the Justice League to that list, which was obviously a revival of the Justice Society, which had it’s home in All-American’s ALL-STAR COMICS. All that was touched on in the ALL-STAR COMPANION series. It does seem as if the All-American / National lines ran into the Silver Age as well. Weisinger had Superman, Schiff had Batman and they were on the DC side of the 1945 split. Kanigher had Wonder Woman, and Schwartz revived Flash, GL, Atom, Hawkman and the JLA, and they were all on the AA side. I think it’s interesting as well.

what about aquaman? what side was he on?

Aquaman was a National Allied Publications/DC character and wasn’t rebooted simply because he didn’t disappear at the end of the Golden Age. His adventures continued right through the particularly superhero-friendly 1950s as a backup feature in Adventure Comics, just like Green Arrow did.

Er… I meant to say “not particularly superhero-friendly” there.

How about Robotman? He was given a new identity and appearance when he was revived as a member of the Doom Patrol in the Silver Age.

The Golden Age Robotman appeared in Star Spangled Comics. I think that’s National rather than All American.

I don’t recall ever seeing him mention, “I picked these characters because I had worked with them at All-American Comics in the 1940s,” and you figure that’d be something he would mention, right (again, taking into consideration that he could have said this in an interview I just never read)?

Maybe it wasn’t a conscious thought of his, he just took the characters he was most familiar with, the one’s he knew enough about to keep what worked and jettison the rest, without ever thinking about why he knew enough about them.

For what it’s worth I have heard others claim there may have been a bit of bad blood between the All-American v.s. National folks who were still working at DC even into Silver Age. Or at least they stuck to their “own” characters.

To me it’s still strange to think there ever was some sort of separation between characters like Superman and Flash. I’m just so used to think of them as both belonging to DC and in the same universe.

Extremely minor point, but don’t forget HawkFemale.

In the cases of Flash and Green Lantern, at least, I ’spect they were picked because they were the 5th and 6th best-selling characters of DC/AA’s Golden Age (behind Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Boy Commandos) rather than for their imprint origins. Hawkman, who was scheduled for a solo title in the ’40s but lost it due to paper quotas, falls into this category too. And according to at least one interview with Gil Kane, Atom was actually a Doll Man revival (DM being Quality’s #3 selling super-hero (behind Plastic Man and Blackhawk) in all but name.

As for where the various Golden Age heroes fell along the DC/AA divide, it goes as follows:

DC: Air Wave, Aquaman, Batman and Robin, Crimson Avenger and Wing, Dr. Fate, Dr. Occult, Green Arrow and Speedy, Guardian and The Newsboy Legion, Hourman, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Manhunter, Mr. America/Americommando, Robotman, Sandman and Sandy, Seven Soldiers, Shining Knight, Spectre, Starman, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Superboy, Superman, Tarantula, TNT and Dyna-Mite, Vigilante, Zatara

AA: Atom, Black Canary,, Dr. Mid-Nite, Flash, Gay/Grim Ghost, Ghost Patrol, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Johnny Thunder. Justice Society, The King, Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys, Mr. Terrific, Red Tornado and The Cyclone Kids, Sargon, Whip, Wildcat, Wonder Woman

Hope that sheds some light on things!

Would Phantom Lady fall within this grouping? I seem to recall that when DC took over the rights they retooled the character a lot?