The first Superheroines in comics

It is common to think the superhero genre is dominated by male protagonists, and it is. It has been that way since the beginning... although not as much as we think. A little googling and some listing can show us that there were a lot of golden age superheroines (or mystery women) and that they were as talented and independent as their male counterparts.

After reading a bit about Lady Luck, the theme picked my interest, and since the last month, I've been doing this list on my free time. It covers superheroines of the golden age of comic books (c. 1936 - 1953) and provides basic info on each character (publishers, first appearance, general premise), as well as some comments I make about their innovations, influences, originality, fashion sense, impact, and influence.

This is a really long post and I don't expect anybody to read the whole thing. However, it has many sections about different characters, so it's a "pick your favorite" sort of situation. The advantage is that having all of it in one post allows us to compare and see the relevance of each character.

Good girl art, superheroines, censorship, and feminism

By comparing superheroines with their male counterparts, we can get an idea of their equality. It's clear that publishers were just cashing on the "good girl art" (drawn pin-ups with a focus on their "headlighs" and other female parts —the term was coined later by David T. Alexander), which resulted from making female versions of popular male superheroes, without realizing the positive implications for equality and feminism. They were creating fictional women who were not only equal to regular men but epic superhumans, such as Tarzan, Buck Rogers, The Shadow, The Phantom or Superman.

A little context is necessary. The golden age of comic books coincided with the Hays Code, which moderated the amount of violence or sex (or even cleavage) movies could show, and was enforced from 1934 to the late 1950s. Since pulps and comics were largely uncensored back then, they became the biggest outlet for that kind of content. And the fastest way for publishers to serve it was drawing women in Tarzan or Flash Gordon mini-costumes beating thugs.

I think this image is making a commentary about its readers.

One could certainly argue that such representations objectified women —titillating male readers and indulging their escapism, and they certainly do all of that—, but they also made them look like their counterparts: admirable men in even fewer clothes. If Sheena, Mysta or Namora wear skimpy clothes, Tarzan, Flash Gordon or Namor wear even skimpier ones, and the six of them have skills beyond normal men. This is the rationale that made feminist Gloria Steinem ask DC Comics to bring back Wonder Woman's star-spangled bottom.

Every comic book documentary you must watch

Well, not all of them, but at least I have your attention now.

After watching PBS's wonderful "Superheroes: A Never Ending Battle" I was left with an itch for more documentaries like that. However, there were much fewer than I would have imagined. So, here are some of the best.

Comic Book Confidential

This documentary produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer features the whole picture of the comic-book phenomenon in the United States as of 1988. The origins of the medium, the evolution of superheroes and all the other genres as they born in different eras: horror, comedy, underground, etc. All of this clearly contextualized and documented with nice production values and lots of style. I'd say this is one is essential (thanks, Frank!).

I did not want to add the whole movie in this case, but by the time I posted these videos, the full movie was available at youtube. It has Spanish subtitles, though.

Superheroes: A Never Ending Battle   

Produced by PBS, this is basically a three-hours intensive "History of Superheroes 101".  It is split into three episodes.

The first part, "Truth Justice and the American Way", deals with the origins of the superhero genre, how they represent the American dream, and their ties to the World War II era.

"Great Power, Great Responsibility" is about the silver age resurrection of the genre after Frederick Wertham crippled the comic book industry. This part explains the influence of the atomic age and the cold war on superheroes, as well as their new troubled lives and the transition into the bronze age.

Finally, "A Hero Can Be Anyone" covers the modern era, showing their more mature tone and how popular culture has embraced superheroes in recent years.

If you want to see a better description of the special, here are their creators in their Comic-Con 2013 panel:

Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked

This is History Channel's take on the superhero tradition. Everything you need to know in an hour and a half.

Tales from the Crypt - From Comic Books to Television

After watching all those documentaries, we get the big picture of American comic book superheroes, but our understanding of American comics is still quite incomplete. A big missing piece would be the history of EC Comics and how its explicit content lead to the creation of the Comics Code Authority that censored content during the silver age. This 2004, CS Films documentary covers all the basics. 

Overstreet's World of Comic Books

This one is pretty funny. It was done in 1994 and apparently, back in those times the comic book industry was booming like it was during the golden age. I can't help but think about what was about to happen back then.
I think it's worth seeing not only because we get the perspective of a slightly different era, but also because it features a lot of guys we wouldn't be able to see in more recent documentaries.

Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines

Here we have some focus on the history of superheroines and their influence on feminist movements. Before watching this I had no idea women actually cared that much about Wonder Woman. Good for them.

Super Heroes United - The Complete History Of The Justice League

Among various extras in the Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) DVD, Super Heroes United presents the history of DC's premier team. As a Justice League documentary it rushes through all the eras, leaving out important stuff, like the roster of the satellite era, for instance. However, it does a good job presenting the DC transition from golden age to silver age, something that was missing in documentaries like Superheroes: A Never Ending Battle.

Click here to see the video.

Comics Britannia

BBC's version of what was going on across the pound. Even though we love to adopt every brilliant idea the British ever have and make it par of our culture, and even though we are well aware that they somehow produce ridiculously talented giants like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman or Grant Morrison, we still don't really know what is going on there. This series is quite eye opening. We need that kind of comic book culture over here.

In Search of Steve Ditko

Jonathan Ross' attempt to track down Steve Ditko, one of the most influential, enigmatic and idiosyncratic creators in the American comic book industry (Spider-man, Dr. Strange, The Question, Blue Beetle). This documentary was produced for BBC Four.

The rest of the documentary is available on Youtube.

Moebius Redux

In order to fully understand the potential of comic book art, this documentary is a must. The way I see it, Moebius is the Michelangelo of comics, and this BBC Four documentary is a great introduction to his world. 

Jack Kirby, Storyteller

.Jack is the King. Without him, American comics and the entire superhero genre would have a completely different vibe. It has been said that he created half the characters of Marvel and DC. Half. If all you can think when you see his stuff is how chunky it is, you need to watch this video.

NOTES:

• Please, let me know in the comments section if a link gets broken.
• I'll continue adding videos to this post as they become available. I might take recommendations from the comments.
• I don't know much about copyrights, so I'm just going by whatever Youtube allows. In any case, readers can always report them whatever they see here.
• UPDATE: Following Frank's suggestion I added Comic Books Confidential  

The Golden Age chronology!

For no particular reason (well, there's one, but you don't get to know about it for a while), I'm posting a chronological list of the debuts of the golden age characters of DC.

1935

Oct, More Fun Comics #6 – Dr. Occult, Rose Psychic

1937 

March, Detective Comics #1 – Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan

1938 

Apr, Action Comics #1 – Superman, Zatara, Tex Thopson

Oct, Detective Comics #20 - Crimson Avenger and Wing

1939 

May, Detective Comics #27 – Batman

Jul, Adventure Comics #40 - Sandman

1940

Jan, Flash Comics #1 – Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Johnny Thunder

Feb, More Fun Comics #52 – The Spectre

Mar, Adventure Comics #48 - Hourman

Spr, Batman #1 – Catwoman

Apr, Detective Comics #38 –  Robin

May, More Fun Comics #55 – Dr. Fate

Jun, More Fun Comics #56 - Congo Bill

Jul, All-American Comics #16 – Green Lantern

Oct, All-American Comics #19 – The Atom

Nov, All-American Comics #20 – Red Tornado
Win, All-Star Comics #3 – The Justice Society of America (Hawkman, Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, Spectre, Hurman and Sandman).

1941

Apr, All-American Comics #25 – Dr. Mid-Nite

Apr, Adventure Comics #61 - Starman

Sep, More Fun Comics #73 – Aquaman, Green Arrow, Speedy

Sep, Adventure Comics #66 – Shining Knight

Sep, Action Comics #40 – Star-Spanged Kid, Stripesy

Oct, All-Star Comics #8 - Wonder Woman

Oct, Star-Spangled Comics #1 - Tarantula

Nov, Action Comics #42 – Vigilante

Winter, Boy Commandos #1 – Liberty Belle
Winter, Leading Comics #1 – Seven Soldiers of Victory

1942

Jan, Sensation Comics #1 – Wildcat, Mr. Terrific

Feb, Detective Comics #60 – Air Wave

Apr, Star-Spangled Comics #7 – Robotman, TNT and Dan the Dyna-myte, The Guardian

1947

Aug, Flash Comics #86 – Black Canary

1948

Jun, - Star-Spangled Comics #81 – Gimmick Girl

1983

Jul, All-Star Squadron #23 – Amazing Man

Adoptive characters

A bunch of current DC Comics properties were created outside National Comics / All-American Publications. In this list I'm mixing Fawcett Comics, Quality Comics and Fox Comics. However, it must first  be considered that [besides the ancient and classic god pantheons and the biblical characters] certain classic characters that exist in the current DCU were created even before that:

c. 9th Century: King Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table

c. 1422: Robin Hood

1887: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson

1904: Rima, the Jungle Girl

1912: Tarzan

1933: Doc Savage

1939

Aug, Mystery Men Comics #1 – Blue Beetle

1940

Feb, Whiz Comics #2 – Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher

May, Nickel Comics #1 – Bulletman and Bulletgirl

May, Crack Comics #1 – Black Condor

Jul, National Comics #1 – Uncle Sam

Jun, Register and Tribune Syndicate – The Spirit

Sept, Smash Comics #14 – The Ray

1941

Aug, Police Comics #1 – Plastic Man, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Firebrand

Aug, Military Comics #1 – Miss America, Blackhawks

Dec, Whiz Comics #25 – Captain Marvel Jr.

1942

Dec, Captain Marvel Adventures #18 – Mary Marvel

1943

Jul, Military Comics #20 – Lady Blackhawk (unnamed)

Oct, Wow Comics #18 – Uncle Marvel

1944

Apr, Feature Comics #77 – Doll Man

It is interesting to note that in both cases, most of the characters were created between January 1940 and December 1941, and that, in general, they also had more staying power than the rest, with the exception being the two big archetypes that predate them: Superman and Batman.

Villains

And finally the villains (I might do supporting cast if I'm ever in the mood). It's funny I'd have never expected Wonder Woman to have the clearest gallery or Superman to be so difficult.
In this case we can also appreciate that, unlike superheroes, must of the villains were not created in 1940 or 1941. However, many archenemies are from those years: Luthor, Joker, Catwoman, Clayface, Scarecrow, Penguin, Hugo Strange, Sivana, Captain Nazi, Wotan, Karkull, Mr. Who, Hath Set, Dummy, Zor, Oom and Blackjack (hey, he was basically the only Aquaman guy back then!)

Wonder Woman

1942, Feb, Sensation Comics #2 – Doctor Poison

1942, Apr, Sensation Comics #4 – Baroness Paula von Gunther

1942, Sum, Wonder Woman #1 – Ares

1942, Fall, Wonder Woman #2 – Duke of Deception, Lord Conquest, Earl of Greed

1943, Apr, Wonder Woman #4 - Mavis

1943, Jun, Wonder Woman #5 – Dr. Psycho

1943, Oct, Wonder Woman #6 – Cheetah

1943, Dec, Comic Cavalcade #5 -Zara

1944, Mar, Wonder Woman #8 – Queen Clea

1944, Jun, Wonder Woman #9 – Giganta

1944, Fall, Wonder Woman #10 – Eviless

1944, Win, Wonder Woman #11 – Hipnota

1945, Apr, Sensation Comics #42, Draska Nishki              

1946, Sep, Sensation Comics #59 – Blue Snowman

1946, Oct, Comic Cavalcade #17 – Gunra the Valkyrie

1947, Jul, Wonder Woman #24 – The Mask
1948, Mar, Wonder Woman #28 – Villainy Inc.

1948, Apr, Wonder Woman #29 – Minister Blizzard

1949, Sep, Wonder Woman #37 - Circe

1953, Nov, Wonder Woman #62 – Angle Man

Batman

Wasn't able to get any Kane gallery, but here's some Sprang.

1939, Jul, Detective Comics #29 – Dr.  Death

1939, Sep, Detective Comics #31 – Monk & Dala

1940, Feb, Detective Comics #36 – Professor Hugo Strange

1940, Spr, Batman #1 – The Joker
1940, Apr, Detective Comics #38 –  Boss Zucco

1940, Jun, Detective Comics #40 - Clayface

1941, Fall, World’s Finest Comics #3 – The Scarecrow

1941, Dec, Detective Comics #58 – The Penguin

1942, Ago, Detective Comics #66 – Two-Face

1943, Apr, Detective Comics #74 – Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

1943, Nov, Detective Comics #81 – The Cavalier
1947, Sep, World's Finest Comics #30 – The Penny Plunderer

1948, Oct, Batman #49 – The Mad Hatter

1950, Jun, Batman #59 – Deadshot  

1951, Feb, Batman #63 – Killer Moth

1952, Jun, Detective Comics #184 - Firefly
1983, Jul, The Brave and the Bold #200 – Brimstone

Captain Marvel

1940, Feb, Whiz Comics #2 – Dr. Sivana

1941, Dec, Master Comics #21 – Captain Nazi

1942, Mar, Captain Marvel Adventures #8 – Mr. Banjo, Ibac

1942, Apr, Captain Marvel Adventures #9 – Nippo

1943, Feb, Captain Marvel Jr. #4, Sabbac

1943, Mar, Captain Marvel Adventures #22 - Herkimer

1943, Ago, Captain Marvel Adventures #26 – Mr. Mind, Goat Man

1944, Jun, Captain Marvel Adventures #36 - Jeepers

1944, Nov, Captain Marvel Adventures #41 – Evil Eye

1945, Dec, Marvel Family #1 – Black Adam

1946, May, Captain Marvel Adventures #61 – Oggar

1947, Nov, Captain Marvel Adventures #78 – Mr. Atom

1951, Oct, Captain Marvel Adventures #125 – King Kull

Superman

1939, Jun, Action Comics #13 – Ultra-Humanite

1940, Jan, Action Comics #20 – Dolores Winters (who woud become Ultra-Humanite)

1940, Apr, Action Comics #23 – Lex Luthor

1941 Nov, Superman #13 – The Archer

1942 Aug – Action Comics #58 – The Prankster

1942 Nov, Superman #19 – Funny Face

1942, Jun, Action Comics #49 – The Puzzler

1942, Sum, World’s Finest Comics #6 – Metalo

1943, Sep,  Action Comics #64 – Toyman
1943, Nov, Superman #25 – Hi-Jack

1944, Jan, Superman #26 - J. Wilbur Wolfingham

1944, Sep, Superman #30 – Mr. Mxyzptlk

1950, Feb, Superboy #6 – Humpty Dumpty

Flash

1942, Sep, Flash Comics #33 – The Shade

1942, Dec, Flash Comics #36 ­– Rag Doll

1943, Fall, All Flash Comics #12 – The Thinker

1945, Win, All Flash Comics #21 – The Turtle

1947, Nov, Flash Comics #89 - Thorn

1947, Dec, All Flash Comics #32 – The Fiddler, Star Sapphire

1949, Feb, Flash Comics #104 – The Rival

Green Lantern

1943, Win, Green Lantern #10 – Vandal Savage

1944, Sum, Green Lantern #12 – The Gambler

1944, Oct, All-American Comics #61 – Solomon Grundy

1947, May, All-American Comics #85 – Sportsmaster
1947, Ago, Green Lantern #27 – Sky Pirate

1947, Sep, All-American Comics #89 – Harlequin

1947, Oct, All-American Comics #90 – Icicle

Dr. Fate

1940, May, More Fun Comics #55 - Wotan
1941, May, More Fun Comics #67 – Nergal
1941, Jul, More Fun Comics #69 – Ian Karkull 
1941, Nov, More Fun Comics #73 – Mr. Who
1942, Jun, More Fun Comics #80 – Octopus
1942, Jul, More Fun Comics #81 – The Clock

Justice Society of America

1943, Feb, All-Star Comics #15 – Brainwave

1945, Win, All-Star Comics #23 – Psycho-Pirate

1947, Apr, All-Star Comics #34 – The Wizard

1947, Jun, All-Star Comics #35 – Per Degaton
1947, Oct, All-Star Comics #37 – Injustice Society of the World 
1948, Dec, All-Star Comics #44 – Evil Star
1951, Mar, All-Star Comics #57 – The Key
1999, Dec, Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant #1 – Johnny Sorrow

Hawkman

1940, Jan, Flash Comics #1 – Hath Set

1940, Fall, All-Star Comics #2 - Nyola
1941, Jan, Flash Comics #13 – Satana

1945, Apr, Flash Comics #64 – The Monocle

1947, Oct, Flash Comics #88 – The Gentleman Ghost

Plastic Man

1950, May, Plastic Man #23 – The Figure
1950, Sep, Plastic Man #25 – Mr. Aqua

The Spectre

1940, May, More Fun Comics #55 –  Zor
1940, Win, All-Star Comics #3 – Oom

Aquaman

1941, Dec, More Fun Comics #74, Blackjack

Green Arrow

1946, Sep, World's Finest #24 – Bulls-Eye

Dr. Mid-Nite

1947, Feb, All-American Coics #82 - Dr. Light

Starman

1941, May, Adventure Comics #62 – The Light

1941, Oct, Adventure Comics #67 – The Mist

Vigilante

1941, Win, Leading Comics #1 – The Dummy

Zatara

1938, Apr, Action Comics #1 – The Tigress
1938, Oct, Action Comics #5 – Amen-Hotep

Congo Bill

1940, Jun, More Fun Comics #56 - The Skull

Robotman

1943, Feb, Star-Spangled Comics #17 – The Turtle

Wildcat

1943, Ago, Sensation Comics #20 – Yellow Wasp
1947, Ago, Sensation Comics #68 – The Huntress

Sandman

1942, Sum, World’s Finest Comics #6  - Ramulus

Boy Commandos

1946, Jun, Boy Commandos #15 – Crazy Quilt

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Survivors of the Golden Age! - A description of the transition between the Silver and the Golden Ages of DC Comics.
• The Elongated Man and the Silver Age Timeline! - A series of lists of the most important debuts and events of the Silver Age in chronological order.
• Part I: Pre-Classic - 1947 - 1956.
• Part II: Classic - 1956 - 1969.
• Part III: Post-Classic - 1969 - 1973.  
• The Elongated Man and the Bronze Age Timeline! - A list of the Bronze Age debuts of DC Characters and events in chronological order.

The Elongated Man and the Silver Age Timeline!, pt. I: Pre-Classic

If the idea is to get to know the Elongated Man, it's important to provide a little context. He was created at the peak of the classic years of the Silver Age of comics, a period in which, after recovering from some really bad years (around 1949 - 1955), the industry started booming or the second time. 

During the the Golden Age of comics National Comics and All-American Comics created a number of superheroes, and with the creation of the Justice League of America, they established that all of them live in the same world sharing the same continuity. By the late 1940s, most of those characters disappeared from the publications.  

By 1956, DC decided to recreate one of the disappeared characters with different identity and background but the same hero name and super powers: the Flash. Gradually after that point, DC established that the characters that survived the golden age were living a different continuity along with the characters created after the late 40s.

Before we get to the classic period of the Silver Age of DC Comics, it's convenient to go through the early years. During the 50s, the themes of the stories moved from urban heroes, to space, sci-fi, legend, animals and celebrities. Batman and Superman started to walk dogs and fight aliens and imps. Their villains gradually started to have super powers instead of just gimmicks. New heroes were notoriously space themed: Captain Comet, Space Ranger and Martian Manhunter (the last notorious one of this kind was Adam Strange).



  1947

January: Tommy Tomorrow (Real Fact Comics #6).
June:

• Tomahawk (Star-Spangled Comics #69). 

1948

March:

• Binky (Leave it to Binky #1). 

1949

September:

Pow Wow Smith (Detective Comics #151, Sept. 1949).

1950

January: Orson Welles (Superman #62).
February:

• Bob Hope (The Adventures of Bob Hope #1).

June: Deadshot (Batman #50).
July:

• King Faraday (Danger Trail #1).

August: Darwin Jones, Chris KL-99 (Strange Adventures #9).
December: Perry Como (Superman  #67).


1951

January: Tom Sparks, Boy Inventor (World's Finest Comics #49).
February:

• Killer Moth (Batman #63).

June:

• Captain Comet (Strange Adventures #9),
• Firefly (Detective Comics #184).

1952

July:

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin (The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis #1).

August:

• Phantom Stranger (Phantom Stranger #1).

1953

January:

Rex, the Wonder Dog (Rex the Wonder Dog #1).

February: Gorilla Boss (Batman #75).

July:

Detective Chimp (Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4).

1954

August:

Space Cabbie (Mystery in Space #21).

1955

March:

• Krypto, the Super Dog (Adventure Comics #210).

June:

• Ace, the Bat-Hound (Batman #92).

September:

• Golden Gladiator, Viking Prince, Silent Knight (The Brave and the Bold #1),

• Mr. Mxyzptlk returns (Action Comics #208).

November:

• Martian Manhunter (Detective Comics #225).

1956

February: The Mole (World's Finest Comics #80).
April: The fake Mad Hatter (Detective Comics #230).
July:

Batwoman (Detective Comics #233).

The debut of Flash in November of 1956 is the starto of the clasic period of the Silver Age of DC Comics.

Notes: I used cover dates for this list (which means you have to subtract a couple of months).

Font types are modified according to the character.

• Important character,
• Character with an equivalent on Earth-2,
• Character with an Earth-2 double,
• Might have Earth-2 double, but their debut date makes it ambiguous,
• Crossed-over descendant of an Earth-2 character,
• Created in other media first.
• Not tied to the DCU yet,
• Related to the Elongated Man.  

Continue to:

• The Elongated Man and the Silver Age Timeline!, Part II: Classic (1956 - 1969).
• The Elongated Man and the Silver Age Timeline!, Part III: Post-Classic (1969 - 1973).  
• The Elongated Man and the Bronze Age Timeline! (1973 - 1985).

Related articles:

• Survivors of the Golden Age! - This article will help you identify character counterparts between Earth-One and Earth-Two.