The comic book worlds have been through a lot since the debut of the modern superhero circa the mid-30s. By the 1940s, comics were a full-fledged phenomenon, with thousands of titles publishing millions copies monthly, with a wide variety of genres available, from western to detective to kid’s stuff and, yes, even superheroes. Though things began to taper off by the end of the decades, the 1940s were a time when comics were considered disposable (albeit somewhat lowbrow) entertainment in a way that they never would be again, and the decade gave us many recognizable superhero types, a number of which are still being published today, which leads us to today’s all-reet query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) reminds Faithful Spoilerites to check carefully the debut dates before voting for your fave-raves, asking: Who is the coolest superhero to debut in the 1940s?
10 Comments
Does the Shadow count? Because the Shadow is very very cool.
Dang no the Shadow started in 1930.
I’m going to go with Wonder Woman then.
Captain America! He punched Hitler!
As a huge fan of Green Lantern, I really, really want to say Alan Scott (Debut: July 1940). Sure, he’s not part of the Corps (although some retcons do have him very loosely affiliated by way of the Guardians creating the Starheart), but not only would the modern GL concept not exist without him, he was a pretty cool concept on his own.
But I’m really torn between Alan Scott, Plastic Man (Debut: August 1941) and Black Canary (Debut: August 1947). They may not be as popular as other heroes from that timeframe like Wonder Woman, Superboy, Robin or Captain America, but I can’t help but love these characters.
And this wasn’t an easy choice because so many great characters made their debut in the 40’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superhero_debuts#1940s
Ach. Thank you for that list, I’d have very little clue otherwise.
And wow, that is a LOT of really cool characters from the 1940s.
I’m very much torn between personal favorites the Vision and Plastic Man.
Robin, the Sensational character find of 1940! (long pants not included)
The Flash. That helmet does it. Oh and of course the fact that Jay Garrick is the peerless gentleman in all of DC Universe.
Dr. Fate such a phenomenal design. One of my favorites, love when they bring him into shows.
Plastic Man.