History MediaNotes / TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks

Thus began The Golden Age of Comic Books. Throughout the Golden Age, comics as a medium were not yet synonymous with superheroes as a genre -- horror stories, [[FunnyAnimal funny animals]], mystery-solving detectives, Westerns, romances, reporters wearing a PressHat, and more all remained popular throughout this period, in some cases more popular than superheroes. However, the gradual rise of the SuperHero defined the Golden Age in many ways. The SuperHero had ProtoSuperhero antecedents that went back beyond Superman -- indeed, Superman was in large part a product of these -- but they had never come together in this way before. The two-fisted pulp action hero merged with science fiction and fantasy, which merged with the crimefighting vigilante, which merged with ancient heroic sagas, to produce an explosion of new characters, individual men and women with strange abilities and the responsibility to use them against evil.

The first {{Super Hero}}es were generally Superman [[FollowTheLeader ripoffs]]. Characters like Wonder Man, Flash Lightning, and Dynamic Man, with the full set of beat-bad-guys-up powers, proliferated quickly. In fact, DC sued Wonder Man's publishers, Fox Productions, for copyright infringement, and won. Probably the most popular character of the Golden Age was not Superman, but Creator/FawcettComics' [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]; at its height, ''Captain Marvel Adventures'' was published weekly and sold 1.3 million copies per month, and the Marvel Family included Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., the three Lieutenant Marvels, Uncle Marvel, Freckles Marvel, and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. Eventually, more specialized heroes started showing up. ComicBook/TheFlash, with the ability to run faster than anyone else (incidentally the first [[SinglePowerSuperheroes hero with only one power]]); Doll Man, with the ability to shrink down to six inches high; the Human Torch, with the ability to become living flame. These, in turn, received their own imitators, and a wide range of characters and titles were thus born. (Almost universally in Golden Age comics, each issue contained several short stories, each featuring a different hero. Only the biggest characters got their own books, and even they usually had back-up stories featuring other characters.) Also popular were the pulp heroes themselves, translated to four colors. Based on precedents like Franchise/{{Zorro}} and Literature/TheScarletPimpernel, these were usually {{Badass Normal}}s, occasionally with a gimmicky weapon but often with just their fists, who took out racketeers, white slavers, and saboteurs with aplomb. They often wore cap-sleeved leotards, finned cowl masks and buccaneer boots. ComicBook/{{Batman}} sprang from this breed, crossed with a dash of the crime-chasing detective.

Even before America entered UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the {{Super Hero}}es would often fight minions of the Axis powers -- many of the creators were Jewish, and more concerned about Hitler and the Nazis than the country at large. Once America officially entered the war, PatrioticFervor was almost universal. Dozens of America-themed characters were created: Miss America, The Shield, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, and others. Some heroes joined the Army or the Navy in their secret identities (as did many writers; Bert Christman is known to have written tales of a band of fighter pilots while himself serving as an airman for the Navy). The public was thirsty for tales of good triumphing over evil. Of course, [[WartimeCartoon war propaganda]] was in full effect; Japanese soldiers especially would often be drawn as barely human, Nazis and Fascists also portrayed as green-skinned sneering half-men. (Naturally, juvenile pulps and comics produced in Axis territory did the same thing, but ''even worse''.)

Incidentally, this age during World War II was also a Golden Age for Canadian comic books since foreign comic books were banned from importation during the war under the War Exchange Conservation Act. As a result, a handful of domestic comic book publishers produced original material that would be called the Canadian Whites, since these publishers largely could only afford to publish black and white comics. Titles included ''Wow Comics'', ''Nelvana of the North'', and ''Johnny Canuck'', while one company worked out a deal to produce Canadian ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]'' with Canadian artists redrawing American stories with the original scripts. Unfortunately, when the war ended, the import restrictions were lifted and the resulting flood of American comics quickly put the Canadian ones out of business.

However, those who are familiar with MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks are sometimes surprised to learn that Golden Age comics are often significantly less goofy, less moralistic and less blatantly childish by comparison. The [[TheThirties 1930s]] and [[TheForties 1940s]] were in many ways a less conservative era in the U.S. than TheFifties, and MediaNotes/TheComicsCode didn't exist yet. Creators were much less concerned about making their stories age-appropriate and portraying heroes as moral exemplars. Superman was a rougher, more aggressive, somewhat mischievous character, described by his creators as "a thorn in the side of the establishment" -- hardly the paragon of LawfulGood we have today. Batman was a dark and violent vigilante long before the Comics Code Authority turned him into a camp icon.[[note]]Although his notorious [[BatmanGrabsAGun gun usage and willingness to kill]] are a case of BrieferThanTheyThink, lasting less than two years, the stories were indeed more violent and the villains more murderous.[[/note]] Possibly as a reflection of real-life women moving into traditionally masculine roles as men left for the war, Golden Age female characters tended to be bold, assertive, fast-talking career gals, often tougher and more independent than their Silver Age counterparts. (This may also reflect the fact that a larger percentage of the comic-reading audience was female during the Golden Age than at any time after.)

** Vampire, one of the few Australian super heroines. Despite the name, she had more in common with someone like Batman than Dracula. A revival is in the works.

** ''ComicBook/BatmanNumber1'' (ComicBook/{{Batman}})

*** The origins of Franchise/TheDCU

** ''ComicBook/SupermanNumber1''

** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Wonder Woman Volume 1]]''

** ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsNumber27''. The comic issue that introduced the world to Batman.
** ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsNumber29And30''.
** ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsNumber33''. The OriginsEpisode for Batman.
** ''ComicBook/RobinTheBoyWonder''. The debut issue of Robin, the comic book sidekick.

However, those who are familiar with UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks are sometimes surprised to learn that Golden Age comics are often significantly less goofy, less moralistic and less blatantly childish by comparison. The [[TheThirties 1930s]] and [[TheForties 1940s]] were in many ways a less conservative era in the U.S. than TheFifties, and UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode didn't exist yet. Creators were much less concerned about making their stories age-appropriate and portraying heroes as moral exemplars. Superman was a rougher, more aggressive, somewhat mischievous character, described by his creators as "a thorn in the side of the establishment" -- hardly the paragon of LawfulGood we have today. Batman was a dark and violent vigilante long before the Comics Code Authority turned him into a camp icon.[[note]]Although his notorious [[BatmanGrabsAGun gun usage and willingness to kill]] are a case of BrieferThanTheyThink, lasting less than two years, the stories were indeed more violent and the villains more murderous.[[/note]] Possibly as a reflection of real-life women moving into traditionally masculine roles as men left for the war, Golden Age female characters tended to be bold, assertive, fast-talking career gals, often tougher and more independent than their Silver Age counterparts. (This may also reflect the fact that a larger percentage of the comic-reading audience was female during the Golden Age than at any time after.)

The precise end of the Golden Age is vague. After World War II ended, SuperHero comics became less popular, with other genres such as funny-animal comedy (which had already been outselling it), crime fiction, teenage romance and westerns replacing it. As the 1940s moved on, more and more titles either changed genre or were canceled altogether[[note]]An extreme example is "Moon Girl", starting out under that title as a superhero comic, it changed within the span of a few issues to the more "real crime" "Moon Girl Fights Crime" and within a couple more issues to "A Moon, A Girl -- Romance!"[[/note]]. In 1950, the last Timely (later to become Creator/MarvelComics) superhero title was canceled, and in 1951 the last Golden Age adventure of the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica went by. In 1954, Dr. Frederic Wertham published the book ''Seduction of the Innocent''. [[NewMediaAreEvil It argued that comic books were responsible for corrupting the youth of America, leading them to juvenile delinquency and sexual perversion]] (if comparison to [[TheNewRockAndRoll later criticisms of rock music]], [[SatanicPanic Dungeons & Dragons]], and [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 video games]] comes to mind, that's not surprising). This led to the creation of the restrictive [[UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode Comics Code Authority]], which forbade comic book stories that included moral ambiguity, more than minimal violence, or practically any portrayal of sexuality, resulting in comics that were much more strictly and consciously kid-oriented than before. If the Golden Age wasn't already dead by that point, the Code was the last nail in the coffin.

UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks was, however, just around the corner...

*** ''ComicBook/DoctorMidNite''

*** [[ComicBook/FreedomFightersDC Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Firebrand]]

** ''Adventure Comics''