History OnceOriginalNowCommon / ComicBooks

* ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol''. Very shortly after ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' debuted, Creator/DCComics tried their hand at "superhero angst." It was also the first title to pull a kill them all ending for the ''entire team''. Now, it might not seem revolutionary.

* ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' #16, the iconic "The Old Order Changeth" story, completely upended the series' status quo by having almost the entire team resign, leaving [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]] to lead a new team of Avengers that consisted of lesser-known characters like Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}}, Characters/ScarletWitch and [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]]. Since then, the idea of superhero rosters [[BreakingTheFellowship drastically changing]] has pretty much become a trope in its own right, but back then, the idea of getting rid of most of a book's A-list characters to focus on a group of second-stringers was unheard of. Similar team books like ''Fantastic Four'' or ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' generally had static casts, and while new members did sometimes join, the core casts usually stayed the same.[[note]]Mind, back in the 1960s - or heck, any period before the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse - the Avengers were not particularly A-list in the grand scheme of Marvel. In fact, the book was sort of a support network for less-popular characters and a testing ground for potential new heroes; when a hero left, it's usually because he/she graduated to a solo book.[[/note]]

* ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' was a unique deconstruction of superheroes when he was first created. The idea of a superhero who was a normal teenager like the readers and [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld who had a normal life]] hadn't been done before, along with the idea that superpowers not only couldn't solve your personal problems, but could make your life ''worse''. Nowadays, this is nothing new.

* As mentioned in ''Podcast/HouseToAstonish'' episode 179, in their review of ''Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer'', when [[Characters/HellblazerJohnConstantine John Constantine]] first appeared in ''Comicbook/SwampThing'', he was meant to seem slightly out-of-genre; a provider of mystic exposition, but some bloke in a trenchcoat who explained it in a casual and somewhat sardonic manner, rather than a Comicbook/DoctorStrange expy talking in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. Nowadays, he's just another member of the TrenchcoatBrigade.

* Creator/ChrisClaremont and Creator/JohnByrne's 70s-80s work on ''ComicBook/XMen'' and ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' are often remembered for standardizing the idea of ActionGirl heroines. Back in their time, team books held a pretty universal grip on TheSmurfettePrinciple, and the one female character who did show up would almost always have [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway the worst powers,]] [[FauxActionGirl no nerves or skills]], and the role of [[DamselScrappy being captured once an issue.]] The idea of a team with multiple female heroes on it, where the female heroes have abilities level with and [[SuperpowerLottery frequently far exceeding]] their male counterparts, receiving CharacterFocus, and being treated as powerful and feared by the narrative, was basically unheard of. Today, this is basically the absolute bare minimum for any team book that isn't [[GrandfatherClause recycling an old lineup]], and the idea of competent and respected female heroes not named ComicBook/WonderWoman existing is pretty much universally accepted. Indeed, to modern readers, Claremont and Byrne's work can come off as more than a bit [[UnfortunateImplications regressive]], largely due to the heavy [[{{Fanservice}} sexual]] and [[AuthorAppeal fetishistic]] imagery and themes involved in a lot of their female characters.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. Between the two of them began a whole SubGenre of "grim and gritty" U.S. superhero comics and changed everything. Nowadays they don't seem half as revolutionary. Alan Moore has more than once apologized for [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the negative influence]] that ''Watchmen'' had when bad writers who didn't understand it [[DarkerAndEdgier tried to imitate its most superficial aspects]].

** Creator/StanLee himself, while being a revolutionary writer as far as themes and concepts went, based a lot of his editorial techniques on Superman publisher Mort Weisinger's. While Weisinger's style is nowadays remembered as pretty much a joke, seeing as he wallowed in the worst excesses of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, he was revolutionary in his use of book-length stories, as opposed to anthologies, his bigger interest in continuity, as one of the earliest [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fanboys,]] and the planning of storylines and arcs based on the possibility of later re-use. So, without him, ''Marvel's'' Silver Age could never have happened. Lee did it well, but Weisinger did it first.

* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''. ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'' is considered one of the all-time best Legion stories. The villain is [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] - a plot element that seems trite nowadays because of Darkseid's overexposure. But the story is from [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks 1982]], when that was a new idea -- back then, Darkseid was a very obscure character who showed up in a low-selling comic from a decade ago.

** "ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied". Today, especially with UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, it's not rare for characters to be killed off left and right, but back then, the thought killing off such a beloved and popular character was unfathomable. This may be a big reason why Gwen's one of the few characters who's [[KilledOffForReal managed to stay dead]] since then (unless you count her clones). It's often credited with ushering comics into UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}.

* In general, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and to a lesser extent [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comic books are often difficult for modern fans to fully appreciate. Changes in computer and publishing technology have allowed for current comics to have very detailed and high-quality art, making the basic coloring and simpler line work of older stories less palatable; many innovations in composition and design had yet to take place, making them feel a lot more flat and bland; and the writing styles of older eras, when compared to the more natural and movie-like dialogue of today, were very wordy, melodramatic, and eccentric, and often perceived as juvenile. Add all that together, and it's quite common to see casual comic fans read through ''Action Comics #1'' or ''Detective Comics #27'' and wonder, "how did ''that'' manage to take off?!"

* The 1992 story published in ''Marvel Super-Heroes #8'' in which ComicBook/IronMan teams up with a teenage mutant with [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing squirrel powers]] to fight [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]]. The mutant ends up [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome beating Doom]] [[LethalJokeCharacter via logical application of her powers]]. The story became memorable mostly for being essentially a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story that nevertheless showed that [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness old-school silliness]] did have a place in UsefulNotes/TheIronAgeOfComicBooks. When the character of [[Characters/TheUnbeatableSquirrelGirl Squirrel Girl]] was brought back into comics a decade later, she was no longer as out of place as she had been in 1992, and later writers have had trouble giving her anything to actually ''do'' other than beating high-tier Marvel characters such as [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] as a joke that becomes a little less funny every time it happens.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. Between the two of them began a whole sub-genre of "grim and gritty" U.S. superhero comics and changed everything. Nowadays they don't seem half as revolutionary. Alan Moore has more than once apologized for [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the negative influence]] that ''Watchmen'' had when bad writers who didn't understand it [[DarkerAndEdgier tried to imitate its most superficial aspects]].

* "The Green Turtle" - An otherwise forgettable comic were it not for a few things: Back in the day, this comic was pushing it. How so? For one, WordOfGod states that, despite ExecutiveMeddling, the Green Turtle is in fact Asian - his face was never shown and his skin tone somewhat exaggerated towards pink as a form of WriterRevolt. And a lot of people didn't realize it. It's hard to appreciate just how much this comic was pushing the limits of what was acceptable for the time.

* ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} The Adventures of Tintin]]'' shaped the old comic book scene as we knew it. Creator/{{Herge}} was far from the first European comic strip artist, but he did combine elements from American comics (SpeechBalloon, dynamic drawing styles) with lots of documentation, impeccable art work, page turning suspense, {{satire}} and compelling atmosphere. There is still an entire school of comic book artists (''Ligne Claire'') dedicated to imitating Herge. As a result it can come across as cliché to young modern readers who've read other adventure comics.

** Air Pirate Funnies, the infamous Disney parody featuring Mickey and Minnie having sex to the point of lawsuit and today's Rule34 in FanArt, for irritated Disney fans.

** One minor example from the pages of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s name. To many non-fans, or just casual readers who like the character but find his name laughable, it can seem a bit ridiculous to name an ostensibly serious supervillain after a juvenile slang word for "genius". It can ''seem'' that way... unless you know that the character actually came first, and that the writers of Superman are credited with coining the word (portmanteauing 'Brain' and 'Maniac', since Brainiac is a MadScientist). The fact that the word is now part of the popular English lexicon, and that most people who've said it aren't even aware that it's a Superman reference, is just a testament to the comics' ubiquity.

*** The revelation that Jason Todd was killed before the events of the story held a lot more weight when the book first came out, since the character's death hadn't yet happened in the regular comics (''A Death in the Family'' didn't come out until 1988), and the idea of Robin being KilledOffForReal was still unthinkable to most readers. Now that Jason has since [[ComicBookDeath died and been resurrected]] as a badass AntiHero with his own series, hearing Franchise/{{Batman}} angsting over his death can cause some eye-rolling.

*** The depiction of ComicBook/TheJoker as a mass murderer (complete with the story casually slinging around triple-digit numbers as his supposed body count) with strong HomoeroticSubtext toward Batman also originated with this story, as did Batman's internal angst over whether his ThouShaltNotKill code meant that he was responsible for every person the Joker has killed. All of these elements are largely taken for granted in any modern Joker story (granted, the Joker did kill people before ''The Dark Knight Returns'', but the level of seriousness with which those stories - and Batman - took those murders bordered on AngstWhatAngst).
** Being an UnbuiltTrope of the NinetiesAntiHero, ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' seemed especially poised to suffer this. The chances of getting lost in the myriad of imitators when the original wasn't even being played straight seems very likely (since all the imitators just zoom straight in for the most obvious traits while the UnbuiltTrope [[TropeMaker Maker]] is trying to make a point that didn't really exist before; ultimately while not having the same intentions, they result in looking similar to the untrained and unknowing eye).

* ''Batman: ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', also from Alan Moore. Nowadays it probably seems like a typical Batman vs. Joker story (aside from the infamous [[StuffedInTheFridge fridging]] of [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon]]) but that's largely because [[Film/Batman1989 the]] [[Film/TheDarkKnight adaptations]] as well as numerous later comics reused some of the more famous [[NietzscheWannabe themes]] from it such as Joker's MultipleChoicePast or Batman being tempted to break the [[ThouShaltNotKill One]] [[JokerImmunity Rule]]. Before [[http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/14/batman-killing-joke-animated-rated-r confirmation it would be rated "R"]], Creator/BruceTimm was even on-record as saying [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke the animated adaptation]] might get a PG-13 despite the comic being labeled for mature readers because of the changes in times since the comic was first published.

** ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga''. Before Jean Grey's death was retconned a dozen different ways and the concept of "dead is not dead in comics" became a punchline for critics and comedians, a story where a main character becomes a morally grey antihero who sacrifices herself to save the lives of her team was virtually unknown in comics. It's become almost commonplace to kill off superheroes in "event" storylines these days (to the point that some comic fans take bets to see how long the character will stay dead). To today's average reader, while sad in its own way, Jean's death isn't all that shocking. A couple of reviewers also pointed out this trope when reviewing the 2019 film adaptation, ''Film/DarkPhoenix''. They said that since so many female characters have followed the same beats that Jean goes through in this story, general audiences found ''Dark Phoenix'' to be the derivative one, not the other way around. The film was partially reshot to avoid being too similar to another Mavel fim, ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'' as both Jean and Carol both go SuperMode in space in the final act, ''Dark Phoenix'''s FinalBattle was changed to take place on a train instead. This is telling as the version of ComicBook/CarolDanvers that the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse uses has only been around since 2012 which is over 30 years after this story was published.

** The whole of Claremont's ''ComicBook/XMen'' might as well be renamed Seinfeld Is Unfunny - The Comic Book Series. There was a reason it was so popular at the time. It was breaking new ground on multiple levels. Not only the focus on strong female characters, multinational heroes, and main characters dying that was mentioned above, but also elements like the [[SlidingScaleOfContinuity complex continuity]] that was intrincate even for a Marvel comic book, the [[MysteriousPast mysterious past]] for several key characters, [[HeelFaceTurn the long redemption arc]] for the series' main villain, and the [[BadFuture dystopian futures lurking ahead.]] Of course, all of those elements have been taken [[ExpansionPackPast up]] [[KudzuPlot to eleven]] [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor by the writers]] that followed Claremont's lead in X-Men and superhero comics in general, so that they don't look so special anymore...

* The ComicBook/FantasticFour introduced the concepts that revolutionized the genre in the early 1960s. It was unimaginable for readers back then to have a superhero with a monstrous appearance like the Thing, or dysfunctional team dynamics (which became so popular, the FF look normal in comparison with most other groups). That's not to mention the villains, which included a dangerous leader of a foreign country and [[ComicBook/{{Galactus}} a planet eater entity bound to destroy the universe.]] And they ''didn't have secret identities'', which were a staple for all superheroes then (and are still common even today). It can also be rather funny to read the letters page back in the day, and have readers complaining about how the Galactus Trilogy was suffering from ArcFatigue--the Trilogy in question lasted about two and a half issues, which is barely even a storyline nowadays but a big deal in the era when issues overwhelmingly went for the "self-contained anthology" format.
** Stan Lee himself, while being a revolutionary writer as far as themes and concepts went, based a lot of his editorial techniques on Superman publisher Mort Weisinger's. While Weisinger's style is nowadays remembered as pretty much a joke, seeing as he wallowed in the worst excesses of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, he was revolutionary in his use of book-length stories, as opposed to anthologies, his bigger interest in continuity, as one of the earliest [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fanboys,]] and the planning of storylines and arcs based on the possibility of later re-use. So, without him, ''Marvel's'' Silver Age could never have happened. Lee did it well, but Weisinger did it first.
* ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' #16, the iconic "The Old Order Changeth" story, completely upended the series' status quo by having almost the entire team resign, leaving Comicbook/CaptainAmerica to lead a new team of Avengers that consisted of lesser-known characters like Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}}, Comicbook/ScarletWitch and Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}}. Since then, the idea of superhero rosters [[BreakingTheFellowship drastically changing]] has pretty much become a trope in its own right, but back then, the idea of getting rid of most of a book's A-list characters to focus on a group of second-stringers was unheard of. Similar team books like ''Fantastic Four'' or ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' generally had static casts, and while new members did sometimes join, the core casts usually stayed the same.[[note]]Mind, back in the 1960s - or heck, any period before the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse - the Avengers were not particularly A-list in the grand scheme of Marvel. In fact, the book was sort of a support network for less-popular characters and a testing ground for potential new heroes; when a hero left, it's usually because he/she graduated to a solo book.[[/note]]
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''. ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'' is considered one of the all-time best Legion stories. The villain is {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} - a plot element that seems trite nowadays because of Darkseid's overexposure. But the story is from [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks 1982]], when that was a new idea -- back then, Darkseid was a very obscure character who showed up in a low-selling comic from a decade ago.

** "ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied". Today, especially with UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, it's not rare for characters to be killed off left and right, but back then, the thought killing off such a beloved and popular character was unfathomable. This may be a big reason why Gwen's one the few characters who's [[KilledOffForReal managed to stay dead]] since then (unless you count her clones). It's often credited with ushering comics into UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}.
*** In particular, the love interest getting StuffedIntoTheFridge has been done to death since then, but at the time it was handled with a little more grace than usual. It's worth noting that Gwen's death prompted character development not only for Peter, but for another female character, namely ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson. The death of her friend prompted MJ to grow up and become more mature, and also deepened her relationship with Peter as they comforted each other.

* The 1992 story published in ''Marvel Super-Heroes #8'' in which ComicBook/IronMan teams up with a teenage mutant with [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing squirrel powers]] to fight ComicBook/DoctorDoom. The mutant ends up [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome beating Doom]] [[LethalJokeCharacter via logical application of her powers]]. The story became memorable mostly for being essentially a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story that nevertheless showed that [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness old-school silliness]] did have a place in UsefulNotes/TheIronAgeOfComicBooks. When the character of ComicBook/SquirrelGirl was brought back into comics a decade later, she was no longer as out of place as she had been in 1992, and later writers have had trouble giving her anything to actually ''do'' other than beating high-tier Marvel characters such as ComicBook/{{Thanos}} and ComicBook/{{Galactus}} as a joke that becomes a little less funny every time it happens.
* ComicBook/{{Starfire}}'s preference for [[{{Stripperific}} revealing attire]] was unexpected when she debuted in the early 80's when most female superheroes were relatively conservative in dress. Her skimpy clothing and vivacious personality were a testament to her free-spirited nature, considered normal on her world, as she is an alien from a ProudWarriorRace who revel in their emotions and sexuality. As such, she is often baffled by human standards of modesty. These traits defined her for years, but by the 90's, half-naked heroines had become the norm, and with the Sexual Revolution being a distant memory today, the traits that made Starfire unique have made her a cliche at best and [[MsFanservice pandering to male fantasies]] at worst. Writers have struggled with keeping her relevant without compromising her core values.

* As mentioned in ''Podcast/HouseToAstonish'' episode 179, in their review of ''Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer'', when Comicbook/JohnConstantine first appeared in ''Comicbook/SwampThing'', he was meant to seem slightly out-of-genre; a provider of mystic exposition, but some bloke in a trenchcoat who explained it in a casual and somewhat sardonic manner, rather than a Comicbook/DoctorStrange expy talking in YeOldeButcheredEnglish. Nowadays, he's just another member of the TrenchcoatBrigade.

** The series not only popularized the use of strong female characters, but also when it was relaunched in the '70s, was one of the first stories of ''any'' medium to make a big push for diversity and helped popularize the use of the MultinationalTeam. Back then, while minorities were represented, it was almost always a TokenMinority, or else it would be firmly in the MinorityShowGhetto. Consider how many stories from that decade had a lineup as diverse as: a Kenyan, a German, an Irishman, a Japanese, a Native-American, and a Canadian with only one white American on the team, and that story was a massive success? It's even more impressive when you consider the ''original'' run, being one of the most [[MonochromeCasting homogeneous]] teams ever, ''failed'' while the run that diversified the lineup was the one that made the series a FlagshipFranchise and ''the'' most iconic Marvel franchise for over two decades. ''X-Men'' was a huge hit not just because of the inherent coolness of superheroes, but the fact that there was a hero for just about ''everyone'' and only got more diverse from there. It helps that the characterization was just as diverse, avoiding the use of {{Flat Character}}s who are only defined by NationalStereotypes. Nowadays, diversity is more or less expected, and the idea of a MultinationalTeam is hardly new. People barely acknowledge something that at the time was absolutely groundbreaking.

* ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol''. Very shortly after ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' debuted, Creator/DCComics tried their hand at "superhero angst." It was also the first title to pull a KillThemAll ending for the ''entire team''. Now, it might not seem revolutionary.

* As mentioned in ''Podcast/HouseToAstonish'' episode 179, in their review of ''Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer'', when Comicbook/JohnConstantine first appeared in ''Comicbook/SwampThing'', he was meant to seem slightly out-of-genre; a provider of mystic exposition, but some bloke in a trenchcoat who explained it in a casual and somewhat sardonic manner, rather than a Comicbook/DoctorStrange expy talking in YeOldeButcheredEnglish. Nowadays, he's just another member of the TrenchcoatBrigade.

* Back in the 1980s, ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and ''ComicBook/SecretWars'' were big stuff. While characters had crossed over with each other before, Earth- and universe-shattering perils so huge that not just one or two, but every single superhero (and villain!) within a given publisher's universe had to combine forces to defeat them was novel and exciting, completely unknown. Nowadays, the CrisisCrossover is a standard part of the superhero comic book publishing schedule, with at least one big event (sometimes more) happening every year.

** One minor example from the pages of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s name. To many non-fans, or just casual readers who like the character but find his name laughable, it can seem a bit ridiculous to name an ostensibly serious supervillain after a juvenile slang word for "genius". It can ''seem'' that way... unless you know that the character actually came first, and that the writers of Superman are credited with coining the word. The fact that the word is now part of the popular English lexicon, and that most people who've said it aren't even aware that it's a Superman reference, is just a testament to the comics' ubiquity.

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}''. ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'' is considered one of the all-time best Legion stories. The villain is {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} - a plot element that seems trite nowadays because of Darkseid's overexposure. But the story is from [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks 1982]], when that was a new idea -- back then, Darkseid was a very obscure character who showed up in a low-selling comic from a decade ago.

* ''Batman: ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', also from Alan Moore. Nowadays it probably seems like a typical Batman vs. Joker story (aside from the infamous [[StuffedInTheFridge fridging]] of [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon]]) but that's largely because [[Film/Batman1989 the]] [[Film/TheDarkKnight adaptations]] as well as numerous later comics reused some of the [[NotSoDifferent more]] famous [[NietzscheWannabe themes]] from it such as Joker's MultipleChoicePast or Batman being tempted to break the [[ThouShaltNotKill One]] [[JokerImmunity Rule]]. Before [[http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/14/batman-killing-joke-animated-rated-r confirmation it would be rated "R"]], Creator/BruceTimm was even on-record as saying [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke the animated adaptation]] might get a PG-13 despite the comic being labeled for mature readers because of the changes in times since the comic was first published.

*** The depiction of ComicBook/TheJoker as a mass murderer (complete with the story casually slinging around triple-digit numbers as his supposed body count) with strong FoeYay overtones toward Batman also originated with this story, as did Batman's internal angst over whether his ThouShaltNotKill code meant that he was responsible for every person the Joker has killed. All of these elements are largely taken for granted in any modern Joker story (granted, the Joker did kill people before ''The Dark Knight Returns'', but the level of seriousness with which those stories - and Batman - took those murders bordered on AngstWhatAngst).

* One minor example from the pages of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s name. To many non-fans, or just casual readers who like the character but find his name laughable, it can seem a bit ridiculous to name an ostensibly serious supervillain after a juvenile slang word for "genius". It can ''seem'' that way... unless you know that the character actually came first, and that the writers of Superman are credited with coining the word. The fact that the word is now part of the popular English lexicon, and that most people who've said it aren't even aware that it's a Superman reference, is just a testament to the comics' ubiquity.

* ''{{Franchise/Superman}}'' may very well be the flagship example of this trope on comic books; many may wonder what made him so unique, until finding out that this is due to Supes being ''the'' most groundbreaking and pioneering character within the costumed hero genre of comicbooks, inspiring and/or influencing almost all that came after.

* ComicBook/{{Starfire}}'s preference for [[{{Stripperific}} revealing attire]] was unexpected when she debuted in the early 80's when most female superheroes were relatively conservative in dress. Her skimpy clothing and aggressive personality were a testament to her free-spirited nature, considered normal on her world, as she is an alien from a ProudWarriorRace who revel in their emotions and sexuality. As such, she is often baffled by human standards of modesty. These traits defined her for years, but by the 90's, half-naked heroines had become the norm, and with the Sexual Revolution being a distant memory today, the traits that made Starfire unique have made her a cliche at best and [[MsFanservice pandering to male fantasies]] at worst. Writers have struggled with keeping her relevant without compromising her core values.

* The 1992 story published in ''Marvel Super-Heroes #8'' in which Franchise/IronMan teams up with a teenage mutant with [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing squirrel powers]] to fight ComicBook/DoctorDoom. The mutant ends up [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome beating Doom]] [[LethalJokeCharacter via logical application of her powers]]. The story became memorable mostly for being essentially a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story that nevertheless showed that [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness old-school silliness]] did have a place in UsefulNotes/TheIronAgeOfComicBooks. When the character of ComicBook/SquirrelGirl was brought back into comics a decade later, she was no longer as out of place as she had been in 1992, and later writers have had trouble giving her anything to actually ''do'' other than beating high-tier Marvel characters such as ComicBook/{{Thanos}} and ComicBook/{{Galactus}} as a joke that becomes a little less funny every time it happens.

*** Though a minor point, the inclusion of a female Robin, Carrie Kelly, doesn't seem quite as unique and daring now that Stephanie Brown has since served a brief tenure as Robin in the main DC Universe.

** "The Night Gwen Stacy Died". Today, especially with UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, it's not rare for characters to be killed off left and right, but back then, the thought killing off such a beloved and popular character was unfathomable. It's often credited with ushering comics into UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}.

* Anyone picking up a ''ComicBook/LutherArkwright'' graphic novel will probably just assume it's another independent British genre comic, and wonder whether creator Bryan Talbot got a job writing superhero comics during the "British Invasion"... except the book predated both of those phenomena by almost a decade. ''Luther Arkwright'' was an incredibly influential British comic, applauded by many of the greats, and informed later, better-known works such as ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', ''ComicBook/MetalHurlant'', ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.

* Anyone picking up a ''ComicBook/LutherArkwright'' graphic novel will probably just assume it's another british independent genre comic, and wonder whether creator Bryan Talbot got a job writing superhero comics during the "British Invasion"... except the book predated those phenomena by almost a decade. ''Luther Arkwright'' was an incredibly influential british comic, applauded by many of the greats, and informed later, better-known works such as ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', ''ComicBook/MetalHurlant'', ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.

* Back in the 1980s, ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and ''ComicBook/SecretWars'' were big stuff. While characters had crossed over with each other before, earth- and universe-shattering perils so huge that not just one or two, but every single superhero (and villain!) within a given publisher's universe had to combine forces to defeat them was novel and exciting, completely unknown. Nowadays, the CrisisCrossover is a standard part of the superhero comic book publishing schedule, with at least one big event (sometimes more) happening every year.

** The series not only popularized the use of strong female characters, but also when it was relaunched in the '70s, was one of the first stories of ''any'' medium to make a big push for diversity and helped popularize the use of the MultinationalTeam. Back then, while minorities were represented, it was almost always a TokenMinority, or else it would be firmly in the MinorityShowGhetto. Consider how many stories from that decade had a lineup as diverse as: a Kenyan, a German, an Irishman, a Japanese, a Native-American, and a Canadian with only one white American on the team, and that story was a massive success? It's even more impressive when you consider the ''original'' run, being one of the most [[MonochromeCasting homogeneous]] teams ever, ''failed'' while the run that diversified the lineup was the one that made the series a FlagshipFranchise and ''the'' most iconic Marvel franchise for over two decades. ''X-Men'' was a huge hit not just because of the inherent coolness of superheroes, but the fact that there was a hero for just about ''everyone'' and only got more diverse from there. It helps that the characterization was just as diverse, avoiding the use of {{Flat Character}}s who are only defined by NationalStereotypes. Nowadays, diversity is more or less expected, and the idea of a MultinationalTeam is hardly new. People barely acknowledge something that at the time was absolutely groundbreaking.

* The ComicBook/FantasticFour introduced the concepts that revolutionized the genre in the early 1960s. It was unimaginable for readers back then to have a superhero with a monstrous appearance like the Thing, or dysfunctional team dynamics (that became so popular, the FF looks normal in comparison with most other groups). That's not to mention the villains, which included a dangerous leader of a foreign country and [[ComicBook/{{Galactus}} a planet eater entity bound to destroy the universe]]. And they ''didn't have secret identities'', which were a staple for all superheroes then (and are still common even today). It can also be rather funny to read the letters page back in the day, and have readers complaining about how the Galactus Trilogy was suffering from ArcFatigue--the Trilogy in question lasted about two and a half issues, which is barely even a storyline nowadays but a big deal in the era when issues overwhelmingly went for the "self-contained anthology" format.
** Stan Lee himself, while being a revolutionary writer as far as themes and concepts went, based a lot of his editorial techniques on Superman publisher Mort Weisinger's. While Weisinger's style is nowadays remembered as pretty much a joke, seen as he wallowed in the worst excesses of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, he was revolutionary in his use of book-length stories, as opposed to anthologies, his bigger interest in continuity, as one of the earliest [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fanboys]], and the planning of storylines and arcs based on the possibility of later re-use. So, without him, Marvel's silver age could never have happened. Lee did it well, but Weisinger did it first.
* ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' #16, the iconic "The Old Order Changeth," story, completely upended the series' status quo by having almost the entire team resign, leaving Comicbook/CaptainAmerica to lead a new team of Avengers that consisted of lesser known characters like Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}}, Comicbook/ScarletWitch and Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}}. Since then, the idea of superhero rosters [[BreakingTheFellowship drastically changing]] has pretty much become a trope in its own right, but back then, the idea of getting rid of most of a book's A-list characters to focus on a group of second-stringers was unheard of. Similar team books like ''Fantastic Four'' or ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' generally had static casts, and while new members did sometimes join, the core casts usually stayed the same.[[note]]Mind, back in the 1960s - or heck, any period before the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse - the Avengers were not particularly A-list in the grand scheme of Marvel. In fact, the book was sort of a support network for less-popular characters and a testing ground for potential new heroes; when a hero left, it's usually because he/she graduated to a solo book.[[/note]]

** ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga''. Before Jean Grey's death was retconned a dozen different ways and the concept of "dead is not dead in comics" became a punchline for critics and comedians, a story where a main character becomes a morally grey antihero who sacrifices herself to save the lives of her team was virtually unknown in comics. It's become almost commonplace to kill off superheroes in "event" storylines these days (to the point that some comic fans take bets to see how long the character will stay dead). To today's average reader, while sad in its on way, Jean's death isn't all that shocking. A couple of reviewers also pointed out this trope when reviewing the 2019 film adaptation, ''Film/DarkPhoenix''. They said that since so many female characters have followed the same beats that Jean goes through in this story, general audiences found ''Dark Phoenix'' to be the derivative one, not the other way around. The film was partially reshot to avoid being too similar to another Mavel fim, ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'' as both Jean and Carol both go SuperMode in space in the final act, ''Dark Phoenix'''s FinalBattle was changed to take place on a train instead. This is telling as the version of ComicBook/CarolDanvers that the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse uses has only been around since 2012 which is over 30 years after this story was published.
** The series didn't just popularize the use of strong female characters, but also when it was relaunched in the '70s, it was one of the first stories of ''any'' medium to make a big push for diversity and helped popularize the use of the MultinationalTeam. Back then, while minorities were represented, it was almost always either a TokenMinority or else it would be firmly in the MinorityShowGhetto. Consider how many stories from that decade had a lineup as diverse as: a Kenyan, a German, an Irishman, a Japanese, a Native-American, and a Canadian with only one white American on the team, and that story was a massive success? It's even more impressive when you consider the ''original'' run, being one of the most [[MonochromeCasting homogeneous]] teams ever ''failed'' while the run that diversified the lineup was the one that made the series a FlagshipFranchise and ''the'' most iconic Marvel franchise for over two decades. ''X-Men'' was a huge hit not just because of the inherent coolness of superheroes, but the fact that there was a hero for just about ''everyone'' and only got more diverse from there. It helps that the characterization was just as diverse, avoiding the use of {{Flat Character}}s who are only defined by NationalStereotypes. Nowadays, diversity is more or less expected, and the idea of a MultinationalTeam is hardly new. People barely acknowledge something that at the time was absolutely groundbreaking.
** The whole of Claremont's ''ComicBook/XMen'' might as well be renamed Seinfeld Is Unfunny - The Comic Book Series. There was a reason it was so popular at the time; it was breaking new ground on multiple levels. Not only the focus on strong female characters, multinational heroes, and main characters dying that was mentioned above, but also elements like the [[SlidingScaleOfContinuity complex continuity]] that was intrincate even for a Marvel comic book, the [[MysteriousPast mysterious past]] for several key characters, [[HeelFaceTurn the long redemption arc]] for the series main villain, and the [[BadFuture dystopian futures lurking ahead]]. Of course, all of those elements have been taken [[ExpansionPackPast up]] [[KudzuPlot to eleven]] [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor by the writers]] that followed Claremont's lead in X-Men and superhero comics in general, so that they don't look so special anymore...

* The ComicBook/FantasticFour introduced the concepts that revolutionized the genre in the early 1960s. It was unimaginable for readers back then to have a superhero with a monstrous appearance like the Thing, or dysfunctional team dynamics (that became so popular, the FF looks normal in comparison with most other groups). That's not to mention the villains, which included a dangerous leader of a foreign country and [[ComicBook/{{Galactus}} a planet eater entity bound to destroy the universe]]. And they ''didn't have secret identities'', which were a staple for all superheroes then (and are still common even today).ComicBook
** Stan Lee himself, while being a revolutionary writer as far as themes and concepts went, based a lot of his editorial techniques on Superman publisher Mort Weisenger's. While Weisenger's style is nowadays remembered as pretty much a joke, seen as he wallowed in the worst excesses of the UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, he was revolutionary in his use of book-length stories, as opposed to anthologies, his bigger interest in continuity, as one of the earliest [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fanboys]], and the planning of storylines and arcs based on the possibility of later re-use. So, without him, Marvel's silver age could never have happened. Lee did it well, but Weisenger did it first.