Superhero fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction examining the adventures , personalities and ethics of costumed crime fighters known as superheroes , who often possess superhuman powers and battle similarly powered criminals known as supervillains . The genre primarily falls between hard fantasy and soft science fiction in the spectrum of scientific realism. It is most commonly associated with American comic books , though it has expanded into other media through adaptations and original works.
97-447: WordGirl (stylized as W✪RD GIRL ) is an American animated superhero children's television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids . The series began as a series of shorts entitled The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl that premiered on PBS Kids Go! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel ;
194-548: A William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit; and the University of Missouri School of Journalism 's Medal of Honor. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree by McDaniel College . Lehrer was involved in several projects related to U.S. presidential debates, including the Debating Our Destiny documentaries in 2000 and 2008, which feature excerpts of exclusive interviews with many of
291-520: A space opera story where the team goes to another planet to oppose the imperial forces of Blackfire and then return to Earth only to get involved in a relatively realistic urban crime story about runaways . The mythologies of many ancient civilizations feature pantheons of gods and goddesses with superhuman powers, as well as heroes such as Hanuman , Gilgamesh , Perseus , Odysseus and David and demigods like Heracles . Real life inspirations behind costumed superheroes can be traced back to
388-494: A " rogues gallery " of such enemies. One of these supervillains might be the superhero's archenemy. Superheroes will sometimes combat other threats such as aliens, magical/fantasy entities, natural disasters, political ideologies such as Nazism or communism (and their proponents), and godlike or demonic creatures. Some superhero fiction portrays discrimination against superheroes, such as by the way of "Registration Acts" that mandate registration of superpowered individuals with
485-472: A "Superhero Registration Act" is passed, that requires superpowered individuals to not only register with the government, but to make themselves available to be drafted to respond to emergencies. The backlash against superheroes and metahumans in JLA: The Nail series has been compared to the real-life moral campaign against comic book superheroes in the mid-1950s. In an essay Ethan Faust argued that
582-664: A college student in the 1950s, he worked as a Trailways ticket agent in Victoria, Texas . He also was a supporter of the Pacific Bus Museum in Fremont, California , and the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania . Lehrer was a prolific writer and authored numerous novels, as well as several plays, screenplays, and three personal memoirs. His book, Top Down , is a novel based on
679-555: A global audience. The first original major shared superhero universe to develop on the Internet was Superguy , which first appeared on a UMNEWS mailing list in 1989. In 1992, a cascade on the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.comics would give birth to the Legion of Net. Heroes shared universe. In 1994, LNH writers contributed to the creation of the newsgroup rec.arts.comics.creative , which spawned
776-460: A letter column of the pulp magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories , the word superhero was used to define the title character of the comic strip Zarnak by Max Plaisted. Historians point to the first appearance of Superman , created by Jerome "Jerry" Siegel and designed by Joseph "Joe" Shuster , in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) as the debut of the comic-book archetype of the superhero. Outside
873-598: A minor heart attack in 1983 when he was 49 years old. Lehrer stepped down as anchor of the PBS NewsHour on June 6, 2011, but continued to moderate the Friday news analysis segments and be involved with the show's production company, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. Lehrer received several awards and honors during his career in journalism, including several Emmys ; the George Foster Peabody Broadcast Award ;
970-483: A mock interview with WordGirl . Jack D. Ferraiolo, who developed the series with Gillim and served as the series' head writer in season one, received an Emmy for his work on WordGirl . Rather than hiring writers experienced with children's television, the show's original writers' previous credits included The Onion and Family Guy . Narrator Chris Parnell had previously worked on Saturday Night Live . Often, short animated segments are shown in between and at
1067-616: A moral crusade in which comics were blamed for juvenile delinquency and the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency began. The movement was spearheaded by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham , who argued in Seduction of the Innocent , that "deviant" sexual undertones ran rampant in superhero comics . In 2012, his methodology was reviewed and his results were found to be misleading if not falsified. In response,
SECTION 10
#17331291105161164-451: A more intellectual show for young audiences. By June 2014, many PBS stations had stopped airing WordGirl , opting to air more popular series throughout the summer. However, new episodes continued to air on select stations, with streaming options on the PBS Kids website and video app. The series ended with the two-part episode "Rhyme and Reason", which was released on August 7, 2015. The show
1261-529: A more somber tone. Superboy ran from 1988 to 1992 in syndication. In the 1990s, the Power Rangers , adapted from the Japanese Super Sentai , became popular. Other shows targeting teenage and young adult audiences that decade included Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman . In 2001, Smallville retooled Superman 's origin as a teen drama. The 2006 NBC series Heroes tells
1358-409: A nostalgic treatment in the 2004 Disney / Pixar release The Incredibles , which utilized computer animation . Original superheroes with basis in older trends have also been made for television, such as Disney's Gargoyles by Greg Weisman and Cartoon Network 's Ben 10 franchise and Nickelodeon 's Danny Phantom . Beginning 1940s, the radio serial Superman starred Bud Collyer as
1455-428: A number of original superhero shared universes. Magazine-style websites that publish superhero fiction include Metahuman Press , active since 2005, and Freedom Fiction Journal . Superhuman fiction has also appeared in general science fiction / speculative fiction web publications, such as the weekly Strange Horizons , a publication that pays its contributors. Two examples there are Paul Melko's "Doctor Mighty and
1552-553: A relatively minor Marvel Comics character that premiered at over $ 100 million in February, a time of year generally considered poor for movie audience interest . It was an observation further confirmed in 2018 when Black Panther was an even grander success with a $ 235 million debut in the same time of year, and later became the first superhero film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . Avengers: Endgame became
1649-598: A secret identity; such characters as the Green Hornet and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh , would follow. Likewise, the science-fiction heroes John Carter of Mars , Buck Rogers , and Flash Gordon , with their futuristic weapons and gadgets; Tarzan , with his high degree of athleticism and strength, and his ability to communicate with animals; Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian and the biologically modified Hugo Danner of
1746-406: A supernatural weapon, Penny dreadfuls , shilling shockers , dime novels , radio programs , and other popular fiction of the late 19th and early 20th centuries featured mysterious, swashbuckling heroes with distinct costumes, unusual abilities and altruistic missions. The 1903 play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs further popularized the idea of a masked avenger and the superhero trope of
1843-584: A supervillain to advance the plot. Comic book writer Gail Simone has coined the term " Women in Refrigerators " (named after an incident in Green Lantern #54 where Kyle Rayner 's girlfriend Alex DeWitt is murdered by the supervillain Major Force and stuffed into Rayner's refrigerator ) to refer to this practice. Many works of superhero fiction occur in a shared fictional universe , sometimes (as in
1940-495: A television trend on social media. The article claims that the generation who grew up watching WordGirl later demanded new and diverse heroes, such as Captain Marvel . Superhero fiction A superhero is most often the protagonist of superhero fiction. However, some titles, such as Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross , use superheroes as secondary characters . A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero)
2037-514: A wide variety of story genres such as Fantasy , Science fiction , Mystery , Horror , Crime fiction etc. that put superhero characters in a vast variety and combinations of story settings and fiction tropes with their presence the major common element. As such, it has become an expected element to superhero fiction for the heroic characters to be placed in nearly any story situation, including relatively down-to-Earth drama with their personal lives out of costume. For instance, The New Teen Titans
SECTION 20
#17331291105162134-502: Is Sarutobi Sasuke , a superhero ninja from children's novels in the 1910s. By 1914, his abilities included superhuman strength, chanting incantations, appearing and disappearing, jumping to the top of the highest trees, riding on clouds, conjuring the elements (water, fire and wind), and transforming into other people or animals. In 1938, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster , who had previously worked in pulp science fiction magazines, introduced Superman . (Siegel, as
2231-405: Is a type of stock character possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers" and dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes—ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas—have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other media. The word itself dates to at least 1917. A female superhero
2328-430: Is rarely permanent, as characters who die are often brought back to life through supernatural means or via retcons (retroactive changes to the continuity), the alteration of previously established facts in the continuity of a fictional work. Fans have termed the practice of bringing back dead characters " comic book death ". Another common trait of superhero fiction is the killing off of a superhero's significant other by
2425-630: Is sometimes called a superheroine (also rendered super-heroine or super heroine). In the United States, the term "SUPER HEROES" is a registered trademark co-owned by DC Comics and Marvel Comics . By most definitions, characters do not strictly require actual superhuman powers to be deemed superheroes, although terms such as costumed crime fighters or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to those such as Batman and Green Arrow without such powers who share other common superhero traits. Such characters were generally referred to as "mystery men" in
2522-401: Is to make kids' television smart and funny. I feel as though we’ve lost some ground there, in an effort to make it more accessible. WordGirl's focus is on great stories, characters, and animation. If all those elements are working, then you can hook a child who may come looking for laughs but leave a little smarter. Gillim says she created the show, in part, with the idea that parents would watch
2619-692: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). He worked as a correspondent for the National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT), where he met Robert MacNeil . In 1973, they covered the Senate Watergate hearings and the revelation of the Watergate Tapes broadcast, live on PBS (This coverage of the hearings would later help lead to and be the inspiration for what would eventually become The MacNeil/Lehrer Report ). Lehrer covered
2716-564: The House Judiciary Committee 's impeachment inquiry of President Richard Nixon . In October 1975, Lehrer became the Washington correspondent for The Robert MacNeil Report on Thirteen/ WNET New York. Two months later on December 1, 1975, he was promoted to co-anchor, and the program was accordingly renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report . In September 1983, Lehrer and MacNeil relaunched their show as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour , which
2813-526: The Silver Age of comic books . The Flash , Green Lantern , Hawkman and several others were recreated with new origin stories. While past superheroes resembled mythological heroes in their origins and abilities, these heroes were inspired by contemporary science fiction . In 1960, DC banded its most popular heroes together in the Justice League of America , which became a sales phenomenon. Empowered by
2910-631: The X-Men , and the Justice League , have been published, often marketed in association with TV series , as have Big Little Books starring the Fantastic Four and others. In the 1990s and 2000s, Marvel and DC released novels adapting such story arcs as " The Death of Superman ", " Planet Hulk ", " Wonder Woman: Earth One ", " Spider-Man: Birth of Venom " and Batman 's " No Man's Land ". Original superhero or superhuman fiction has appeared in both novel and short story print forms unrelated to adaptations from
3007-511: The comic-strip hero The Phantom , starting with 1943's Son of the Phantom . The character likewise returned in 1970s books, with a 15-installment series from Avon Books beginning in 1972, written by Phantom creator Lee Falk , Ron Goulart , and others. Also during the 1970s, Pocket Books published 11 novels based on Marvel Comics characters. Juvenile novels featuring Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters including Batman , Spider-Man ,
WordGirl - Misplaced Pages Continue
3104-518: The government , or laws that regulate extra-legal vigilante activity. For example, in the alternate universe of the Watchmen , first published in 1986, a backlash against superheroes leads to the passage of the "Keene Act", a federal law that prohibits "costumed adventuring" except by superheroes working for the government. A similar device was used in the Marvel Comics universe in the mid-2000s, where
3201-419: The highest-grossing film of all time . In 2017, the film Sign Gene featured about deaf superheroes who use sign language . Several live-action superhero programs aired from the early 1950s until the late 1970s. These included Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves , the action-comedy Batman series of the 1960s (often interpreted as being campy ) starring Adam West and Burt Ward . In
3298-588: The " masked vigilantes " of the American Old West such as the San Diego Vigilantes and the Bald Knobbers who fought and killed outlaws while wearing masks. The character of Spring Heeled Jack , who first emerged as an urban legend of the early 19th century, was re-conceived as a masked and costumed adventurer during the 1890s. The hero's journey is a well-known archetypal story type in which
3395-532: The 1940s with the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero being The Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941. The decline of these serials meant the death of superhero films until the release of 1978's Superman , a critical and commercial success. Several sequels followed in the 1980s. 1989's Batman was also highly successful and followed by several sequels in the 1990s. Yet while both franchises were initially successful, later sequels in both series fared poorly both artistically and financially, stunting
3492-424: The 1940s. When Fawcett Comics went out of business as such, DC Comics, which had been embroiled in a bitter copyright dispute with Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, bought out the copyright to not only the character but also his ancillary "Marvel Family" of heroes and villains. During World War II , superheroes grew in popularity, surviving paper rationing and the loss of many writers and illustrators to service in
3589-433: The 1960s, superhero cartoons have been a staple of children's television, particularly in the U.S.. However, by the early 1970s, US broadcasting restrictions on violence in children's entertainment led to series that were extremely tame, a trend exemplified by the series Super Friends . Meanwhile, Japan's anime industry successfully contributed its own style of superhero series, such as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . In
3686-420: The 1970s however, the genre would find a newfound credibility in the medium with the original series, The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff, The Bionic Woman , being sustained successes. This led to direct adaptations of comic-book superheroes such as ABC / CBS drama series Wonder Woman of the 1970s starring Lynda Carter . The Incredible Hulk of the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, had
3783-575: The 1980s, the Saturday morning cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends brought together Spider-Man , Iceman , and Firestar . The following decade, Batman: The Animated Series , which was aimed at somewhat older audiences, found critical success in mainstream publications. This series led to the successful DC Animated Universe franchise and other adaptations such as Teen Titans , which Marvel emulated with X-Men and Spider-Man: The Animated Series . Comics' superhero mythos itself received
3880-610: The American comics industry, superpowered, costumed superheroes, such as Ōgon Bat (1931) and the Prince of Gamma ( ガンマ王子 ) (early 1930s), were visualized in painted panels used by kamishibai oral storytellers in Japan. They both anticipated elements of Superman and Batman. Prince of Gamma, for example, had an extraterrestrial origin story and a secret identity (his alter ego was a street urchin ), much like Superman. An earlier example from Japan
3977-489: The CPD persisted, and he accepted as he was interested in the new format. The debate was held at the University of Denver and covered domestic policy issues. Lehrer's performance as a moderator, in which he frequently allowed the candidates to exceed the given time limits, received mixed reviews; while he received criticism for his lenient enforcement of time rules and open-ended questions, his approach also received praise for letting
WordGirl - Misplaced Pages Continue
4074-667: The Case of Ennui" and Saladin Ahmed's "Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions". The web serial Worm began publication in 2011 and completed in 2013 while its sequel, Ward , began in November 2017 and completed in May 2020. Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer ( / ˈ l ɛər ə / LAIR -ə ; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He
4171-804: The Coast Discoveries imprint, 2008); Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible ( Pantheon Books , 2007); Lavie Tidhar 's The Violent Century (Hodder & Stoughton, 2013), David J. Schwartz's Superpowers: A Novel ( Three Rivers Press , 2008); Matthew Cody's Powerless ( Knopf , 2009); Van Allen Plexico 's Sentinels series of superhero novels (Swarm/Permuted Press, beginning in 2008); and Marissa Meyer 's Renegades trilogy. Collections of superhuman short stories include Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories , edited by Owen King and John McNally (Free Press, 2008), and Masked , edited by Lou Anders (Gallery, 2010). With
4268-742: The Evil Sandwich Making Guy, Dr. Two-Brains, Granny May, Mr. Big, Theodore "Tobey" McCalister III, Amazing Rope Guy and The Whammer. The villains are all prone to malapropisms . At the same time, she must worry about maintaining her second life as Becky, keeping people from discovering the truth and living normal family situations. WordGirl began in 2006 as a series of shorts airing immediately after Maya & Miguel , becoming an independent show in September 2007. The show's creator, Dorothea Gillim , believes that children's shows often underestimate children's intelligence: Part of my mission
4365-590: The Golden Age and the Sub-Mariner , from Marvel Comics (then called Timely Comics and later re-branded Atlas Comics ), and Plastic Man and Phantom Lady from Quality Comics were also hits. Will Eisner 's The Spirit , featured in a comic strip , would become a considerable artistic inspiration to later comic book creators. The era's most popular superhero, however, was Fawcett Comics 's Captain Marvel , whose exploits regularly outsold those of Superman during
4462-514: The Vampire Slayer , Angel , The Phantom Captain Nice , Mr. Terrific , The Green Hornet , Electra Woman and Dyna Girl , The Greatest American Hero , Dark Angel , No Ordinary Family and Alias . In the 1940s, Fleischer / Famous Studios produced a number of groundbreaking Superman cartoons, which became the first examples of superheroes in animation . Since
4559-549: The armed forces. The need for simple tales of good triumphing over evil may explain the wartime popularity of superheroes. Publishers responded with stories in which superheroes battled the Axis Powers and the patriotically themed superheroes, most notably Marvel's Captain America as well as DC's Wonder Woman . Like other pop-culture figures of the time, Superheroes were used to promote domestic propaganda during wartime, ranging from
4656-691: The bulk of their properties to the copyright owner's, Disney , to its own streaming service, Disney+ . DC series include Shazam! , The Secrets of Isis , The Flash (1990 TV series) , Birds of Prey and Gotham . Arrowverse series include The Flash (2014 TV series) , Supergirl , Legends of Tomorrow and Constantine . Marvel series include The Amazing Spider-Man , Spidey Super Stories and Mutant X . Netflix series include Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , Iron Fist and The Defenders . Japanese tokusatsu series include Ultraman , Spectreman and Kamen Rider . Other series include- Buffy
4753-469: The candidates have some control in the debate on their own terms. Type Candidate Candidate Candidate For six decades until his death, Lehrer was married to Kate Lehrer , who is also a novelist. They had three daughters and six grandchildren. His father was a bus driver who briefly operated a bus company. Lehrer was an avid bus enthusiast , a hobbyist, and a collector of bus memorabilia, including depot signs, driver caps, and antique toy buses. As
4850-473: The cases of the DC and Marvel Universes ) establishing a fictional continuity of thousands of works spread over many decades. Changes to continuity are also common, ranging from small changes to established continuity, commonly called retcons , to full reboots , erasing all previous continuity. It is also common for works of superhero fiction to contain established characters and setting while occurring outside of
4947-553: The comic book industry adopted the stringent Comics Code . By the mid-1950s, only Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman retained a sliver of their prior popularity, although effort towards complete inoffensiveness led to stories that many consider silly, especially by modern standards. This ended what historians have called the Golden Age of comic books . In the 1950s, DC Comics , under the editorship of Julius Schwartz , recreated many popular 1940s heroes, launching an era later deemed
SECTION 50
#17331291105165044-410: The depiction of superheroes in the 2004 film The Incredibles is used to examine societal attitudes towards those with disabilities, first by showing them through the prism of ableism in providing unwanted help to people they view as unable to help themselves and later as those forced to hide their differences that are now an object of discrimination. A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of
5141-405: The end of episodes. "What's Your Favorite Word?", ostensibly hosted by Todd "Scoops" Ming, is a short jingle and a series of vox populi interviews asking random children what their favorite words are and why. A short game show segment called "May I Have a Word?" (stylized as MAYIHAVEAWORD in the text bubble on Beau Handsome's wall) airs following each eleven-minute segment. This segment features
5238-467: The few to also publish superhero poetry, ceasing to do so as of 2011. Superhero poems there included Philip L. Tite's "Brittle Lives", Mark Floyd's "Nemeses", and Jay Macleod's "All Our Children". Novels with original superhuman stories include Robert Mayer's Superfolks ( St. Martin's Griffin , March 9, 2005); James Maxey's Nobody Gets the Girl ( Phobos Books , 2003); Rob Rogers's Devil's Cape ( Wizards of
5335-466: The game show host, Beau Handsome, asking three contestants the definition of a particular word. The segment was created by Kelly Miyahara , Barry Sonnenfeld , and Ryan Raddatz. Yet another segment features the interstitials announcer ( Rodger Parsons ) asking Captain Huggy Face for a visual demonstration of a certain word (such as "strenuous" or "flummoxed"). When Captain Huggy Face correctly demonstrates
5432-518: The game. This has changed due to popular franchises: The Silver Age -inspired Freedom Force (2002), City of Heroes (2004), Infamous series and Champions Online (2009), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG), all of which allow players to create their own superheroes and/or villains. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Internet allowed a worldwide community of fans and amateur writers to bring their own superhero creations to
5529-480: The growth of superhero films for a time. Hit films such as 1998's Blade , 2000's X-Men and Unbreakable , and 2002's Spider-Man have led to sequel installments as well as encouraging the development of numerous superhero film franchises in the 21st century, both successful (such as 2005's Batman Begins , a reboot of the Batman film series ) and unsuccessful (such as 2004's Catwoman ). With that resurgence,
5626-507: The late 1950s. He attributed his service and travels with helping him to look beyond himself and feel a connection to the world that he would not have otherwise experienced. In 1959, Lehrer began his career in journalism at The Dallas Morning News in Texas. Later, he worked as a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald , where he covered the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. He
5723-687: The main canon for those characters. Crossovers often occur between characters of different works of superhero fiction. In comic books, highly publicized "events" are published featuring crossovers between many characters. In previous eras, especially in the Bronze Age of Comic Books , Marvel and DC had dedicated series in which their marquee characters such as Spider-Man and Superman would meet various characters in single stories such as Marvel Team-Up and DC Comics Presents . However, that publishing fashion has fallen away in favor of occasional limited series and guest appearances in regular series when
5820-400: The major comic-book companies. It has also appeared in poetry. Print magazines devoted to such stories include A Thousand Faces: A Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction , published since 2007 in print and electronic form, and online only as of 2011 and This Mutant Life: Superhero Fiction , a bimonthly print publication from Australia , published since 2010. The latter magazine was one of
5917-424: The meaning of the word, a definition is given, followed by a victory dance by the chimpanzee sidekick. During the four-part episode, " The Rise of Miss Power ", a four-segment "Pretty Princess Power Hour" sketch is shown between acts, filling in for the average two-segment "May I Have a Word?" sketch, presumably to fill the double-length (52 minutes) time slot. The companion site to WordGirl lives on PBS Kids , and
SECTION 60
#17331291105166014-540: The name Becky. While in her alter ego, she has a younger brother, TJ Botsford, obsessed with WordGirl, but still unknowingly a typical sibling rival to Becky. The family keeps Captain Huggy Face as a pet (a.k.a Bob). Becky attends Woodview Elementary School, where she is close friends with Violet Heaslip and the school newspaper reporter Todd "Scoops" Ming. WordGirl tries to balance her superhero activities with her "normal" life. She battles against an assortment of villains that include but are not limited to The Butcher, Chuck
6111-503: The names National and All-American at the time, received an overwhelming response to Superman and, in the years that followed, introduced Batman , Wonder Woman , The Green Lantern , The Flash , The Hawkman , Aquaman , and The Green Arrow . The first team of superheroes was DC's Justice Society of America , featuring most of the aforementioned characters. Although DC dominated the superhero market at this time, companies large and small created hundreds of superheroes. The Human Torch of
6208-416: The novel Gladiator , were heroes with unusual abilities who fought sometimes larger-than-life foes. The word " superhero " itself dates to at least 1917. The most direct antecedents are pulp magazine crime fighters such as the masked and caped Zorro (introduced by Johnston M. McCulley in 1919 with The Curse of Capistrano ) with his trademark "Z", the technologically advanced "Black Sapper" (1929),
6305-413: The only difference between the two is that the hero uses his extraordinary powers to help others, while the villain uses his powers for selfish, destructive or ruthless purposes. Both superheroes and supervillains often use alter egos while in action. While sometimes the character's real name is publicly known, alter egos are most often used to hide the character's secret identity from their enemies and
6402-514: The presidential and vice-presidential candidates since 1976. Nicknamed "The Dean of Moderators" by journalist Bernard Shaw , Lehrer moderated twelve presidential debates between 1988 and 2012 . In 2016, Lehrer served on the board of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The last debate that Lehrer moderated was the first general election debate of the 2012 election. He had originally sworn off moderating any debates after 2008; however,
6499-620: The preternaturally mesmeric The Shadow (1930), the "peak human" Doc Savage (1933), and The Spider (1933), and comic strip characters such as Hugo Hercules (1902), Popeye (1929), the Phantom (1936) and Olga Mesmer (1937). The first masked crime-fighter created for comic books was writer-artist George Brenner 's non-superpowered detective the Clock , who debuted in Centaur Publications ' Funny Pages #6 (Nov. 1936). In August 1937, in
6596-549: The price of keeping such a secret. In addition, this narrative trope can allow fantasy characters to be in occasional realistic stories without the fantasy element of the sub-genre appearing. With supervillains, by contrast, the duality of their identities is kept a secret and closely guarded to conceal their crimes from the general public, so that they may inflict greater harm on the general public, and to enable them to act freely, and hence illegally, without risk of arrest by law-enforcement authorities. Death in superhero fiction
6693-489: The protagonist undertakes a quest to achieve both material advantage and psychological and ethical maturity, and is generally considered to function as a metaphor and guide for children transitioning to adulthood or from egoism to altruism as the core concept of the self . Antecedents of the superhero archetype include such folkloric heroes as Robin Hood , who adventured in distinctive clothing, and King Arthur , who possessed
6790-426: The public. With superheroes, the duality of their identities is kept a secret and closely guarded to protect those close to them from being harmed and to prevent them from being called upon constantly, even for problems not serious enough to require their attention. This can be a source of drama with the superhero being forced to devise means of getting out of sight to change without revealing their identity, or bearing
6887-413: The purchasing of war bonds . Following superheroes's popularity during this time, those characters' appeal began to dwindle in the post-war era. Comic-book publishers, casting about for new subjects and genres, found success in, particularly, crime fiction , the most prominent comic of which was Lev Gleason Publications 's Crime Does Not Pay , and horror . The lurid nature of these genres sparked
6984-476: The return of the superhero at DC, Marvel Comics editor/writer Stan Lee and the artists/co-writers Jack Kirby , Steve Ditko and Bill Everett launched a new line of superhero comic books, beginning with the Fantastic Four in 1961 and continuing with the Incredible Hulk , Spider-Man , Iron Man , Thor , the X-Men , and Daredevil . These comics continued DC's use of science fiction concepts ( radiation
7081-400: The rise of e-book readers like Kindle and Nook, a host of superhero stories have been self-published, including R. R. Haywood's Extracted (2017), R. T. Leone's Invinciman (2017), and Mike Vago's Selfdestructible (2018). While many popular superheroes have been featured in licensed video games, up until recently there have been few that have revolved around heroes created specifically for
7178-403: The segment was then spun off into a new thirty-minute episodic series that premiered on September 3, 2007 to August 7, 2015 on most PBS member stations. The series of shorts consisted of thirty episodes, with 128 episodes in the full half-hour series and a film. WordGirl creator Dorothea Gillim felt that most children's animation "underestimated [children's] sense of humor" and hoped to create
7275-483: The short-lived action comedy, Misfits of Science . In the 2010s, Warner Brothers created a successful adaptation of the Green Arrow , Arrow , that began the successful Arrowverse television franchise. Marvel meanwhile had a successful television spin-off of their Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , while creating a number of series on the streaming service Netflix , before moving
7372-539: The show with their children to support their learning. Each eleven-minute segment in each episode (except for the first three episodes) begins with verbal instructions to listen for two words that will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words (examples include “diversion,” “cumbersome,” and “idolize”) are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like “cumbersome” when told that it means “big and heavy and awkward”. PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer agreed to do
7469-403: The so-called Golden Age of Comic Books to distinguish them from characters with super-powers. Normally, superheroes use their powers to counter day-to-day crime while also combating threats against humanity by their criminal counterparts, supervillains. Long-running superheroes such as DC's Batman , Superman and Wonder Woman and Marvel's Spider-Man , Captain America and Iron Man have
7566-410: The story of several ordinary people who each suddenly find themselves with a superpower. The British series Misfits incorporates super-human abilities to undesirables in society. In this case, young offenders put on community service all have super powers and each use them to battle villains of sorts. In the 1980s, an unsuccessful attempt was made to realize this last concept in the United States with
7663-418: The subgenre has become a major element of mainstream film production with outstanding successes like 2008's The Dark Knight , 2012's The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises , 2013's Iron Man 3 , and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron attracting major revenue and critical plaudits. This trend was reinforced in 2016 with the outstanding success of the critically lauded Deadpool , a film adaptation of
7760-458: The superhero archetype. Superheroes occasionally have been adapted into prose fiction , starting with Random House 's 1942 novel The Adventures of Superman by George Lowther . In the 1970s, Elliot S! Maggin wrote the Superman novels, Last Son of Krypton (1978) and Miracle Monday , coinciding with but not adapting the movie Superman . Other early adaptations include novels starring
7857-495: The supervillain often possesses a genius intellect that allows him to draft complex schemes or create fantastic devices. Another common trait is possession of considerable resources to help further his aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real-world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists and often have aspirations of world domination or universal leadership. Superheroes and supervillains often mirror each other in their powers, abilities, or origins. In some cases,
7954-527: The titular hero. Fellow DC Comics stars Batman and Robin made occasional guest appearances. Other superhero radio programs starred characters including the costumed but not superpowered Blue Beetle , and the non-costumed, superpowered Popeye . Also appearing on radio were such characters as the Green Hornet , the Green Lama , Doc Savage , and the Lone Ranger , a Western hero who relied on many conventions of
8051-418: The villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies, and science fiction in various media. They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other heroes. Whereas superheroes often wield fantastic powers, the supervillain possesses commensurate powers and abilities so that he can present a daunting challenge to the hero. Even without actual physical, mystical, superhuman or superalien powers,
8148-463: The website is still active. A series of WordGirl comics were also released by Boom! Studios ' new KaBOOM! line. The names of the volumes and the stories within them are: The show has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, winning four for "Outstanding Writing in Animation" in 2008, 2012–2013 and Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 2015. 2008: 2009: 2012: 2013: 2015: The series
8245-544: The writer, actually created the central and supporting characters; Shuster, as the artist, designed these characters, and gave Superman the first version of his now-iconic uniform.) The character possessed many of the traits that have come to define the superhero: a secret identity , superhuman powers and a colorful costume including a symbol and cape. His name is also the source of the term "superhero", although early comic book heroes were sometimes also called mystery men or masked heroes . DC Comics , which published under
8342-410: The writers felt the character's presence was justified. Intercompany crossovers , between characters of different continuity, are also common. Over the history of the comic book genre, writers for major characters' series were required to produce material to strict regular publishing schedules that often ran for years. As such to fulfill this strenuous creative requirement, superhero stories have used
8439-601: Was a common source of superpowers) but placed greater emphasis on personal conflict and character development. This led to many superheroes that differed from predecessors with more dramatic potential. For example, the Fantastic Four were a superhero family of sorts, who squabbled and even held some unresolved acrimony towards one another, and Spider-Man was a teenager who struggled to earn money and maintain his social life in addition to his costumed exploits. Superhero films began as Saturday movie serials aimed at children during
8536-419: Was a mainstream superhero series which had characters that were a mix of fantasy ( Raven , Wonder Girl ), science fiction ( Cyborg , Starfire , Changeling , Kid Flash ) and crime fiction ( Robin ). Furthermore, their series had such a variety of stories, such as in a year-long period of 1982-3 where in rapid succession, the team would face Brother Blood , a costumed supervillain cult leader, then promptly have
8633-572: Was a pilot in the Lexicon Air Force, piloted the ship, but lost control when WordGirl awoke, and crash-landed on Earth (more specifically in Fair City), a planet that affords WordGirl her superpowers, including flight and super strength. WordGirl utilizes these powers to save her adoptive home, using her downed spacecraft as a secret base of operations. WordGirl is adopted and provided an alter ego by father Tim and mother Sally Botsford, who gave her
8730-519: Was a political columnist there for several years, and in 1968 he became the city editor. Lehrer began his television career at KERA-TV in Dallas, Texas, as the executive director of Public Affairs, an on-air host, and editor of a nightly news program. In 1972, he moved to PBS in Washington, D.C., to become the Public Affairs Coordinator, a member of Journalism Advisory Board, and a Fellow at
8827-601: Was a sports editor for the Jefferson Declaration . He graduated with an associate degree from Victoria College , and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in 1956. After graduating from college, Lehrer followed his father and older brother, and joined the United States Marine Corps serving for three years as an infantry officer in
8924-802: Was born on May 19, 1934, in Wichita, Kansas . His mother, Lois Catherine ( née Chapman ), was a teacher and bank clerk, and his father, Harry Frederick Lehrer, was a bus station manager. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants. His maternal grandfather was J. B. Chapman , a prominent Church of the Nazarene figure. Jim had an older brother, Fred, who was a Baptist minister. He attended school in Wichita, middle school in Beaumont, Texas , and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio , where he
9021-473: Was built by interactive firm Big Bad Tomato . It contains vocabulary-building games, a section where children can submit their favorite word, a video page with clips from the show (only available in the US for legal reasons), a "Heroes and Villains" section with character biographies and activities, and a PBS Parents section with episode guides, lessons, a site map, and more activities to play at home. As of May 5, 2024,
9118-484: Was created for children ages 4–9. By 2022, the show had gained a cult following through social media. The series follows WordGirl, a 10-year-old girl with superpowers whose secret identity is Becky Botsford, a student. WordGirl is born on the fictional planet Lexicon (also a term referring to the vocabulary of a language or to a dictionary ) but was sent away after sneaking onto a spaceship and sleeping there. Becky's pet chimpanzee and sidekick, Captain Huggy Face, who
9215-407: Was positively received. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as having a "brainy heroine [who] uses vocab to outwit bad guys." She also called it an "entertaining animated series" with some cartoon violence and said that it is an "excellent...choice for young grade-schoolers." In 2022, Collider attested that the "non-white, little girl superhero" protagonist of WordGirl began
9312-447: Was renamed The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer , following MacNeil's departure in 1995. The program was renamed the PBS NewsHour in 2009. In order to maintain objectivity, Lehrer chose not to vote. Lehrer underwent a heart valve surgery in April 2008, allowing Ray Suarez , Gwen Ifill , and Judy Woodruff to anchor in their stead until Lehrer's return on June 26, 2008. He had recovered from
9409-468: Was the executive editor and a news anchor for the PBS News Hour on PBS and was known for his role as a debate moderator during U.S. presidential election campaigns, moderating twelve presidential debates between 1988 and 2012 . Lehrer authored numerous fiction and non-fiction books that drew upon his experience as a newsman, along with his interests in history and politics. James Charles Lehrer
#515484