Comet is the name of two fictional comic book characters owned by DC Comics whose adventures have been published by that same company. The first character is Biron , a sapient horse with magical powers who was once a centaur in ancient Greece . The second character is a shapeshifter with three forms (male, female, and winged centaur). Both characters are connected to the Superman family of titles.
80-741: Comet first appeared in the story "The Legion of Super-Traitors!", published in Adventure Comics #293 (February 1962) during the period known as the Silver Age of Comics . This story introduced the Legion of Super-Pets , bringing together several previously established super animals. Krypto the Super-Dog came from Superman's past, Streaky the Supercat and Beppo the Super-Monkey from Superman's present—and Comet
160-487: A naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko , Don Heck , and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with
240-488: A script . After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have the final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer. The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors ,
320-493: A tabloid -sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology , it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow-peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought
400-455: A 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in the red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch
480-491: A Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman , was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon 's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the " superheroes " that would follow. In early 1939,
560-475: A Supergirl story written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky . As of #425 (December 1972), the book's theme changed from superhero adventure to fantasy/supernatural adventure. That issue debuted one new feature along with three non-series stories, the pirate saga "Captain Fear". The next edition added a semi-anthology series, "The Adventurers' Club". Soon, editor Joe Orlando was trying out horror-tinged costumed heroes such as
640-507: A company-wide revision of DC's superhero comic book line, known as "The New 52" . Adventure Comics began its nearly 50-year run in December 1935 under the title New Comics , which was only the second comic book series published by National Allied Publications , now DC Comics . The series was retitled New Adventure Comics with its 12th issue in January 1937. Issue #32 (November 1938) saw
720-413: A horse. Unable to reverse the spell, she instead gave him superpowers, including immortality. The Sorcerer asked his teacher to help him against Biron and they were able to imprison him on an asteroid in the constellation of Sagittarius , which he had been born under. However, when Supergirl's rocket passed, it broke the force field, enabling him to escape. Later, after meeting Supergirl, the two travel to
800-600: A journal of everything Superman has done as a costumed hero, going down a checklist titled, "What Did Superman Do?" He and the also recently returned Bart Allen supposedly rejoin the Teen Titans , and Conner symbolizes the team being "stacked" again by destroying his memorial statue outside of Titans Tower West. After the Johns and Manapul run, writer Paul Levitz took over the series. It was renumbered with its previous numbering and highlighted Clark Kent's years as Superboy as well as
880-596: A million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books. In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston , created the female superhero character Wonder Woman , who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942. MLJ 's Pep Comics debuted as
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#1733086171526960-459: A museum that Superboy-Prime visits. Comet fully returned to continuity in the miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow . Comet possesses similar powers to those of a Kryptonian , as well as telepathy. Due to not being a Kryptonian, he is unaffected by Kryptonite and red sun radiation. A very different Comet was introduced in Supergirl #14 (October 1997). This version is an Angel of Love who
1040-459: A new mass medium . When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics , to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as
1120-500: A profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era. The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did
1200-419: A separate writer and artist , or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds. Particularly in superhero comic books, the art may be divided between: The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline , finalizing it with
1280-489: A similarly named business-suited investigator beginning with #73 (April 1942) until #92. A pivotal issue of the series was #103 (April 1946), when Superboy , Green Arrow , Johnny Quick , and Aquaman moved to the series from their previous home in More Fun Comics , which was itself converted to a humor format. Starman's and Sandman's series were canceled to make room for the new features, while Genius Jones moved to
1360-452: A special issue of Adventure Comics was published, titled Adventure Comics Special Featuring the Guardian #1 (cover dated January 2009). Jimmy Olsen continues to delve into the mystery surrounding the American government's safeguards against the new Kryptonian population. The five-issue miniseries Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds led into an all-new volume of Adventure Comics , featuring
1440-441: A success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish the 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of
1520-520: A superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics . Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring
1600-402: A third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were
1680-478: Is a thin periodical originating in the United States , on average 32 pages, containing comics . While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics , which included the debut of the superhero Superman . This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II . After the war, while superheroes were marginalized,
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#17330861715261760-581: Is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from New Adventure Comics ), making it the fifth-longest-running DC series, behind Detective Comics , Action Comics , Superman , and Batman . The series was revived in 2009 through a new "#1" issue by artist Clayton Henry and writer Geoff Johns . It returned to its original numbering with #516 (September 2010). The series ended again with #529 (October 2011) prior to
1840-460: Is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined
1920-572: The Black Orchid , and then the Spectre . Before long, conventional superheroes returned to the book, beginning behind the Spectre, first a three-issue run of Aquaman (issues #435–437, an early assignment for Mike Grell ) and then a newly drawn 1940s Seven Soldiers of Victory script (issues #438–443). Aquaman was promoted to lead (issues #441–452), and backing him up were three-part story arcs featuring
2000-661: The Creeper (#445–447), the Martian Manhunter (#449–451), bracketed by issue-length Aquaman leads. He was awarded his own title and Superboy (#453–458) took over Adventure with Aqualad (#453–455) and Eclipso (#457–458) backups. Following this was a run as a Dollar Comic format giant-sized book (issues #459–466), including such features as the resolution of Return of the New Gods (cancelled in July–August 1978), " Deadman ", and
2080-649: The Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space . Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics , also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ),
2160-601: The Human Torch , and the Sub-Mariner , briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics ' Young Romance and with Young Love , the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers. Dell 's comic books accounted for
2240-727: The Legion of Super-Heroes , a team of super-powered teens from the future. The group became popular, and would replace " Tales of the Bizarro World " as the Adventure backup feature with #300, and soon be promoted to its lead. Lightning Lad , one of the Legion's founding members, was killed in Adventure Comics #304 (January 1963) and revived in issue #312. Issue #260 (May 1959) saw the first Silver Age appearance of Aquaman . In Adventure Comics #346 (July 1966), Jim Shooter , 14 years old at
2320-614: The Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands ". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930. In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines , sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg , and owner George Janosik of
2400-618: The Marvel Family and the Challengers of the Unknown including a new five-issue retelling of their origin. The long-running title was discontinued with the September 1983 issue. An Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant was released in 1998. DC published an Adventure Comics #1 as part of the company's Justice Society Returns event in 1999. As part of the 2008 " Superman: New Krypton " story arc,
2480-703: The McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , and the Bell-McClure Syndicate . These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith 's Mutt and Jeff , Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka , and Percy Crosby 's Skippy . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved
Comet (DC Comics) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-733: The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954. In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on
2640-451: The Waterbury, Connecticut , company Eastern Color Printing —which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as a way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies , but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from
2720-423: The " Justice Society of America ". The standard format returned (issues #467–478), split between a new Starman named Prince Gavyn and Plastic Man . With an increase in the story-and-art page count, the last four issues also included one more run of Aquaman. All three were dropped simultaneously to make way for a new version of an old feature, " Dial H for Hero " (issues #479–490). Issue #490 (February 1982) saw
2800-520: The 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published. Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton , Dell , Gold Key , Harvey Comics , and Tower . Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following
2880-444: The 1960s. Comet was Supergirl 's pet horse and, while in his human form as Bill Starr, her brief boyfriend. Comet also had a brief romance with Lois Lane in her comic book. As he described to her telepathically, he was originally a centaur in ancient Greece named Biron. The witch Circe gave him a potion to turn him fully human after he prevented an evil sorcerer from poisoning her water, but accidentally fully transformed him into
2960-457: The 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story. In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics , Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen , had
3040-419: The 21st century. Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$ 1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect the comic books. An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic . It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books . American comic books are one of
3120-675: The CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952). The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance , television properties, and Westerns . Detective, fantasy , teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955. In
3200-469: The Legion of Super-Heroes' past. Starting with issue #523, the Legion Academy, by Levitz and Phil Jimenez , became the major feature. The Legion of Super-Heroes appeared as the second feature in issues #504–514 before taking over as the lead feature in issue #515 (August 2010). Following this was the one-shot Brightest Day : Atom , written by Jeff Lemire with art by Mahmud Asrar . The same team
3280-587: The Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use " Bronze Age " to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp. The development of the " direct market " distribution system in
Comet (DC Comics) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-691: The Super-Horse is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Comet was introduced in the Superboy story in Adventure Comics #293 in February 1962, then appeared regularly with Supergirl beginning in Action Comics #292 in September 1962. Comet was one of a series of super-powered animals, including Streaky the Supercat and Beppo the Supermonkey , that were popular in DC's comics of
3440-403: The allegedly 'silly' aspects of Superman's mythology, we quite forgot that there's likely a large potential readership that might really enjoy a story about a superbaby or a flying horse. We all thought that stuff was cornball junk that needed to go, but I'll tell you right now, a lot of young girls would like Supergirl more if she had a flying horse". Adventure Comics Adventure Comics
3520-407: The angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man , Hulk , X-Men and Fantastic Four . This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This
3600-473: The back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly , did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted a year. In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr. ) published The Funnies , described by
3680-471: The bandwagon in 1960. In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America ), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics . With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated
3760-629: The character would eventually become the alien father of Superman , although the first Superman story, in Action Comics #1, would not appear until more than a year after Jor-L's first appearance. The series' focus gradually shifted to superhero stories starting with the debut of the Sandman in issue #40. Other superheroes who appeared in the early days of Adventure included Hourman (from #48 to #83); Starman created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Jack Burnley in issue #61 (April 1941) (#61–102); and Joe Simon and Jack Kirby 's Manhunter replacing
3840-414: The comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority . The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into
3920-568: The comic the new arrivals had just vacated. Superboy became the star of the book, and would appear on each cover into 1969 (counting Superman on the covers of issues #354–355). Superboy's popularity in Adventure resulted in the character receiving his own title in 1949, when superhero titles in general were losing popularity. Krypto the Superdog debuted in issue #210 (March 1955) in a story by Otto Binder and Curt Swan . In issue #247 (April 1958), by Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino , Superboy met
4000-446: The comic's cancellation. "Dial 'H' for Hero" was moved to New Adventures of Superboy as of that series' issue #28. Adventure Comics was soon rescued. As of the September issue it was revived as a digest-sized comic. This format lasted from issues #491–503, with most stories during this period being reprints (featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, from the beginning and in chronological order, and others), and with new stories featuring
4080-529: The comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman . The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural -crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult . In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled
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#17330861715264160-477: The countercultural era. Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s. Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote
4240-459: The country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent , where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety,
4320-519: The darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics , Dark Horse Comics , and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics . This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as " A Death in the Family " in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin ), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of
4400-471: The early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name— Disney comics by Barks were signed " Walt Disney ". In
4480-734: The first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats , in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault 's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley , starring the Yellow Kid . The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend , measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on
4560-483: The introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency , which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there
4640-486: The largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers. Another aspect of the process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition. The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in
4720-623: The late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across
4800-451: The limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in the 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than
4880-433: The major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing. Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed
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#17330861715264960-451: The mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix , continued somewhat in the tradition of the earlier underground comics , while others, such as Star Reach , resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist. This so-called " small press " scene (a term derived from
5040-569: The most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking a ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934),
5120-426: The original numeration of the series concurrently with the volume 2 numeration. For the variant incentive cover editions, the original numeration was dominant on the cover while the vol. 2 numeration was the watermarked numbering marking. The indicia of the comic book also reflects this dual numbering. The title officially returned to its original vol. 1 numbering with #516 (cover dated September 2010), until #529 when it
5200-587: The page count had to be some multiple of 4. In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches. The format of the American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom . While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be
5280-501: The planet Zerox , where Comet gains the ability to transform into a human when a specific comet is close to Earth. As a human, he adopts the identity of "Bronco" Bill Starr, a rodeo trick-rider. Comet made sporadic appearances in comic stories through the 1960s and joins the Legion of Super-Pets , a group consisting of the aforementioned super-powered animals. Post- Crisis , Comet did not appear for many years until Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1, where he appeared on display in
5360-505: The publication of Robert Crumb 's irregularly published Zap Comix . Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint , Kitchen Sink , Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in
5440-489: The revived Conner Kent/Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes . The main creative team of Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul debuted in a backup story in Adventure Comics #0 (April 2009). A secondary feature starring the Legion of Super-Heroes was co-written with Mike Shoemaker and drawn by Clayton Henry . The first issue of the new run of Adventure Comics was released on August 12, 2009, and features watermarked numbering marking it as both #1 and #504, thus continuing
5520-620: The satirical Mad —a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code. DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas ) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash
5600-460: The small presses. The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck , a collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer . The G. W. Dillingham Company published
5680-729: The success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman , who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books . It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half
5760-579: The three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books . The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. Historically, the size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm). This also meant that
5840-546: The time, wrote his first Legion story. Shooter wrote the story in which Ferro Lad died – the first "real" death of a Legionnaire (although Lightning Lad had been believed dead for a while before) – and introduced the Fatal Five . The Legion feature lasted until issue #380. With the next issue, Supergirl migrated from the backup slot in Action Comics to the starring feature in Adventure and ran until issue #424. The series reached its 400th issue in December 1970 and featured
5920-406: The title changed again to Adventure Comics , which would remain the book's name for the duration of its existence. Originally a humor comic, it evolved into a serious adventure series. In issue #12, while the series was briefly re-titled New Adventure Comics , Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel introduced the first version of the character Jor-L as a science fiction detective in the far future;
6000-408: Was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it. While the creators of comics were given credit in
6080-464: Was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower . The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of
6160-440: Was created after Andrea Martinez and Andrew Jones were buried in an avalanche and fused to survive. They are female by default but can transform into a male winged centaur form with cryokinesis and a psionic love-inducing aura. Asked in a 2006 interview if Superman's extended cast of characters in the Silver Age weakened Superman's uniqueness, Action Comics writer Gail Simone answered: "Completely disagree. While cutting away
6240-521: Was finally ended prior to DC's The New 52 company reboot. The revived ongoing title Adventure Comics features Conner as the headlining character for the first six issues in the story arc entitled, "Superboy: The Boy of Steel". It begins as Conner settles back into his life in Smallville, Kansas . Returning to live with Martha Kent, who is thrilled to take the young boy in after her husband's death, Conner returns to Smallville High School and begins keeping
6320-501: Was presented as a super-pet who came from the future. The horse was properly introduced seven months later, when Comet met Supergirl in Action Comics #293 (September 1962). Following Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), which destroyed the universe and rebooted DC's continuity, the original Comet was no longer considered canon . However, Comet returned to continuity in the limited series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2021–2022), where he sacrificed himself to save Supergirl. Comet
6400-604: Was to create a ten-part, ten-page "Atom" co-feature in Adventure Comics , but DC ended all its second features and reduced its titles to twenty pages of story. Issue #521 was the last issue to feature the Atom. The series has won several awards for itself and its creators over the years, including the Shazam Award for Best Pencil Artist (Humor Division) for Bob Oksner for his work on Adventure Comics and other DC comics in 1970. American comic book An American comic book
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