Bob, the Galactic Bum was a four-issue comic miniseries published by DC Comics in 1995. Written by Alan Grant and John Wagner and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, it was a science fiction comedy about a vagrant called Bob and his sidekick, Buck Fifty. It also featured Lobo as a guest star.
Bob is a homeless con man travelling the galaxy with his hapless sidekick whom he routinely mistreats. When stumbling upon a lost prince, Bob attempts to take advantage of the situation while guiding the man home. Unfortunately, several hostile forces are also after the royal person.
The series was reprinted (in black and white) over eight issues of the Judge Dredd Megazine in 2008 (issues 266–273). While the copyright for the story and the character Bob is owned by the series' creators, copyright for Lobo is owned by DC, and so in the reprint Lobo was replaced by a large butch lesbian called Asbo.
A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany.
The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC's premier superheroes in the Justice League. The original team later becomes known as the Titans when the members age out of their teenage years, while the Teen Titans name is continued by subsequent generations of young heroes. First appearing in 1964 in The Brave and the Bold #54, the team was formed by Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad (Garth) before adopting the name Teen Titans in issue 60 with the addition of Wonder Girl to their ranks.
Superboy is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to Adventure Comics and other series featuring teenage superhero groups.
Jerome Siegel was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. With Bernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC character The Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess.
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011, is best known for introducing the superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27.
The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter appearing in American comic books. Created by cartoonist Will Eisner, he first appeared as the main feature of a tabloid-sized comic book insert distributed in the Sunday edition of Register and Tribune Syndicate newspapers. Popularly referred to as "The Spirit Section", the insert ran from June 2, 1940 to October 5, 1952.
Lobo is a character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen, and first appeared in Omega Men #3. He is an alien from the utopian planet of Czarnia, and works as an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter.
Ambush Bug is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. His real name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality around him, so even his true identity might be no more than a delusion on his part. His origin is disputed, although the most commonly accepted origin is that Brum-El of the planet Schwab sent his clothes from his supposedly doomed planet, hoping that his wardrobe would survive, only to have it intercepted by a giant radioactive space spider. In the resulting crash, only two articles of clothing survived: the Ambush Bug suit, which was subsequently found by Irwin Schwab; and "Argh!Yle!", an argyle sock with a Doctor Doom-like complex, complete with metal mask.
Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes.
"DC One Million" is a comic book crossover storyline which ran through an eponymous weekly miniseries and through special issues of almost all of the "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998. It featured a vision of the DC Universe in the 853rd century, chosen because that is the century in which DC will have published issue #1,000,000 of Action Comics if it maintains a regular monthly publishing schedule. The miniseries was written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Val Semeiks.
Phantom Lady is a fictional superheroine appearing in media published by Quality Comics and DC Comics. She was created by the Eisner & Iger studio, one of the first to produce comics on demand for publishers. The character's early adventures were drawn by Arthur Peddy.
Samuel Emerson "Slam" Bradley is a fictional character that has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. He is a private detective who exists in DC's main shared universe. The character concept was created by DC Comics founder Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson and developed by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who both later became more well known as the co-creators of Superman. As one of the first ever DC characters, the character first appears in the Golden Age of Comic Books in the anthology title Detective Comics, being introduced in the first issue. He later commonly was associated with Batman and other spinoff Batman characters when revived.
The Bronze Age of Comic Books is an informal name for a period in the history of American superhero comic books, usually said to run from 1970 to 1985. It follows the Silver Age of Comic Books and is followed by the Modern Age of Comic Books.
National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594. was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel character being an infringement on the copyright of National's Superman comic book character. The litigation is notable as one of the longest-running legal battles in comic book publication history.
Captain Comet is a superhero appearing in American Comic Books published by DC Comics, created by editor Julius Schwartz, writer John Broome, and artist Carmine Infantino.
The "DC Explosion" and "DC Implosion" were two events in 1978 – the first an official marketing campaign, the second a sardonic reference to it – in which American comics company DC Comics expanded their roster of publications, then abruptly cut it back. The DC Explosion was part of an ongoing initiative at DC to regain market share by increasing the number of titles they published, while also increasing page counts and cover prices. The so-called "DC Implosion" was the result of the publisher experiencing losses that year due to a confluence of factors, and cancelling a large number of ongoing and planned series in response. The cancellations included long-running series such as Our Fighting Forces, Showcase, and House of Secrets; new series introduced as part of the expansion such as Firestorm and Steel: The Indestructible Man; and announced series such as The Vixen which would have been the company's first title starring an African-American woman. Former flagship series Detective Comics was also considered for cancellation. Some of the material already produced for these cancelled series was used in other publications. Several of the completed stories were "published" in small quantities as two issues of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade, whose title was a reference to DC's Golden-Age Comic Cavalcade series.
Harry "Tex" Thompson is a superhero owned by DC Comics who later became the masked crime-fighter Mr. America and then became an espionage operative called Americommando. He was often aided by his best friend Bob Daley, who for a brief time operated as his costumed sidekick "Fatman". Created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily, Tex debuted in Action Comics #1, the same comic that introduced Superman. During his original stories of the 1940s, several of his enemies were based on Yellow Peril stereotypes. Several of his earliest stories featured Gargantua T. Potts, a character based around minstrel show stereotypes about African-Americans.
Wendy Harris, Marvin White and Wonder Dog are fictional characters from the 1973 American animated TV series Super Friends, based on the famous superheroes published by DC Comics. The series featured a lineup of DC's most popular characters, including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, but Hanna-Barbera, the show's producers, wanted to include young sidekick characters that the children in the audience could identify with. This led to the creation of Wendy, Marvin and their hero pet Wonder Dog, who appeared alongside their more famous friends. Because of the success of the Super Friends cartoon, a Super Friends comic book was also created, in which the trio made their first comics appearance.
Magazine Enterprises was an American comic book company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes. It was founded by Vin Sullivan, an editor at Columbia Comics and before that the editor at National Allied Publications, the future DC Comics.
Black people have been portrayed in comics since the medium's beginning, with their portrayals often the subject of controversy. Mainstream comic publishing companies have had a historical trend of being predominantly white and male, reflecting the lack of representation and inaccurate depictions of Black people in comics. The integration of black characters in mainstream and superhero comics has endured various obstacles and challenges. Critics have noted that black men and women have historically often been portrayed as jungle or ghetto stereotypes, and as sidekicks as opposed to primary characters. Occiasionally, comic book creators would lampshade stereotypes, lack of representation and emphasize social injustices. In recent years, with the integration of more Black people in mainstream comic writing rooms as well as the creation of comics on digital platforms has changed the representation and portrayals of Black people in comics and has started to reflect the complexities of Black people across the diaspora.