The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in The Fantastic Four #1, helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first superhero team created by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and editor/co-plotter Stan Lee, who developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title.
Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., part of Marvel Entertainment. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired the parent company.
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He has since been featured in films, television shows, novels, video games, and plays. Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues and gave him many supporting characters, such as Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, and Harry Osborn; romantic interests Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Cat; and foes such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, and Venom. In his origin story, Spider-Man gets superhuman spider-powers and abilities from a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging to surfaces and ceilings, superhuman strength, speed, and agility, and detecting danger with his precognition ability called "spider-sense." He also builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webs of his own design that was meant to be used for shooting and trapping his enemies, and web-swinging across the city. After the personal tragedy of his late Uncle Ben, Peter began using his spider-powers to fight against crime as Spider-Man.
"Fourth World" is a storyline told through a metaseries of connected comic book titles written and drawn by Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics from 1970 to 1973. Although they were not marketed under this title until the August–September 1971 issues of New Gods and Forever People, the terms Fourth World and Jack Kirby's Fourth World have gained usage in the years since.
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze Age.
Thor, the god of Norse mythology, has appeared as a character in various comics over the years, appearing in series from a range of publishers.
Doctor Occult is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Doctor Occult is an occult detective and private investigator and user of magic who specializes in cases involving the supernatural. Doctor Occult first appeared in 1935 around the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was published by National Comics Publications and Centaur Publications within anthology titles. He is the earliest recurring, originally featured fictional character created by DC Comics that is still currently used in the DC Universe. He is commonly affiliated with the All-Star Squadron and has appeared occasionally in paranormal-related stories by DC and Vertigo Comics titles. Doctor Occult has appeared in a few official tie-in comic books and has appeared in one DC based video game which is established as within DC's multiverse canon.
Identity Crisis is a seven-issue comic book limited series published by DC Comics from June to December in 2004. It was created by writer Brad Meltzer and the artistic team of penciler Rags Morales and inker Michael Bair.
Manhunter is the name given to several different fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. They are depicted as superheroes and antiheroes.
Captain Victory is a comic book originally created, written and drawn by Jack Kirby. It was first published by American comic book publisher Pacific Comics in 1981. Kirby agreed to create a comic for the fledgling publisher because Pacific promised him full creative control, and ownership of the characters.
Action Comics #1 is the first issue of the original run of the comic book/magazine series Action Comics. It features the first appearance of several comic-book heroes—most notably the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creation, Superman—and sold for 10 cents. It is widely considered to be both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book in the world. Action Comics would go on to run for 904 numbered issues before it restarted its numbering in the fall of 2011. It returned to its original numbering with issue #957, published on June 8, 2016 and reached its 1,000th issue in 2018.
Christopher Knowles is an American comic book artist, writer and blogger who writes on comic books and broader pop culture topics.
Superhero comics are one of the most common genres of American comic books. The genre rose to prominence in the 1930s and became extremely popular in the 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s. Superhero comics feature stories about superheroes and the universes these characters inhabit.
Thor Odinson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is based on the Norse mythological god of the same name, the Asgardian god of thunder whose enchanted hammer Mjolnir enables him to fly and manipulate weather, among his other superhuman attributes. A founding member of the superhero team the Avengers, Thor has a host of supporting characters and enemies.
Dan Garret or Dan Garrett is a fictional superhero, appearing in American comic books published by multiple companies, including Fox Comics, Charlton Comics, and DC Comics. Garret was created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, and made his first appearance in Fox's Mystery Men Comics #1 during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Garrett is the first character to become the superhero Blue Beetle, predating Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes.
Hermes Press is an American publisher of art books, comic books, and comic book reprints. The company was founded in 2000 and is best known for their archival reprints of classic comic book and strip series and art books.
Benjamin Saunders is a British-born academic and Program Director of the Comics and Cartoon Studies minor at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. He holds a Ph.D in English Literature from Duke University, a Masters in Philosophy in English Renaissance Literature from University of Cambridge and a Batchelor of the Arts degree with First Class Honors from the University of East Anglia.
Phantasmo, Master of the World is a fictional superhero who appeared in Dell Comics' The Funnies from 1940 to 1942, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was Dell Comics' first original superhero feature, and was created by E.C. Stoner, the first known African-American comic book artist.
Joseph Michael Linsner is an American comic book writer/artist, known as the creator of the mature-audiences supernatural character Dawn, and for his illustrations of female characters. He is a popular cover artist in the comics industry.
