Heroes (great comic book of)

série: Etude Comics
dessinateur / scénariste: Feiffer Jules
éditeur: Bonanza EO 1965
genre: Etude
classement: biblio1
date: 1965
format: cartonné, avec jaquette
état: TBE/BE
valeur: 15 €
critère: **
remarques: English Book, volume cartonné
188 pages, couleur


Introduction
compiled, introduced and annotated
by Jules Feiffer

first part
the first comic book was "Famous Funnies",
64 pages color (1929),
the three mythic archetypes:
- Pat Ryan (Terry and the Pirates),
- Flash Gordon and
- Mandrake,

at that time, the comic heroes were rather
silly, hapless persons (hapless = unfortunate,
hap being another word for fortune or luck)
and the first real super hero was of course
Superman, appearing in No. 1 of Action Comics,
June 1938,
he was a superman not only for his power,
but in the concept of his alter ego,
in drawing style, both in figure and costume,
Superman was a simplified parody
of Flash Gordon, but if Alex Raymond
was the Dior for Superman,
Joe Shuster set the fashion from then on
and it was a chizoid and chaste ménage à trois
(Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane)

n.b. schizoid personality disorder (SPD)
is a chronic and pervasive condition
characterized by social isolation and
feelings of indifference toward other people

then Captain Marvel came next, not an alien
but a pure American citizen who received
his power from the magic word Shazam
(S for Salomon's wisdom, H for Hercules'strength,
A for Atlas' stamina,Z for Zeus'power,
A for Achilles'heel and M for the million
things you've)

as for captain America he possesses the Shield,
symbol of Americanism which stands for truth,
justice, patriotism and courage

afterwards followed Batman, a mysterious and
adventurous figure, but not a super hero
in his true sense, he was fighting for
righteousness and apprehending the wrongdoer
and in his lone battle against the evil forces
of society, his identity remains unkown but
he had also a double identity and what made
him interesting, was his story line, better
plotted, better villained and better looking
than Superman

further heroines were Wonder Woman as well as
Sheena, queen of the jungle who was
a voluptuous Tarzan female and the star
of Jungle Comics

not to underestimate was the Spirit,
appearing December 1940, operating out
of Wildwood Cementary, he was Denny Colt,
a young criminologist presumed by the public,
but who continues to assist society
behind the mask of the Spirit,
he was unknown to all but commissionner
Dolan and his daughter Ellen and what more
with the Spirit, he had a sense of humour

finally there was Hawkman, foe to crime,
reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian warrior,
he fights the evil of the present with
his collection of the weapons of the past,
Hawkman started in Flash Comics January 1940
and he had great swipes (big blows)

>> p. 42 the explanation of dr Wertham
explaining to a child why he should
not read comics
>> p. 44 Wertham goes on to point
to Wonder Woman as the lesbian counterpart
to Batman, for boys Wonder Woman
is a frightening image, for girls
she is a morbid ideal


second part
- as from page 57, there are short stories
in color about the origins and
(as printed first in comic books)
of the classic super-heroes glorious adventures

1) Superman by Jerome Siegel and Jo Shuster
(1938) coming from the doomed planet Krypton

2) captain Marvel (1940),
created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan,
appearing in Marvel Super-heroes
only one excerpt = short extract as reprint
has not been permitted, this because
of an unsettled legal case

3) the legend of Batman (1939) by Bob Kane
with Robin, the boy wonder
against his best villain: the Joker

4) the Human Torch (1961) and Toro
the flaming kid by Carl Burgos
created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby,
he was a member of the Fantastic Four,
>> p. 84 as a name for a character,
the Human Torch was more wishful than
accurate, he may have been a torch but
he was, by no means, human having been
laboratory created as a synthetic being,
he was mostly fighting the villain,
the Hag, an awful woman

5) the Flash (1940) by Gardner Fox and
Harry Lampert, reincarnation of the winged
Mercury, swifter than the speed of the light itself

6) the Green Lantern (1940) created by
by Mart Dellon and Bill Finger,
he has come to life out of a meteor
crashing in China

7) the Spectre (1940) by Jerry Siegel
and Bernard Baily,
no one knows that Jim Corrigan hard-fisted
detective is in reality
the earthbound Spectre whose mission is
to rid the world of crime

8) Hawkman (1940) by Shelly,
Hawkman is consistently a hawk-themed,
reincarnated warrior, the winged Phantom
of the night who from immemorial has fought
the cause of justice against the force of evil
>> p. 140 quite an erotic image for that period

9) Wonder Woman (1941) by Charles Moulton,
in this short story, she fights the evil forces
of German and Italian nazis

10) Prince Namor (1939), the sub-Mariner
created by Bill Everett
if Wonder Woman hated men, the Sub-Mariner
went her one better, he hated everybody,
he came from the lost continent of Atlantis ,
a place of under-sea-super beings,
some of whom looked even like fish

11) Captain America (1940) created by
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
as the ruthless war-mongers of Europe
focus their eyes on a peace-loving America,
the youth of the country heed the call
to arm for defense and it was the time
of captain America with his shield,
symbol of America

12) Plastic Man (1941) by Jack Cole,
from time to time, the comic world
welcomes a new sensation such was Plastic Man,
the most fantastic man alive, issued
from an accident at the Crawford chemical works

13) the Spirit (1940) by Will Eisner,
the origin of the Spirit far away
from Wildwood Cemetery


Afterword
mostly retrospective of the charges of dr. Wertham
against the comics which were considered by him
as junk = refers to rubbish, trash or items
of little or no value

>> p. 185 from the code of the comics
magazine association of America
- respect for parents, the moral code
and for honorable behaviour
shall be fostered = encourage,
- policemen, judges, government officals
and respected institutions shall never
be presented in such a way as to create
disrespect for established authority,
- in every instance good shall triumph
over evil and the criminal be punished
for his misdeeds


>> quite a good book written in a particular style
but most interesting in respect of the early
adventures of the above super heroes as printed
in the first comic books

enclosures
- cover of the book
- a list of great heroes
- cover of reprint 2003
couvertures:
Copyright 2008 - 2026 G. Rudolf