What is known as the Golden age of the American comic book lasted from the late 1930’s until the late 1940’s. It was in 1938 that Siegel and Shuster had their previously dismissed character creation of an alien superhero in colourful costume and tights pulled from a slush pile and released as the cover of the first edition of ‘Action Comics’ by DC Comics. This unusual character was of course Superman. The advent of Superman became the basis of following superheroes. The runaway success of the character showed DC Comics that they had found a niche that really captured the imagination of the public. DC Comics and its sister company ALL-American Comics proceeded to create several famous characters over the following two years. The creation of Batman and Robin, The Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman were all to prove hugely successful for the company. It soon became clear to the competition that DC Comics had really discovered a goldmine marketplace. Timely Comics, which would later be known as Marvel Comics, began creating their own superheroes such as the Human Torch and Captain America.
With the arrival of the Second World War it seemed that the public could not get enough of these superhero action comics. Though times were tough it seemed that the escapism of these comic books brought some joy to the public in a time of great fear. The writers often incorporated their American political loyalty within the storylines of the comics with the superheroes battling nazi’s and Japanese characters. The fight for democratic freedom it seemed spilled into the illustrations that fought for truth, justice and the American way. Following the end of the war and the new atomic era, their were many storylines featuring atomic power and weaponry.
The reasons for the end of the age of the superheroes in the late 1940’s are debated hotly among enthusiasts. It was in the late 1940’s that crime and horror comics began to appear and these new less all American and more gritty comics may have caught the publics eye and pulled away from the more clearly identifiable good guy bad guy genre. Although the superheroes fell out of favour with the public they were to soon return in what is known as the Silver age of comic books. The mid 1950’s saw the superheroes as less perfect characters and more human flaws began to appear in their personas. Stan Lee’s creation of the Fantastic Four is a classic example of a group of superheroes that fought and argued with each other, previously an unthinkable occurrence!
