Hello and welcome to the Superhero Comic Shop. A site dedicated to the great comic costumes superheroes made popular by DC and Marvel Comics. In modern culture, the term superhero is an easily identifiable character from movies, television and of course, comic costumes. However, superheroes in their current form have not always existed.
Legendary stories and tales existed of extraordinary feats made by humans and gods, but these only served as a basis for what a superhero would become. The history of superheroes in comics can justifiably only be said to truly start with one man, not a bird, not a plane, but… Superman!
The Introduction of the Superheroes
The introduction of Superman in 1938 by the company which would become DC Comics marked the first model superhero. Indeed, the name superhero stems from the character’s name, Superman.
As mentioned, there have always been stories and folk tales about people with special abilities and characteristics. In the time before comic costumes and before the introduction of superheroes, crime fighters and detective pulp magazine stories and characters were popular.
But what makes a character into a superhero? Here are some of the most common qualities of superheroes. While you don’t need to have all of them, these are the basis of what the term really means.
1) A costume, typically emblazoned with some fashion of logo, symbol or name.
2) Extraordinary abilities or powers of some kind. In lieu of this, gadgets or other ways or objects that make you “super”, such as with Batman.
3) A secret identity or alter-ego.
4) A mission, purpose or greater sense of drive towards something, along with a stricter code of conduct or morals.
No superhero is ever complete without his villains and adversaries, which are repeated and common characters in their own right.
Superman and the popularity he instantly gathered would change the world of comic costumes and so much of our entertainment of today. After his introduction, DC Comics introduced Batman and a host of other superheroes to great acclaim.
Marvel Comics had characters such as the Human Torch. Superheroes would remain popular through World War II, where characters such as Captain America battled the Nazis and other American enemies. However, after this time, social tastes and interests began changing and superheroes suffered a decline in popularity and importance.
The Silver Age of Comics and Superheroes
In our opinion there is no age more important to the success of superheroes than the Silver Age as that time period (approximately 1956 to 1969) largely signifies the reemergence and the extreme rise in popularity and abundance of superheroes. During the beginning of the Cold War, many things and people were attacked as being un-American or unworthy for Americans.
Among the attacked were comic costumes, for being too gory, violent, un-educational or sexual. Following this, the Comics Code Authority was instituted to provide a core set of rules and regulations to make comics popular and acceptable once again in mainstream American society.
DC Comics, the innovators of superheroes and their genre decided to revamp one of their old favorites, the Flash. In 1956 they reintroduced the Flash with more eye-catching, dramatic illustrations and colors; improved, sleeker and stylish costume designs; and more detailed and compelling background stories and personalities. This marked the beginning of the Silver Age, and the Flash was a hit in his updated form.
Following this, they reintroduced many of their old superhero characters who had been languishing in their outdated models. They also created the first superhero team, which was the Justice Society. Marvel Comics, led by the direction and creativity of Stan Lee would then get back into the superhero field.
They created their own superhero team, the Fantastic Four. Following the popularity of this, they created many of the iconic superheroes that are still well known and popular today. Included in this mix are the Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-Man.
The most popular superheroes would move on to cartoon and live action television series, and in some cases even movies. Superheroes were no longer one piece of the larger comic costumes pie, they accounted for the vast majority of all comics.
The Modern Revival of the Superhero
Superheroes and comic costumes in general began to decline in popularity sharply in the 1990s. Whether due to changing culture or so many other forms of entertainment or distraction, superheroes were losing their grip on the attention and interests of children.
However, with the improved technologies of the last decade, they have begun a large revival, although not in comic costumes form. Today, the same popular superheroes of decades past now star in feature films and video games.
We now invite you to look around our site as we’re sure you’ll find some interesting facts about your favorite comic costumes superhero, as well as some fun videos and great deals on classic DC and Marvel comic costumes that we’ve come across.
