My Comic Book Alternate History attempt

[nick_crenshaw82]

I'm not very good with narratives so my timeline will be an actually timeline. I'm starting with the 30s:

1933

• Eastern Color Printing begins business as a publisher of comic books.
• Maxwell Gaines begins a new job as a salesperson at Eastern Color Printing.
• Historians consider Famous Funnies, printed this year by Gaines at Eastern in tandem with Dell Comics, to be the first modern comic book, though this one was mostly a test giveaway at Woolworth's Department Stores.

1934

• Gaines relaunches Famous Funnies (cover dated July) is and puts a 10-cent sticker on the cover and it becomes the first full-color comic book sold to the public.
• Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson forms National Allied Publications, Inc., one of the two companies to eventually become National Comics Publications (later DC Comics).

1935

• National Allied Publications published New Fun Comics, which was the first comic book to contain wholly original material rather than reprints of newspaper comic strips. The series would go on to debut the characters Doctor Fate, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and The Spectre.
• New Comics, which would be retitled to New Adventure Comics and then Adventure Comics, debuted from National Allied Publications. The series would later feature the debuts of Hourman, Sandman, Starman, and Jack Kirby's Manhunter.

1937

• Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners.
• National Comics Publications/Detective Comics, Inc begins publication of Detective Comics.
• Wheeler-Nicholson is force to sell his publishing business to Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz.

1938

• Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster sold all rights to Superman to the comic-book publisher Detective Comics, Inc., another forerunner of DC, for $130 ($2,314 when adjusted for inflation).
• National Comics Publications publishes Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. The comic launched the superhero industry and along with company title Detective Comics, became one of the longest running comic book titles, with continuous publication since 1938 (with a minor gap from 2011-2016).
• Gaines and Jack Liebowitz begin publishing comics with original material under the name "All-American Publications". At the time, Liebowitz was the co-owner with Harry Donenfeld of National Allied Publications, the precursor company to DC Comics, and Donenfeld financed Gaines' creation of All-American.

1939

• Many influential comics companies, including Archie Comics, Fawcett Comics, Fox Feature Syndicate, Lev Gleason Publications, Quality Comics, and Timely Comics (later Marvel) were founded this year.
• First appearances of Batman and James Gordon in Detective Comics #27.
• Publication of Mystery Men Comics by Fox Feature Syndicate begins, debuting the Blue Beetle (as Dan Garret).
• Timely Comics publishes Marvel Comics #1, renamed next issue to Marvel Mystery Comics. The original Human Torch and Namor The Sub-Mariner debut in this issue.
• DC Comics brought a copyright infringement lawsuit against Fox, due to the character's similarities to Superman, as well as story and illustration elements that were similar to previous Superman adventures. The case was brought to court in Detective Comics, Inc. v. Bruns Publications, Inc., 111 F.2d 432 (2d Cir. 1940), in which Eisner defended the originality of his creation. Despite this testimony, the subsequent decision forced Fox to drop the character after just one issue.

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

1940s
1940

• The Justice Society of America, the first superhero team in comic book history first appear in All Star Comics #3. The team is conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox.
• Captain America, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, first appears in Captain America Comics #1, published by Timely Comics. Appearing a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the cover shows Captain America punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the jaw. The comic sold nearly one million copies.
• The Spirit, created by writer-artist Will Eisner, first appears in a Sunday-newspaper comic book insert. The seven-page weekly series is considered one of the comic-art medium's most significant works, with Eisner creating or popularizing many of the styles, techniques, and storytelling conventions used by comics professionals decades later.
• The Green Lantern, created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger made his debut in All-American Comics #16 July 1940. Atom was introduced 3 issues later in #19 and the Red Tornado introduced in #20.
• Batman #1, Cover dated Spring, 1940 introduced The Joker and Catwoman known simply as "The Cat". Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
• Master Man, first appears in Master Comics #1, published by Fawcett Comics. The series lasted six issues, due to a lawsuit threat from National Comics (later DC Comics), the publishers of the Superman series, which had been emboldened by a recent legal victory against a similar character called Wonder Man.

1941

• Wonder Woman, created by William Moulton Marston, first appears in All Star Comics #8. She is among the first and most famous comic book superheroines.
• Stan Lee becomes editor-in-chief at Timely Comics.
• Adventures of Captain Marvel, a twelve-chapter film serial adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character for Republic Pictures, debuts. It was the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero.
• Archie Andrews, created by Bob Montana first appears in Pep Comics #22, published by MLJ Magazines.
• Plastic Man, created by writer-artist Jack Cole, first appears in Police Comics #1, published by Quality Comics.

1942

• Crime Does Not Pay debuts, edited and mostly written by Charles Biro and published by Lev Gleason Publications. It was the first "true crime" comic series and also the first comic in the crime comics genre. One of the most popular comics of its day, at its height the comic would claim a readership of six million on its covers.

1944

• Charlton Comics, an American comic book publisher, publishes its first title, Yellowjacket, an anthology of superhero and horror stories, under the imprint Frank Comunale Publications. The company would begin publishing under the Charlton name in 1946.
• Superboy, the adventures of Superman as a boy, first appears in More Fun Comics #101.
• Gaines buys out Liebowitz and manages All-American as an independent company.
• Gaines buys out Liebowitz and manages All-American as an independent company. He returns to his old employer for help to print his comics

1946

• The All-Winners Squad, the first superhero team in the Marvel Universe, first appears in All Winners Comics #19, published by Timely Comics.

1947

• After Siegel's discharge from the Army, he and Shuster sued DC Comics in 1947 for the rights to Superman and Superboy. The two have the support of Maxwell Gaines and Bob Kane.
• The judge makes his decision, based what had happened in a court case involving The Katzenjammer Kids, 30-some-odd years earlier. The judge rules that Donenfeld owns “Superman” and has the right to continue to publish it. For their part, Siegel and Shuster has the right to continue writing and drawing stories starring the character but could not call their magazine Superman. Of course, there was a major difference in the two cases. The Katzenjammer comic strip was not the cornerstone of either of the newspaper syndicates involved in the earlier suit. Neither would’ve gone out of business if the judge had ruled they couldn’t publish a particular strip. For Donenfeld, on the other hand, Superman was the lynchpin of his publishing line.
• Gaines makes an agreeable deal with Siegel & Shuster to publish a new character based on Superman at All-American called The Superior Man.
• Kane would use the Siegel & Schuster lawsuit decision to negotiate a new more profitable deal. Bill Finger quits working for Bob Kane after the new deal and does to work for Gaines at All-American.

1948

• The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) forms on July 1, 1948, to regulate the content of comic books in the face of increasing public criticism. Founding members included publishers Leverett Gleason of Lev Gleason Publications, Bill Gaines of EC Comics, Harold Moore (publisher of Famous Funnies) and Rae Herman of Orbit Publications. Henry Schultz served as executive director. (The Comics Code Authority never replaces this)

1949

• Dr. Fredic Wertham, one of the early crusaders, had grown disenchanted with the anti-comic movement and withdrew his support. An apocryphal story has the root of this due to a chance meeting with Max Gaines on the train ride back to New York from a Baltimore conference.

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

1950s
1950

• Fox Feature Syndicate, located at 60 East 42nd Street, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in July. His business partner Robert W. Farrell purchases Fox Features' characters for Farrell Publications.

1951

• During the trial that oppose them Fawcett's lawyers reveal that National Periodical failed to properly copyright their superman comics strip. The judge rule that although in his opinion captain marvel does in fact infringe upon superman copyright, National Periodical negligence has lost said copyright and so cannot claim damages. National Periodical seeks an appeal.
• Julius Schwartz convinces Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster to update Superior Man into something more original. Both liked the idea but Shuster couldn't do the art so Schwartz brought in Carmine Infantino. The new Superior Man debuts in Strange Adventures #9 in 1951.
• During the trial that oppose them Fawcett's lawyers reveal that National Periodical failed to properly copyright their superman comics strip. The judge rule that although in his opinion captain marvel does in fact infringe upon superman copyright, National Periodical negligence has lost said copyright and so cannot claim damages. National Periodical did not seek an appeal do lack of funds.

1955

• With the declining comic book market, Eastern begins to phase out publication of its own comic books, selling their comic book properties to AA Comics.

1958

• Farrell Publications continued publishing until 1958, but never with the same success. Charlton Comics acquires the Farrell Comics Group arm of Farrell Publications.

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

All-American characters (as of 1956)
Hop Harrigan - All-American Comics #1 (April 1939) - Jon Blummer
Red, White and Blue (Red Dugan, Whitey Smith, Blooey Blue) - All-American Comics #1 (April 1939) - Jerry Siegel & William Smith
Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist - All-American Comics #1 (April 1939) - Sheldon Mayer
Ma Hunkel - All-American Comics #3 (June 1939) - Sheldon Mayer
Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man - All-American Comics #8 (November 1939) - Jon Blummer
The Flash - Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) - Gardner Fox & Harry Lampert
Hawkman - Flash Comics #1 (January 1940)John B. Wentworth & Dennis Neville
Johnny Thunder - Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) - John B. Wentworth & Stan Aschmeier
Shiera Sanders - Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) - John B. Wentworth & Dennis Neville
The Whip - Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) - John B. Wentworth & George Storm
The King - Flash Comics #3 (March 1940) - John B. Wentworth & William Smith
Green Lantern - All-American Comics #16 (July 1940) - Bill Finger & Martin Nodell
The Atom - All-American Comics #19 (October 1940) - Ben Flinton & Bill O'Conner
The Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel) - All-American Comics #20 (November 1940) - Sheldon Mayer
Doctor Mid-Nite - All-American Comics#25 (April 1941) - Charles Reizenstein & Stan Aschmeier
Sargon the Sorcerer - All-American Comics #26, (May 1941) - John B. Wentworth & Howard Purcell
Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders) - All Star Comics #5 (June 1941) - Gardner Fox & Harry Lampert
Wonder Woman - All Star Comics #8 (October 1941) - William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter
Gay Ghost - Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942) - Gardner Fox & Howard Purcell
Gunner Godbee - Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942)
Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys - Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942) - Bill Finger & Jon Blummer
Mr. Terrific - Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942) - Charles Reizenstein & Harold Wilson Sharp
Wildcat - Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942) - Bill Finger & Irwin Hasen
Bulldog Drumhead - Funny Stuff #2 (September 1944)
Superior Man - All-American Comics #97 (May 1948) - Jerry Siegal & Joe Shuster
Hydroman - Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #1 (August 1940) - Bill Everett - (1956)
Purple Zombie - Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #1 (August 1940) - Tarpe Mills - (1956)
Man O'Metal - Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #7 (July 1941) - Harry G. Peter - (1956)
Music Master - Reg'lar Fellas Heroic Comics #12 (May 1942) - Unknown - (1956)
Rainbow Boy - Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #14 (September 1942) - Unknown - (1956)
Fearless Flint - Famous Funnies #89 (December 1942) - Harry G. Peter - (1956)

(I would love some help on to incorporate the Eastern Color characters into my All-American universe)

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Ace the Bat-Hound (1955) - the Terrific Dog?
Agatha Wayne (1955) - Agatha Sloane?
Alpha II (1962) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Ant-Man ("Jumbo" Carson) (1962) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) (1961) - Terrific Girl?
Bat-Mite (1959) - Terrific-Mite?
Brains Beldon (1962) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Brand (1961) - Mr. terrific villain?
Bruce N. Wayne (1957) - Terry N. Sloane?
Calendar Man (Julian Day) (1958) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Clayface (Matt Hagen) (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?, needs new name
Clock ("Slugsy" Kyle) (1959) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Clockmaster (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Collector (1957) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Dummy (Daniel Mattews) (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Elemental Man (John Dolan) (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
False Face (1958) - Mr. Terrific villain?
False Face Society (1962) - Mr. Terrific villains?
Fatman (1958) - Mr. Terrific related?
Firefly (Ted Carson) (1959) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Gorilla Gang (1963) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Hijack (Jack Spade) (1959) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Hobby Robber (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Joseph Arno (1963) - Mr. Terrific villain?
King Cobra (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Lew Moxon (1956) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Mad Hatter II (1956) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Mirage Maker (1958) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Mirror Man (Floyd Ventris) (1954) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Mister 50 (Narkin) (1962) - Mr. Terrific?
Moth (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Polka Dot Man (1962) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Professor Hugo (1962) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Professor Achilles Milo (1957) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Racer (1956) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Rainbow Creature (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Sea Fox (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Signalman (Phillip Cobb) (1957) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Simple Simon (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Spinner (Swami Ymar) (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Tezcatlipoca (Hartley) (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Thor (Henry Meke) (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Tiger (1961) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Trapper (Jason Bard) (1954) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Vanderveer Wayne (1962) - Vanderveer Sloane?
Vulcan (1962) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Wheel (Frank Foster) (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?
Zebra-Man (Jacob Baker) (1960) - Mr. Terrific villain?

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Semi original character based on Zatanna:

Sargona the Sorceress - created by Gardner Fox & Murphy Anderson

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Superior Man (1951)

Superior Man, the "first man of the future", is a mutant "born a hundred thousand years before his time", in 1931 to John and Martha Blake, a farming couple from the American Midwest. His mutant gene was triggered by a comet passing overhead at birth.
Adam Blake discovered his unique abilities as he grew up — at the age of four he instantly found a ring his mother had lost ("I just knew it was there"), and by eight years old demonstrated photographic memory by rapidly reading a whole encyclopedia and retaining the information. Other skills manifested almost instantly: he could play musical instruments without training and was secretly expert at sports to Olympic record level. In high school he saved a schoolmate from falling to her death by mental force, but despite his powers he felt isolated from other humans because of his differences from them. After leaving school he became a librarian in Midwest City, where he sought the help of a renowned physicist, Professor Emery Zackro, who tested him and discovered Adam was a mutant — postulating he was the reverse of an evolutionary throwback, "an accidental specimen of future man". His Superior Man persona began when Adam used his powers to intervene when criminals attempted to steal an advanced scientific device invented by Professor Zackro. Immediately after this, Blake and the Professor agreed Blake should become a superhero on a full-time basis, and he made his first appearance in public as Superior Man combating giant, terraforming robot tops belonging to an alien race looking for a world to colonize. During this task, Adam built a working version of a prototype spaceship Professor Zackro had designed, which would become his personal spaceship, The Cometeer, and took up a costume, spacesuit and stun gun also invented by the Professor.
Over the next three years he saved Earth from multiple alien invasions and explored space in The Cometeer, saving other civilizations and meeting beautiful alien damsels in distress. During this period he largely used intelligence and his mind-reading skills to help solve problems, seldom resorting to physical solutions. Among his weirder adventures, Superior Man battled mad Greek gods from space, fought dinosaurs and alien creatures, and came up against an evil super-powered ape several times. Sometime after 1954 he disappeared into space in The Cometeer on another expedition of discovery, but this time he would not return for over 20 years.

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Silver Age Moon Girl

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Joanie Swift (Girlfriend of Johnny Quick)

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Ms. Flash

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Silver Age Mr. Terrific

Real Name: Roger Wright
First Appearance: Sensation Mystery #125 (March/Apr 1955)
Original Publisher: All-American
Created by: Dick Ayers & Gardner Fox
Wealthy scientist Roger Wright became the superhero known as Mr. Terrific for one reason: To avenge the death of his brother, who was tortured and killed by Soviet agents. His assistant, Claire Farrow, made his costume; Roger asked her to make it after he saw Claire buy a Ghost Rider mask for her nephew. Mr. Terrific had no powers, but he had his own inventions to fall back on, most notably his VTOL aircraft known as the Starjet and Dissolver pistol. Mr. Terrific also possessed a utility belt containing items for almost any occasion.
Mr. Terrific mainly focused on thwarting the schemes of Soviet forces, both in his native Empire City and around the world. He occasionally battled less conventional villains, such as the Robot Robber and the Player.

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Crime Crusaders of the World (Fawcett Comics)

Bulletman, Bulletwoman, Spy Smasher, Minute Man, Mr. Scarlet, Pinky, Ibis the Invincible

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Seven Soldiers of Justice (DC Comics)

Aquaman, Liberty Belle, Manhunter from Mars, Green Arrow (Roy Harper), Crimson Avenger (Wing How), TNT (Daniel Dunbar), Star-Spangled Man (Sylvester Pemberton)
First Appearance: My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963)
Created By: Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Young Paladins (All-American Comics)

Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Hawklad, Electron

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

The Heap by Steve Gerber & Roy Thomas
From a 2002 Roy Thomas interview:
"Stan Lee called me in; it would've been late '70 or early '71. [...] He had a couple of sentences or so for the concept — I think it was mainly the notion of a guy working on some experimental drug or something for the government, his being accosted by spies, and getting fused with the swamp so that he becomes this creature. The creature itself sounds a lot like the Heap, which I mentioned to him and he had us look in to acquiring him.... I didn't care much for the name 'Man-Thing', because we already had the Thing [of the superhero team the Fantastic Four], and I was thankful that our deal with Hillman had succeeded."

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Man-Thing - Psycho #2 (Skywald, 1971)
From the same Roy Thomas interview as above:
"I was also responsible for Skywald Publishing introducing their Man-Thing character. I had lunch with [Skywald co-founder] Sol Brodsky soon after he left Marvel Comics to co-found Skywald. He was looking for heroes to do. I couldn't write for him, so he was kind of picking my brain, and I wanted to help without getting too involved, since [Marvel editor-in-chief] Stan [Lee] wouldn't have liked that. I told Sol, 'Well, we have the Heap, so you could get someone to do our unused Man-Thing character.' "

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

1948
While working out of a studio in New York City with two other cartoonists, Plastino showed sample art of Superman to all-American Comics, which offered him work at $35 a page. Plastino, who had heard that Superior Man artists were receiving $55 a page, negotiated a $50 rate.

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

1952
Too ill to meet President Eisenhower Allen DuMont sent Thomas Goldstein in his stead. Goldstein is able to deliver a succinct, short presentation on the dangers of the FCC’s order to television competition, and the President gave him his word that he would be sure to use his influence to bring the FCC to a more equitable understanding.
As a result, he ordered the FCC to review the recently-issued Sixth Report and Order and amend the order to come up with a solution that would allow the four networks who by then had established nationwide service to coexist together.

1953
ABC would agree to merge with United Paramount Theaters. This would give ABC an infusion of cash and connections in Hollywood that would nearly put it on part with the Big 2 and overwhelm the resources DuMont had at the time. When the Justice Department had hearings to approve the merger DuMont at first argued that it should be disapproved based on the questions of whether UPT and Paramount were truly separate as the government has required as a result of the antitrust case against the major movie studios, but then Goldstein had an epiphany and instead motioned that as a corollary to the merger's approval, that Paramount be required to divest itself of its shares of DuMont, as the risk that a not-truly-separate Paramount could dominate two networks at the same time. The Justice Department agreed with this argument and when the merger was approved, Paramount was given six months to find a buyer for its shares in DuMont.
A ready and eager buyer was found in General Tire, the new owner of the Don Lee system of radio stations on the West Coast, majority investor in the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network. Mutual had been rumored to have interest in launching a TV network earlier in the decade, but decided against it because of the crowded market and lack of VHF licenses in major markets. Now Mutual would be affiliated with a preexisting network. This would give DuMont access to Mutual programming such as Leave it to the Girls, an early daytime talk show, makeover show Queen for A Day, and The Lone Ranger. It would also give it relationships with radio stations that could bid for affiliate licenses, and a way to bundle radio and TV transmissions to meet AT&T's requirement that DuMont pay for radio transmissions. General Tire's broadcasting division also already owned five TV stations of its own, KHJ in Los Angeles, WNAC in Boston, WOR in New York, WHBQ in Memphis, and CKLW in Windsor, ON. RKO General would divest WOR and WHBQ to German-American investor John Kluge to stay under the 5 station limit, while using the Canadian station across the river from Detroit as a backdoor 6th O&O.

(All from @AnonymousSauce's DuMont Will Make TV Work timeline)

DuMont will make TV work: A TL

Allen DuMont worried. He would have paced, in fact, but he had fallen far to ill with the worst flu that he could remember in quite some time to be able to do that. So instead he laid in bed unable to sleep as his emotions raged inside him. “Why now, of all times, for this to happen, when I had...

www.alternatehistory.com

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

With Showcase over at All-American Comics I need some good titles to debut DC silver age redesigns.
Silver Age (Debuted 1957)

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

Silver Age Thunderbolt (The Thunderbolt merges with Johnny Thunder to save his life sacrificing much of his power to do so)