PAST DID YOU KNOW?

1. John Buscema (December 11, 1927- January 10, 2002) was an American comic book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics in its 1960s and 1970s heyday.
   
   Buscema was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. He was originally attracted to comics by Hal Foster's strip Prince Valiant, and his lush, detailed style bears comparison with Foster's.
   
   Buscema's first hit was his run on Avengers (beginning in 1966, with writer Roy Thomas), and after that pencilled at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title (notable exceptions being Iron Man and X-Men, although he worked on some X-Men spinoff titles). In particular, he stepped into the breach when Jack Kirby left the company in 1970, helping it weather the loss much better than it may have otherwise.
   
   Among the best-known work of Buscema are stints on The Avengers (both in the 1960s and a long 1980s run); Fantastic Four (with Thomas and writer Gerry Conway); Thor (with Conway); Silver Surfer (with Stan Lee); and a lengthy run on Conan the Barbarian (with Thomas). This last he often named as his favourite, as ironically enough he disliked superhero stories.
   
   Buscema semi-retired in 1996, although he continued to do the odd pencilling job; one of the last was his DC Comics debut, a Batman story.
   
   John Buscema died on January 10, 2002 due to cancer.
   
   His brother Sal Buscema is also a comic book artist."""
2. Don Heck (January 2, 1929-1995) was a comic book artist best known for co-creating the character Iron Man, based on designs by Jack Kirby, and for his long run penciling The Avengers in the 1960s. Before then Heck worked on many horror and romance comics."""
3. Peanuts was a syndicated daily comic strip written and drawn by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950 to February 13, 2000. The strip was one of the most popular in the history of the medium. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 40 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States. Reprints of the strip are still syndicated and run in many newspapers."""
4. Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She was a clone of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister. Although originally a supporting member of the X-Men cast for quite some time, a variety of troubles in her life (including being rejected by her husband and losing her son) eventually led to her manipulation into becoming a demonic-powered supervillain. Chris Claremont apparently got her name from Maddy Prior, lead singer of the folk-rock band Steeleye Span."""
5. The sister of the X-Man Cannonball, Paige Guthrie was born to a large Kentucky coal miner's family. As a teenager, she discovered her inborn mutant ability to shed her skin, metamorphosing into a different composition beneath. She has used this power to turn her body into stone, glass, and an acid-like substance, among other materials. She can also use her power to heal herself by shedding a damaged form in favor of an intact one. She normally cannot change the shape of her form, only its composition."""
6. In Batman: Death and the Maidens, it is revealed that Ra's al Ghul had a love child born during his travels in Russia in the 18th Century called Nyssa. Enamored by the romantic stories that her mother would tell her about Ra's as a child, Nyssa set out to find Ra's and eventually located him at his headquarters in North Africa.
   
   Nyssa is in possession of the world's last Lazarus Pit which has granted her longevity, the ability to heal her wounds, and survival of the Holocaust. She also possesses condsiderable amounts of wealth and resources (which has doubled since assuming control of Ra's al Ghul's organization as well as joining forces with Talia) and is aware of Batman's secret identity including the location of the Batcave.
   """""""
7. A Lazarus pit is a fictional tool in the Batman comics used most commonly by Ra's Al Ghul to regenerate his body. In addition to bringing the user back to life, however, it makes the user temporarily insane. It has been used by multiple people throughout the Batman universe including Ra's Al Ghul's daughter Nyssa, The Black Canary, and The Riddler. Later all of the Lazarus Pits were destroyed by Bane and Batman, except for one. And since the Lazarus Pits can only be used once, Ra's Al Ghul had to accept that he would soon be dead. His daughter Nyssa, however, had discovered a way to make the Lazarus Pits last indefinitely, but rather than let her father use it, she stabbed him to death."""
8. The Black Canary was originally a non-superpowered crimefighter who relied on martial arts and detective skills to combat crime. Later the character was given a superhuman sonic """"Canary Cry"""" that could be used to shatter objects or disable opponents."""
9. Beatriz daCosta, aka FIRE has the power to generate and breathe green flame came from being exposed to an organic energy source called Pyroplasm. However, years later after the Dominators set off a """"metagene bomb"""" in the upper atmosphere during an alien invasion, she was one of the superheroes affected and, after a period of illness, found her powers considerably enhanced, able to turn into a being of green flame, in which form she could fly and fire off huge blasts of flame. Unfortunately, it took her some time to come to terms with her increased powers, and she often """"flamed on"""" involuntarily when stressed or angry.
   
   """""""
10. Sinestro is a fictional supervillain within the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in the comics Green Lantern Vol. 2 #7 (July-August 1961), created by John Broome & Gil Kane, and has since been featured in cartoons such as Super Friends (where he was part of the """"Legion of Doom"""") and Adventures of Superman. He is considered both the Green Lantern Corps's greatest foe, and - as he was originally one of their own - their greatest failure."""
11. Mr. Mxyzptlk (roughly pronounced Mix-yez-pit-lick, also nicknamed Mxy) is a supervillain who appears in DC Comics' Superman comics.
    
    Introduced in Superman #30 (September 1944) as """"Mr. Mxyztplk"""", he was an imp from the fifth dimension. Not being bound by our physical laws, he could do things that seemed to be magical. In this first appearance, Mxyztplk wreaked havoc across Metropolis by using his powers to pull all manner of pranks. He soon told Superman that he was a jester in his home dimension, explaining why he used his powers to play practical jokes. Superman soon discovered he was able to send Mxy back to the fifth dimension by making him say his name backwards.
    
    Originally, Mxy had designs on conquering the planet for himself, but soon settled for tormenting Superman whenever he got the opportunity. His only weaknesses were that he could not stand being ridiculed and if he said or spelled his name backwards, Kltpzyxm, he was involuntarily sent back to his home dimension for a minimum of 90 days. Mxy would often look for ways to counter the latter weakness, but he always proved gullible enough for Superman to trick him time and time again.
    
    Mxy appeared originally as a small bald man in a purple suit, green bow tie and purple derby hat. This was changed to a futuristic looking orange outfit with purple trim in the mid-1950s, although the hat remained. At around this time the spelling of Mxy's name changed (by mistake) to """"Mxyzptlk"""".
    
    After the establishment of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, it was later explained that the purple-suited Mxyztplk lived in the fifth dimension connected to Earth-Two and the orange-costumed Mxyzptlk in the fifth dimension connected to Earth-One. The Earth-One version was also retconned into Superboy stories as """"Master Mxyzptlk"""".
    
    Mr. Mxyzptlk continued to be a thorn in Superman's side for many years. Despite Alan Moore offering a radically different interpretation of the character in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, he made it through the Crisis on Infinite Earths relatively unchanged, although the unpleasant nature of his pranks and the psychological effects they had on others was played up more, at least initially. In early post-Crisis stories the """"condition"""" that would send him back to the fifth dimension was anything he wanted it to be but, since Lex Luthor taught him how to lie, making this meaningless, the stories have reverted to Mxyzptlk saying his name backwards. Many of Mxy's later stories have a post-modern feel to them, similar to Ambush Bug, as he comments on editorial decisions, cliches of the genre, etc. This was most obvious in Superman: The Man of Steel #75, a pastiche of Superman's death in Superman (series 2) #75, which culminates with Mxyzptlk meeting the Supreme Being... who turns out to be Mike Carlin, the then-editor of the Superman titles, who promptly brings him back to life.
    
    Although Mxy does not appear in Grant Morrison's JLA, Morrison took advantage of certain similarities to tie Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt and Aquaman character Qwsp to the fifth dimension, implying the dimension may be the origin for legends of djinn. This story also saw the first (and so far only) post-Crisis appearance of Mxy's Earth-One girlfriend, Ms. Gsptlsnz (described as his """"quinto-partner"""").
    
    More recently, Peter David showed us Mxy's origins as a serious-minded researcher in Young Justice and, in a multipart story throughout the Superman titles, he had his powers temporarily stolen by the Joker. It has also been implied that he sees himself as serving an important purpose, in teaching Superman not to take everything seriously.
    
    He has also encountered Batman's implike tormentor Bat-Mite twice. The first was in Karl Kesel's World's Finest book, in which they forced the heroes to compete against each other. The second was in the World's Funnest oneshot, in which they travel to various parallel Earths, including the worlds of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew and Alex Ross's Kingdom Come.
    
    In Adventures of Superman #617 (2003), Mxyzptlk was reinvented as different-sex twins with a serious hatred of Superman. A year later, in Superman Secret Files and Origins 2004 (2004), he returned to his usual self. The reasons for this remain obscure.
    """""""
12. Bat-Mite is a fictional comic book character who appeared in stories published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Detective Comics #267 (May 1959).
    
    Bat-Mite is an imp similar to the Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk. He appears as a small childlike man in an ill-fitting Batman costume, with a black lightning bolt instead of the Bat-insignia. Bat-Mite possesses near-infinite magical powers and comes from another dimension, much like Superman's foe Mr. Mxyzptlk. In Bat-Mite's dimension, the resident imps idolize the heroes of the DC Universe and impersonate them, re-enacting their heroic feats and adventures. Bat-Mite's favorite hero is Batman, and thus the imp visited Batman on various occasions, often setting up strange events so that he could see his hero in action. Despite this, Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a supervillain, and often left his hero alone when he realized he had angered his idol again. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages of World's Finest Comics to plague Superman and Batman together, as well.
    
    Bat-Mite regularly appeared in Batman, Detective Comics and World's Finest Comics for five years. However in 1964, when the Batman titles were revamped with a more serious tone under new editor Julius Schwartz. Bat-Mite vanished along with the other extraneous members of the Batman family such as Ace the Bat-Hound. After this, only three more Bat-Mite stories were published in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe: two Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk teamups in World's Finest Comics #152 (August 1965) and #169 (September 1967) (which were not edited by Scharz but by Mort Weisinger), and """"Bat-Mite's New York Adventure"""" from Detective Comics #482 (February-March 1979), in which the imp visits the DC Comics offices and insists that he be given his own feature in a Batman comic.
    
    After the continuity-revising 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths was published, Bat-Mite was mostly removed from the Batman comics canon. Bat-Mite made an appearance in the series Legends of the Dark Knight, although he may have been the hallucination of a minor character. This version of Bat-Mite later appeared in Mitefall, a one-shot story that was a parody of the """"Knightfall"""" Batman storyline. He also appeared in the one-shot comic special World's Funnest, in which he battles Mr. Mxyzptlk, destroying the pre-Crisis multiverse of DC Comics as well as the post-Crisis DC universe, the universe of Kingdom Come, and the universe of the Superman and Batman animated series. Bat-Mite may or may not have been formally reintroduced into the modern DC Universe in a 1990s World's Finest miniseries (where he teams up with Mr. Mxyzptlk to """"test"""" Superman and Batman), but this isn't entirely clear.
    
    Apart from World's Funnest, there has been no direct connection between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk; the World's Funnest special implied that different rules applied to their powers. In the Bizarro Comics anthology, Mxyzptlk's native fifth dimension seemed to include beings similar to Bat-Mite and Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt. Neither of these comics are considered canonical, however."""
13. After John Byrne rewrote Superman's origins in the 1986 miniseries Man of Steel, Metallo was also given an altered backstory.
    
    In the current version, John Corben was a small-time con man who was fatally injured in a car crash, but to his luck Professor Emmet Vale happened to pass by. Professor Vale was a pioneer in robotics, and erroneously believed that Superman was the first in a wave of superpowered Kryptonian invaders. Vale transplanted Corben's brain into a robotic body, which was powered by a two-pound chunk of kryptonite, and instructed him to kill Superman. Metallo---the alloy his body was made of, and now Corben's new moniker---thanked Vale by snapping his neck, killing him.
    
    Despite ignoring Vale's commands, Metallo came into conflict with Superman on various occasions, in large part to his continued activities as a petty thug. Metallo later lost his kryptonite heart to Lex Luthor, though back-up life support systems allowed Metallo to reactivate himself and escape. He remained a thorn in Superman's side, and due to his sheer power no other superhero save Superman could quickly and effectively handle him. Metallo later received a major upgrade via an unholy bargain with the demon Neron. As a result, Metallo was now able to morph his body into any mechanical shape he could imagine (turning his hands into guns or """"growing"""" a jet-pack from his back) and project his consciousness into any technological or metallic device. As Superman and others learned on various occasions, the most effective way to neutralize Metallo was to remove his (largely invulnerable) head and isolate it from other metallic items.
    
    In recent comics, evidence was uncovered that implicated John Corben as the criminal who shot and killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, the parents of Bruce Wayne. This proved to be a ruse by Lex Luthor, however, orchestrated in order to lure both the Dark Knight and Superman into a """"final"""" confrontation. More recently, Corben's mind was removed from the Metallo body, and placed into a cloned version of his original human body, by the (second, post-Crisis) Toyman, Hiro Okamura, whose family had invented the metallo alloy. Despite the fact he is once again just a man, he is still a dangerous foe to Superman.
    """""""
14. Bizarro World was erased from the history of the DC Universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, two Bizarros have been created by Lex Luthor. However, in the post-Crisis version, the imperfections in the duplicates are eventually fatal. The first Bizarro created Post-Crisis appeared in Man of Steel #5 (1986). A Bizarro-Superboy was created by Project Cadmus, when they used the same process in their attempts to clone Superman. It was also used to create a Bizarro-Harley Quinn after Bizarro developed a crush on Quinn. The current version of Bizarro has a very different origin, having been created by the Joker by the use of the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk; his first appearance was in Superman Vol. 2 #160, and he seems to be the longest lived Post-Crisis Bizarro yet."""
15. Solomon Grundy:
    Cyrus Gold was murdered in the later part of the 19th Century, where his body was left in Slaughter Swamp. The corpse remained in the swamp for decades where the organic swamp muck and decomposing flora collected, until one day it took on it's own life. After the monster rose from the swamp, he wandered into a hobo camp. Upon questioning, the monster revealed that he did not know his own name and could only remember that he was born on a monday. Remembering the nursery rhyme, a hobo dubed the monster Solomon Grundy.
    """""""
16. Recently, Barbara Gordan, aka Oracle, was diagnosed with a cybernetic form of cancer, given to her by Brainiac. The surgery to remove it, done by Dr. Mid-Nite, Superman and an anestesiologist was successful. As an after-effect, Barbara has regained some motion in her legs. She may become Batgirl again."""
17. Superboy, a clone grafted with Superman's DNA (as opposed to a younger version of Superman), was introduced in 1993. He was created by Project Cadmus to replace Superman following the Death of Superman story, and was artificially aged to mid-teens and implanted with the necessary knowledge of someone his biological age. As he is only a partial clone of Superman, he does not have all of the Man of Steel's powers, and it remains to be seen what range of powers he will ultimately develop. Conner, the """"human name"""" he has adopted has just recently found out that the remaining human DNA that was grafted to him is from Lex Luthor. """""""
18. The Golden age Flash, Jay Garrick was a college student in 1940 (suggesting he was born around 1922) who accidentally inhaled hard water vapors after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been smoking. As a result, he found that he could run at superhuman speed and had similarly fast reflexes."""
19. Wolverine discovered through S.H.I.E.L.D. that Hydra had created a female clone of himself. This clone can erect two claws from each hand (instead of three like Wolverine), and can erect one claw from her foot (an ability Wolverine lacks). The clone was named X-23, since this was Hydra's 23rd attempt at creating a clone."""
20. April 1940 featured the release of Detective Comics No. 38 and the first appearance of Robin, the Boy Wonder. Bob Kane wanted to introduce a sidekick for two reasons. It would give Batman an associate to talk to and, at the same time, give the youngsters reading Batman someone with which to identify. He felt every boy would want to be like Robin, no school, no homework, living in a mansion, riding in
    All American Comics #16
    The Green Lantern first appeared in July 1948's All American Comics #16
    the Batmobile, it was a fantasy come true! Jack Liebowitz, Kane's boss, didn't agree however. Kane was able to convince his to try Robin for one issue though and was proved right. Detective Comics No. 38 sold almost twice as many copies as the usual Detective Comics and Robin was here to stay."""
21. The powerful and ghostly The Spectre first appeared in February 1940 in More Fun Comics No. 52, though he had appeared in one panel of More Fun Comics No. 51. Hourman, a hero who swallowed pills giving him superpowers for exactly 60 minutes, premeired in March 1940 in Adventure Comics No. 48, the same title in which The Sandman had earlier appeared in issue #40. Spring 1940 brought New York World's Fair which featured Batman and Superman together on a cover for the first time. It featured all of their main characters, was 100 pages with cardstock covers, and retailed for fifteen cents. Interestingly, the 1939 edition retailed for twenty-five cents and sold poorly. DC repriced the returns with a fifteen cent sticker and gave a free Superman No. 1 or No 2 to all those who had paid twenty-five cents."""
22. Timely Comics, which would later become Marvel Comics, began in Fall 1939 with Marvel Comics No. 1 featuring the first appearances of Prince Namor the Submariner and The Human Torch, created by Bill Everett and Carl Burgos respectively. The first eight pages of the Submariner story had appeared earlier in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, a promotional project, earlier however. In January 1940 Fiction House published the first science-fiction comic, Planet Comics No. 1."""
23. Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics No. 27 in May 1939. In the Spring of the following year, Batman No. 1, featuring the first appearances of The Joker and Catwoman appeared on newsstands. The Joker was created by Kane's assistant Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger supplied the look with a photo of actor Conrad Veidt in the movie The Man Who Laughs. The Penquin didn't appear until December 1941 in Detective Comics No. 58."""
24. Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings of flying machines, Kane tried a number of names before settling on Bat-Man, Bird-Man, Eagle-Man, and Hawk-Man among them. The name again, was inspired by Da Vinci, this time with his quote """"remember that your bird should have no other model than the bat. Batman having a secret identity was influenced by the movie The Mark of Zorro which featured a masked mysterious hero. The identity of Bruce Wayne was created by writer Bill Finger however. Finger also named the Gotham City, after deciding he wanted anybody in any city to identity with it. The Bat-Man was a independent masked vigilante who, after his parents were killed by a mugger, turned to crime-fighting to exact vengeance on all those who broke the law. He was a loner and Kane expounded upon this by having Bat-Man work under the cover of darkness and outside the law. His costume was designed to be so awesome that it wonder throw fear and respect into all villians that he would encounter."""
25. With the success of Superman, Bob Kane began taking his earlier idea of a costumed superhero seriously. First conceived in 1934, it wasn't until Kane heard of the vast money, up to $800 a week each, that Shuster and Siegel were earning with money from merchandizing. Kane, earning as much as $50 a week, spent entire weekend creating his new character, the Bat-Man."""
26. On January 16, 1939 Superman first appeared in a newspaper strip. By 1941, over 300 newspapers were publishing the daily Superman strip. Shuster continued drawing Superman until 1947. After those few early issues, they were paid $500 per 13 page story as well as a small part of merchandizing royalties. Siegel began a lengthy and bitter right for the rights to Superman, ending with DC attaching """"created by Siegel & Shuster"""" to all Superman stories and paying them an annual stipend. Joe Shuster died in 1992."""
27. Superman continued to appear in Action Comics, but only appeared on the covers of No. 7-10, 13, 15, and 17 after DC was told people were looking for the comic with Superman in it. Sales approached 500,000, double the average 250,000. From No. 19 onward, he has been on nearly every cover. His powers have changed since his first early appearances. It first he could not fly, only leap tall buildings in a single bound. He could outrun a train. Though not invulnerable, bullets merely bounced off his chest. He had no X-ray power."""
28. In June, 1938, Superman, the most famous, and first, superhero of them all made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1 and so launched the Golden Age. His story however, begins much earlier.
    
    Picture it: Cleveland, 1933. One hot summer night in Cleveland, Jerry Siegel, still a child, unable to sleep, lie awake fantasing, not of girls or cars, but of a new breed of comic. Inspired by Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator and science-fiction pulps, he dreamed of a futuristic man with incredible powers. As Jerry tells it, the Superman concept came to him piece by piece over the night. He would rise from bed and scribble down each detail as it came to him, and when morning came, he had a complete story. Having now fully realized his hero, Jerry quickly ran the 12 blocks to his buddy Joe Shuster's home at first light. Joe quickly became just as excited, and they immediately began developing the script.
    
    The early Superman seems heavily drawn from Gladiator, where the hero has superstrength, is able to leap 40 feet high, and watches bullets bounce off his chest. He also was inspired by the pulp hero Doc Savage, who was advertised at the time at """"Superman Doc Savage, man os Master Mind and Body.
    
    Over the rest of the year Joe continued to draw more of Jerry's scripts and the character, originally conceived as a villian hellbent on conquering the world, evolved into a hero, though he still had no name. He was eventually named and his appearance refined, with the duo immediately settling upon the initial costume design. """""""
29. In 1933, after seeing the Ledger syndicate publish a small amount of their Sunday comics on 7 by 9 inch plates, an idea hit upon two printer employees. Sales manager Harry L. Wildenberg and saleman Max. C. Gaines, employees of Eastern Color Printing Company in New York, saw the plates and figured two of these plates could fit on a tabloid page and produce a 7 1/2 by 10 inch book when folded. Gathering 32 pages of
    Famous Funnies Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics
    newspaper reprints including Mutt and Jeff, Joe Palooka, and Reg'lar Fellas, they created Funnies on Parade. This was the first comic produced in a format similiar to modern comics. Looking to test their product, they published 10,000 copies to be given out as premiums by Proctor and Gamble.
    
    Impressed by this success, Gaines convinced Eastern Color that he could sell thousands of these to big advertisers like Kinney Shoe Stores, Canada Dry, and Wheatena to be used as premiums and radio giveaways. Because of this, Eastern followed by printing Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics and later Century of Comics, both containing Sunday newspaper reprints. M. C. Gaines was able to sell these in quantities of 100,000 to 250,000 copies. Century of Comics was the 2nd comic book and the first 100 page comic."""
30. In January 1929 George Delacorte, working for pulp publisher New Fiction Company, published The Funnies No. 1, the first four-color comic newstand publication, featuring original comic pages and a cover price of 10 cents. Until No. 5, it was a weekly publication the same size as the free Sunday supplements, making confusion easy and ensuring it's failure. In an attempt to save the publication, Delacarte reduced the price to 5 cents with No. 25, however The Funnies ceased publication with No.36. Among The Funnies historic firsts was the publication of work by Victoria Pazmino, the first published female comic book artist."""
31. Late in 19th century America, comic strips began to appear in the Sunday supplements of newspapers. The first among these comic strips was
    The Yellow Kid 1896's The Yellow Kid, considered the 1st comic strip
    Richard Felton Outcault's The Yellow Kid which appeared in the February 16, 1896 Hearst New York American. In March 1897, these strips were compiled into Hearst's Sunday Journal and and sold for 5 cents. From this humble beginning an industry was born, though it would not have immediate success."""
32. Rom the Spaceknight is a fictional character, a cyborg outer space hero.
    
    Originally, the character was produced as a toy with electronic light and sound effects, by the toy company Parker Brothers. The company arranged to have the Marvel Comics company put out a comic starring the character. This comic was published between 1979 and 1985 and actually outlasted the toy by several years. The comic book version was adapted by writer Bill Mantlo, illustrated by Sal Buscema and was made a part of the Marvel Universe.
    
    In the comics, it was explained that Rom was originally a young man from Galador, a paradisical planet from the so-called Golden Galaxy, whose inhabitants closely resembled humans. Rom led a happy life until Galador was threatened by the evil, shape-changing aliens known as the Dire Wraiths. The planet's ruler, the Prime Director, called for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called 'Spaceknights' so they could defend the planet from the invaders. It was promised that their humanity (that is, the body parts that would be removed to accommodate the bionic armor) would be preserved and restored to them after the danger was over. Rom was the first one to volunteer, and was transformed into a silvery, robot-like being. He was also given Galador's greatest weapon, the Neutralizer, which, among other powers, could banish the Wraiths into the dimension known as Limbo. Inspired by his example, a total of 1,000 Galadorians volunteered and were transformed into Spaceknights, each with his or her own unique armor, powers and code names.
    Rom fights the X-Men in Rom #17 (April, 1981). -? Marvel Comics.
    Enlarge
    Rom fights the X-Men in Rom #17 (April, 1981). -? Marvel Comics.
    
    The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the wraith invasion. Rom, however, decided to follow the escaping fleet of starships back to its home planet, Wraithworld, and banish them all. The wraiths, panicking, abandoned the planet and scattered in all directions through space. Rom, feeling that he was now responsible for spreading the wraith's evil across the universe, swore he would not reclaim his humanity until all the wraiths in the universe had been defeated. Again, his fellow Spaceknights swore to do the same. They then left Galador.
    
    200 years later, Rom arrived on planet Earth. It is at this point that the Rom comic begins. He landed near Clairton, a (fictional) town in West Virginia, USA, located near where many wraiths had landed years before. The first human that Rom encountered was a girl named Brandy Clark. Brandy befriended Rom, but was forced to help him hide from the public, since the use of the Neutralizer caused onlookers to believe that Rom (whom they thought a robot) was disintegrating people (actually wraiths in human form.) Brandy's boyfriend, Steve Jackson, also helped Rom to track down the wraiths hidden in Clairton. However, as time passed, Brandy began to fall in love with the noble Rom, straining his relationship with Steve. One of the menaces they fought in Clairton was the Hybrid, a monster created from the mating of a human and a Dire Wraith.
    
    Eventually, Starshine, a female Spaceknight who was secretly in love with Rom, followed him to Earth. She died in combat, but her armor was magically transplanted onto Brandy's body by a Wraith sorcerer called Doctor Dredd, as part of a plan to use her against Rom. Brandy secretly yearned for this, since she wanted to stay by Rom's side.
    
    At one point, Rom was briefly transported to his home world,were he found that the Prime Director was now an evil Spaceknight. He was killed, but not before Rom's human body was apparently destroyed by Galactus. Rom was then transported back to Earth.
    
    With Clairton now free from wraiths, Rom and Brandy, now Starshine, left to track down more wraiths elsewhere on Earth. In the process they met many of Marvel's superheroes. Unknown to them, however, the female Dire Wraiths rebelled against their mates, whom they saw as failures. They killed all the male wraiths on Earth and then began to attack human civilization openly. Their first target was Clairton; they killed all of its inhabitants while Rom and Starshine were away, using their horrible ability to eat a person's brain, reducing their victims to slime (and gaining their memories in the process). Steve was one of their victims. Brandy was very traumatized by this event.
    
    Eventually, Rom and Starshine were able to convince the Terran authorities of the threat of the Dire Wraiths, especially after the species make the strategic blunder by breaking their cover and opening attacking the intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D., at their headquarters, the helicarrier and were barely beaten off. With definite proof of the enemy, the various Earth nations directed their forces to counter it.
    
    Shortly thereafter, the Hybrid returned, using Wraith magic to separate Brandy from her armor, making her human again. Rom defeated the monster again, but he chose to leave the now-human Brandy behind, for her own sake.
    
    Soon, the Wraiths launched their master plan: they cast a spell on Earth's Sun, that used its energies to draw Wraithworld across space, close to Earth, since they gained their magical abilities from it. The wraiths then attacked New York city en masse, and were resisted by an alliance of most of the city's superheroes. Rom, with help from the mutant inventor Forge, created a satellite that could boost the power of the Neutralizer, enough to banish all wraiths on Earth. But there was a danger that it would also permanently cancel the powers of all superhumans on Earth. So, Rom instead directed its effects on Wraithworld itself, banishing it to Limbo. This caused the wraiths to lose all their powers. Rom then banished the remaining wraiths as well.
    
    Afterwards, Rom left the Earth, and returned to Galador. Before he reached it, however, Brandy, having accidentally met the cosmic entity called the Beyonder, asked him to send her to Galador, which he did. But to her dismay, she found out that, in the absence of the original Spaceknights, a new group was created to protect Galador. But these Spaceknights felt superior to humans, and killed all the galadorians, and destroyed all the frozen bodies as well. Rom reached Galador in time to save Brandy but not in time to prevent the massacre. With the help of the original Spaceknights, the evil ones were destroyed. Rom then found that his original humanity had actually only been hidden by Galactus. Reclaiming it, Rom, now human again, finally admitted his love for Brandy, and stayed with her on Galador, hoping to repopulate the planet. The other Spaceknights, their humanities forever lost, set out to continue protecting the universe from evil, as well as safeguarding Galador for its new inhabitants.
    
    Note: Since Marvel no longer has the rights to the character of Rom, it is unlikely that they will ever use him again, at least not in the form it had as a toy. The human version of Rom, however, has been seen in other comics after this comic's cancellation, and so have other concepts from the series, such as the Dire Wraiths, which were invented by Marvel writers."""
33. Shogun Warriors were a line of toys, made by Mattel during the late 1970s that consisted of a series of imported Japanese robots all based on then-popular giant robot anime shows. They were originaly manufactured in three sizes, the 24 inch plastic versions, the 3.5 inch diecast metal versions and the slightly taller but much more detailed and articulated 4"""" diecast versions. There were later offered special versions of the more popular robots that could be manipulated into an alternate configuration. Shogun Warriors included the following:
    
    * Raideen
    * Getter Dragon from Getter Robo G (AKA Dragun)
    * Dangard Ace
    * Mazinger
    * Great Mazinger
    * Gaiking
    * Getter Poseidon from Getter Robo G (AKA Poseidon)
    * Combattler V (AKA Combattra)
    * Grendizer
    * Godzilla (only in """"jumbo"""" form)
    * Rodan (only in """"jumbo"""" form and rare)
    
    The most attractive features on these toys were the spring loaded launcher weapons such as missiles, star shuriken, and battleaxes. Some robots were able to launch their fists. The later diecast versions of these toys were also attractive for the ability to transform into different shapes. Grandizer, for instance, was changeable into a saucerlike spaceship. These """"convertable"""" editions were the precursors to the """"Transformers"""" line of toy robots but unlike the later toyline it was not unusual for minor dissasembly to be required to achive the secondary form. Also the second form was not always an apparently usefull one, a """"giant skull"""" for instance.
    
    
    Shogun Warriors was also licensed in 1979-1980 for a 20-issue Marvel comic written by Doug Moench where several of the robots (Raideen, Combatra, Dangard Ace) were incorporated into Marvel Universe stories.
    
    Like certain other toylines of the 70s, the Shogun Warriors came under pressure due to safety concerns regarding their spring loaded weapons features. Toy manufacturers were facing new regulations due to reported child injuries as a result of playing with these toys. Consequently, many toy companies were forced to remodel existing toylines with child safe variations (such as spring loaded """"action"""" missiles that would remain attached to the toy). For this reason, as well as decreasing sales, the Shogun Warriors toyline disappeared by 1980.
    
    Several of the anime from this toyline were seen in the 80s as part of Jim Terry's Force Five series."""
34. Secret Wars II was a 9-issue comic book miniseries and crossover published by Marvel Comics from 1985 to 1986. The series was written by Marvel's then Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and primarily pencilled by Al Milgrom.
    
    The series was a sequel to 1984s Secret Wars, though unlike its predecessor it occurred on Earth and took place simultanously with other Marvel comic books, enabling tie-in crossover stories in multiple issues of various titles.
    
    The covers of each of these tie-ins issues featured a logo in the top right hand corner which read """"Secret Wars II continues in this issue"""" to indicate that it was a part of the story.
    
    The broad plot of the series involved an enigmatic, all-powerful, godlike creature called the Beyonder who comes to Earth in search of enlightenment and then inevitably comes into conflict with the planets' superhumans.
    
    Taking a number of different human forms, eventually settling on a dark haired caucasian male with a taste for white jumpsuits, the character wandered in and out of the lives of various Marvel characters often challenging them in philososphical as well as physical ways.
    
    One example of this is Daredevil #223, (October, 1985) """"The Price"""" by writers Jim Shooter and Denny O'Neil and artist David Mazzucchelli.
    
    In that story the Beyonder encounters Daredevil's alter ego, lawyer Matt Murdock, while seeking to legally buy up all the property on the planet. When he first meets Murdock he notices that he is blind and restores his sight as a gift. Daredevil initially enjoys this boon, but soon begins to question whether he has lost something essential to himself.
    
    The storyline ended on a sombre note in Secret Wars II #9 (March, 1986) as the Beyonder's quest to understand the nature of desire was thwarted by a large group of super-heroes assembled by the Molecule Man, who viewed him as a threat to reality.
    
    The last page of the final issue showed that the events of the story had resulted in the creation of a new universe. Some fans have speculated that this was a reference to the New Universe line of books Shooter was launching at Marvel at the time, though he has subsequently denied this.
    
    Secret Wars II went far beyond any previous crossover by having minor and major tie-ins with nearly every other title in the Marvel Universe. Some tie-ins consisted of little more than a cameo by the Beyonder. A collector trying to own the """"whole"""" story would need to have purchased nearly 42 comics in less than a year.
    
    Though the story could be understood by reading the main miniseries alone, the number of tie-ins was controversial at the time. Also some readers criticised the series for its meandering storyline and its perceived philosophical clumsiness [1]. The series was a big sales success however, and most comics which crossed over with it saw a modest rise in sales.
    
    An epilogue to the story by Roger Stern and John Buscema ran in Avengers #265 and 266 (March-April, 1986). This story detailed the aftermath of the events of Secrets Wars #9 and explained what had happened afterwards to important characters such as the Molecule Man and Volcana.
    
    Later Steve Englehart wrote a nominal sequel to the miniseries, """"Secret Wars III"""" published in Fantastic Four #319 (October, 1988). This story featured the return of the Beyonder and retconned his origin, revealing him to be an evolved cosmic cube. The story ended when the character developed further into a new being - """"Kosmos"""".
    
    In the years since, the covers' of various Marvel Comics have occasionally featured the """"Secret Wars II continues in this issue"""" corner box logo as a humerous reference, when their stories touch on the events of the miniseries in some way."""
35. Secret Wars (full title Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars) is the name of a Mattel toy line and a 12-issue Marvel Comics comic book miniseries which were produced between 1984 and 1985.
    
    The series, which was conceived to launch the toy line, was written by Marvel's then Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and primarily pencilled by Mike Zeck.
    
    The story was a large scale fictional crossover, in which many of Marvel's most popular super-hero and super-villain characters were transported to an alien planet and pitted against each other in an all-out battle billed as """"the ultimate clash of good versus evil"""".
    
    Although the toy line was discontinued in 1985, the miniseries was an enormous hit for Marvel, breaking sales records for a monthly comic at the time of its release and spawning an almost immediate sequel: Secret Wars II.
    
    
    """""""
36. Contest of Champions is a 1982 mini-series by Marvel Comics. This was Marvel's first-ever mini-series. This involved Elder of the Universe Grandmaster and a hooded female (eventually revealed to be Death) playing a game for the fate of the Collector. They use various heroes, mostly from other nations, to collect the four pieces of the Golden Globe. If the Grandmaster's team collects the most pieces, the Collector will live again. If Death's team collects the most pieces, the Collector will remain dead.
    
    The Grandmaster's team was: Captain America (USA), Talisman (Australia), Darkstar (USSR), Captain Britain (England), Wolverine (Canada), Defensor (Brazil), Sasquatch (Canada), Daredevil (USA), Peregrine (France), She-Hulk (USA), Thing (USA), and Blitzkrieg (Germany)
    
    Death's team was: Iron Man (USA), Vanguard (USSR), Iron Fist (USA), Shamrock (Ireland), Storm (Kenya), Arabian Knight (Saudi Arabia), Sabra (Israel), Invisible Girl (USA), Angel (USA), Black Panther (Africa), Sunfire (Japan), and Collective Man (China)
    
    Six of these heroes (Blitzkrieg, Collective Man, Defensor, Peregrine, Shamrock, and Talisman) debuted in this mini-series. Other heroes that appeared in the storyline, but took no active part, were:
    
    El Aguila, Ajak, American Eagle, Ant-Man II, Aquarian, Aurora, Beast, Black Bolt, Black Knight III, Black Widow, Blue Shield, Brother Voodoo, Captain Ultra, Captain Universe, Colossus, Crimson Dynamo V, Crystal, Cyclops, Dazzler, Devil-Slayer, Doc Samson, Doctor Druid, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Firebird, Gargoyle II, Gorgon II, Guardsman II, Havok, Hawkeye, Hellcat, Hercules, Hulk, Human Torch, Iceman, Ikaris, Jack of Hearts, Jocasta, Karkas, Karnak, Ka-Zar, Living Mummy, Lockjaw, Machine Man, Madrox, Makkari, Medusa, Mister Fantastic, Mockingbird, Moondragon, Moon Knight, Namorita, Nightcrawler, Nighthawk II, Night Rider IV, Northstar, Paladin, Polaris, Power Man II, Professor X, Quasar III, Quicksilver, Razorback, Red Wolf III, Rom, Scarlet Witch, Sersi, Shaman, Shanna the She-Devil, Shooting Star, Shroud, Silver Surfer, Snowbird, Son of Satan, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Sprite II (Kitty Pryde), Stingray, Sub-Mariner, Tamara Rahn, Texas Twister, Thena, Thor, 3-D Man, Tigra, Torpedo III, Triton, Union Jack III, Ursa Major, Valkyrie III, Vindicator, Vision, Wasp, Werewolf by Night, Whizzer, Wonder Man
    
    At the end of each issue, Marvel catalogued all of the heroes and made summaries of them, leading us to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
    
    An unrelated sequel, Contest of Champions II, was published in 1999.
    """""""
37. Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12 issue comic book mini-series produced by DC Comics in 1985 in order to simplify their 50-year-old continuity. The series was written by Marv Wolfman, and illustrated by George P+?rez (pencils/layouts), with Mike DeCarlo, Dick Giordano, and Jerry Ordway (who shared inking/embellishing chores). The series eliminated the concept of the Multiverse in the fictional DC Universe, and depicted the deaths of such long-standing superheroes as Supergirl and The Flash II.
    
    The title of the series was inspired by earlier crossover stories involving the multiple Earths of the Multiverse, such as """"Crisis on Earth-Two"""" and """"Crisis on Earth-Three"""", but instead of lasting 2-5 issues and involving members from as many superhero teams from as many parallel worlds, it involved virtually every significant character from every parallel universe in DC's history. It has in turn inspired the title of the late-2005 DC crossover series Infinite Crisis.
    
    The series (usually referred to as simply Crisis) was highly successful from a marketing standpoint, generating renewed interest in the company's books, enticing readers with the clich+?d -- but in this case accurate -- promise that """"things will never be the same"""". The story itself was rooted firmly in the clich+? of """"superheroes battle to save the world"""", but its unprecedented scope and its great attention to both drama and detail satisfied most readers with its story. Along with Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, it contributed to the commercial and creative revitalization of DC Comics, which had been dominated in the market by Marvel Comics through the late 1970s and early 1980s.
    
    Crisis also helped popularize the formula of the line-wide """"crossover"""" comic book series (a concept first seen in Marvel Comics' Contest of Champions (1983) and Secret Wars (1984)). Since 1985, superhero publishers such as DC and Marvel have had frequent """"summer crossover"""" series designed to tie many of their comic book titles together under a single storyline (and thus sell more comic books)."""
38. Richard Joseph """"Dick"""" Giordano (July 20, 1932 - ) is a United States comic book artist and editor. He was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
    
    Giordano is probably best-known as an inker, particularly over the pencils of Neal Adams, on an influential late 1960s and early 1970s run at DC Comics that redefined the characters of Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, although he has also pencilled. He is also known as a mentor to an entire line of inkers, including Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob Layton, Steve Mitchell and Mike DeCarlo.
    
    He has been equally as influential as an editor, first making his mark at Charlton Comics in the mid 1960s with such characters as Blue Beetle, The Question and Captain Atom. In 1969 he was hired by DC's then-publisher Carmine Infantino. While none of his titles (such as Bat Lash and Deadman) was a commercial hit, they were critical successes, but by the early 1970s Giordano had left DC, helping to set up Adams' Continuity Studios (which produced comics and commercial art).
    
    In the late 1970s Giordano was lured back to DC by its new publisher, Jenette Kahn. Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981. With Kahn and Paul Levitz, Giordano was an integral part of the DC """"new look"""" that spawned successful relaunches of its major characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Justice League, Teen Titans et al) as well as the Vertigo universe (under editor Karen Berger) and the influx of UK talent such as Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Giordano also continued to ink, such as over George Perez's pencils on the 1986 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.
    
    Giordano went into semi-retirement in the early 1990s, although he does the occasional inking job, and in 2002 was part of the launch of Future Comics (with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton).
    
    Since 2002 he has also drawn several episodes of The Phantom published in Europe and Australia."""
39. Neal Adams (born June 6, 1941) is a comic book artist best known for his superhero stories which have a very naturalistic style of illustration.
    
    He was born in Governors Island, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.
    
    His period of greatest fame and influence in the medium was in the late 1960s and 1970s with the characters Deadman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and, most famously, Batman. His best known collaborator is writer Dennis O'Neil who created noteworthy stories that reestablished Batman's dark brooding nature and experimented with social commentary in the Green Lantern title.
    
    During the 1970s Adams mostly did illustration for paperback publishers and some film work but with the Independent Comic Publishing Boom of the early 1980s he did work for Pacific Comics and other publishers. Adams later started his own company, Continuity Press, which featured artwork by various artists who predominantly imitated their boss's illustration style.
    
    In recent years DC Comics published deluxe hardcover collections of Adams works including:
    
    Green Lantern Green Arrow Collection
    
    Deadman Collection
    
    The Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams - series that aims to reprint every Adams Batman story and cover in three volumes:
    
    Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams Vol 1
    
    Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams Vol 2
    
    Batman Ilustrated by Neal Adams Vol 3
    
    Adams has gained notoriety in recent years for his promotion of a theory that the Earth is hollow and is growing."""
40. A young mutant girl named Foxx arrives at the Xavier Institute, chased by hunters, and immediately flirts openly with Gambit. Gambit dreams and fantasizes about Foxx, even as he continues to reject her aggressive advances. Eventually, she reveals herself to be Mystique, and claims that she's trying to get him to sleep with her so he can blow off steam and thus repair his troubled relationship with Rogue. """""""
41. Because he is not an exact clone of Superman, Superboy's abilities differ. His primary power is a limited form of telekinesis that mimics super-strength and flight. He is also able to disassemble objects with a touch. As he's aged, Superboy has manifested a certain amount of non-psychically derived super-strength, but it remains to be seen if Superboy will develop any other attributes that possesses the Man of Steel.
    Recently, Superboy has developed heat vision and super-hearing, although he has not learned to fully master these new abilities.
    """""""
42. Wonder Girl II is a precocious and outgoing girl named Cassandra """"Cassie"""" Sandsmark, the daughter of noted archaeologist Helena Sandsmark and the Greek God Zeus. """""""
43. Speedy II
    When Mia Dearden tested positive for H.I.V., she was more determined than ever to do something special with her life. Green Arrow felt he at last owed it to Mia to give her a chance. Mia became sidekick to Green Arrow as Speedy. To complement her training, Mia also joined the Teen Titans.
    """""""
44. The Surfer was originally Norrin Radd of the planet Zenn-La.
45. Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and archenemy of Superman. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Luthor first appeared in Action Comics #23 (1940). His history has been retconned several times since then, with his current canonical origin being Mark Waid's 2004 miniseries Birthright.
    
    The (usually) bald-headed Luthor has been Superman's main foe for most of the superhero's existence and has unveiled countless plots to destroy him and take over the world. Originally Luthor was a mad scientist but has since been rewritten as a Machiavellian industrialist and white-collar criminal. For a brief period in the early 2000s, he was president of the United States.
    
    Luthor is one of several Superman characters with the initials """"LL,"""" including Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Letitia Lerner and Lori Lemaris.
    
    Luthor has been featured in most adaptations of Superman outside comic books. In the film series of the late 1970s and 1980s, Gene Hackman took a comical approach to the character. In Smallville, a retelling of Superman's early years, a young adult Lex is played by Michael Rosenbaum. The role of Lex Luthor will be played by Kevin Spacey in the upcoming movie Superman Returns."""
46. Kandor is the name of a fictional Kryptonian city in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe that was shrunken and stolen by the supervillain, Brainiac.
    
    In his battle with the supervillain, Superman rescued the city and kept it in his Fortress of Solitude while looking for a way to restore it. In return, the Kandorians provided the superhero with a place where he was an honoured guest, various professionals to assist him when asked and even occasionally assisted him in the outside with the Superman Emergency Squad.
    
    Eventually, Superman was able to restore the population's size and they settled on another planet which revolved a red sun. The Kandorians decided to name their new homeworld Rokyn, which is the Kryptonian word for """"gift from God.
    
    Post-Crisis, the bottle city has a somewhat different history, having been created by an alien wizard named Tolos, who trapped representatives of various races (including Valor's uncle) within, in order to possess their bodies. This city is not literally shrunk, but exists in an extra-dimensional space, occasionally connected to the Phantom Zone. Superman has not, as yet, managed to restore it.
    
    Since then, Kandor has undergone many revisions to its history. The city is once again from Krypton (but still populated by non-Kryptonian aliens). The citizens also recall Brainiac stealing their city from Krypton, and not the wizard Tolos. Apparently, a hundred years have passed in the city (while the world outside has aged normally). Because of this, Superman (or the ideal of him) is worshipped as a god in Kandor."""
47. Krypton is a fictional planet. In comic books, it is the birthplace of the superhero Superman.
    
    Named after the chemical element Krypton, the planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for the syndicated daily newspaper strip in 1939 and later brought into the comic books. Krypton no longer exists in the DC Comics universe, as it exploded as a result of highly unstable geological conditions. The entire civilization and race of Krypton perished in the explosion, except for one sole survivor: the baby Kal-El, who was placed in an escape rocket by his father Jor-El and sent to the planet Earth. Kal-El grew up to become Superman. In some versions of the mythos, a few additional survivors, such as Krypto, Supergirl and the criminal inhabitants of the Phantom Zone, were also survivors of the cataclysm."""
48. Doomsday is the name of a fictional supervillain in the Superman comic book series.
    
    Doomsday was artificially created by Bertron, a mad scientist working on Krypton, Superman's home world, though neither he nor his creator were Kryptonian (although Bertron had used a cadre of Kryptonian scientists who assisted him in his lab). Doomsday hated Superman because whenever he looked at a Kryptonian, he saw his creator who had subjected him to death over and over again in order to create the perfect life form. In order to do this, they sent a baby onto the surface of Krypton, where it would be killed by the harsh environment or vicious creatures. Each time, the lifeform's remains were harvested and used again, to create a better, stronger version of the last. Through decades of this process, the being which would eventually become Doomsday was forced to endure the agony of death, thousands upon thousands of times; the memory of these countless deaths drove it to hate all life, and especially Kryptonians."""
49. Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is a cartoonist and a writer.
    
    He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, United States.
    
    He is best known for his work as a comic book writer for DC Comics on such titles as Batman, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Gotham Central (with Greg Rucka) and Sleeper. He has also written Captain America for Marvel Comics."""
50. Joseph Michael Straczynski (born July 17, 1954) is an award-winning American writer/producer of television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is also a playwright, journalist and author of a well-regarded tome on scriptwriting. He is most famous as the creator, executive producer and head writer for the science fiction TV series Babylon 5 and Crusade.
    
    Straczynski wrote most of the Babylon 5 episodes, notably an unbroken 59-episode run including all of the third and fourth seasons. He is also a noted participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1985.
    
    Straczynski's professional name is J. Michael Straczynski, although informally he goes by """"Joe"""". In print, and particularly on Usenet, he is often referred to by his initials jms.
    
    Straczynski is a graduate of San Diego State University, having earned degrees in psychology and sociology (with minors in philosophy and literature). While at SDSU, he wrote prolifically for the student newspaper, at times penning so many articles that the paper was jokingly referred to as the """"Daily Joe.
    
    He is a friend and collaborator with speculative fiction author Harlan Ellison, a student and friend of Norman Corwin and an outspoken admirer of the work of Rod Serling.
    
    Straczynski currently resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife, fellow writer Kathryn M. Drennan."""
51. Steve Ditko retired from the mainstream in 1998. Since then, his strictly solo work has been published intermittently by independent publisher and long-time friend, Robin Snyder, who was his editor at Charlton, Archie (where Synder scripted Ditko's plots on a revival of Simon and Kirby's The Fly) and Renegade in the 1980s. The Snyder-published books have included Static, The Missing Man, The Mocker and, most recently, Avenging World (2002), a giant collection of stories and essays spanning 30 years.
    
    Ditko currently resides in New York City. Though a prolific and hard-working artist he is also an intensely private man. Preferring to speak for himself (through both his comics work and numerous essays), he has refused to give interviews since the 1960s."""
52. Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific writer of short stories, novellas, essays and criticism. His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of Star Trek, edited the award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions and served as creative consultant to the science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (1980s version) and Babylon 5.
    
    A great deal of Ellison's career has been spent within the science fiction genre and community. Most of his most famous stories have been published within that genre, and he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. He was also very active in the science fiction community (he was a founder of the Cleveland Science Fiction Society and edited its fanzine as a teenager), and has made appearances at science fiction conventions. However, Ellison is disdainful of the label, explaining that his fiction is closer to surrealist fantasy or magical realism than science fiction."""
53. Aslan is a speaking character in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. A noble lion and the King of Narnia, he appears in all seven books of the series. Throughout the series it is often repeated that he is """"not a tame lion"""", since despite his gentle and loving nature, he is powerful and can be dangerous. He takes the role of a Christ-like figure, though he is not an allegorical portrayal of Christ.
    
    In the course of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan is put to death in the place of a traitor, is subsequently resurrected, and makes appearances in the remaining books in the series. For example, he appears as the creator of Narnia in the prequel The Magician's Nephew.
    
    The books also make reference to an Emperor-Over-Sea, whose son Aslan is said to be, further highlighting his Christ-like status. The Emperor-over-the-Sea is similar to Eru Il+¬vatar of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, in His separation from His creation."""
54. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. They present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the realm of Narnia, where some animals talk, magic is common, and good is fighting evil. The books are also known for their illustrations by Pauline Baynes. The stories illustrate aspects of Christianity in a way that is accessible to younger children."""
55. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. It was the first of the Chronicles of Narnia to be written, in 1950, and is the best known. The Magician's Nephew is thus a """"prequel""""."""
56. n 1911, Edgar Rice Burroughs, now better known as the creator of the character Tarzan, began his writing career with A Princess of Mars, a rousing tale of pulp adventure on the planet Barsoom or Mars. Several sequels followed.
    
    The novel tells of earthman John Carter of Mars. A form of teleportation mysteriously transports him to the planet Barsoom, where he encounters both formidable alien creatures resembling the beasts of ancient myth and various humanoids.
    
    Carter stood 6G?¬2G?¬ tall and had close-cropped black hair and steel-gray eyes. His character and courtesy exemplified the ideals of the antebellum South. A Virginian who served as a captain in the American Civil War, he struck it rich by finding gold in Arizona after the end of hostilities.
    
    While hiding from Apaches in a cave, he found himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where he subsequently had many adventures. The less intense gravity of Mars compared to Earth gave him demigod-like strength.
    
    Mysteriously transported back to Earth, he spent the last years of his life in a small cottage on the Hudson River in New York. He died there on March 4, 1886."""
57. The Green Hornet was a American radio program that ran from January 31, 1936 to 1952, created by George W. Trendle, who also created The Lone Ranger. It was later made into a 1966-67 television program starring Van Williams as the Green Hornet and Bruce Lee as Kato.
    
    The series detailed the adventures of Britt Reid, debonair newspaper publisher by day, crime-fighting masked hero at night, along with his trusty sidekick, Kato. Kato was Filipino of Japanese ancestry. With the outbreak of World War II his Japanese heritage was down-played, leading to the common misperception that the character's nationality had been switched by the show's writers. (When the characters were used in a pair of movie serials Kato's nationality was inexplicably given as Korean.) Lee's popularity in his native Hong Kong was such that the show was marketed there as """"The Kato Show"""". Reid is said to be a descendant of The Lone Ranger. The character of Dan Reid, who appeared on the Lone Ranger program as the Masked Man's nephew was also featured on the Green Hornet as Britt's father."""
58. Anthony """"Buck"""" Rogers is the central character of Philip Francis Nowlan's story Armageddon 2419 A.D., which first appeared in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is the most commonly recognized franchise title. In the original novella, Rogers was not referred to as """"Buck"""" Rogers; that nickname was later given to the character when the comic strip first appeared in 1929. The name """"Buck Rogers"""" was taken from an old Western fiction cowboy story.
    
    While exploring a cave, Buck Rogers, a United States Army Air Corps officer, falls into a coma from which he is awakened in the 25th century. Together with his new comrades, the beautiful Wilma Deering and the intrepid Dr. Huer, he struggles to rid the world of evil warlords and """"Mongol"""" hordes."""
59. lash Gordon is a science fiction comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, first published on January 7, 1934. Although created to compete with Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon had much more sophisticated art and outlasted its inspiration.
    
    The comics followed the adventures of Flash Gordon, for whom the series was named, and his companions Dr. Hans Zarkov and Dale Arden. The story begins with Dr. Zarkov's invention of a rocket ship, in which the three of them make a journey to the planet Mongo, where they are stranded. Mongo is inhabited by a number of different cultures, some quite technologically advanced, that have been falling one by one under the domination of the vicious tyrant Ming the Merciless.
    
    The three Earthpeople are befriended shortly after their arrival by Prince Barin, rightful heir to the throne that Ming has taken. Ming banishes Prince Barin and his followers G?? including Ming's own daughter, Aura, Barin's bride G?? to the forest realm of Arboria, and the three join in Barin's quest to topple Ming.
    
    In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative postage stamps."""
60. The Goon is a comic book series by Eric Powell, published by Dark Horse Comics. The story is about the adventures of the Goon, a mafia hitman working for the feared Labrazio Family. He teams up with his sidekick, Frankie, to rid the city of evil zombie gangs under the command of the Nameless Priest.
    
    The Goon exists in a strange, alternate 1930s, with all the hallmarks of the gangster period but also with some more modern conveniences, such as television and giant robots. The series has a distinctly paranormal slant, with the average story concerning ghosts, ghouls or skunk-apes with an unnatural hunger for pie. However, there have been issues that concern extradimensional aliens and mad scientists."""
61. Hellboy is a comic book adventurer and paranormal investigator. He is not human, but rather is a large red-skinned demon with a tail and a giant stone right hand (called the Right Hand of Doom) with his horns sawed down to stubs, who was raised by humans since childhood and has sworn to defend humanity as an adult. Created by Mike Mignola, Hellboy's adventures have been chronicled in a sequence of comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics.
    
    The comics were adapted into a 2004 film.
    
    Hellboy debuted in 1994 as part of Dark Horse Comics' Legend imprint. Written and drawn by creator Mike Mignola, the stories have a flavor of supernatural adventure with a dark mood embodied by Mignola's distinctive designs (often containing many of Mignola's characteristic swirls, and his unique use of heavy shadows and basic colors)."""
62. A collection was discovered in 1987-88 just outside Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Allentown collection consisted of 135 Golden Age comics, characterized by high grade and superior paper quality. """""""
63. The most popular and recognizable style of manga is very distinctive. Emphasis is often placed on line over form, and the storytelling and panel placement differ from those in Western comics. Panels and pages are typically read from right to left, consistent with traditional Japanese writing. While the art can be incredibly realistic or cartoonish, it is often noted that the characters look """"Western"""", or have large eyes. Large eyes have become a permanent fixture in manga and anime since the 1960s when (Click link for more info and facts about Osamu Tezuka) Osamu Tezuka, creator of (Click link for more info and facts about Astro Boy) Astro Boy and considered the father of modern manga, started drawing them that way, mimicking the style of (United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966)) Disney cartoons from the (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776) United States. Being a very diverse artform, however, not all manga artists adhere to the conventions most popularized in the west through (Any of various resins or oleoresins) anime such as (Click link for more info and facts about Akira) Akira, (Click link for more info and facts about Sailor Moon) Sailor Moon, (Click link for more info and facts about Dragon Ball Z) Dragon Ball Z and (Click link for more info and facts about Ranma 1/2) Ranma 1/2."""
64. Manga magazines usually have many series running concurrently with approximately 30G??40 pages allocated to each series per issue. These manga magazines, or """"anthology magazines"""", as they are also known, are usually printed on low-quality newsprint and can be anywhere from 200 to more than 850 pages long. Manga magazines also contain (Click link for more info and facts about one-shot) one-shot comics and various four-panel (Click link for more info and facts about yonkoma) yonkoma (equivalent to (A sequence of drawings telling a story in a newspaper or comic book) comic strips). Manga series can run for many years if they are successful."""
65. There has been a She-Thing! After a shuttle accident, Sharon Ventura was bombarded by cosmic rays, which mutated her. Sharon became a female version of what the Thing first looked like. She was eventually treated, but the effects were not permanent and she mutated even further into a more Hulk-like beast."""
66. According to the DC Universe, human beings evolved into distinct lines back in the early days of man. The majority of humans became homo sapiens, while a divergent line became homo magi, imbued with a sensitivity to magic. It was homo magi that built ATLANTIS."""
67. Zatanna has the ability to manipulate magic in many ways and forms. Her unique genetic structure allows her to use the magic she was born with as well as learned magic. Imitating her father's spellcasting by saying the words of her incantations backwards, Zatanna must concentrate on her magic to make sure she is using the proper spell."""
68. Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1, and was a featured character in that title throughout the 1940s. This Hawkman was Carter Hall, a reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian prince, who had in the modern day discovered that the mysterious """"Nth Metal"""" could negate the effects of gravity and allow him to fly. He donned a costume with large wings to allow him to control his flight and became the crimefighter, Hawkman. An archaeologist by trade, Hall uses ancient weapons from the museum of which he was curator in his efforts."""
69. In Fantastic Four Annual 1998, it was revealed that Franklin's middle name is Benjamin, making his full name Franklin Benjamin Richards. His middle name comes from Benjamin Grimm, the Thing. Franklin shares the same middle name as Peter Benjamin Parker, Spider-Man. Franklin's first name comes from Franklin Storm, his maternal grandfather."""
70. A Mandalorian is a member of a group of masked warrior clans in the Star Wars universe. The leader of the Mandalorians typically takes on the title of """"Mandalore"""". Mandalorians are frequently allied with the Sith Order, most notably Exar Kun and much later as a prototype for the clone troopers under the power of Darth Sidious and the Galactic Republic."""
71. Boba Fett's first appearance on-screen is in a cartoon as part of The Star Wars Holiday Special, an element of Star Wars that apparently George Lucas would prefer to have forgotten. His popularity and mystique are also contributed to by the fact that Kenner released a Boba Fett action figure before The Empire Strikes Back was released."""
72. Cosmic Aeroplane Collection is a collection from Salt Lake City, Utah characterized by the moderate to high grade copies with pencil check marks in the margins of inside pages. It is thought that these comics were kept by a commercial illustration school and the check marks were placed beside panels that instructors wanted students to draw."""
73. The Jedi Master known as Yoda (896 BBYG??4 ABY), voiced by Frank Oz, is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He appears in all of the franchise's installments except for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Like many names in Star Wars, the name """"Yoda"""" may be etymologically derived from the Sanskrit yoddha (""""warrior"""") and/or the Hebrew yodea (""""one who knows""""). Yoda's character is believed by some to have been inspired by the title character in the 1975 Russian-Japanese film Dersu Uzala directed by Akira Kurosawa.
    Contents
    [hide"""""""
74. Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 G?? March 2, 1982), often known by his initials PKD, or by the pen name Richard Phillips, was an American science fiction writer and novelist who changed the genre profoundly. Though hailed during his lifetime by peers such as Stanis+?aw Lem, Dick received little public recognition until after his death, when several popular film adaptations of his novels introduced him to a larger audience. His work is now some of the most popular in science fiction, and Dick has gained both general acclaim and critical respect."""
75. Blade Runner is a science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and released in 1982, depicting a dark, dystopic vision of Los Angeles in November 2019. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film was designed in part by Syd Mead and has a soundtrack by Vangelis. Harrison Ford stars as LAPD detective Rick Deckard, with co-stars Rutger Hauer, Darryl Hannah, Sean Young, Brion James, William Sanderson, and Edward James Olmos."""
76. The lightsaber is the traditional, elegant weapon of the Jedi Knights in Star Wars. It is something akin to its namesake, the sabre, however rather than a metal blade it is equipped with a blade formed from a tight loop of highly focused light, essentially a laser of immense power, able to penetrate and cut most solid materials with little or no resistance. They play a vital role in the Star Wars fictional universe and feature in the movies, games and novels."""
77. Ace the Bat-Hound made his first appearance in """"Batman #92"""" (June, 1955)."""
78. When Tony Stark (Iron Man) first joined The Avengers, he offered his family mansion as the team's headquarters. Since that day, Jarvis, the Stark family butler, has maintained his residence in the mansion and has served as butler to Earth's Mightiest Heroes."""
79. Starfire grew up on Tamaran, the youngest daughter of the planet's rulers. In order to ward off an alien invasion that threatened to destroy the entire planet, her family gave her up as a """"peace offering"""" to the powerful invaders who took her away and enslaved her. Eventually, Starfire escaped her captors and fled to Earth where she joined the Teen Titans."""
80. Chester Gould's immortal Dick Tracy made his first appearance in the Detroit Free Press on October 4, 1931. Modeled after the innovative Sherlock Holmes, Dick Tracy introduced the world to new crime-fighting technologies such as the two-way wrist TV and the engineless car that took the detective to the moon."""
81. A spy attempting to steal the research of Dr. Bruce Banner, Emil Blonsky accidentally exposed himself to a concentrated burst of gamma rays that transformed him into a green-skinned monster known as the Abomination. Unlike the Hulk, he retained his intelligence and personality, but he could not revert to human form."""
82. Born of royal Atlantean blood, Aquaman (the infant Prince Orin) was abandoned for having blond hair, which according to Atlantean myth signifies the Curse of Kordax. The child, left for dead, was rescued and raised by a lighthouse keeper before eventually discovering his royal heritage and reclaiming his birthright as King of Atlantis."""
83. Reed Richard's, of the Fantastic Four, original reason for rushing his untested craft into space was to beat """"the Commies"""" in the race to be the first in orbit. That small point was conveniently forgotten in subsequent updates. """""""
84. The Fantastic Four team operated without costumes for the first two issues, but reader complaints put them in their familiar blue uniforms. """""""
85. Stan Lee originally wanted to call The Fantastic Four, The Fabulous Four, but his publisher, Martin Goodman, overrode him. """""""
86. In the early to mid-1950's at the notorious E.C. comics... Al Feldstein created, wrote, illustrated and edited a line of titles, which are now legendary. They included horror titles such as Tales from the Crypt which was adapted in the '90's for HBO television, plus science-fiction, suspense, and other genres still being copied today.
    
    In 1955 Feldstein became editor of E.C.'s MAD magazine when Harvey Kurtzman (with most of his artists) abruptly left the helm. Feldstein took the mag's then circulation from 375,000 to a high of almost 3 million. He gathered a new staff of talented artists and writers, supervised its operations, editing and re-writing stories, designing layouts, and creating a consistent format that led to MAD's historic success.
    
    In 1984, Feldstein retired from MAD and went back to his original love, painting. """""""
87. The first daily Peanuts strip appeared in seven newspapers: The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Star/Tribune, The Allentown Call Chronicle, The Bethlehem Globe-Times, The Denver Post, and The Seattle Times.
    
    From Monday, October 2, 1950, until the final strip appeared on Sunday, February 13, 2000, Charles Schultz gave the world a total of 17,897 strips: 15,391 daily strips and 2,506 Sundays. """""""
88. Frank Miller will make his first ever appearance at Wizard World Chicago this year as a Guest of Honor (along with Jim Lee)!
    
    Wizard World Chicago will be held from August 5th-7th with a special Thursday Premier Night August 4th. DonG??t miss your chance to shop early at Premier Night and meet these great guests throughout the weekend.
    
89. The Heroes Convention -- running strong for over 20 years -- will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, beginning on june 24, 2005 until June 26, 2005!"""""""
90. Did you know that there have been four Marvel Boys?
    
    1. Robert Grayson was the 1950's Marvel Boy. Grayson was the son of Dr. Horace Grabshield (later Anglicized as Grayson), a scientist who fled the Earth with his infant son during the rise of Nazi Germany. The Graysons landed on Uranus, where they were greeted by the native Eternals. Robert was given a costume and a pair of powerful bracelets, and returned to Earth to battle crime. Much later, he appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four, where he became the insane Crusader and died.
    
    2. Wendell Vaughn was the 1970's Marvel Boy, though he only used that name once before becoming Marvel Man and later Quasar. He used the bracelets of the 1950s Marvel Boy, which were revealed to be the alien Quantum Bands given by the cosmic entity Eon to the Protector of the Universe.
    
    3. Vance Astrovik was the 1980s Marvel Boy. He used that codename for some time before being sent to prison in the pages of New Warriors; he later adopted the codename of Justice.
    
    4. Noh-Varr is the most recent Marvel Boy to appear, in an eponymous miniseries by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones. He is an alien of the pink-skinned Kree species, although he hails from another universe. Upon arriving on Earth, he became an anti-hero styled after Captain Marvel but with elements of teenage rebellion added to the mix.
    """""""
91. Firestar (Angelica Jones) has the ability to generate and manipulate microwave radiation, which allows her to generate intense heat and flames and to fly. She has been a member of the New Warriors and The Avengers.
    
    The character was originally created for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends as a replacement for the Human Torch.
    
    Later, she appeared in the comic books as well, beginning with Uncanny X-Men #198. Although she was initially a pawn of the X-Men's enemies, she quickly became a superhero in her own right. After a miniseries of her own, the character faded into obscurity until she became a founding member of the New Warriors. There, she became engaged to fellow teammate Vance Astrovik (aka Justice, formerly Marvel Boy); later, she discovered that her radiation powers were rendering her unable to have children. Firestar and Justice later joined the Avengers for a time; during this period, Henry Pym designed a costume for her that would prevent her powers from affecting her adversely.
    """""""
92. Did you know that children from Power Pack could actually exchange and steal each other's powers?
93. When Peter Parker graduates from high school in Amazing Spider-Man #28, the guest speaker at his graduation ceremony is none other than Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson."""
94. Betty Brant first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #4, working for the Daily Bugle as J. Jonah Jameson's secretary."""
95. Spider-Man brought a new black costume back from the first """"Secret Wars"""". Unfortunately, it turned out that his nifty new threads were actually an alien symbiote trying to bond to him permanently. With Mr. Fantastic's help, Spider-Man was able to separate himself from the costume. Apparently feeling a little rejected, the symbiote would eventually bond with Eddie Brock and become the dangerous super-villain known as Venom."""
96. In Amazing Spider-Man #121, the Green Goblin kidnaps Peter Parker's then-girlfriend Gwen Stacy and ultimately causes her death."""
97. In Amazing Spider-Man #3, Spidey is badly beaten in his first-ever encounter with Doctor Octupus. Mentally defeated, Peter questions his ability to go on as Spider-Man until he attends a school assembly where the Human Torch is giving a speech. The Torch encourages the students to """"never give up"""" even when things seem tough. Peter takes this message to heart, and in a rematch, defeats Doctor Octopus handily."""
98. In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3, Spider-Man is offered membership in The Avengers if he can capture the Hulk and return him to Avengers headquarters. Although he does manage to capture the Hulk, Spider-Man is suspicious of what the Avengers want with the green-skinned monster. Feeling pity for the creature, Spider-Man decides to release him instead of turning him over to the Avengers, thus failing the test."""
99. J. Jonah Jameson's son, John Jameson, was an astronaut selected for a secret mission to the moon. While collecting lunar rock samples, he came across a glittering red gemstone which, after his return to Earth, would later graft itself to his skin, causing him to transform into a wolf like humanoid creature known as Man-Wolf when exposed to the light of a full moon."""
100. In Amazing Fantasy #18, Spider-Man battles Supercharger -- the first super-powered villain he ever encountered. Previously, he had battled mostly small-time crooks."""
101. Mysterio (Quentin Beck) started his career as a Hollywood stuntman. He later branched into special effects but quickly grew tried of his constant backstage role, and when a friend jokingly suggested that, if he really wanted to become famous, he should take out one of the new costumed crime-fighters, Beck decided to kill Spider-Man, thus launching his criminal career."""
102. Ace the Bat-Hound made his first appearance in """"Batman #92"""" (June, 1955)."""
103. Although Alfred's family name has since been changed to the more dignified-sounding """"Pennyworth"""", when he made his first appearance in """"Batman #16"""" (April/May, 1943), his name was Alfred Beagle."""
104. Catwoman made her first appearance in Batman #1 (Spring, 1940). The Penguin (1941), The Riddler (1948), and Mr. Freeze (1959) were all introduced later."""
105. The original Batgirl (first introduced in Batman #139) was Betty Kane, the niece of Batwoman (Kathy Kane). A later version of Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) was the daughter of police Commissioner James Gordon."""
106. Bat-Mite, a magical Kobold from another dimension, made his first appearance in Detective Comics #267 when he makes a chaotic attempt to aid Batman in his fight against crime."""
107. Bob Kane introduced Batman's young sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder, in 1940 to give Batman someone to talk to. Robin made his first appearance in """"Detective Comics #38"""" (April, 1940)."""
108. Scientist Kirk Langstrom was employed as a Zoologist at the Gotham City Zoo where he experimented with bat mutigene to create a serum to replicate the creatures' long life. After testing the serum on himself, Langstrom was transformed into the vicious ManBat."""
109. Although he worked with Bill Finger on the original comics, Bob Kane is generally credited with creating the character of Batman. He was a twenty-two year old comic book artist when he was charged with the task of creating another superhero in the mold of the DC phenomenon, Superman. According to Kane, the original concept for Batman came from three sources: a Leonardo da Vinci sketch of a man trying to fly with bat-like wings, a 1930s movie titled """"The Bat whisperer"""", and the masked heroes Zorro and The Shadow. Batman made his first appearance in """"Detective Comics #27"""" (May, 1939)."""
110. As a child, Bruce Wayne witnessed the gruesome murder of his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne."""
111. After deducing Batman's secret identity and invading the sanctity of Wayne Manor and the Batcave, Bane not only defeated Batman, but broke his back, leaving him crippled and wheelchair-bound. Helpless, Bruce Wayne left his costume and crime-fighting duties to Jean Paul Valley and set out on an arduous quest to regain his strength and will to fight. Eventually, after much rehabilitation and training with the beautiful but deadly Lady Shiva, Wayne returned to Gotham to reclaim the mantle of the Dark Knight."""
112. Coming from a long, proud line of warrior kings, T'Challa, king of Wakanda, champions the cause of his people both as their ruler and as the sleek superhero known as the Black Panther."""
113. When billionaire Simon Stagg sent adventurer Rex Mason to Egypt to retrieve the priceless Orb of Ra from a pyramid, he never expected him to return. Stagg's henchman, Java, attacked Mason, leaving him for dead. But Rex fell into a hidden chamber and was exposed to the Orb, whose radiation changed Mason into the freakish shape-shifting element man Metamorpho."""
114. The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) and her twin brother Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), the children of Magneto, were born without their father's knowledge in the mountains of Eastern Europe. Once manipulated by Magneto into serving the cause of terrorism, they now dedicate their lives to fighting crime."""
115. One of the many incarnations of DC's Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders' body was inhabited by the soul of an ancient Egyptian princess after a traumatic event caused her to attempt suicide."""
116. When Tony Stark (Iron Man) first joined The Avengers, he offered his family mansion as the team's headquarters. Since that day, Jarvis, the Stark family butler, has maintained his residence in the mansion and has served as butler to Earth's Mightiest Heroes."""
117. Starfire grew up on Tamaran, the youngest daughter of the planet's rulers. In order to ward off an alien invasion that threatened to destroy the entire planet, her family gave her up as a """"peace offering"""" to the powerful invaders who took her away and enslaved her. Eventually, Starfire escaped her captors and fled to Earth where she joined the Teen Titans."""
118. Chester Gould's immortal Dick Tracy made his first appearance in the Detroit Free Press on October 4, 1931. Modeled after the innovative Sherlock Holmes, Dick Tracy introduced the world to new crime-fighting technologies such as the two-way wrist TV and the engineless car that took the detective to the moon."""
119. A spy attempting to steal the research of Dr. Bruce Banner, Emil Blonsky accidentally exposed himself to a concentrated burst of gamma rays that transformed him into a green-skinned monster known as the Abomination. Unlike the Hulk, he retained his intelligence and personality, but he could not revert to human form."""
120. Born of royal Atlantean blood, Aquaman (the infant Prince Orin) was abandoned for having blond hair, which according to Atlantean myth signifies the Curse of Kordax. The child, left for dead, was rescued and raised by a lighthouse keeper before eventually discovering his royal heritage and reclaiming his birthright as King of Atlantis."""
121. In 1933, publishers at Eastern Color Press, looking for a way to make better use of their printing equipment which frequently sat idle between jobs, came up with the idea of printing an 8-page comic section that could be folded down from the large broadsheet to a smaller 9 inch by 12 inch format. The result was the first modern comic book. Containing reprints of newspaper comic strips, this experimental comic book titled """"Funnies on Parade"""" was given away for free. It proved so popular, however, that the following year Eastern published """"Famous Funnies"""" and took the bold step of selling the comic for ten cents through chain stores. The enterprise was a smashing success and Eastern began churning out numerous reprints on a monthly basis. Other publishers, eager to get in on the profits, soon jumped on the bandwagon, and the comic book industry was born!"""""""
122. The Alien symbiote that would join with Spider-Man and later became Venom was originally inspired Julie Carpenter's Spider-Woman costume during the Secret Wars.
123. According to the Star Wars novels, Han Solo and Princess Leia had twins named Jaina and Jacen."""
124. Wolverine's real name is James Howlett.
125. Sister Grimm, from the Marvel book Runaways is a somewhat rebellious goth. Her real name is Nico Minoru and she is 16 years old. She inherited her parents' abilities to manipulate magical energies, and uses the mystical Staff of One in combat. Unfortunately, Nico's blood must be shed before she can wield her magic, and she cannot cast the same spell twice. Her codename is actually her AIM screen name."""
126. Comic book writing-veteran Chris Claremont had originally intended for Mystique and Destiny to have been Nightcrawler's biological parents (Mystique, being a shapeshifter, would have taken the form of a man and impregnated Destiny.) Marvel, however, felt the idea to be too controversial and it was nixed.
     """""""
127. At a young age, Jessica Drew was lethally poisoned by radiation. In an attempt to save her life Jessica was injected with an experimental serum based on spiders blood, which had also been irradiated. Because the serum did not have any apparent effect on her, the man who would come to be known as the High Evolutionary placed her in a genetic accelerator. While in suspension she aged at a decelerated rate and when finally released decades later, Drew was only fourteen years old. Her first few years were confusing as she adjusted to life among other humans. Eventually HYDRA found and recruited her. Through brain washing and manipulation she was convinced she was not human but actually an evolved spider. During this time she went by the alias of Arachne. Finally, on a mission against S.H.I.E.L.D. Jessica learned HYDRA's true nature and turned on them.
     
     Now going by the name Spider-Woman, Jessica started her career as both a costumed crime fighter and a private detective. Jessica Drew's life settled down until a villain going by the name of Spider-Woman stole her power, which was later gained by Mattie Franklin. Jessica herself returned to her life as a private investigator, and as a teacher and mentor to Mattie (who had assumed the Spider-Woman identity.)
     
     Jessica Drew has recently regained her powers and is now currently the only active Spider-Woman and has recently joined the New Avengers.
     """""""
128. Hawkman:
     Thousands of years ago, Prince Khufu encountered Nth metal, an element originating from the planet Thanagar. Exposure to the metal imbued him and his lover, Chay-Ara, with the knowledge of Thanagarian civilization. It also provided Khufu with the working knowledge to harness the metal into wings, which allowed him to fly, and become a living embodiment of Horus, the fabled hawkgod of Egypt."""
129. Scarlet Witch:
     The Scarlet Witch's twin sons, Thomas and William, were actually demon soul fragments. The Scarlet Witch used her magic hex powers to become pregnant in the first place and Pandemonium's claim not only caused her the loss of her """"children"""" but the loss of her mind. Pandemonium seemingly died in that final encounter, but his legacy caused untold misery and pain for the Avengers. After the ordeal, the memory of her twins was wiped from The Scarlet Witch's mind, but years later the thoughts resurfaced and she lost it again. Scarlet Witch's wrath was focused upon her teammates and in the Avengers: Disassembled storyline, her actions left three Avengers dead: Hawkeye, Ant-Man and her ex-husband and father of lost children, the android Vision. """""""
130. Shanna The She-Devil
     History: The daughter of a big-game hunter, the African-born Shanna devoted her time to protecting animals. She shared many adventures with her two pet big cats, facing off against the likes of the Mandrill, the Owl, and even the Hulk. After her pets were killed, a grief-stricken Shanna fled to the Savage Land and her friend Lord Kevin Plunder, AKA Ka-Zar, whom she eventually married. The two have had to deal with the over-exploitation of the Savage Land's natural resources by unscrupulous outsiders, further making Shanna wary of the modern world. Shanna has increasingly rejected technology in all of its forms, leading to a number of arguments with her husband over how much technology they should allow near their son, Matthew."""
131. The first winner in the Best Writer catagory for an Harvey Award was: Alan Moore for Watchmen in 1988.
132. Literally translated, manga means """"random (or whimsical) pictures. The word first came into common usage after the publication of the Quick Facts about: 19th century Hokusai Manga, containing assorted drawings from the sketchbook of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. However, gi-ga (lit. """"funny pictures"""") drawn in the 12th century by various artists contain many manga-like qualities such as emphasis on story and simple, artistic lines."""
133. The 1895 """"Yellow Kid"""" created by Richard Outcault has often been cited as being the first comic strip. The reason being is that Richard Outcault was the first artist to use the balloon, an outlined space on the page where what the characters spoke was written. However, comic strips and comic books were published before Yellow Kid debuted in the New York City newspaper The World."""
134. All Star Superman, launched in 2005, is an ongoing series under DC's All Star imprint, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. DC claims that this series will """"strip down the Man of Steel to his timeless, essential elements"""". The All Star imprint attempts to retell some of the history of DC's iconic characters, but outside of the strict DC universe continuity."""
135. In addition to comic books, Superman has made the transition to radio, television, movies, and video games each on multiple occasions. Among the actors who have played the role are Kirk Alyn, Tim Daly, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh. There have also been numerous animated cartoon series starring the Man of Steel.
     
     Superman has also long been a popular subject for music, inspiring songs by artists ranging from The Kinks and Barbra Streisand to R.E.M., Spin Doctors, Crash Test Dummies, Five For Fighting, The Flaming Lips, and Sufjan Stevens.
     
     As an iconic character, Superman has often been parodied. He has also had characters modeled after him, in a form of homage."
136. Superman also has a rogues gallery of supervillain enemies, including his most well-known enemy, Lex Luthor, who has been envisioned over the years in various forms as either a rogue scientific genius with a personal vendetta against Superman, or a powerful but corrupt CEO of a conglomerate called LexCorp.
     
     The alien android (in most incarnations) known as Brainiac is considered by some as the second worst nemesis of Superman. In one way, the enemy that accomplished the most, by actually killing Superman, is the raging monster Doomsday. Darkseid, one of the most powerful beings in the DC universe, has also proven a formidable nemesis in the past.
     
     Other enemies of note include the fifth-dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk, the imperfect Superman clone Bizarro, criminal cyborg Metallo, Kryptonian criminal General Zod (and other Kryptonians imprisoned in the Phantom Zone),the Parasite, the Prankster, Terra-Man, the Toyman, Gog, and the Metropolis gang known as Intergang (which includes mad scientists such as Dabney Donovan and Dr. Killgrave)."
137. Lois Lane is perhaps the character most commonly associated with Superman, as his colleague, love interest, and later confidante of his dual identities, and now wife to Clark Kent.
     
     Main supporting characters include Daily Planet coworkers Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent's boss Perry White; Clark Kent's adopted parents Jonathan and Martha Kent; childhood sweetheart Lana Lang and best friend Pete Ross; and former college love interest Lori Lemaris, a mermaid. Incarnations of Supergirl, Krypto the Superdog, and Superboy have also been major characters in the mythos, as well as Batman and Superman's fellow members of the Justice League of America (of which Superman is usually a member).
     
     Minor supporting characters over the years have included Superman's technologial aid and eccentric inventors Professor Emil Hamilton and Professor Phineas Potter, Metropolis police officers Inspector William Henderson, Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin, and former sailor-turned-bartender Bibbo Bibbowski."
138. Some people believe that Superman is partly based on philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's +£bermensch, which literally translates to ""overman"" but could also mean ""superman"". It is also believed that Superman may in fact have been partly inspired by the Jewish legends of the Golem, a mythical being created to protect and serve the persecuted Jews of ancient Warsaw and later revived in popular culture in reference to their suffering at the hands of Nazis during WWII."
139. Superman, both the character and his various comic series, have received various awards over the years.
     
     The Reign of the Supermen storyline received the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story in 1993."
140. All Star Superman, launched in 2005, is an ongoing series under DC's All Star imprint, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. DC claims that this series will ""strip down the Man of Steel to his timeless, essential elements"". The All Star imprint attempts to retell some of the history of DC's iconic characters, but outside of the strict DC universe continuity."
141. All Star Superman, launched in 2005, is an ongoing series under DC's All Star imprint, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. DC claims that this series will ""strip down the Man of Steel to his timeless, essential elements"". The All Star imprint attempts to retell some of the history of DC's iconic characters, but outside of the strict DC universe continuity."
142. During a multimedia career spanning over sixty years, Superman has starred in nearly every imaginable situation, and his powers have increased to the point that he is nearly omnipotent. This poses a challenge for writers: ""How does one write about a character who is nearly as powerful as God?"" (Superman's Kryptonian name, ""Kal-El,"" resembles the Hebrew words for ""voice of God"") This problem contributed to a decline in Superman's popularity during the latter half of the 1960s and the 1970s, a period during which Marvel Comics brought a new level of character development to mainstream comic books. By the early 1980s, DC Comics had decided that a major change was needed to make Superman more appealing to current audiences. Writer-artist John Byrne was asked to revamp and revise Superman's continuity with his The Man of Steel retelling of his origin. This 1986 reboot brought substantial changes to the character and met huge success at the time, becoming one of the top-selling books. The relaunch of Superman comic books returned the character to the mainstream, again in the forefront of DC's titles, though Superman's sales soon declined again after Byrne left the Superman titles after almost two years, with only sporadic sales spikes since then (such as during the ""Death of Superman"" storyline)."
143. The first Superman character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was not a hero, but a villain. Their short story ""The Reign of the Superman"" concerned a bald-headed villain bent on dominating the world. The story did not sell, forcing the two to reposition their character on the right side of the law. In 1935, their Superman story was again rejected by newspaper syndicates wanting to avoid lawsuits, who recognized the character as being similar to a lead character from Philip Wylie's 1930 novel. DC decided to take a chance with Superman, figuring if any lawsuits were filed, they would just drop the feature.
     
     The revised Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1, June 1938. Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to the company for $130 and a contract to supply the publisher with material. The Saturday Evening Post reported in 1941 that the pair was being paid still a fraction of DC's Superman profits. In 1946, when Siegel and Shuster sued for more money, DC fired them, prompting a legal battle that ended in 1948, when they signed away any further claim to Superman or any character created from him. DC soon took their names off the byline. Following the huge financial success of Superman: The Movie in 1978 and news reports of their pauper-like existences, Warner Communications gave Siegel and Shuster lifetime pensions of $35,000 per year and health care benefits. In addition, any media production which includes the Superman character must include the credit, ""Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster""."
144. Superman possesses extraordinary powers which render him, as stated in the lead-in to the 1950s television series, ""faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"". Superman's famous arsenal of powers include flight, super strength and invulnerability, super speed, vision powers (including x-ray, heat, telescopic, infra-red, and microscopic vision), super photographic memory, and super hearing. There are no known limits to Superman's strength, though his sense of modesty and fairness may serve as a mental block to ever knowing the true limits of his abilities. His powers were relatively limited in the early stories, but grew to become godlike by the 1980s. After Byrne's 1986 rewrite, Superman's powers were diminished, though have grown again since then, possessing enough strength to hurl mountains and stop entire planets in their orbits. One thing that has remained largely unchanged, however, is that Superman's powers come from exposure to the earth's yellow sun. It should also be noted that in some early stories, it was stated that Superman's powers are things that all Kryptonians can do."
145. Originally, Superman's personality could be rough and destructive. Although nowhere near as cold-blooded as the early Batman, the early Superman did not have a ""no-kill"" policy and evildoers would occasionally meet fatal ends when dealing with the hero.
     
     By the end of the 1940s, the writers had moved toward Superman's better known ""Boy Scout"" persona. In fact, so far did the writers move from the grim and gritty original version, that he tended to be naive, even about his deadliest enemies. Even so, Superman's capacity for anger is a key element to many of the most dramatic moments in his appearances. That allows readers to see that Superman's goodness is inherent to his being, as he was imbued from a young age with a strong sense of purpose, morality, selflessness, incorruptability, modesty, fairness, compassion, and hope by his adopted parents the Kents. Superman was rasied to believe that his abilities are gifts, and are not to be abused. In many ways, he is the perfect American hero, as he embodies all the best traits that people would believe to see in themselves.
     
     Recent writers have attempted to deepen Superman's persona and provide a rationale for his goodness. Far from a perfect individual, Superman is often pictured with a sense of unbounded idealism mixed with restraint provided by his sense of fairness and compassion for others. He is also a man with an incredible depth of feeling, often struggling with the differences between the right answer and the practical one. In many ways, Superman is truly one of the most ""human"" heroes conceived, since he responds to emotional grief in stark contrast to the way he shrugs off bullets, bombs, and death-rays. On several recent occasions, Batman has faced Superman, serving as a foil to Superman's goodness; Batman, in his more recent incarnations, won't hesitate to use guile or underhanded tactics to gain an advantage, while Superman will be hesitant to use his natural gifts as an unfair edge. The tension between the modern Batman (morally hazy, paranoid loner, always pushing the limits) and the modern Superman (sometimes naively optimisitic, respectful of the law and wary of abusing his power) has become one of the defining relationships of the current DC Universe."