Superhero. A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a type of fictional stock character possessing extraordinary talents, supernatural phenomena, or superhuman powers[1] and dedicated to protecting the public. A female superhero is sometimes called a superheroine (also rendered super-heroine or super heroine). While the word "superhero" itself dates to at least 1917, the term "Super Heroes" is a typography-independent 'descriptive' USA trademark which is co-owned by DC Comics and Marvel Comics[2] By most definitions, characters do not strictly require actual supernatural or superhuman powers or phenomena to be deemed superheroes,[3] although terms such as costumed crime fighters or masked vigilantes are sometimes used to refer to those such as Batman and Green Arrow without such powers who share other superhero traits.
Such characters were generally referred to as "mystery men" in the Golden Age of Comic Books to distinguish them from characters with super-powers. History[edit] Marvel Comics. Marvel Worldwide Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company. Marvel Comics and its major, longtime competitor DC Comics shared over 80% of the American comic-book market in 2008.
History[edit] Timely Publications[edit] The company's first true editor, writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with artist and emerging industry notable Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes,[4] Captain America, in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) It, too, proved a major sales hit, with sales of nearly one million.[3] Atlas Comics[edit] Marvel Comics[edit] The introduction of modern Marvel's first superhero team, in The Fantastic Four #1, (Nov. 1961),[18] began establishing the company's reputation which eventually ushered in The Marvel Age Of Comics in the 1960s.
DC Comics. The initials "DC" came from the company's popular series Detective Comics, which featured Batman's debut and subsequently became part of the company's name.[2] Originally in Manhattan at 432 Fourth Avenue, the DC Comics offices have been located at 480 and later 575 Lexington Avenue; 909 Third Avenue; 75 Rockefeller Plaza; 666 Fifth Avenue; and 1325 Avenue of the Americas. DC has its headquarters at 1700 Broadway, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but it was announced in October 2013 that DC Entertainment would relocate its headquarters from New York to Los Angeles in 2015 (Burbank specifically).[3] Random House distributes DC Comics' books to the bookstore market, while Diamond Comic Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market.[3] DC Comics and its major, longtime competitor Marvel Comics (owned by Time Warner's main rival The Walt Disney Company since 2009) together shared over 80% of the American comic-book market in 2008.[4] History[edit] Origins[edit] The Golden Age[edit]
Justice League. Watchmen. Moore used the story as a means to reflect contemporary anxieties and to critique the superhero concept. Watchmen depicts an alternate history where superheroes emerged in the 1940s and 1960s, helping the United States to win the Vietnam War. The country is edging towards a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, freelance costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and most former superheroes are in retirement or working for the government.
The story focuses on the personal development and struggles of the protagonists as an investigation into the murder of a government sponsored superhero pulls them out of retirement, and eventually leads them to confront a plot that would stave off nuclear war by killing millions of people. Creatively, the focus of Watchmen is on its structure. Gibbons used a nine-panel grid layout throughout the series and added recurring symbols such as a blood-stained smiley face. Publication history[edit] Background and creation[edit] Alan Moore on the basis for Watchmen[9] List of Watchmen characters. The six main characters of the 1986 comic booklimited seriesWatchmen (from left to right): Ozymandias, the second Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, the Comedian (kneeling), the second Nite Owl and Rorschach. Main characters[edit] The Comedian [edit] Blake's murder, which takes place shortly before the story begins in 1985, sets the plot of Watchmen in motion.
The character appears throughout the story in flashbacks and aspects of his personality are revealed by other characters.[5] Richard Reynolds described The Comedian as "ruthless, cynical, and nihilistic, and yet capable of deeper insights than the others into the role of the costumed hero".[5] Nicholas Michael Grant said the Comedian is "the only character in the Watchmen universe who is almost totally unlikeable. If Before Watchmen is accepted as canon, then in "Before Watchmen: The Minutemen #1", additional details are revealed about Comedian. "Before Watchmen: Comedian #1" rewrites the character's back-story further. Nite Owl [edit]
Nite Owl. Nite Owl is the name of two fictional characters in the comic book limited series Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and published by DC Comics. They are modified versions of the various Blue Beetle characters created for Fox Feature Syndicate and later sold to Charlton Comics, with the second Nite Owl bearing certain similarities in appearance to Batman and the first bearing a resemblance to The Phantom. The second Nite Owl made it to number 115 on Wizard's Top 200 Comic Book Characters list. Hollis T. Mason[edit] Hollis T. Mason was the first Nite Owl. At the age of 12, his father left the family farm in Montana and moved to New York City, working at Moe Vernon's Auto Repairs.
Starting out as a New York City policeman in 1938, he was inspired by Action Comics' Superman and the real life exploits of Hooded Justice to take up the life of a vigilante. Soon after Hollis retired, Daniel Dreiberg sought him out and asked if he could use the name and persona of Nite Owl to fight crime. Ozymandias (comics) Adrian Alexander Veidt was born in 1939, and is the son of wealthy German immigrant parents. As a child, he received high grades in school, and it was noted that he was very intelligent. He then hid this information from his elders and peers by deliberately achieving average marks. After his parents' deaths, he inherited their substantial fortune at the young age of 17, but he chose to give it all to charity and embark on a vision quest, following the route of his childhood idol Alexander the Great.
His rationale was that he wanted to be free from money and make something of himself on his own, from nothing. Returning to America after a year of traveling, Veidt named himself Ozymandias and became a costumed vigilante, earning a reputation as "the smartest man on the planet. " Doctor Manhattan then returns from his self-imposed exile with Silk Spectre. Cover to Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #1 by Jae Lee.
Ozymandias is shown to be very genial as noted by Hollis Mason. Rorschach (comics) In trying to create Rorschach, Moore said he was trying to "come up with this quintessential Steve Ditko character — someone who's got a funny name, whose surname begins with a 'K,' who's got an oddly designed mask".[6] On how he decided Rorschach's name, Moore recalls: [...] Rorschach, was perhaps the most disturbing hero ever created for comics. His brutal perception of black-and-white morality reflected writer Alan Moore's critical deconstruction of the whole notion of heroes - a popular theme recurring in comic books since the 1980s.
Moore stated that Rorschach was created as a way of exploring what an archetypical Batman-type character — a driven, vengeance-fueled vigilante — would be like in the real world. He concluded that the short answer was "a nutcase While Moore came up with Rorschach's name and descriptions, Dave Gibbons was in charge of the character's appearance. After the prison break, Dr.