# Comic Book Tryouts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262 "2019-08-26T13:42:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bionic\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@bionic\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bionic_man)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/21 "2019-08-30T01:50:23Z")
Howard the duck was introduced as a one shot in a issue of swamp thing created by Steve Gerber. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/22 "2019-08-30T02:02:43Z")
> [@bionic\_man](#): > > Howard the duck was introduced as a one shot in a issue of swamp thing created by Steve Gerber. Man-Thing. Swamp Thing is DC’s marsh monster. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/23 "2019-09-11T03:29:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Back in the Silver Age (when I was a kid) DC had _Showcase_ and other places to try out new characters and see if they could support a comic book. Marvel tried out new characters in their sorta general anthology titles – Any Man/Giant Man started out in _Tales to Astonish_ and Thor in _Journey into mystery_, for instance. They later set up _Marvel Spotlight_ explicitly for testing new characters. > > But sometimes they gave trial runs of characters elsewhere. > **Captain America** – Before he was revived in Avengers #4, they gave Cap a sorta tryout in Strange Tales #114 (nov 1963) , where he fights Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) (Because, you know, the chief method of interacting between comic book characters is the dustup). It turns out to really be an old villain, The Acrobat, dressed up in a Captain America suit, with a round shield. Musta been interesting for Jack Kirby, who created the Golden Age Captain America and drew him then to do it again here (and in Avengers #4 in March 1964) > > [https://comicvine.gamespot.com/strange-tales-114-the-human-torch-meets-captain-am/4000-110871/](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/strange-tales-114-the-human-torch-meets-captain-am/4000-110871/) > > [Avengers Vol 1 4 | Marvel Database | Fandom](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers_Vol_1_4) > **Conan the Barbarian** – Before he got his own comic, Marvel gave Conan – or at least something so similar to him that you’d have to check the VIN to be sure – a tryout in Chamber of Darkness #4 in 1970. Barry Smith, who would be the first Conan artist (in both the Conan comic book and in Marvel Tales #1, which , not being a comic book, could have a little nudity – “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” – which they ran in the regular comic a bit later with the nudity covered up) > Exactly why they did these trials isn’t clear to me. The regular runs with the characters started so soon afterwards that they must have been in the works at the time. Did they ever do any sort of surveys to see how well these characters “tested”? What if they tested badly? Why did they only do these tryouts for a couple of cases (which looked like sure things from the start), and then go on and simply ran other characters with no tryout at all, sometimes throwing them right into their own comic? I don’t think any of these 60s Marvel examples really qualified as “tryouts”. Marvel had a very limited line of titles in the 60s. Someone upthread said 8 titles, but I believe it they had 10 titles. Also, you had to remember that Marvel was still publishing a few non-superhero titles in the early 60s (Millie the Model, Kid Colt-Outlaw, Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos, etc). Marvel didn’t have the luxury of giving up part of their line for tryouts or showcases. Since the heyday of Timely Comics in the early 40s, Timely/Atlas/Marvel publisher Martin Goodman had been content to run the company as an industry bottom-feeder copycatting whatever trend was possible. Once Fantastic Four gave Marvel a hit, Stan Lee convinced Goodman to be a trend-setter than a trend-follower for the industry and go into superheroes done in the Marvel style. If Marvel waited to slowly roll out their new characters, it would give other, larger companies a chance to jump in and steal market share. Marvel fully planned to go into superheroes in a big way, and because it was cheaper to just have those superheroes take over and continue existing titles and keep the numbering. Thor appearing in Journey Into Mystery wasn’t a “tryout”, and neither were the split-feature titles Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, and Strange Tales. Marvel put two features into each of those titles because they had more characters they wanted to launch than they had titles. The double-feature gave Marvel a little flexibility because they could replace one of the features if it didn’t work out. The lackluster Human Torch feature in Strange Tales was replaced by Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, and Ant-Man/Giant-Man was replaced by Sub-Mariner in Tales to Astonish. The only thing that might be considered a tryout would be giving the last issue of the already-canceled Amazing Fantasy to Spider-Man, but that was more of a teaser, as Marvel already new they were going to launch Spidey in his own first issue a few months later. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/24 "2019-09-11T03:49:28Z")
Going to the other Marvel examples cited in the OP, I would posit that the ersatz Cap in Strange Talles was not a tryout. Marvel had already brought back Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, so bringing back Cap was more a matter of when and how then if. I’d say it was more of a ploy to boost sales for the lackluster Human Torch feature in Strange Tales. The “Conan” story in Chamber of Secrets isn’t really a tryout. Marvel knew they would be publishing a sword-and-sorcery barbarian, but didn’t know which one, as publisher Goodman was waffling on ponying up for the Conan rights. The story wasn’t featured on the cover, so it wouldn’t have been a very effective way to judge the idea’s popularity. If there was a “tryout” it was most likely Roy Thomas wanting to get his feet wet writing sword-and-sorcery before the actual title launch. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/25 "2019-09-11T22:52:31Z")
Also, people seem to think that a publisher makes decision to start a new character in a solo series after only one tryout issue. There are exceptions, but a lot of characters had multi-issue runs or appeared in multiple issues in tryout series before graduating to their own series. After Marvel expanded in the late 60s, they decided to launch three tryout series (Marvel Spotlight, Marvel Premiere, and Marvel Feature) in the 70s and published them on-and-off throughout the decade. Ghost Rider started with six issues in Marvel Spotlight. Werewolf by Night had three issues in the same title and Son of Satan had twelve, which was longer than his actual series IIRC. Marvel Premiere started with Adam Warlock’s first two appearances before going on to his own title, followed by eleven issues of Dr. Strange, who then launched into his second series, and then an eleven issue run for a brand-new Iron Fist. Marvel Feature launched with the Defenders for their first three appearances, then later had a few issues of Thing teaming up with other heroes that spun off into Marvel Two-In-One. Red Sonja also had a seven issue run that was a prelude to her solo series. These three tryout titles had quite a few characters that appeared for only one issue, some of which were brand new characters, and some of which were to give minor characters a spotlight, but I think Spider-Woman was the only new character from one of these titles to go directly to a solo title after only one issue. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/26 "2019-09-28T02:17:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Another example of a character who had a “tryout” is Wolverine. He was originally created to be a one-shot opponent for the Hulk, appearing in _The incredible Hulk_ #180-181 in 1974. The next year, a slightly reworked version of the character was one of the mutants recruited in _Giant-Size X-Men_ #1. I wouldn’t consider Wolverine a “tryout” character. Hulk writer Len Wein created Wolverine, and had plans on ideas on how to use him again. Then he left Hulk and was assigned to New X-Men and was told to create some new characters for the book. He decided to bring Wolverine in and tweaked him to fit the book. (The Wolverine in The Incredible Hulk was not a mutant. It was a pretty common practice in those days. For example, Iron Fist got canceled pretty quickly, but writer Chris Claremont took his villain Sabretooth with him to the X-Men. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/27 "2019-09-28T02:35:18Z")
No one has yet mentioned The Legion of Super Heroes. They first appeared in April 1958 Adventure Comics #247, appeared sporadically in many “Superman Family” comics and finally got their own series four years later in adventure #300. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/28 "2019-09-29T04:35:37Z")
I wouldn’t consider the Legion of Super-Heroes a tryout, either. They were put into that first story to be a foil to Superboy, and would have been a one-off idea if fans didn’t write in asking for their return. Even so, they were considered supporting characters to Superboy, and were always listed at the back half of Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes until the late 70s. Nor every first appearance of a character that eventually becomes popular enough to get theiir own title is a “tryout”. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/29 "2019-10-03T01:15:02Z")
A common misconception in comics history is that DC Comics launched the Silver Age by featuring the Barry Allen Flash in Showcase #4, which led to a big, immediate revival of superheroes. Actually, the DC of that era was a very conservative company. The Flash appeared in four issues of Showcase over the next year before graduating to his own title, which picked up the numbering from the Golden Age Flash title. After that, DC had its next Showcase superhero tryout in…1959, with a three-issue run of Green Lantern. Justice League of America had it’s first appearance in Brave & the Bold in 1960. Atom and Hawkman each had three issue tryouts in 1961./ ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/30 "2019-10-21T01:03:58Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > I wouldn’t consider the Legion of Super-Heroes a tryout, either. They were put into that first story to be a foil to Superboy, and would have been a one-off idea if fans didn’t write in asking for their return. Even so, they were considered supporting characters to Superboy, and were always listed at the back half of Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes until the late 70s. > > Nor every first appearance of a character that eventually becomes popular enough to get theiir own title is a “tryout”. OK, perhaps not the Legion as a whole, but would the character Mon-El qualify? He first appeared in Superboy 89 in June of 1961. At the end of his initial appearance he was sent into the “Phantom Zone”. Then 15 months later (or a thousand years later depending on your point of view) he was released, albeit temporarily, and inducted into the Legion on the spot in _their_ first regular featured appearance. He might not have gotten his own title (at least not right away, sort of), but it seems pretty clear that he was intended to become a regular character at some point. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/31 "2019-10-21T01:18:12Z")
People here seem to be missing the basic “tryout” idea I outlined in the OP. In those cases there was no ongoing series using the character. In two of the cases they brought in what appeared to be a new character or a renewal, but it turned out that the character wasn’t permanent, or was an imposter, so it didn’;t break the comic book continuity – they could go back to what they were doing without that character. They didn’t exist, even without that comic-book universe and continuity. Most of the ones listed above are characters that were introduced and might not be used, but they were still hanging around. As for the Conan-like tryout, it wasn’t even in a fixed Marvel universe – it was a stand-alone story in an anthology comic. Despite what Roy Thomas said, it’s kinda hard to believe that this wasn’t some sort of gauge as to whether a Conan-like character would “fly”, even if they hadn’t yet bought the rights to Howard’s creation. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/32 "2019-10-21T01:29:25Z")
OK, you’re talking maybe “concept” tryout, rather than “character” tryout? A Supergirl who doesn’t come from Krypton but is brought into being by a funky Indian totem paving the way for a “real” Supergirl, a Captain America who’s actually a villainous imposter paving the way for the real Caps return. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/33 "2019-10-21T12:29:02Z")
Only marginally related to the thread, but just FYI: if you’re interested in obscure comic book characters, a while ago I came across and bought a set of books called “The League of Regrettable Superheroes/Villains/Sidekicks”: [Amazon.com](https://www.amazon.com/League-Regrettable-Superheroes-Half-Baked-History/dp/1594747636/) Hilarious light reading. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/34 "2019-10-21T14:15:19Z")
One other appearance that might qualify as a “tryout”, by my rather loose definition, was when Marvel tried out Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone in a two-issue story in _Conan the Barbarian_ 14 and 15 back in 1972. I suspect that most readers (like me) were confused by the albino-skinned dunce-hatted magician-warrior with the sword that drank souls. I was, anyway. Certainly this tryout lead nowhere, because Marvel didn’t offer an Elric of Melnibone comic or even use him in any other stories. Which suggests that these tryouts were scrutinized. (I tried reading Moorcock’s original stories, but found that Elric had absolutely no appeal for me, like most of Moorcock’s writings.) Something that certainly wasn’t a tryout, but must have been a sort of homage, was the appearance in Conan #6 (June 1971) of a couple of characters named Fafnir and Blackrat. It’s hard for anyone familiar with fantasy fiction not to see an echo of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser in these two. They were apparently rapidly killed, although they brought back Fafnir for a several-ssue run before offing him for good. Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser actually showed up in _Wonder Woman_, of all places, the next year, and the year after that got their own series in the short-lived (6 issues) _Sword of Sorcery_. Was the Wonder Woman story a “tryout”? Haven’t read it, but it looks kinda like it. One character who DIDN’T get this sort of “tryout” was _Red Sonja_, also in the Conan books. She was created for the comics, combining the name of one Robert E. Howard character from a completely different time setting with essentially the bio of another Howard character (Agnes of Castillion), and then plopping her into the Hyborian age alongside Conan. As originally drawn by Barry Smith (not yet Windsor-Smith), she was actually a reasonable character, with non-extravagant boobs, a face that didn’t look as if she used a lot of makeup, and dressed in a mail shirt that came down to her wrists, short pants, and sailor’s boots. No silver-dollar bikini and huge mane of red hair. You could see this incarnation of her thieving and fighting alongside a Conan, unlike what Esteban Moroto did with her (and Frank Thorne developed). Red Sonja was definitely introduced as a new character that was intended to be used. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/35 "2019-10-21T16:54:15Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Man-Thing. Swamp Thing is DC’s marsh monster. Let’s not forget Man-Thing’s own comic—the infamously titled _Giant Size Man-Thing_. [https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Giant-Size\_Man-Thing\_Vol\_1\_1](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Giant-Size_Man-Thing_Vol_1_1) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262/36 "2019-10-21T17:07:19Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Let’s not forget Man-Thing’s own comic—the infamously titled _Giant Size Man-Thing_. > > [https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Giant-Size\_Man-Thing\_Vol\_1\_1](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Giant-Size_Man-Thing_Vol_1_1) [MST3K] Oh, yeah! You wish! [/MST3K] (Actual MST3K quote from their coverage of _The Amazing Colossal Man_) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-tryouts/839262.md?page=1)