# Who was the first comic book super hero? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712 "2004-02-17T21:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/21 "2004-02-19T00:12:23Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > BTW–the early DC comics portrails of Superman’s attitudes towards race & religion were suprisingly forward-minded, with nothing that doesn’t pass muster today. This was a big part of why the Nazis hated the character–he was the antithesis of what _they_ were talking about when they used the term “ubermench”. > The character was decent & fundamentally moral, then & now. You can let your children read Superman, & feel confident that they’ll pick up a good set of morals. Heaven knows **I** did. 🙂 Then again, there’s this charming cover from 1943, Action Comics # 58: [http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1943/act058s-tb.html](http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1943/act058s-tb.html) “Superman Says YOU Can Slap A Jap!” Buy war bonds, everybody! Yipes. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/22 "2004-02-19T00:35:44Z")
Yow, Dr. Occult goes back to '35? That’s pretty impressive…that’s only a year after Mandrake hit newspapers. For that matter, it’s only a couple of years after the comic book as we know it came to be! ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/23 "2004-02-19T00:55:45Z")
> [@Wumpus](#): > > Yow, Dr. Occult goes back to '35? That’s pretty impressive…that’s only a year after Mandrake hit newspapers. For that matter, it’s only a couple of years after the comic book as we know it came to be! Found this - Dr Occult flying in red cape and boots before Superman’s debut. [http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/MoreFun016-page1-color.jpg](http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/MoreFun016-page1-color.jpg) Also more about him here - warning very graphic intensive so might be slow to load. [http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/JOE\_SHUSTER2.htm](http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/JOE_SHUSTER2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/24 "2004-02-19T01:06:27Z")
> [@cbawlmer](#): > > Then again, there’s this charming cover from 1943, Action Comics # 58: > > [Picture](http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1943/act058s-tb.html) > > “Superman Says YOU Can Slap A Jap!” Buy war bonds, everybody! Yipes. War propaganda is never subtle or refined. Besides, he also used the term “Ratzis”. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/25 "2004-02-19T01:08:32Z")
Excellent links. It looks like Joe Shuster had been reading a little Flash Gordon before doing that spread of Occult in cape and boots. 🙂 The giant robot in Federal Men is pretty cool, too. ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/26 "2004-02-19T01:16:10Z")
When the classic 60s Marvel comics such as the Fantastic Four and the Hulk were reprinted in the UK in the 70s, the original enemies who were the “Reds” or the Russians became citizens of a mythical Eastern country called Bodavia and the villiain the “Red Ghost” became the “Mad Ghost” . ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/27 "2004-02-19T01:29:19Z")
[QUOTE=Patr100] Found this - Dr Occult flying in red cape and boots before Superman’s debut. [http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/MoreFun016-page1-color.jpg](http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/MoreFun016-page1-color.jpg) QUOTE] He’s flying with the aid of a special belt. This, in my mind, is similar to Batman’s lack of super-powers. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/28 "2004-02-19T01:50:06Z")
Hell, the golden age Hawkman flew with the aid of a “belt of Ninth Metal” (?) and big wings strapped to his back. Always wondered how he flapped them without using his arms. The Crimson Avenger was basically a lift from The Shadow, but this may or may not be significant. In _The Great Comic Book Heroes,_ Jules Feiffer points out that nearly all the golden age artists merrily ripped each other off stylistically, and backs up his case with a fair number of art samples. For that matter, artists merrily ripped off movies, sci-fi novels, and each other for ideas… Philip Wylie is generally given credit for inventing the idea of a bulletproof man who can leap for miles. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/29 "2004-02-19T02:17:05Z")
> [@Wumpus](#): > > If the criteria are “hero who adopts a secret identity to fight evil in any medium,” then you’re looking at literary heroes like the Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) and Zorro (1919.) If the criteria are “hero with superhuman powers in any medium” – well, it goes back to Hercules at least. > > [The Shadow on Radio: History](http://www.shadowsanctum.net/radio/radio.html) Which “superhero” with “superpowers” came first… Hercules or Samson? ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712/30 "2004-02-19T02:55:58Z")
Neither one–Gilgamesh. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-comic-book-super-hero/229712.md?page=1)