Who were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier characters of the Golden Age? 0

[The Black Hand ®]

We know that Superman and Batman and Captain Marvel were first tier characters, but who else and who were the second and third tier in the GA hierarchy?

[Wayne-Tec]

1st: Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain America, Captain Marvel, etc...

 

2nd: Flash, Green Lantern, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, Spectre, Wonder Woman, etc...

 

3rd: The Atom, Dr. Fate, Bulletman, Crimson Avenger, Daredevil, Catman, etc...

[RedFury]

I think the 3 tiers will be pyramid shaped. You will have a handful in the top tier, quite a few more in the middle tier, and everyone else in the lowest.

 

Well, this is a tough question and I'll probably forget some good ones, but my votes for the Top tier would be:

 

Superman

Batman

Wonder Woman

Green Lantern

Flash

Captain Marvel

Plastic Man

Captain America

Spirit

Donald Duck

Little Lulu

 

And then I think the 2nd tier would include characters like:

JSA members such as Specter, Sandman, Hawkman, Atom

Human Torch

Sub-mariner

Other Marvel Family members

Some of the other Quality heroes like Doll Man and Blackhawk

MLJ heroes like the Shield

Catman

 

 

Just my off the top of my head ideas...

 

[Yannis]

Superman, Batman, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Human Torch- top 5

[Yannis]

2nd- probably- Submariner, Fate, Spectre, Sandman, Green Lantern

[thedude]

Archie should be in there somewhere, right ?

[The Black Hand ®]

Archie would probably make it in the 1st tier. Shield and Black Hood would be 2nd tier. I'm thinking of them at the actual time they were out during the GA and not what we would consider them now. Now, a character like the Hangman would be 2nd tier, back then he was most likely 3rd tier.

[Forbush-Man]

Superman

Batman

Wonder Woman

Captain Marvel

Captain America

Human Torch

Sub-Mariner

Forbush Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......okay, Forbush Man was a stretch................

[sborock]

4th tier: Red Tornado

[gifflefunk]

In general?

 

1st tier: Any character that had his own title and was the lead feature in one or more other titles (the superstar characters).

2nd tier: Any character that headlined his own title.

3rd tier: Any character that was consistently the lead feature in a anthology title but never had the power to sustain his own title.

4th tier: The regularly featured back-up characters.

5th tier: The filler story back-up characters (one-shots or randomly moved from title to title, etc.)

[Norrin_Radd]

From Detective Comics...

 

 

1st tier: Batman

2nd tier: Boy Commandoes

3rd tier: Speed Saunders, Crimson Avenger

4th tier: Slam Bradley, Air Wave, Pow-Wow Smith, Casey the Cop, Martian Manhunter

5th tier: Super-Sleuth McFooey, Chief Hot Foot, Cliff Crosby, Larry Steele Private Detective, Steve Malone District Attorney, Robotman, etc.

[143ksk]

In general?

 

1st tier: Any character that had his own title and was the lead feature in one or more other titles (the superstar characters).

2nd tier: Any character that headlined his own title.

3rd tier: Any character that was consistently the lead feature in a anthology title but never had the power to sustain his own title.

4th tier: The regularly featured back-up characters.

5th tier: The filler story back-up characters (one-shots or randomly moved from title to title, etc.)

 

I like the list, but I think the 1st tier needs to be broken up into two tiers. I would define the true superstar characters as ones that not only had their own title and were the lead in another title, but were also successful in other media: radio, movies, newspaper comic strips.

 

Off the top of my head I would put Superman, Capt. Marvel, Batman and Archie in that category.

 

Otherwise, you're going to have Superman cheek-by-jowl with (for example) Blackhawk...

[RedFury]

In general?

 

1st tier: Any character that had his own title and was the lead feature in one or more other titles (the superstar characters).

2nd tier: Any character that headlined his own title.

3rd tier: Any character that was consistently the lead feature in a anthology title but never had the power to sustain his own title.

4th tier: The regularly featured back-up characters.

5th tier: The filler story back-up characters (one-shots or randomly moved from title to title, etc.)

 

I like the list, but I think the 1st tier needs to be broken up into two tiers. I would define the true superstar characters as ones that not only had their own title and were the lead in another title, but were also successful in other media: radio, movies, newspaper comic strips.

 

Off the top of my head I would put Superman, Capt. Marvel, Batman and Archie in that category.

 

Otherwise, you're going to have Superman cheek-by-jowl with (for example) Blackhawk...

 

...and Doll Man. He appeared in over 100 issues of Feature Comics and 47 issues of his own title.

[gifflefunk]

I think that gets a little tricky. Characters like the Blue Beetle and Captain Midnight made the cross-over to other media, but they didn't last as long as Blackhawk. Would you really rank Timely's Human Torch lower than the Blue Beetle just because the Blue Beetle had a radio show and a short run as a newspaper strip?

 

I like the list, but I think the 1st tier needs to be broken up into two tiers. I would define the true superstar characters as ones that not only had their own title and were the lead in another title, but were also successful in other media: radio, movies, newspaper comic strips.

 

Off the top of my head I would put Superman, Capt. Marvel, Batman and Archie in that category.

 

Otherwise, you're going to have Superman cheek-by-jowl with (for example) Blackhawk...

[143ksk]

I think that gets a little tricky. Characters like the Blue Beetle and Captain Midnight made the cross-over to other media, but they didn't last as long as Blackhawk. Would you really rank Timely's Human Torch lower than the Blue Beetle just because the Blue Beetle had a radio show and a short run as a newspaper strip?

 

My understanding is that Capt. Midnight was not original to comics, so like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse I was not really including him in the rankings. By your method, the Human Torch and Blue Beetle would be at the same tier (both had their own titles and headlined others). So, yes I would consider that Blue Beetle might have been a more "important" character in the '40s than the Human Torch...

 

But my real point was that the first tier category in your post was very broad and probably needed some way to distinguish Superman from Blackhawk, or Dollman, or the Blue Beetle... Whether my proposal of appearances in other media was the best way is certainly open to discussion, though.

[gifflefunk]

I can see it going either way and you can definitely "rank" that first tier of characters, but I'm not sure where the "clean split" would be to divide that tier if one were so inclined.

 

Within the comic book medium I'd go with my definition, but if you wanted to look at it from a wider view (say total earning potential for that character) then I'd definitely want to factor in the other mediums and perhaps even things like merchandising.

[piper]

In general?

 

1st tier: Any character that had his own title and was the lead feature in one or more other titles (the superstar characters).

2nd tier: Any character that headlined his own title.

3rd tier: Any character that was consistently the lead feature in a anthology title but never had the power to sustain his own title.

4th tier: The regularly featured back-up characters.

5th tier: The filler story back-up characters (one-shots or randomly moved from title to title, etc.)

 

How are Spectre and Sandman 3rd tier characters?

[Paratrooper]

I guess by your rules Rip Carson would be Third Tier:

[Scrooge]

I just love how people are quick to attack the faults in this system and yet don't offer any help how to adapt it to make it better (well, 143 was constructive). I think Giffle gave us a great start but simply pointing out the deficiency with one-off examples is

 

I like the system proposed because it uses objective criteria. I believe we're looking at such characters as The Spectre and The Sandman with rose-colored glasses and don't want to face it that, as far as DC editors were concerned, well ... they were truly 3rd / 2nd tier characters.

 

As for Rip Carson, it's tough since Fiction House did NOT have single-hero books (until later and people should remember that surprisingly those characters selected were: Sheena, Firehair, Wambi and Kaanga and that's it unless I forgot one). Nevertheless, due to FH's quirky adherence to anthology only, we'll have to side-step the rules and elevate Jungle Girl, Sky Girl and Sheena to the 2nd tier. As for good old Rip, I dunno. History kinda passed him by ...

 

I will say that the faults are specific but in the end the framework of this system is sound (thumbs u

[piper]

I just love how people are quick to attack the faults in this system and yet don't offer any help how to adapt it to make it better (well, 143 was constructive). I think Giffle gave us a great start but simply pointing out the deficiency with one-off examples is

 

I like the system proposed because it uses objective criteria. I believe we're looking at such characters as The Spectre and The Sandman with rose-colored glasses and don't want to face it that, as far as DC editors were concerned, well ... they were truly 3rd / 2nd tier characters.

 

As for Rip Carson, it's tough since Fiction House did NOT have single-hero books (until later and people should remember that surprisingly those characters selected were: Sheena, Firehair, Wambi and Kaanga and that's it unless I forgot one). Nevertheless, due to FH's quirky adherence to anthology only, we'll have to side-step the rules and elevate Jungle Girl, Sky Girl and Sheena to the 2nd tier. As for good old Rip, I dunno. History kinda passed him by ...

 

I will say that the faults are specific but in the end the framework of this system is sound (thumbs u

 

If you have to bend the laws to make them work then we need to modify them, so they can't fit all cases. In other words, we need the Universal Law for GA hero tiers....