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

[Electricmastro]

Going by company, the biggest tier heroes for each of these companies were probably:

DC Comics - Superman

Fawcett Comics - Captain Marvel

Quality Comics - Blackhawk

Street & Smith - The Shadow

Hillman Periodicals - Airboy

Marvel Comics - Captain America

Lev Gleason Publications - Daredevil

Novelty Press - Blue Bolt

Charlton Comics - Atomic Mouse

Fox Comics - Blue Beetle

Harvey Comics - Black Cat

Nedor Comics - Black Terror

Centaur Comics - Amazing-Man

Tem Publishing - Cat-Man

Archie Comics - The Shield

Edited April 15, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Primetime]

Timely had plenty of 3rd, 4th, and 5th tier characters of which these are some of my favorites:

Blue Blaze

Dynamic Man

Moon Man

Blazing Skull

Black Marvel

Red Raven

Electro

Ka-Zar

Masked Raider 

[Electricmastro]

38 minutes ago, Primetime said:

Timely had plenty of 3rd, 4th, and 5th tier characters of which these are some of my favorites:

Blue Blaze

Dynamic Man

Moon Man

Blazing Skull

Black Marvel

Red Raven

Electro

Ka-Zar

Masked Raider 

Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner were definitely Timely’s most frequently appearing characters. The Angel appeared quite consistently too, from 1939-1946.

[Primetime]

20 minutes ago, Electricmastro said:

Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner were definitely Timely’s most frequently appearing characters. The Angel appeared quite consistently too, from 1939-1946.

yup, they were obvious top tier characters with Marvel Mystery being the flagship title for Goodman til Cap was released..I was just listing the less stellar characters for this thread 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Primetime

[Electricmastro]

15 hours ago, Primetime said:

yup, they were obvious top tier characters with Marvel Mystery being the flagship title for Goodman til Cap was released..I was just listing the less stellar characters for this thread 

Might as well give a Timely roll call then:

American Ace (Perry Webb)

Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie)

The Angel (Thomas Halloway)

The Human Torch (Jim Hammond)

Ka-Zar (David Rand)

Masked Raider (Jim Gardley)

Fiery Mask (Jack Castle)

Flash Foster (Robert Foster)

John Steele

Monako

Electro

The Ferret (Dennis Piper)

Laughing Mask (Dennis Burton)

Mister E (Victor Jay)

Phantom Bullet (Allan Lewis)

Blue Blaze (Spencer Keen)

Dakor the Detective Magician (Alan Dakor)

Dynamic Man

Flexo the Rubber Man

Breeze Barton (Kurt Barton)

Invisible Man (Leonard Gade)

Marvex the Super-Robot

Mastermind Excello (Earl Everett)

Phantom Reporter (Richard Jones)

Taxi Taylor (Jim Taylor)

The Falcon (Carl Burgess)

Hercules (Varen David)

Black Widow (Claire Voyant)

The Human Top (Bruce Bravelle)

Magar the Mystic

Mercury (Makkari)

Merzah the Mystic

Red Raven

Thin Man (Bruce Dickson)

Mantor the Magician

Toro (Thomas Raymond)

Marvel Boy (Martin Burns)

The Vision (Aarkus)

The Patriot (Jeffrey Mace)

Black Marvel (Dan Lyons)

Blazing Skull (Mark Todd)

Bucky (James Barnes)

Captain America (Steven Rogers)

Moon Man

The Terror (Laslo Pevely)

Blue Diamond (Elton Morrow)

The Challenger (William Waring)

The Fin (Peter Noble)

Silver Scorpion (Elizabeth Barstow)

Thunderer (Jerry Carstairs)

The Defender (Don Stevens)

Jack Frost

Major Liberty (John Liberty)

Rockman (Daniel Rose)

Rusty

The Whizzer (Robert Frank)

Young Avenger (William Bryon)

Father Time (Larry Scott)

The Destroyer (Kevin Marlow)

Captain Terror (Dan Kane)

Vagabond (Patrick Murphy)

The Witness

Citizen V (John Watkins)

Secret Stamp (Roddy Colt)

American Avenger (Don Caldwell)

Blue Blade (Roy Chambers)

Roko the Amazing (Lon Crag)

Archie the Gruesome

Fourth Musketeer

Monstro the Mighty

Fighting Yank (William Prince)

Captain Wonder (Jeff Jordan)

Timothy Mulrooney

Captain Daring (Lee Bradford)

Miss America (Madeline Frank)

Miss Patriot (Mary Morgan)

Alfie

Blonde Phantom (Louise Mason)

Mr. Wu

Namora (Aquaria Neptunia)

Golden Girl (Elizabeth Ross)

Sun Girl (Mary Mitchell)

Venus (Aphrodite)

Edited April 9, 2020 by Electricmastro

[rjpb]

What helps define tiers? May I suggest:

Top tier: Eponymous title with a respectable run, along with routine cover appearances on at least one other title.

Second tier: Regular cover appearances on a title for at least a dozen issues, possibly including one's own, but not popular enough to sell multiple titles simultaneously.

Third tier: Some cover appearances, either in group or solo, and/or some longevity as a backup character in a title.

Fourth tier: Short-lived run, with or without the odd cover appearance. 

Not perfect, as one can argue where some characters who seem between tiers really belong, and I suppose the argument can be made for a super-star tier of characters so iconic, that generations beyond those buying comics in the GA readily recognized them, but it's a start.

 

[Primetime]

6 hours ago, rjpb said:

What helps define tiers? May I suggest:

Top tier: Eponymous title with a respectable run, along with routine cover appearances on at least one other title.

Second tier: Regular cover appearances on a title for at least a dozen issues, possibly including one's own, but not popular enough to sell multiple titles simultaneously.

Third tier: Some cover appearances, either in group or solo, and/or some longevity as a backup character in a title.

Fourth tier: Short-lived run, with or without the odd cover appearance. 

Not perfect, as one can argue where some characters who seem between tiers really belong, and I suppose the argument can be made for a super-star tier of characters so iconic, that generations beyond those buying comics in the GA readily recognized them, but it's a start.

 

that looks good Richard. There were so many "fly by night" Timely characters by Goodman, so many of them were 3rd/4th tier based on your classification.