What comic book is Aquaman's 1st silver age appearance? 0

[bronze johnny]

4 hours ago, OtherEric said:

That's why I asked if it made any difference; it was not a rhetorical question.   I think it's a useful but limited data point, because as you say DC hasn't always been the best judge of its own history.

I do think Adventure 260 is definitively a Silver Age Aquaman story, rather than a holdover of the Golden age version of the character.  And because of the details of the origin, it's the earliest story that you can definitively say that.

I also feel that Showcase 30 is, and should be, the most important Silver Age Aquaman key.  It just, due to the unusual circumstances of defining when a character shifts from Silver Age to Golden Age, we have one of those situations where the first appearance isn't actually the most key.

Note to self:  Finish putting together my run of Adventure 247-260, because it really is just an amazing batch of comics where the Silver Age really gets rolling.

Adventure 247

[OtherEric]

21 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

Adventure 247

My copy is beat but complete and I love it.     Just in general, I think the Adventure 247-260 is in many ways the first real sustained run of what we consider the Silver Age.  Yes, there were a lot of individual issues you could point to earlier, including Showcase, but I think that Adventure run- where you get the intro of the Legion, the Jack Kirby Green Arrow run, a new origin for Green Arrow, the Aquaman origin, a Robin-Superboy teamup, and a Superboy-Green Arrow teamup, is the first run of sustained SA madness.  Such fun comics, setting the tone for so much to come.

[OtherEric]

And, since I digressed somewhat in my last post- although I think it's at least somewhat related to the general "where did the silver age begin when the series ran straight through from the golden age" discussion- here's my copy of the Adventure 260, with the Aquaman splash page as a bonus:

[Hepcat]

On 6/2/2017 at 0:58 AM, kimik said:

I agree re: significance and purpose of the Showcase run, but Aquaman is a bit different since the character was already in print in Adventure comics for several Silver Age years before it.

 

It just dawned on me that Aquaman could be the most different DC superhero of them all! Unlike Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow who were the other heroes to survive from the Golden Age to the Silver Age, I don't believe that DC ever explicitly acknowledged before 1985 that there was both an Earth-1 and an Earth-2 (or Earth-S in the case of Green Arrow) variant of Aquaman! Other Earth variants of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow all appeared in the Justice League Crisis team-ups at some point.

In which case how can there be a "Silver Age" origin for a character who may have been one and the same as the Aquaman who appeared in the Golden Age? Granted that Aquaman got a "new" origin in Adventure Comics 260, but a new and somewhat different origin doesn't automatically create a new and separate character. After all, how many new and more detailed origins did Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman get after their "first" Silver Age origins? (Wonder Woman's first two were in issues #98 and #105.) Yet there were only two of each of these characters (I think).

Incidentally, what were Superman, Batman and green Arrow's first Silver Age issues complete with "new" origins?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

So here's a list of the first Silver Age appearances of the other Justice League of America members:

 

J'onn J'onzz - Detective Comics 225 (November 1955)

Flash - Showcase 4 (October 1956)

Wonder Woman - Wonder Woman 98 (May 1958)

Green Lantern - Showcase 22 (October 1959)

Elongated Man - Flash 112 (May 1960)

Hawkman - Brave and the Bold 34 (March 1961)

Atom - Showcase 34 (October 1961) 

Zatanna - Hawkman 4 (November 1964)

 

But what about Superman, Batman and Green Arrow then? From what issues should we date their Silver Age origins?

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by Hepcat

[kimik]

For Batman, I am almost tempted to say that Tec #225 be considered the 1st SA Batman. The book went sci-fi/campy for a while after that until really the mid 60s (some sites claim Tec #327 is when it goes back to his detective roots). 

Green Arrow - if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it really fall?

Superman - I am not certain. Isn't there a detailed origin story in Superman in the #140s or #150s? That would be a bit late, but would likely be the best one since #53.

[Hepcat]

31 minutes ago, kimik said:

For Batman, I am almost tempted to say that Tec #225 be considered the 1st SA Batman. The book went sci-fi/campy for a while after that until really the mid 60s (some sites claim Tec #327 is when it goes back to his detective roots). 

 

 

A cover date of May 1964 would be way late for a Silver Age start for Batman though. After all, Batman had been appearing with the other members of the Justice League since Brave and the Bold 28 cover dated March 1960.

 

31 minutes ago, kimik said:

Superman - I am not certain. Isn't there a detailed origin story in Superman in the #140s or #150s? That would be a bit late, but would likely be the best one since #53.

 

DC seems to like Action Comics 241 cover dated June 1958 with "The Super-Key to Fort Superman" story because that's where the Man of Tomorrow Archive series starts.

In any event, can anyone recall Aquaman crossing over with any Justice Society or Seven Soldiers of Victory superheroes prior to Justice League of America 21? If not, that would seem to imply that Aquaman was an Earth-1 character from the very start.

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by Hepcat

[KirbyJack]

Where, oh where is Commander Benson when we need him?!

[AshKenziePaul]

I'm still waiting for Adv 260 to get some well deserved respect.  I honestly think the only reason that SC30 is more popular is due to the fact that comics have become an investment to many and slabbing is their means to higher profits...so the one with the prettier cover wins.  Ugh.

[OtherEric]

As far as I know, the first (and only) appearance of the explicitly Earth-2 Aquaman (as distinct from just the Golden Age version) was in All-Star Squadron #60, from August of  1986.  At the end of the issue, the effects of Crisis on Infinite Earths finally take effect, so Earth-2 Aquaman shows up in literally the last possible issue just to be wiped from continuity.

[Hepcat]

1 hour ago, KirbyJack said:

Where, oh where is Commander Benson when we need him?!

 

He was last seen in the post below:

 

http://marvelmasterworksfansite.yuku.com/reply/955655/The-DC-Comics-Time-Capsule-June-1967#reply-955655

 

[Hepcat]

3 hours ago, OtherEric said:

As far as I know, the first (and only) appearance of the explicitly Earth-2 Aquaman (as distinct from just the Golden Age version) was in All-Star Squadron #60, from August of  1986.  At the end of the issue, the effects of Crisis on Infinite Earths finally take effect, so Earth-2 Aquaman shows up in literally the last possible issue just to be wiped from continuity.

 

Hmmmppphhhffff. Too tawdry to even count as a proper appearance.

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

2 hours ago, Hepcat said:

 

A cover date of May 1964 would be way late for a Silver Age start for Batman though. After all, Batman had been appearing with the other members of the Justice League since Brave and the Bold 28 cover dated March 1960.

 

 

For Batman how about Detective Comics 233 cover dated July 1956 in which Batwoman was introduced?

 

 

It introduced a major character who then had 57 appearances over the next ten years and it was from the same few years as the first Silver Age appearances of J'onn J'onzz, Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman and arguably perhaps even Aquaman.

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

For Green Arrow's first Silver Age appearance I might pick Adventure Comics 250 cover dated July 1958. That issue included the first Green Arrow story for which Jack Kirby did the artwork. Green Arrow's origin would be recapped six issues later in  Adventure Comics 256.

 

[OtherEric]

8 hours ago, Hepcat said:

For Green Arrow's first Silver Age appearance I might pick Adventure Comics 250 cover dated July 1958. That issue included the first Green Arrow story for which Jack Kirby did the artwork. Green Arrow's origin would be recapped six issues later in  Adventure Comics 256.

 

I've heard the Adventure 250 used more than a few times as first Silver Age Green Arrow.  Another great issue in that great run of Adventure.

The only one I know of where it's easy to tell where the last Golden Age story is, is Superman.  Superman #128 has a story that relies on the idea that Superman was never Superboy... which makes it clearly still the Earth-2, Golden Age Superman.

That logic, of course, leads to the idea that the first Silver Age Superman... is More Fun #101.  Which... seems a bit early.

[steelcity]

First Silver Age appearances has always been a tricky topic with many opinions that carry merit.

Interesting thread to read through and nice to see some appreciation for these books. I agree with an earlier comment that Adventure 247 through 260 is a very interesting sub run. When I collected this group of books at the time I did wonder if anyone else had done so. 

[bobalou]

The first silver age appearance of Aquaman is Adventure Comics 229!!!