Superhero comics
Cover ofWow Comics 38 (September/October 1941)
Authors	Jack Kirby Stan Lee Dennis O'Neil Alan Moore Steve Ditko
Publishers	DC Comics Marvel Comics Image Comics Valiant Comics Charlton Comics
Publications	Superman Batman The Amazing Spider-Man Watchmen Astro City
Series	The Death of Superman Gods and Mortals Days of Future Past The Night Gwen Stacy Died Snowbirds Don't Fly
Related genres
Comic book death Magical girl Superpower Tokusatsu Women in Refrigerators

Superhero comics is one of the most commongenres ofAmerican comic books. The genre rose to prominence in the 1930s and became extremely popular in the 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s. Superhero comics feature stories aboutsuperheroes and the universes these characters inhabit.

Beginning with the introduction ofSuperman in 1938 inAction Comics #1 (an anthology of adventure features) comic books devoted to superheroes (heroic people with extraordinary or superhuman abilities and skills, or god-like powers and attributes) ballooned into a widespread genre, coincident with the beginnings ofWorld War II and the end of theGreat Depression.

In comics format, superpowered and costumed heroes likePopeye andThe Phantom had appeared in newspaper comic strips for several years prior toSuperman.^[1] The first fully-masked heroThe Clock first appeared in the comic bookFunny Pages #6 (Nov. 1936).

In the Great Depression and World War II era, the first superhero comics appeared, the most popular beingSuperman,Batman,Captain Marvel,Wonder Woman andCaptain America.^[2]

After World War II superhero comic books gradually declined in popularity. Their sales were hindered in part by the publication of Fredric Wertham's bookSeduction of the Innocent, which posited comic books as having a harmful effect on the minds of children reading them, and the investigations of The Senate Subcommittee hearings on juvenile delinquency.^[3] By 1954 only three superheroes still had their own titles; Superman and Batman, who also costarred inWorld's Finest Comics, and Wonder Woman.^[4]

Beginning in the 1950s,DC under the editorship ofJulius Schwartz (himself had roots in thescience fiction fandom) began publishing revised versions of their 1940s superhero characters such asThe Flash andGreen Lantern with more of ascience fiction focus. Marvel Comics followed suit in the 1960s, introducing characters such asSpider-Man, theFantastic Four, theHulk,Thor, theX-Men andIron Man who featured more complex personalities which had more dramatic potential.

Superhero comics became much more political and dealt with social issues as in the short-lived run ofGreen Lantern/Green Arrow byDenny O'Neil andNeal Adams and theCaptain America story arc of the superhero's political disillusionment bySteve Englehart. This was eventually supplanted by more sophisticated character driven titles ofThe Uncanny X-Men byChris Claremont andJohn Byrne for Marvel andThe New Teen Titans byMarv Wolfman andGeorge Pérez for DC.Anti-hero themes became popular with appearances of thePunisher,Wolverine,Ghost Rider and a 1980s revival ofDaredevil byFrank Miller.

Superhero Comics became darker with the release of landmark deconstructive works such asWatchmen andThe Dark Knight Returns, which led to many imitations. The late 80s to early 90s saw the rise of successful new characters including theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the anti-heroSpawn which were predominantlycreator owned as opposed to Marvel and DC's which were corporate owned. The comic book mini seriesKingdom Come brought an end to the popularity of the anti-hero and encouraged instead a reconstruction of the genre with superhero characters that endeavored to combine artistic and literary sophistication with idealism.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSuperhero comics.

• Superhero film
• List of comic book and superhero podcasts

• Benton, Mike (1991).Superhero Comics of the Silver Age: The Illustrated History. Taylor History of Comics. Taylor Publishing. p. 226.ISBN 0-87833-746-6.
• Benton, Mike (1992).Superhero Comics of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History. Taylor History of Comics. Taylor Publishing. p. 202.ISBN 0-87833-808-X.
• Garrett, Greg (2007).Holy Superheroes!: Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels, and Film.Westminster John Knox Press. p. 216.ISBN 978-0-664-23191-0.
• Howe, Sean 2012).Marvel Comics: the Untold Story. First ed. New York: Harper. 485 p.ISBN 978-0-06-199210-0
• Jacobs, Will and Gerard Jones (1985).The Comic Book Superheroes, from the Silver Age to the Present. New York: Crown Publishers. xi, 292 p.ISBN 0-517-55440-2
• Klock, Geoff (2002).How to Read Superhero Comics and Why.Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 204.ISBN 0-8264-1418-4.
• Knowles, Christopher (2007).Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes. Illustrated by Joseph Michael Linsner.Weiser. p. 256.ISBN 978-1-57863-406-4.
• LoCicero, Don (2007).Superheroes and Gods: A Comparative Study from Babylonia to Batman.McFarland & Company. p. 249.ISBN 978-0-7864-3184-7.
• Reynolds, Richard (1994).Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology. University Press of Mississippi.ISBN 9780878056941.

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