Friday, April 1, 2016

A: Amazing-Man


And now it begins! Here's my very first entry in this year's A-Z Blogging Challenge. My oh-so-specific theme: Golden Age Comic Book Characters with the Same Name As Modern-Day Characters. (It should probably be reversed, with "Modern-Day" coming before "Golden Age," since the Golden Age characters came first, but oh, well... I wanted to give the Golden Age top billing!)

For my "A" entry, I've chosen a hero called Amazing-Man (alter ego, John Aman). Delineated by artist Bill Everett, creator of the Sub-Mariner -- another hyphenated dude! -- Amazing-Man first appeared in Amazing-Man Comics number 5 (there were no Amazing-Man Comics #1-4!), in 1939.


In 1983's All-Star Squadron #23 (from DC), writer Roy Thomas and artist Jerry Ordway introduced a new Amazing-Man (complete with hyphen as a subtle nod to the 1939 original). They even named his alter ego Will Everett in honor of the original A-Man's creator, Bill Everett!

That's it for "A!" Tune in tomorrow for "B," and thanks for your time.

34 comments:

  1. Stopping by from a to z challenrge. I am also doing a to z comic book heroes but not as specifically as yours. http://ybdave.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-is-for-alfred.html

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    1. I'll definitely check out your blog! Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Hi, Silver Fox - I only know a few comic book heroes, so you've already educated me this morning!

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    1. I always like to enrich the public's knowledge of life's truly important things. Thanks for checking out my blog.

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  3. I never heard of Amazing Man. My husband is into things like this; I will have to see if he has heard of him. Great start to the challenge!

    betty
    http://viewsfrombenches.blogspot.com/

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  4. I've seen the second Amazing Man in pics before. Never knew there was a first one. Nice of them not to just rip it off and throw nods to the original.

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    1. Roy Thomas, co-creator of the second Amazing-Man, has a great respect for the old characters!

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  5. Hello from A to Z! That's a nice way to remember the original creator.

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  6. I'm intrigued by the idea that Amazing-Man started at comic #5. Reminds me a bit of Star Wars. I do wonder though why the creator decided to do it that way.
    @DoreeWeller from
    Doree Weller’s Blog

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    1. Nowadays everybody loves number one issues, but it was different then. There are two reasons that happened a lot back then. Sometimes they'd change the title of a book and keep the numbering of the old title so they didn't have to pay. (Something to do with mail rates at registration time, IIRC.) Some companies, and I believe Centaur was one, would often start a series with #5 or #10 to fool readers into thinking that a new series was an old, established, successful title.

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  7. Great job #A-Z @CazsBooks http://cazgreenham.Blogspot.com welcome aboard Greenham's yacht

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    1. Thanks a lot. Checked your blog but it made me comment as David M. Lynch, my not-so-secret identity.

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  8. Wow, that looks like a LOT of work gone into your posts, kudos. Not aware of Amazing-Man either golden or modern (1939 is slightly before my time :) but can appreciate the art and the impressive amounts of research you've done.

    Best wishes,
    Nilanjana.
    Madly-in-Verse

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    1. 1939's before my time too. Heh. I'm just a student of comic history. Thanks for appreciating the work that went into this.

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    1. The original? Me, too. The second was a recurring character in All-Star Squadron, from DC in the eighties.

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  10. Pretty cool factoids there! I honestly never heard of either Amazing Man. But, then, I have never been big on comic books.
    Thanks for stopping by Caneyhead!
    Revisit the Tender Years with me during the #AtoZChallenge at Life & Faith in Caneyhead!

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  11. So what was so amazing about Amazing-Man? Was that hyphen a secret weapon? :) I'd never heard of him before.

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    1. Maybe it was the fact that he looked so much like Sub-Mariner... since both were drawn by Bill Everett.

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  12. I never heard of Amazing-Man. I have to say...I like his original tattered loin cloth look

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    1. Some of those old outfits were really scandalous.

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  13. Haha! I love this theme :D Characters sometimes have names that just sound like "Dude... the deadline is tomorrow, we gotta name this new superhero... screw it, let's call him Amazing-Man!" XD
    Happy A to Z!

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    The Multicolored Diary
    MopDog

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  14. I know nothing about the golden age of comic books but I do love a good super hero. What a fun theme!

    @WeekendsInMaine
    Weekends in Maine

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  15. Ah! You know your heroes! Excellent.

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    1. Some of this month's entries will be really obscure!

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    2. I'm a collector, but I know very little about the Golden Age.

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    3. I've been a student since the early 1970s!

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  16. It is cool to see something so early. I love that he actually got to make the first flying character. (Sub-Mariner)

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