When you ask someone to name the greatest detective in fiction, they will likely answer one of two ways. The classic literature fans will say Sherlock Holmes, and the comic book nerds will say Batman. Both men have become icons for their fancy duds, great brains, and memorable sidekicks. Sure would be nice if they could team up, huh?

Fortunately, little things like the laws of time and space are no barrier for DC Comics. In Detective Comics #572, to commemorate the series’ 50th anniversary, we got not only a love letter to the title as a whole, but the team-up of two centuries…ish. And it’s a Christmas story to boot, so it’s seasonal, too!

We start not with Batman but with Slam Bradley, a detective character conceived by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who appeared in early issues of Detective Comics. Slam has no sooner met his latest client — an Englishman, Morgan, who claims his fiancée was just kidnapped — when a group of thugs with machine guns burst through the door. Batman and Robin to the rescue!

Unfortunately, Morgan ends up getting kidnapped anyway, so the Dynamic Duo heads off to London while Bradley continues the investigation stateside. He makes the rounds of Gotham’s crummiest bars and neighborhoods until he finds the missing girl and helps her escape. Once they are safe, she reveals that Morgan’s real name is Moriarty, and that her own name is Mary Watson. Dun dun DUN!

Now the Holmes stuff truly begins. In London, yet another detective, the Elongated Man, shows up. Why Elongated Man? He had a long-running back-up feature in Detective Comics starting in 1964. He stumbles upon another Moriarty (not the kidnap victim), who is determined to destroy a recently rediscovered Sherlock Holmes manuscript.

The manuscript, “The Adventure of the Red Leech,” tells the story of a young doctor who has been having memory lapses. Since he is about to join Queen Victoria’s medical team, he wants to figure out what’s going on as stealthily as possible so as to avoid scandal.

This is a real treat for Holmes fans, I must say. You’ve got all the elements of the classic stories — Holmes waking up Watson in the middle of the night, “the game is afoot,” etc. — and the art is nice and shadowy. There’s even a wink-and-nod to fans of the Basil Rathbone films: the client’s name, Nigel Brewster, is a reference to Nigel Bruce, who played Watson in those films. I guess Arthur Conan Doyle is a psychic in the DC universe?

The solution to this mystery is quite weird, but in keeping with a superhero comic. Brewster’s wife, an agent of Moriarty’s, had been keeping him docile with a leech with anesthetic properties. With Brewster indisposed, a doppelgänger could get to the queen, kill her with a leech, and allow Moriarty’s allies to take power.

So why did this evil Moriarty descendant want to destroy the manuscript? He was afraid it would tip people off to his own plans to kill the queen (Elizabeth II this time, obviously). We then see our heroes teaming up to stop his schemes and rescue his hapless cousin, the not-evil Moriarty. It all culminates in this fantastic image of Batman punting a bomb disguised as a book while the royals look on in terror.

But there’s one more surprise! Batman had previously discovered that a Scotland Yard detective was in on the plot and tries to chase him down. Instead, he receives a timely assist from an old man with a deerstalker. Yes, Sherlock Holmes is alive and well! In 1987! You’ll never guess how that happened!

You heard it here first, folks. Sherlock Holmes discovered immortality through beekeeping and living in Tibet. Who knew it was that easy? (He does not appear to have shared this secret with Watson, who is dead and is the direct ancestor of our kidnap victim, Mary.)

So that’s our big crossover. What did you think?

This is absolutely not the story I was expecting from the cover, which features a young Holmes sitting at a table while Batman reads over his shoulder. I really thought I’d be getting something similar to the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode “Trials of the Demon!” where Bats and Holmes (and Watson) teamed up thanks to the magic of time travel. I can’t believe a comic book cover lied to me.

Though it’s revealed that Holmes was sort of orchestrating things from behind the scenes the whole time, there is very little in the way of an actual team-up. Instead, this was a tribute to Detective Comics itself, with Holmes more like the star of an old TV show making a cameo to give his blessing to the remake: after all, the stars of Detective Comics all owe a big debt to the world’s most popular detective character.

It’s still a fun story. But if you’re here solely for the Batman/Holmes crossover, you’ll probably be disappointed.

Lucky for us, the last few Sherlock Holmes stories are entering the U.S. public domain as of January 1, 2023, so the Doyle estate will no longer have grounds to pull nonsense stunts like suing Miramax and Netflix for daring to give Holmes an emotion. (I could explain why the whole premise of these lawsuits is a giant load, but that is not my purpose here today, so you’re off the hook.) Hopefully, this means creators from companies big and small will now feel free to take Holmes in even wilder, more creative directions than ever before!

What is a superhero without a supervillain? Not much. Some supervillains, however, are worth a lot more than others. I have therefore decided to spotlight some lesser-known villains. Are they underrated gems or irredeemable losers who deserve to be forgotten? You decide!

When I’m scouting around for villains to profile, I make sure they’ve made a decent number of appearances so I have enough material to write an interesting article. But every once in a while, I stumble across a fun character who only appeared once before vanishing forever. Today, I pay tribute to these ultimate losers with the Profiles in Supervillainy One-Shot Special!

Below you will find brief profiles of five villains who had one chance to make their mark and (for the most part) blew it. Normally in this series, I end by explaining why the spotlighted villain should or should not make a comeback. Today, I’m going to get that out of the way early: yes. With one possible exception, all of these losers deserve a second chance. You can make that my Christmas present this year, DC and Marvel.

Ferenc Aldebaran

Appeared in: Green Lantern #12

This 58th century magician with the funky name once tried to take over Earth by hypnotizing some generals to do his bidding. As he only appeared once, we tragically never find out anything about his past. All we know is that he is so jealous of GL being named solar director instead of him that he decided to stage a rebellion.

What’s that about a solar directorship, you ask? As off-beat as Aldebaran is, he is overshadowed by the circumstances under which he meets our green gladiator. This was during a period when 58th century humans, unable to find anyone capable of leading them in their own time, yanked Hal into the future, mind-wiped him, gave him the new secret identity of Pol Manning, and tricked him into defeating all types of villains on their behalf before sending him home none the wiser.

Green Lantern defeats him by bringing a statue of himself to life and having it punch Aldebaran in the face.

Ding-Dong Daddy

Appeared in: Teen Titans #3

The name alone nets this guy a gold star. Ding-Dong Daddy Dowd runs a hot rod shop that pays teens exorbitant amounts to drop out of school and build his custom cars, which he sells to crooks who need tricked-out wheels. After tangling with a robotic gas tank, the Titans expose his plot and convince the teens of Genericville, U.S.A. to stay in school. Like, isn’t it marvy, cool cats?

Including this character is a bit of a cheat, as he reappeared in the Teen Titans cartoon and Teen Titans: Year One, a retelling of the team’s early days. He also popped up in Titans Hunt under the name D-Daddy, but I refuse to acknowledge this. Either embrace the camp or get out.

Sylph

Appeared in: Nightwing #48–49

After her father’s formula for a new “miracle cloth” was stolen, Sylvan Scofield took revenge by dressing herself in that cloth and using it to murder the millionaire-thieves. Said cloth becomes a part of the wearer, allowing Sylph (or, theoretically, anyone) to use it as extra appendages and even weapons. She’s like Doctor Octopus, but prettier. (Cue the Alfred Molina stans yelling at me in my DMs.)

Though she appeared to die by suicide at the end of her sole adventure, it was later revealed that she escaped. For all we know, she is still out there, waiting to kill the one millionaire who escaped her — or Nightwing, who stopped her in her tracks.

Tuatara

Appeared in: Iron Man #6

A tuatara is a type of reptile found in Aotearoa (New Zealand). It is this type of reptile that Araoha Tepania is bonded with, allowing her to transform from a human to a giant tuatara that could give the Hulk a run for his money. This comes in handy when she is recruited to kidnap and control various scientists — including Tony Stark — for villainous purposes.

After she escapes, Iron Man says he hopes he sees her again because they have “unfinished business.” Tough luck for him — and us, because she’s a badass.

One other note: We never learn anything about Tuatara’s backstory, but given her darker skin tone, the markings (tattoos?) on her face, and her last name, she seems to be Māori. I confess I know nothing about this culture, so I don’t know how respectful this portrayal is. (Does it mangle some important cultural element? Did they ignore the culture all together and just smash disparate elements together?) I’d want to know more about this before declaring whether or not she deserves to return.

Codpiece

Appeared in: Doom Patrol #70

We’re ending on a high note here. Codpiece’s origin story is exactly what you’d expect: insecure about his size and angry with the lack of attention from women, this genius invents a giant codpiece with various functionalities and commits crimes with it. You may also have seen this dink in the Harley Quinn cartoon, which seems about right.

More noteworthy than Codpiece himself is who defeats him: Coagula, DC’s first trans superhero. I have to imagine that having a confident, out-and-proud queer woman outsmarting an insecure, entitled, cishet manbaby was an intentional bit of symbolism.

Want to meet more overlooked villains? Check out my profiles on King Tut, the Matador, Peek-a-Boo, Man-Killer, Mad Mod, Big Wheel, KGBeast, the Living Monolith, Egg Fu, and Mahkizmo!

If being a superhero were easy, they wouldn’t be too “super,” would they? Not many people can withstand the physical, emotional, and social strain of protecting a city, world, or galaxy night after night, often with little recognition or even outright hostility from the public. Sometimes, it’s even too much for our heroes. And when that happens, you better make sure your homeowner’s insurance is paid up, because things are about to get ugly around town.

Now I’m not talking about heroes who go on a little break for a while, like the Invisible Woman taking maternity leave or whatever. I’m only looking at heroes who woke up one day with the urge to throw their entire costume out of a ten-story window and go fly-fishing in the Pacific Northwest, and then actually went and tried it. They don’t generally succeed for more than a few pages, but it’s the attitude that counts.

This theme is especially appropriate as this will be my last #SuperheroProblems for a while. I’m not quitting completely, but it will now be a sporadic thing rather than a monthly series. So read slowly and savor every word, true believers, of this already-classic collection of heroes who have just had it.

Experiment on Yourself

Given how miserable Marvel’s heroes are about their powers, it’s not surprising that they try to quit on a regular basis. Spider-Man did so in Amazing Spider-Man #100, when he drank a homemade potion designed to eliminate his powers so he could marry Gwen Stacy without the guilt or complication of a secret identity.

Unfortunately for our luckless wall-crawler, the potion ends up giving him four extra arms. It takes him two days (and two issues) to find a cure with the assistance of Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard — and some much more reluctant help from some new guy named Morbius.

Get Involved in Shady Nonsense

In Teen Titans #25, our junior heroes are accused of murdering a Nobel Peace Prize winner for absolutely nonsense reasons. They cope by ditching their costumes and going along with a weird rich guy who insists the government has totally recruited him to train young people for…something.

Why would trained superheroes agree to get more training from some weirdo? Why is the rich guy doing all this? I don’t know! No one knows! But if you want more information on this bizarro chapter in Titans history, here you go.

Hold a Garage Sale

In Batman #191, Gotham City is stunned to hear that Batman is calling it quits. Not only that, he’s going to auction off everything related to his crime-fighting (except for Robin, who is still upset by this announcement).

So what’s the punchline? Batman was irradiated by a wackadoo scientist who threatened to “intensify” that radiation and kill him if he didn’t quit. (That is exactly how radiation works.) Batman pretends to comply, then dons a protective clay suit to fight the scientist, who conveniently irradiates himself to death.

Go to Another Universe and Also the Future

In Flash #159, Kid Flash is horrified when Barry Allen declares that he doesn’t receive enough accolades as the Flash and so he’s quitting. He does it very dramatically too, leaving a giant note on a tree next to his abandoned costume.

Not knowing what else to do, KF takes Barry to another universe to consult with Dr. Mid-Nite. Mid-Nite determines that Flash was brainwashed by a future cop so that the Flash’s vibration wouldn’t accidentally set off a bomb left in the 20th century by a future crook. Fortunately, time travel is easy for speedsters, and they throw the guy around until he cuts that out. (By “the guy,” I mean the crook, but the cop deserved a few slaps too, to be honest.)

Pass the Torch (and Get Really Drunk)

Tony Stark has quit a few times for various reasons. One particularly disturbing hiatus started in Iron Man #169. By this point, he’d been off the wagon for a while and his life was going straight down the toilet.

When Tony is too drunk to fight a villain attacking his own company, his best bud James Rhodes has no choice but to get into the Iron Man armor. After Tony sobers up, he realizes it would be best for everyone to just let Rhodey keep the armor, which he does for over two years (our time, not comic book time). It takes that long for Tony to pull himself together and be mentally fit enough to be a hero once again.

Previous #SuperheroProblems:

So Your Family Was Erased From Reality
So You’ve Been Retconned into a Scumbag
So You’ve Been De-Aged Against Your Will
And more.

It’s been a while since I’ve contributed to this series, huh? Well, you’re in for a real treat today, because this is the anniversary of the day the Flash, Fastest Man Alive, met Mopee.

A good number of you have probably never heard of Mopee before. That’s because, like Bruno, we’re not supposed to talk about him: he’s not very well-liked by the fandom, to say the least. But I’m a rebel, so I’m doing this anyway.

It all happens in Flash #167, which starts on the night of December 8, 1966. Flash is taking down some jewel smugglers when he suddenly catches on fire, necessitating a quick douse in a nearby river.

Normally, when Flash uses his speed, he is protected by a special aura that keeps him (and his clothes) from burning up. Now, however, something has taken his aura away — or rather, someone. That someone is Mopee, “initiate tenth class of the heavenly help-mates.” No, we never get more of an explanation than that.

And why should Mopee wish to rob Flash of his aura, you ask? According to him, he’s the one who gave Barry his powers, so he can do whatever he wants. The imp giveth and the imp taketh away, in other words.

As Mopee tells it, his superiors tasked him with granting a worthy human super-speed for…some reason. Mopee chose Barry and caused the lightning bolt to hit the chemicals that spilled all over him and gave him his speed. But because of a minor technicality, it turns out Barry’s speed was given to him in an “illegal” manner, so Mopee now has to take those powers back. Even in heaven, one can’t escape bureaucracy.

Fortunately, there is an incredibly convoluted loophole that would allow Barry to keep his powers: if he, as the Flash, can earn enough money within 24 hours to buy the chemicals that hit him, Mopee can recreate the event that gave him his powers, and he can stay speedy forever. Per Barry’s near-instantaneous mental calculations, he must earn $94.36, or $851.27 in 2022 dollars. (Thanks, CPI Inflation Calculator!)

So Barry puts an ad in the morning paper, which is how we know the date of this little escapade.

Out of all the job offers, Mopee selects one from a plastic manufacturer who is behind on delivering packages. It just so happens that the jewel smugglers from earlier hid their diamonds in one of these packages, a fact which allows Flash to finally capture them while earning his $94.36 for the speed chemicals.

But even after permanently regaining his speed, there is one question left: if Barry’s accident was no accident, then how did his sidekick Wally West, who got his powers in an identical accident, gain his powers?

This question of how Barry and Wally “really” got their speed cropped up again and again. After Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote reality, it was revealed that Barry, in trying to save the multiverse, became the lightning bolt that originally gave him powers, thus erasing Mopee’s contribution. In another story, it was implied that the lightning strike (which was, again, Barry himself in magic lightning form) made Barry more than human, and that he subconsciously willed a similar accident to happen to Wally.

Confused yet?

Look, is the Flash’s origin silly and improbable? Of course. He’s a superhero. They’re all a little silly, whether we like to admit it or not. Why not just leave it that way instead of trying to force logic where it doesn’t belong? It’s not like Clarence Odbody’s less endearing cousin added any dignity to the proceedings.

As for Mopee, for a long time, his only other appearance was a surprisingly funny cameo in Ambush Bug #3, in which he claims to be the driving force behind all of DC’s heroes, and also Marvel’s while he’s at it. (He “released a spider in the radioactivity exhibit at the university” and “arranged for Xavier to get an educational development grant,” among other things.) But in mocking himself, Mopee only highlights the pointlessness of both his own existence and every other Flashy retcon: to enjoy a superhero story, you need to suspend your disbelief just enough to buy the idea of a bat flying into a window at an opportune moment, or a convenient assortment of chemicals giving a man super-speed. We’ve all done it, and we’ll continue to do it, and we don’t need a little dude in a robe to facilitate the process.

Maybe that’s why Mopee’s only other appearance, a cameo in Flash #771, recreated his debut with a much more sinister edge.

Honestly, that’s fair. If some rando popped up just to set me on fire, I’d be inclined to think badly of him, too.

Previously On This Day

June 14: Flash Discovers the Multiverse
November 8: The Suicide Squad Goes to Pieces

Autumn and winter are my favorite seasons, but they come with one big downside: getting sick. As an experienced shut-in, I don’t encounter too many germs, but I do get sick sometimes, including on the October day when I had to come up with a topic for this article: after over two and a half years of successfully dodging COVID, it finally got me.

Fortunately, I didn’t get it that bad, but it did make me think about what comics might be most fitting for someone who is under the weather. Some people like to read about characters with troubles similar to their own. Others prefer pure escapism that allows them to forget about their current discomfort. So, after soliciting suggestions from my fellow Rioters, I divided this list into two sections, plus a secret third one, to accommodate each type of reader. No matter what kind of a patient you are, I hope you will find something to amuse you below.

If you aren’t currently ill, you can still enjoy these comics, of course. You can also take steps to protect yourself and others. Get your flu shots and Covid boosters! Wear your masks! Stay home if you’re sick! (If you can: I know some employers aren’t so understanding about that, in which case, unionize!) And if you know someone who doesn’t feel well, bring them one of these comics — I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

Comics About Sickness and Being Sick

Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918 by Don Brown By now, you’ve probably heard a thousand people comparing the COVID-19 pandemic to the global flu pandemic of 1918. This comic, written before most of us had ever heard of a coronavirus, digs deep into how the deadly flu spread through America — just as U.S. troops were heading off to Europe to fight in World War I, bringing the disease with them. While this is a nonfiction comic, it is every bit as gripping and emotional as any work of fiction.

Everything is OK by Debbie Tung When you’re sick — either physically or mentally — it can seem like you’ll be stuck feeling bad forever and that things will never improve. This book reassures you that is not the case. Recovery may not be easy, as Tung acknowledges as she relates her battles with anxiety and depression, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Even if you have the kind of illness that never fully goes away, you can still lead a worthwhile and satisfying life.

Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter If you have allergies, you know that they can make you feel really rotten when all you want to do is go out and enjoy some nice weather or pretty flowers. For 10 year old Maggie, that lousy feeling is compounded by the fact that she is allergic to dogs, cats, and every other cutesy animal she wants for a pet! With her parents and her brothers preoccupied with other things, can Maggie find the perfect animal companion — one that won’t make her break out in hives?

The Truth about Stacey by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier Diabetes is a different type of illness than the ones I had in mind when planning this article, but this comic — part of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptation series — has plenty to say about how an illness and disability can affect your life and relationships. Stacey is the new girl in town, and on top of that, she’s just been diagnosed with diabetes. Her illness often causes her to miss school and feel like she’s falling behind her peers. Can her new friends with the Baby-Sitters Club help her cope?

Comics That Have Nothing to Do with Being Sick

Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu This wins for being absolutely delightful and filling you with just the most lovely soul hugging vibes. It also reads equally well if you want something to focus on and look at all the details in the background of the illustrations, or can’t really focus and are skimming the text and following the illustrations for story. You don’t have to like — and can even hate — hockey, and you’ll still love this graphic novel. Bonus: If you’ve already read it and are feeling under the weather, it’s a great two-book series to curl back up with.  —Jamie Canavés

The Tea Dragon Society by K. O’Neill When you’re sick, you need something warm and comforting. Like soup. Or tea. Or the sweetest, gentlest little graphic novel series ever written. This is a middle grade comic, so it’s an easy read, but the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and often have ornate borders and other details, which makes it the perfect candidate for spacing out and staring at while you work up the strength to turn the page. Personally, I find looking at Tea Dragons very comforting when I’m not feeling well, and the focus on friendship, care, patience, and love should make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. —Danika Ellis

Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru Okay, but hear me out. As a superhero fan, nothing comforts me more than seeing the good guys wipe the floor with the bad guys, especially when the bad guys really deserve it. You aren’t likely to find a bad guy who deserves it more than a Klansman, and you aren’t likely to find a more upstanding hero than Superman. This graphic novel is aimed at a younger audience, so it’s easier to digest, and there is cute art with bright colors that can keep your attention when it’s hard to focus. Best of all, it has a soothing yet powerful message about the importance of being yourself and standing up for what you know is right.

And One That’s Kind of Both!

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh All through college, I read Allie Brosh’s blog Hyperbole and a Half religiously. It was hilarious and moving and comforting like nothing I had ever consumed before. You’ll be unsurprised to hear that I was ecstatic when her book was announced, and it (as well as her second book, Solutions and Other Problems) absolutely delivered. It’s everything I loved from the blog, only better, because now I can hold it in my hands! From ridiculous dog shenanigans that will make you cry laughing to raw discussions of mental health struggles that will make you just cry, these comics both pack a punch and feel like a tight, reassuring hug all at the same time. Whether you need something to cheer you up, or something to level with you and make you feel seen, Hyperbole and a Half is easy to page through to visit and revisit whatever types of stories you need in a given moment. And if those MS Paint illustrations don’t give you some sort of warm, nostalgic feeling, I don’t know what will!” —Patricia Thang

For more sick day reads, check out the best books to read before and after surgery, or maybe these books about medicine!

Superheroes are more influential than ever before, but who influences the superheroes? What stories, characters, and creators shaped them into the cultural juggernauts they are today? That’s such a big question that I don’t think any single article can answer it. But I will try.

Bear in mind that “influential” does not mean “good.” There are plenty of superhero comics on this list that I personally dislike, either by themselves or because of the influence they had. And there are comics that were popular at the time but haven’t aged well. None of that negates the influence they had on the genre or even on society as a whole.

I also have to note that, because white men have dominated comics for most of the industry’s history, most of the comics on this list are by white men. Things are slightly better now, though the Big Two (Marvel and DC) still have a ways to go. But the more recent comics with diverse creative teams just haven’t had the time to exert the kind of influence that the older comics have, which makes it more difficult to add them to a list like this one.

One of my fellow Book Riot writers suggested I include magical girl manga, like Sailor Moon, to make for a more well-rounded list. A reasonable suggestion, but I know nothing about manga, so I’m very unqualified to make any determinations about which titles are “most influential.” (Though Sailor Moon would certainly make any such list!) I’ll leave it to a real manga fan to make their own list and stick with what I know: American superhero comics and the influence that particular comics have had on the genre.

Action Comics #1

This comic was so influential that it created superheroes — and superhero comics — as we know them. As I’ve discussed before, this issue set the standard for just about every super-stereotype: the funky costume, the orphaned hero, the intrepid reporter girlfriend, the mild-mannered secret identity…sure, Superman would undergo some changes and important additions in the near future, but the stage was already set for a revolution in comic books and the way we think of heroes (and screwing over creators).

This debut didn’t just affect DC. The story goes that Jack Liebowitz, head of DC, bragged to Martin Goodman, head of Marvel, about the League’s success during a golf game. Goodman immediately ordered Stan Lee to create a team to rival the JLA. Lee and artist Jack Kirby came up with…

Phantom Lady #17

Matt Baker was one of the first successful Black comics artists. His biggest contribution to the world of superheroes: Phantom Lady, who has continued to fight crime in various incarnations since the 1940s. I chose to spotlight this issue because of its infamously racy cover. This cover was used by the “protect the children” brigade as evidence that comics were depraved. This led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority, and Phantom Lady could no longer pose half-naked while tied to a log.

Marvel Premiere #16 Iron Fist has been the focus of a lot of controversy in recent years, mostly because his whole origin story appropriates Asian culture. But it’s worth noting that the second-ever artist who worked on Iron Fist, debuting just one issue after Iron Fist’s own debut, was Larry Hama, a Japanese American creator who also helped improve the way comics depicted Asian characters in general. (Here is a more detailed discussion on this topic.) While that hardly cancels out the negative aspects of the character, it was an important step forward for Asian creators.

While this is not Wolverine’s debut appearance (that would be Incredible Hulk #180-181), it did grant him his first consistent platform and firmly connected him with the X-Men. So if you don’t mind the fact that all the X-Men movies focused on him at the expense of the other characters (lookin’ at you, Days of Future Past), thank this comic for making him more popular than everyone else put together.

This issue also leaned hard into racial stereotypes that sully this otherwise momentous occasion. Despite these problems, Giant-Size X-Men #1 remains a classic. The reboot even inspired a watershed moment at that other publisher: DC’s villainous Terra, who caused the New Teen Titans incalculable heartache, was an evil twin of sorts to the X-Men’s squeaky-clean Kitty Pryde.

The Dark Knight Returns, which has an aging Batman come out of retirement to fight crime once more, was published first, in 1986. Not only is it considered one of the best comics ever, it also popularized a grim version of Batman that paved the way for the landmark ’89 film and cemented Frank Miller’s reputation as a seminal storyteller (a legacy he has since done much to tarnish).

Unfortunately, the comics that followed in its footsteps lacked the nuance and creativity of their predecessor, leading to a lot of stories that are pointlessly dark and gory in the mistaken belief that darkness and goriness alone make for a mature story.

There are tons of articles and social media posts dedicated to how awful Liefeld’s art is, and part of the ire is surely due to the outsized influence his style had throughout the ’90s. But part of it is also due to the fact that it is just incomprehensibly bad. And it all started right here.

Ironically, the art in Hawk and Dove is decent compared to Liefeld’s later stuff. Someone should have reined him in.

Even if a lot of the changes it wrought have since been overwritten — Supergirl and the Flash are very much alive now, as is the multiverse — the fact that it made those changes at all was enough to convince future generations of creators that wiping the slate clean is a good way to generate sales and headlines.

Speaking of crises…

Identity Crisis

At the time of its 2004 publication, this murder-mystery-with-capes was praised by esteemed publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post for its great art and dark, twisty storyline. Nearly 20 years on, people are starting to realize it’s a mess of character assassination, needless violence (thanks, The Dark Knight Returns!), glaring plot holes, and post-9/11 cynicism. The art is pretty ugly, too.

But in between, Identity Crisis had massive implications for the DC universe, killing off beloved characters, creating deep divisions that continue to influence character interactions, and contributing to an overall darker tone that, in some ways, still persists.

Second, I’ve started to think of it as Marvel’s answer to Crisis on Infinite Earths: it was such a monster success that Marvel has tried to rehash it over and over again, even as some have questioned this strategy’s merits. Marvel not only published Civil War II in 2016-17, they also adapted the original for both the big screen (Captain America: Civil War) and the small screen (a plotline in the Avengers Assemble cartoon).

The only bright spot is that it led to Cap and Iron Man getting married in another universe. You love to see it.

I bet I missed your favorite, didn’t I? I would welcome civil discourse (as opposed to Civil War discourse) on Twitter!

We’ve asked you to guess both literary fiction and fantasy novels based on their first lines. Now we’re giving you the chance to test your graphic novel knowledge. In the quiz below, I’ll provide the first line or two of a famous comic, and you need to guess which book it came from. (No fair checking the Amazon previews!)

With prose books, a first line is vitally important. It can either draw a reader in or compel them to close the book forever. With comics, while the first line is certainly important, the first image does just as much — if not more — of the heavy lifting. It can strengthen the impact of an emotional introduction, or it can add humor by completely contradicting what the first line tells you. Or they can work together to set a mood or a tone that carries you through the entire story. In this quiz, I’m just giving you the lines: no visual cues to help you along.

The comics I sample here are among the most celebrated of the past half-century. They span numerous genres, from fantasy to memoir to action/adventure. Most are American comics, but I did add a couple of notable manga series as well. So if you’re a big comics reader and think you’re ready to tackle a quiz about the first lines of famous graphic novels, just scroll a little farther and get started!

Did you ace the quiz, or do you need to brush up on your comics knowledge? Either way, you might enjoy these posts about the best comics ever and the best shōjo manga!

Even superheroes need friends! And, just like friendships in real life, some of those relationships last a lifetime and others fade away as you pursue your own destinies. In this series, I’ll be spotlighting some of the side characters who have been left by the wayside.

Mason Trollbridge was a slum kid who came of age during the Depression. Decades later, he came into the Flash/Wally West’s life when Wally was at a particularly low ebb. He’d won millions in the lottery and then lost it in a stock market crash (probably this one), then he lost his powers and his girlfriend, leaving him with a mountain of debts and a clingy, manipulative mother. (To be fair, her husband had just tried to kill her.) In Flash #15, Wally was forced to move into the same crummy apartment building where Mason lived. They hit it off quick.

Right from the start, Mason made a habit of popping up exactly when and where the Flash — whose true identity was public knowledge by this point — needed assistance. He made a natural sidekick. As we learn in Issue 20, there’s a reason for that: during the Depression, he worked with a hero named the Clipper, who got his name thanks to his penchant for mutilating his opponents’ ears when he didn’t kill them outright.

Mason had rather fonder memories of the Clipper, who was a cross between the Shadow and Bonnie and Clyde. At 14, he became Clipper’s sidekick and something of a mirror to Wally’s own experiences as a kid sidekick. “[T]he Clipper always said that a kid who fights crime is a kid with character,” Mason reminisces at one point.

While Wally’s mentor was as squeaky-clean as they come, the Clipper was a deranged drunk who had young Mason driving getaway cars and shooting tommy guns. But in Mason’s rose-tinted view, the Clipper was a “great guy,” just a little “intense.” So he decides to take up the Clipper’s identity himself.

(Interestingly, Mason’s profile in Flash Annual #3 casts doubt on whether the Clipper really exists or if Mason made him up. So there’s that.)

Alas, he only appears as the Clipper one time, but he continued to help Wally solve various crimes, sometimes while wielding a whip.

Aside from sidekicking, Mason worked as a carpenter and a truck driver before he retired. Now he does occasional delivery jobs for his son, Denny. He’s got another son, Donnie, who he threw out of the house and didn’t see again for years. He also has a daughter named Susie, but they don’t seem all that close. In fact, when Wally leaves New York and relocates to Keystone City, Mason goes with him.

(Some sources claim he only has one son, I guess assuming “Donnie” was a typo for “Denny.” But like I said, Mason kept in touch with Denny while shunning Donnie, so that wouldn’t make much sense.)

Upon moving to Keystone, Mason started a “fix-it business” and volunteered at a local gym, teaching kids to box. Everything was going along normally enough until Mason learned a little something about his son that he wished he hadn’t. While Mason was once an aspiring superhero, his son Donnie also had a secret identity: the Last Resort, who charges people exorbitant fees to make their problems go away, permanently.

Mason helps stop Donnie’s rampage, they agree to talk, and that’s the end of that storyline.

Mason then proposed to his girlfriend — Lenora McDonald, sister-in-law of the Icicle — and suggested they get married right then and there…in the middle of Wally’s mother’s wedding, which strikes me as really rude. He disappears from Wally’s life not long after: presumably, he was busy setting up house with Lenora.

Despite feeling a little underdeveloped — How did his relationship with Donnie pan out? Did he really make up the Clipper? Why? If he didn’t, what effect did hanging out with such a violent “hero” have on him and his relationships? — Mason is a fun, grounded character. He likes and admires the Flash, but he doesn’t fawn over him, instead retaining a practicality that the self-absorbed, not-yet-old-enough-to-drink Wally desperately needs. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a father figure — maybe a weird, grumpy uncle — but he did make for a nice counterbalance.

The CW’s Flash featured a version of this character, but they renamed him Mason Bridge because the CW hates anything resembling originality or fun (Stargirl and Legends of Tomorrow excepted). I don’t recall him ever becoming a vigilante, either, but I haven’t seen the show in a while. I do remember him getting killed, a fate which the comic book version seems to have avoided.

In any case, if DC wanted to bring him back, I wouldn’t object.

Come meet our previous absent friends: Eddie “Iron Man” March, Terry Berg, Harris Hobbs, Bridget Clancy, Willie Lincoln, Ed Indelicato, Roger Willis, Chanda Madan, and Glenda Sandoval!

Romance comics were everywhere in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After so many years of war and economic depression, Americans were eager to read about men and women getting all smoochy-faced with each other. Unlike other comics that followed the adventures of a particular character, romance really was the focus here: each issue featured one-shot stories about a couple going through a crisis before reuniting for an implied happily ever after. Fade to black.

As the genre’s popularity exploded, so did the diversity (for a given definition of the word) of romance titles. Sure, you had a whole lot of generic, samey-sounding titles — Love Confessions, Confessions of Love, Romantic Confessions, All Love, All Romance, Glamorous Romances, Young Love, Young Romance, etc. — as well as the occasional title that sounds promising but actually isn’t (Women in Love is NOT what you’re thinking).

But then there are those that found their own little niche and just sat there. They chose a specific theme or setting and exploited it for all it’s worth. Sometimes, this results in some interesting and creative stories, and other times, it…doesn’t. I read the first issue of each of these five romance comics to give you (and me!) a general idea of what they had to offer. If any of these comics tickle your fancy, they are all in the public domain and available on Comic Book Plus.

Let’s go!

Content warning for discussion of old-timey misogyny and assault

The comic, like many other romance comics, purports to feature the real romantic problems of real people. I assume/hope this is not true, as one of the featured women killed a small child while speeding and only felt remorse after she got out of jail and her neighbors called her rude names about it.

All of the stories follow the same premise: once we are thoroughly introduced to the girl, her boyfriend, and their problem, she inevitably turns to Mr. Anthony for advice. Anthony then invites the couple onto his radio show and solves their problem with a few panels of sage advice, for which they are eternally grateful.

For what it’s worth, the comic includes a Dear Abby-type section where “Mr. Anthony” — or someone posing as him — answers reader letters, and the advice is generally pretty sound. (No, you shouldn’t marry a man with a drinking problem in the hopes that marriage will make him better.)

Unfortunately, this was 1949, and people in comics weren’t allowed to have that kind of fun. Half the stories in Campus Romances #1 aren’t romances so much as morality tales warning girls to stick to their books and avoid chasing men, or else. The girls even break the fourth wall to hammer the point home.

The other two suck for different reasons: one is about a woman whose husband cheats on her then repents, and the other is about a woman who throws over a poor man for a rich man and then repents. At least the morality tales were something different from what other romance comics were doing.

(Mr. Anthony’s Love Clinic features a story about a Southern belle who “fancied myself a sort of blonde Scarlett O’Hara.” So.)

The characters may be Black, but the prose is purple as hell. (“Now it was too late, for the rushing waters of my ego had carried away the things in my life which had been fine and beautiful…”) Still, given that this came a mere four years after Disney’s infamous Song of the South, it’s refreshing to see Black people depicted as people and getting to have the same types of normal adventures as white people.

(Okay, in the next panel, he admits he was a jerk and insists she stay in the show. But this came dangerously close to being Annie Get Your Gun.)

The only really unique tale is “Thief of Hearts,” about a ticket-seller who falls in love with the cop who… stood by while a known criminal assaulted her and then tried to kiss her because, hey, that crook got away with it, so maybe she’ll like it when the cop does it? Can we go back to the boilerplate stories, please?

This comic stretches the definition of “romance.” Each story has a romance, but the extent to which they focus on that relationship varies. Some are simple Western tales starring a woman who just happens to be pursuing a guy in between trying to catch gamblers or setting people’s houses on fire for specious reasons. The comic also has the disturbing habit of describing committed relationships as “putting [one’s] brand on” someone. Ew, no thanks.

One of the characters ends up with a guy named Don Diego Vega y Alvarez, so I guess this comic takes place in the same universe as Zorro.

Despite the diversity of settings and framing devices, the plots of these ’50s romance comics mostly follow the same general outline: woman Does Her Man Wrong, repents, and gets man back. Cowgirl Romances at least tries to spice it up a bit with shootouts and such. There was even one story in which the main character, a woman, bends the law to help a couple get married but has no romance of her own.

I’d be more annoyed about how the women are always depicted as the ones in the wrong (except once in Campus Romances), but I assume that the creators of these comics assumed their target audience was young girls. Of course young, female readers would want to focus on the women’s actions and perspective rather than watch some guy try to get himself together. And of course, that means the women have to mess up and then try to fix what they did, with or without the expectation that their boyfriend will forgive them.

Still, it would be nice if at least one story had the woman deciding her partner wasn’t worth the trouble and finding someone who didn’t forcibly kiss her, flaunt his affair in front of her face, or gamble away all her savings.

So there you have it: some very specific ’50s romance comics. If you want some better genre-specific romantic tales, check out these culinary romances, or maybe these ghost romances!

Traditionally, comic book heroes and villains tended to stay in their lanes: the good guys were good and stayed good (except for the occasional blip here and there), and the bad guys were bad and stayed bad. It was a nice, predictable state of affairs. But nothing stays safe and cozy forever. So what are you supposed to do when someone you’ve spent the last year punching off rooftops says they’d rather be helping you do the punching?

To our heroes’ credit, they are generally quick to welcome their former foes into the fold, even offering varying levels of personal or professional support as the ex-villains try to stay on the straight and narrow. And in return, the ex-villains featured here have dutifully remained on the side of the angels, except for the one who has already become an angel herself.

There’s probably a point to be made about how supporting your fellow human beings (and an occasional rogue robot) is a better remedy to a life of crime than just throwing them in jail. But we don’t have time to dig into that here. Instead, let’s look to our heroes for guidance on how to deal with an unexpected new ally.

Watch Them Have an Existential Crisis

Red Tornado barged onto the scene in Justice League of America #64, somehow knowing all of the Justice Society’s secret identities and insisting he had always been one of them. But when he tries to prove himself by joining them on a mission, he ends up accidentally killing most of them.

Suspecting something is amiss, Red Tornado discovers that he was built by an evil scientist who did indeed build him to defeat not only the Justice Society, but also the Justice League — and that’s it. He never gave Red a real identity or even a face behind the mask. The storyline ends rather sadly with him saying he wants to have those things more than the membership offered by the JSA. (He did end up joining both them and the League eventually.)

As you may have noticed, the Avengers did not fall apart due to this decision, and they are in fact going as strong as ever. This may have inspired them to allow other ex-criminals onto the team, including Black Widow, Vision, Sandman, and more. Frankly, if you point at an Avenger at random, there is probably a 50/50 chance that they started out robbing banks or trying to take over the world.

Indigo nonetheless proved herself a loyal Outsider, right up until her evil Brainiac 8 personality started to reassert itself. Things came to a head in Outsiders #25. Rather than kill anyone else, Indigo begged her lover and teammate, Shift, who can transmute matter, to turn her into a human — killing her in the process.

But things did not go smoothly for the new couple. She continued to have a love-hate relationship with the Serpent Society for years, where they would sometimes try to kill her or convince her to kill others. Even though her relationship with Cap fizzled, she has remained loyal to him, refusing to do him any harm.

Become Besties

Wally West first realized that the Pied Piper wasn’t all that bad when he found him giving free food to a group of poor people. (He didn’t even steal the food.) They started beating up supervillains together and eventually became good friends.

Actually, Wally seemed to make a habit of teaming up with his (and his mentor Barry Allen’s) former foes. On other occasions, he teamed up with the likes of Dr. Alchemy, Captain Cold, and Golden Glider. For all his faults (and there are many), Wally has a “talent for picking friends,” as he himself put it in Flash #53. And isn’t that the kind of compassion you want in a hero?

Can’t get enough #SuperheroProblems? Check out:

• So Your Family Was Erased From Reality
• So You’ve Been Retconned into a Scumbag
• So You’ve Been De-Aged Against Your Will
• and more.