Which E2 heros had comics on E1?

[dans]

We know that Barry Allen on E1 read "Flash Comics" when he was growing up, so he knew about the E2 Flash. Were there any other real-life heroes on E2 that had comic books on E1? I think we can assume that E2 Superman did NOT appear in E1 comic books, else he would have had an even harder time concealing his real identity, since everyone would know it in advance... Presumably at the same time Barry Allen was reading Flash Comics, they were also available in Smallville. Flash Comics in our reality includes stories about Johnny Thunder, Hawkman, and Black Canary and there were probably ads in them that showed other heroes who later had analogs on Earth 1.

I'm thinking maybe the only E2 hero who showed up in E1 comic books was the Flash, and it was because the super speed vibrations of the original Flash crossed the vibrational barrier and allowed a single man on E1, Gardner Fox, to see the adventures of a single hero on E2. So the comics Barry read showed only the adventures of Jay Garrick, and never mentioned any of the other E2 heroes. Or at least, none of the E2 heroes who eventually got analogs on E1.

What do you guys think?

[johnreiter902]

I didn't feel like it was exclusively the Flash who was a comic book character on Earth-1. Justice League of America #37 indicated that the Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 was familiar with his Earth-2 counterpart's adventures. Likewise, in DC Comics Presents 49# the Earth-1 Billy Batson was familiar with the adventures of Captain Marvel from Earth-S. I'm guessing that in those cases, people just laughed it off as a coincidence that they had the same name as a fictional character.

In some cases, as indicated in Superman #411, the stories from one Earth wouldn't sell on another. Julius Schwartz on Earth-1 was living on the streets, because his attempts to write Superman stories were overshadowed by the real Superman.

There may also be instances where the "transcription" of events from another universe was inexact. I assume this is the case for any heroes who appear in publication on Earth-1 that are thinly veiled take-off on actual heroes. For example, Green Arrow once met the writer of a popular comic series, about the adventures of the "WIzard Archer" obviously base don the golden age green arrow.

[dans]

I agree that there are other comics on Earth 1. I'm just speculating that those did not include the heroes who later developed exact analogs on Earth 1. So Earth 1 didn't have Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman comics showing the identities of these heroes as Clark, Bruce, and Diana, or those identities would have been impossible to maintain. Might have had Sturdiman, Nightdevil, and Amazonia instead. Or maybe Captain Marvel took the place of Superman comics.

[jonclark]

In the real world there were two companies that owned what we think of as the golden age DC heroes. I can't recall the exact details, but if I remember correctly there was some bit about Starman being pulled from the JSA and replaced by Green Lantern as a result. I know both Superman and Batman were owned by one company and Wonder Woman by the other company. My theory would be that the company that owned Superman and Batman didn't exist on Earth-One or that they published different characters. And I'm assuming that superhero comics on Earth-One never had a Silver Age revival.

The second Flash story to visit Earth-2 (issue 137) had Wonder Woman as a character Barry knew of from JSA comics. I'd guess she was the only one who really causes an issue as she is the same right down to the origin and costume. I'm assuming that there either was no DC Comics by the time Barry and Hal appeared, that any rights to the name had lapsed, or that the owners didn't want the hassle of suing actual heroes over the names.

[DocQuantum]

Captain Comet’s Rehab Squad: In Search Of, Chapter 1: The Comic-Book Quest

This story addresses some of them. There were Earth-1 golden age comic-book characters eerily similar to the Earth-2 versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman called Ultra-Man, Night Wizard, and Madame Miracle, whose publications ceased around the time the real heroes began their adventures. The story mentions that Star-Spangled Comics existed on Earth-1 and was quite similar, except that some of the characters were different on Earth-1: the Paperboy Club and the Protector were analogues of the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian, Captain Blast and Detonator Don were analogues of TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite, and Automaton was an analogue of Robotman (the original).

The Wizard Archer was already mentioned as an analogue of the Earth-2 Green Arrow who appeared in Earth-1 comics, but there was also Keen Arrow, whose adventured were probably published earlier than the Wizard Archer. There were also characters Showerman (based on Aquaman), and the Sunburned Kid (based on the Vigilante).

As far as any characters on Earth-2 who don't have direct counterparts on Earth-1, you could consider them to be comic-book characters on Earth-1 based on the story above, including Liberty Belle and the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy.

There were some 1970s Flash comics that showed that genuine golden age comics existed on Earth-1. Green Lantern Alan Scott was apparently a comic-book character on Earth-1, too, as well as Wildcat (see The Flash #268 from December, 1978). And, of course, the infamous issue where Iris West is murdered featured a costume party in which someone dressed up as the Sandman from the comics (see The Flash #275 from July, 1979).

So there's a lot of evidence that any DC character who existed on Earth-2 but who didn't have a direct counterpart on Earth-1 was considered a comic-book character on Earth-1.

[redsycorax]

Deviating slightly from this topic, clearly there were no Captain Marvel comics adventures extant on Earth-One, otherwise Superman would have recognised Captain Thunder as a Captain Marvel analogue when he met him in June 1974 (Superman 274). As he didn't, that would imply that the characters were unknown to one another before the Crisis on Earth-S (JLA 135, July 1976)- although oddly enough, during the latter, Superman didn't mention Captain Thunder's existence although the two characters seem to differ only when it comes to their chest insignia.

[lawrenceliberty]

It might be fun to see an adventure of the Night Wizard, Ultra-Man, and Madame Miracle some day. I wonder if some whiz kid like Mickey Norris might bring them to life someday?

[lawrenceliberty]

Or the mysterious being who brought Master Villain to life in Flash when Barry Allen's neighbor kid created the comic book criminal?

[dans]

Oct 20, 2020 14:41:56 GMT lawrenceliberty said:

It might be fun to see an adventure of the Night Wizard, Ultra-Man, and Madame Miracle some day. I wonder if some whiz kid like Mickey Norris might bring them to life someday?

That would be kind of fun, reading Earth 1 comic book stories... I wonder, would Earth 3 comics be about good guys or bad guys?

It would also be interesting to see an E1 character who became a hero just because of reading a comic book about an E2 hero. Barry took the identity of The Flash a) because he'd read Flash comics and b) coincidentally got similar powers - but maybe there is a self-made hero on Earth 1 who deliberately created all her/his gadgets and gimmicks, costume, heroic identity and training and MO strictly because s/he read the comic book? (so either no super powers involved, or, the E1 hero recreates the E2 hero's origin...)

It might be fun to see the new E1 hero learn some of the pitfalls of being a super hero that the comic books never address, or just gloss over... like going to work the next day with a black eye, a sling because you sprained your shoulder grabbing hold or a running car and your hand wrapped in bandages where you but your knuckles on the bad guy's teeth...