John and Gillian

Gillian and John

I mentioned the original Doctor Who comic strip. It was a really bad adaption of the first Doctor-era of the show. One of the most notable changes was the introduction of John and Gillian.
As Real Beings
John and Gillian lived in 1960s England. Their grandfather was Doctor Who (the Doctor was constantly mistakenly called "Dr. Who" in the strip). They knew very little about their grandpa. However, they accidentally found and got inside his TARDIS (the Doctor's space-time travelling machine). Doctor Who decided to take them on his adventures. They fought such as enemies as the Kleptons, the Trods (who I did a post on), the Pied Piper and the evil Captain Anastas Thrax. The duo got separated from Doctor Who. However, they reunited with the second Doctor. Due the Doctor's time travelling, it seemed like a short time passed from duo's perceptive. They continued with their adventures. However this time, they fought actual villains from the show such as the Cybermen and Daleks. Eventually, the Doctor Who left them on the planet Zebadee where they went to college. John became a professor and took the name "John Who".
As Fictional Beings
Due to continuity errors in the original comic strip, it was claimed the original comic strip never happened. In the Doctor Who mythos, the Land of Fiction is a pocket universe full of fictional characters. The Seventh Doctor visited this realm and encountered two beings named "John" and "Gillian". They believed they were his grandchildren and tried to refresh his memory (even mentioning the Trods and Kleptons). However, the Doctor claimed that he did none of that. So, "Doctor Who" may just be alternate version of the Doctor that exists in the Land of Fiction. The Eight Doctor is shown to have pleasant dreams of a "less complicated" universe where "people never die", "promises are never broken" and "villains are naught, not evil". In these dreams, he is seen travelling with John and Gillian.
References:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/First_Doctor_comic_stories
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/John_and_Gillian
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Land_of_Fiction

The Batman Serial

Behold Batman in his low-budget glory

In 1943, Columbia Pictures released a serial based on Batman. For the unaware, serials were (often low budget) short action films that were part of a mutlipart story. Said serials would be shown prior to a movie. In this version of Batman, Batman and Robin worked for the FBI and none of Batman's villains from the comic appear due to regulations at the time.
Plot
FBI agents Batman (Lewis Wilson) and Robin (Douglas Croft) fight against the Japanese mad scientist Doctor Tito Daka (J. Carrol Naish), who is working for Hirohito. Daka's base is a fun house in Gotham's Japanese district. Daka attempts to stop the Duo several times, but always fail. He ends up falling into a pit full of crocodiles.
Influence On the Batman Mythos 
Despite the fact you propably never heard of this before, it was extremely important to the Batman mythos. The Batcave (called "the Bat's Cave" in the serial) and its grandfather clock enterance were introduced here. Originally, Alfred was both overweight and mustacheless. However, this serial introduced the now-popular look of the character.
Alternate Versions and Releases
Several alternate version of the serial exist. In 1965, the serial was collected and reaired as "An Evening With Batman and Robin". The program was just the episodes complete with titles, cliffhangers and credits. Goodtimes' release of the serial edited out the racist dialogue (which was due to it being made during World War II). However, a "restored" version retained the dialogue. In the late 1960s, the shortened versions of the individual episodes were released to the home market on the 8mm format.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(serial)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035665/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035665/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035665/alternateversions?ref_=tt_sa_4

The X-Men Aren't Human

Hypocrite

You probably thought "What the heck?!" when you saw the title. After all, the X-Men comics constantly stress that mutants are as human as anyone else thus shouldn't be persecuted. However, Marvel declared the X-Men aren't humans.
Why did they say this? This happened in the 2003 court case Toy Biz v. United States. Due to a previous court case involving Hasbro, the US law says there are two types of action figures: dolls (which are defined as toys that look like humans) and toys (which includes "nonhuman creatures"). The reason this important is because that toys have less expensive tariff than dolls. In the before-mentioned 2003 case, Toy Biz (and by extent Marvel Comics) argued that their Fantastic Four and X-Men action figures were toys thus arguing the X-Men aren't humans. In case you were wondering, the judge (Judith Barzilay) declared them toys thus making the X-Men legally not human.
References:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/04/24/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-152/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Biz_v._United_States

Herman Smirch

Herman at a diner

As part of the Nintendo Comics System, there was a Game Boy comic book. The basic plot was Tatanga (the villain from Super Mario Land) and his armies would invade (with help of Herman) the "real" world then the heroes of the story would summon Mario stop them. Herman Smirch is the only human character that appears in all four issues.
History
Herman got a job at an electronic store. He stole from the store he worked for. Herman was mind controlled by Tatanga. Tatanga managed to get Herman to sent him and his army to Earth. However, nearby two teenagers freed Mario, who drove the villains back into the game. After an unknown amount of time, Herman was convinced by his mom to give up gaming. In a rare moment of kindness, he gave two girls his Game Boy. Despite this, he was hypnotized by Tatanga again (who forced to him to steal another Game Boy) and forced to free the villains. After Smirch made an off-hand suggestion about going to Disney World, Tatanga had Herman steal a jet (and later a shuttle). After the shuttle crashed in Disney World, Smirch ran away. He hid in his mother's house from the police. Unfortunately, the two girls' mother mailed the Game Boy back. Smirch ran away to Wyoming and was forced to release the villains. They later ended up China and set up shop. One of the teens from the first issue freed Mario. Aided by naval weaponry (Tatanga had taken land that was actually owned by America thus unintentionally declaring war), Mario defeated Tatanga and forced Herman to flee. In the last issue, Smirch got a job at Seaside Heights and was forced to free the villains again. Unlike the other issues, Herman disappeared from the plot.
Personality
Herman Smirch is extremely selfish and rude. For example, he declared "Beggars should be shot!" after asked for money by a homeless veteran. Herman stole several Game Boys when he felt he was underpaid. However, he has at least once showed a good side to his personality (although the act would later come back to bite him in the back).
References:
http://www.mariowiki.com/Herman_Smirch
http://www.mariowiki.com/In_the_Palm_of_Your_Hand...

Endless Impostors

In Neil Gaiman's critically acclaimed The Sandman, among the most important characters are the Endless. The Endless are cosmic beings that embodied the concept they named after (Dream is the lord of dreams, Death is a Grim Reaper-like pyschopomp and so on). In some of the spin offs, there are several people that claim are Endless, but are lying.
Dread

Echo and her army

Echo was introduced as the transvestite lover of a person attacked by the original Corinthian (a living nightmare). Echo and Gabriel Ashe became serial killers. The second Corinthian and man-turned-bird Matthew stopped them resulting in Gabriel dying and Echo losing an eye. Her life went downhill. Thieves knocked her out and found her "dead".  In reality, she was taken to the Dreaming (the domain of Dream) and reborn as the third Corinthian (as the second one was turned mortal). She joined Brute and Glob's attempt to rebel against Dream. They went to the House of Mystery and Secrets. The Houses gave her massive powers (by having her absorb the Nightmare army). They also brainwashed her to think she was an Endless member named "Dread" and that Dream imprisoned in the souls of men, but she got free. Cain managed to de-power Echo by saying out the truth (thus it was no longer a mystery or secret). Dream told her that she would be unmade, but he thought he would sooner or later find a place her in his realm.
Duplicity and Deceit

Garamas and Gyges

The titans Gyges and Garamas learned the Presence (the divine creator of DC Universe) abandoned creation. They were worried since their positions of authority were now in danger. The duo decided to break into the Dreaming and take control of it. Upon arriving, they are greeted by Lucien (a servant for Dream). They claimed to be Duplicity and Deceit of the Endless and were here for family business. Lucien saw through their deception and pointed out duplicity and deceit are synonyms for each other while the Endless are supposed have different domain. Turned away, they decided to become the Presence themselves.
References:
http://www.comicvine.com/the-endless/4060-40483/
The Sandman volume 2: "The Doll House" and volume 9: "The Kindly Ones"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless_(comics)
http://www.comicvine.com/the-presence/4005-56244/

500th Post

This is my 500th post. 

Thank you all who read my post and followed my blog. For this massive occasion, I will talk about one of the first comic book creators that got me into comics: Jack Kirby.
Early Life

Jacob and his parents

Born August 28, 1917, he was given the name Jacob Kurtzberg. At first, his life seemed no different than other teens during that era: fighting in the street, wasting time at the movies and so on. However, he began to draw on every piece of paper he could find and watch movies (which fueled his interest in storytelling). His schooling was not very good. Because he lacked a teacher, he learned about comic book storytelling techniques from Alex Raymond's comic strip Flash Gordon. Jacob's evolved an exaggerated style designed to look interesting on a comic page, rather than a realistic one. He enrolled at the Pratt Institute, but dropped out due to his family's financial problems.

Finding Work

Created by "Teddy"

Kurtzberg attempted to find jobs related to his set of skills. After seemingly endless failure, he got a job as an "in-betweener" for Max Fleischer. For the unaware, an in-betweener is an artist that creates the frames of animation in between the extremes (the frames with the most extreme actions). However, he jumped ship to avoid a possible labor strike. He worked for Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate doing various strips and gags.

Fox Feature Syndicate 

An example of his work

Jacob finally managed to work on superheroes. Unfortunately, he worked for Fox Feature Syndicate, which was owned by Victor Fox, who was notorious for under paying his employees. He worked on such projects as Blue Bolt and Lone Rider. At Fox he met Joe Simon, who convinced Jack to do additional freelance work with other comics . Eventually, Jack Kirby quit Fox.

Timely Comics

The Cap's first appearance

Joe Simon and Jacob Kurtzberg were hired to work for Timely Comics Company. At the time they joined Timely, the only star characters they had were the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch. The duo attempted to create a new star, which began a series of failures; Comet Pierce, Red Raven, Hurricane, Tuk the Cave-Boy and Mercury. Then in the late 30's they created the still-famous Captain America. During this time, he took the pseudonym Jack Kirby. Due to practices of the day, they saw very little profit and left.

DC Comics

This seems ill-advised.

DC Comics kept Kirby and Simon busy. Their works were characterized by their humor and plot twists. The audience loved Jack's characterizations and backgrounds. They worked on such things as Sandman, Manhunter (both altered copies of previous strips), The Newsboy Legion and Boy Commandos.

The War and Pre-Atlas

One of his monster comics

Kirby and Simon were drafted for service in World War II. Jack Kirby was in the Fifth Division, Third Army. His superior was General Patton. Jack was an infantryman. However, he was forced to leave due to frostbite.
In 1945, he and Joe worked for Harvey Comics Company on Boy Explorers and Stuntman. They later worked for Hillman Publications, then Crestwood Publications and later Foxhole. He did such works such as Young Romance, Boy Explorers and Police Trap. Due to upheavals in the comic book industry, Kirby had trouble finding work. He did several newspaper strips. After working for DC (and creating the Challengers of the Unknown), he went back Atlas Comics (formerly called "Timely Comics").

Marvel Renaissance 

Kirby, his creations and Spider-Man during this era

At Atlas Comics (which would be renamed "Marvel Comics" later on), he did monster, love and western comics. By 1961, superheroes were regaining popularity. Stan Lee was told by Martin Goodman to make a superhero comic, and had Jack Kirby help with the title: the Fantastic Four. This ushered in a "Marvel Renaissance". Stan Lee developed the Marvel-style of writing (which has both artist and writer work on the story). With Stan Lee, Jack created Doctor Doom, the Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, Thor, Iron Man, Nick Fury, the Avengers, the X-Men and Silver Surfer. When his workload cut down, the quality of the work improved. Unhappy with Marvel for various reasons, including the emphasis of Stan Lee as creator, Jack left Marvel Comics in 1970.

DC Comics... Again

One of the Fourth World Saga's main titles

Jack Kirby jumped ship to DC Comics. He took over Jimmy Olsen. He revamped the Newsboy Legion. He created the Fourth World Saga (which would be influential to the DC Universe), O.M.A.C., Kamandi, a new Sandman, the Demon and other works. In 1975, he returned to Marvel.

Final Years

One of his final works

Back at Marvel, he worked on Captain America, a Silver Surfer graphic novel and Black Panther. He created new characters such Devil Dinosaur, the Eternals and Machine Man. However in 1978, he left. He worked on various animated shows (such as doing character design for several episodes for Thundarr the Barbarian) and various independent comics (such as Silver Star, Captain Victory and Destroyer Duck). He managed to come up with a conclusion to the Fourth Wall Saga. In 1987, he retired. He died in Feb. 6, 1994 leaving behind numerous fans.
References:
http://kirbymuseum.org/biography/
Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181262/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Capes

Titan fighting Thor Kid with Bolt watching

Plot
Bolt is told to show Thor Kid the ropes at Capes Inc (a team of superheroes, who being a superhero is their job). Big Brain is told by an unseen person that the company is losing funding. Captain Cosmic reappears after being assumed dead for fifteen or sixteen years (both dates are used). Despite most being concerned, Bolt (who has seen this all before) simply shrugs it off. Bolt and Thor Kid save Machine Head (a mob boss) from being killed by Titan. A cyborg with a swastika on his chest breaks out his prison cell. Commander and Bolt see a news report that says there is a massive super villain jailbreak. The next day, Bolt is attacked by an unnamed villain. After the Comet Twins explained their back story, Captain Cosmic gets mad at the Commander, who won't pay him for the time he was absent in. Thor Kid and Knockout fought an armored villain while Bolt and Commander fought the super strong Doc Cancer. However, they convince the villains to fight each other. Thor Kid goes on a date with Knockout. The next day, the cyborg attacks Capes Inc. and kills several members (including one of the Comet Twins). Knockout discovers Big Brain is using his powers despite claiming he lost his powers. Big Brain explains his plan, merges with cyborg and flies away. A month later, Capes Inc. is recovering (using funding they got to fight Big Brain) and the remaining Comet Twin is CEO.
Capes Inc. Members

• Comet Twins- They are two elderly superheroes that were active during World War II. Along with Big Brain, they founded Capes Inc. They used to be rivals. However, they exposed to a meteor that makes it so they have to been within 30 feet of each other to retain their powers. They have super strength, invulnerability and flight. One of them (they aren't named) dies and the other became the new CEO. 
• Big Brain- He was a World War II superhero as kid hero. He came up with the company. He used a Nazi weapon he found (the cyborg) to create a threat in order to earn funding for the team. He lied about his losing power to avoid suspicion. He reactive it again and is forced to flee when he found out. He has telekinesis. This power increases with age.
• Thor Kid- He is a main protagonist. His ancestors made a copy of Mjölnir for Thor to use when he lost the original. When Thor got the original back, he gave back the copy. It passed on for generations. Thor Kid is the current bearer of the hammer. He is a newcomer to the team. 
• Knockout- She is a member that use boxing gloves that give her super strength and invulnerability. She becomes a love interest for Thor Kid. She wears a costume to make her bust size look bigger (which gets her more cash). 
• Captain Cosmic- He was a superhero in the late '80s. Due to a battle with the time-travelling Chronodile, he was launched 15 or 16 (both times are stated) years in the future. He discovered his wife spent all his money and got remarried. 
• Bolt- He is a main protagonist. He was struck by lightning. This gave him super strength (and seemly super durability). He acts as a mentor to Thor Kid and is desensitized to a degree when it comes the weirdness of superheroes.  
• Commander Capitalism- He is an older patriotic superhero. He has old fashion values (which managed to angered Bolt's wife). Despite this, he is well liked by his teammates,
• Claire Voyant- She is a member that hits on male members.

References:

http://www.comicvine.com/capes-1/4000-99412/

Capes issue 1-3