Who was the first costumed superhero? 0

[BB-Gun]

In the All Star 1 story, Ultraman stripped down to fight. So I guess he didn't really have a costume but they always pictured him wearing his funny helmet on the covers.

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[buttock]

Second DC Superhero?

What about Ultraman who debuted Nov 1939 in All American 8?

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[buttock]

All very interesting, except that The Shadow never wore a mask Instead he was more likely to use make-up to change his appearance.

 

Oops, your right. I guess I was thinking of his scarf.

 

buttock, I'd forgotten about Dr. Occult. Didn't he get a costume in his later appearances complete with an emblem on his chest? Does anyone know when that was? I think it was still pre-Action 1.

 

He got a costume in More Fun 14, but his powers were sort of bestowed on him in a magical sense. It's a very gray area as to whether or not it's exactly a "super-hero" as we view them now, although I suppose it's not much different than Green Lantern. But the images in MF 14 are just stunningly like Superman. I wish I hadn't have traded away my copy.

[Electricmastro]

If not Mandrake, and if supernatural powers are required to count as such, then perhaps the Phantom Magician, aka Phil Cardigan (Famous Funnies #35, June 1937). Art by Mel Graff.

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Electricmastro

[markseifert]

There are numerous mostly short-lived characters from the 1800s who fit the standard definition of a superhero. Attached are a couple I happen to have handy.

The Harlequin Detective was the secret identity of an actual police detective.

The Lone Star is very certainly the prototype for the Lone Ranger.

Keep in mind that during the 1860s-1890s, there were countless costumed vigilante groups in America for all sorts of purposes beyond the one that we most commonly think of.  The exploits of such costumed vigilantes made not-infrequent news during the lives of the parents and grandparents of our foundational golden age creators, and is a major influence on the genre.  (Attached is a photo of a costume of one of the Missouri Bald Knobbers)

 

[Electricmastro]

53 minutes ago, markseifert said:

There are numerous mostly short-lived characters from the 1800s who fit the standard definition of a superhero. Attached are a couple I happen to have handy.

The Harlequin Detective was the secret identity of an actual police detective.

The Lone Star is very certainly the prototype for the Lone Ranger.

Keep in mind that during the 1860s-1890s, there were countless costumed vigilante groups in America for all sorts of purposes beyond the one that we most commonly think of.  The exploits of such costumed vigilantes made not-infrequent news during the lives of the parents and grandparents of our foundational golden age creators, and is a major influence on the genre.  (Attached is a photo of a costume of one of the Missouri Bald Knobbers)

 

The character from this time I most frequently see cited as superhero is Spring-Heeled Jack, though as I understand it, he was sometimes written as a villain or hero depending on the writer. This installment of Spring-Heeled Jack #1 seems to write him more as heroic I suppose (March 1904, Aldine Publishing). Art by Robert Prowse Jr.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Electricmastro

[markseifert]

9 hours ago, Electricmastro said:

The character from this time I most frequently see cited as superhero is Spring-Heeled Jack, though as I understand it, he was sometimes written as a villain or hero depending on the writer. This installment of Spring-Heeled Jack #1 seems to write him more as heroic I suppose (March 1904, Aldine Publishing). Art by Robert Prowse Jr.

 

Anthony Wayne, the Revolutionary War-era General who is part of the inspiration for Bruce Wayne, is much much more of an inspiration than people think.

Legend has it that as a child, Wayne made himself a costume and called himself Gray Fox.  

He organized his schoolmates into teams and trained them until they were all bloody every day.  As an adult, he dressed as a dandy purposefully to make people underestimate him. Wayne is also considered the grandfather of modern American military tactics.  He was our first General to emphasize the importance of preparation and military training in winning fights -- right down to "the man over the weapon" philisophy.

It's a thing, but Spring-Heeled Jack's importance to this is overstated imo, particularly in America.  When the Sons of the Liberty dressed up as natives for the Boston Tea Party, they didn't think they were fooling anyone with the costume.  They were mimicking native warriors by using their "savage garb" as one cartoon puts it, mentally assuming their attitude and power.  The Sons were donning the garb of their Mother's people (this is backed up in cartoons of the time also -- Lady Liberty = Columbia = a native woman) to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.50288/

This was also done in the 1830s during the anti-rent wars in upstate New York, in a time and place where Johannes Vinger, the first member of Bill Finger's family to come to America, lived.  The anti-rent vigilantes were called "Calico Indians", but they didn't look like natives, really.  They looked like... Batman.

This stuff was in the air in America, to an incredible extent.

Edited May 20, 2020 by markseifert

[Marty Mann]

Always thought this logo created in 1928 would make a good character.

 

[Electricmastro]

Actually, to credit Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alone for creating the superhero genre would probably do a disservice to people like Lee Falk, whose characters of Mandrake the Magician and the Phantom could just as reasonably be called superheroes even though they’re not exactly the same as Superman.