From Hulk to Watchmen: 5 Fascinating Superhero Comic Facts

Discover more about Marvel and DC’s heroes and heroines

Superhero comics have been inspiring us to dream of heroes and villains, supernatural powers, dark cities and fabulous costumes for decades.

Born in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, superheros changed comic history and saved publishing. By the mid-1960s, ten of the twelve US comic best-sellers starred superheroes.

So do you know why Hulk is green? Or the identity of the first ever superhero? Discover these fascinating facts and more about superhero comics in the video.

1. Who was the first superhero?

People generally assume Superman was the first ever superhero... but they’re wrong! The first superhero was actually The Phantom. Lee Falk and illustrator Ray Moore created him in 1936. And he was a forerunner of the comic aesthetic.

Superman only hit the scene two years later. And he was followed by classics including: Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, the Fantastic Four and Hulk.

2. Why is Hulk green?

Green goes with Hulk like his legendary bad temper. But his skin color is actually the result of a mistake! The Hulk initially created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1967, was gray. But back then, the limits of printing technology made it impossible to print this shade evenly, resulting in a different gray on every page.

Lee refused to have an inconsistent superhero, so he asked the managers of the print firm which color would work. They answered that the only shade causing problems was gray, so Stan Lee set about choosing another color. At the time, there were no green superheros, so he chose the unique shade for Hulk. And his choice became a key feature of his character’s identity. (Although the green giant has returned to his original color on occasion over the years.)

3. The Spiderman fan behind Venom

Did you know that Venom, one of Marvel’s most famous characters, started life as a replacement Spiderman costume? Schoolboy Randy Schueller entered his design for a Spiderman costume: black with a red spider printed on the chest in a competition organized by Marvel. The publishers paid him $220 for his design, which became a Spidey suit, before coming to life as the famous Venom.

4. Symmetrical Watchmen?

The title of Alan Moore’s legendary comic, Watchmen #5: Fearful Symmetry, is no coincidence. Every frame of this 1987 volume reflects another, either in its use of color, narrative, background or action.

The first page is reflected in the last, the second in the penultimate, etc. until you reach the centerfold, which is a symmetrical masterpiece, and reveals how the story ends.

5. Wonder Woman’s style

Wonder Woman never wore a skirt. She wore culottes that were so fluid they resembled a skirt in some illustrations. The sandals in her initial sketch were switched for boots to make fighting more comfortable. In time, her outfit got shorter and shorter, until it changed completely after 1968.

Then in 1972, Feminist and Journalist Gloria Steinem put the original Wonder Woman on the front page of Ms. magazine and wrote about her importance, which brought back the classic look.

Love this video? If you want to learn how to create the layout, sketches, lighting and thumbnails for a comic, don’t miss Carlos Pacheco’s course: The Superhero Comic: Narrative and Graphic Design.

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