The Super Idea
Superman with his heat vision,Batman with his utility belt, Spiderman with his webshots and Ironman with his cool armor; we know it all,we’ve seen it all,we love it all(sort of). The current craze for wearing superhero t shirts, watching superhero blockbusters has turned into a trend more than a fan base. Most of these fans(!) did not even follow the comics series thus do'nt know the root of the superhero they are so fan of. How many of us does actually know the first superhero Mandrake The Magician?
“A superhero is a type of stock character dedicated to protecting the public” as wiki defines, Mandrake the Magician was the first to come up with this concept. Lee Falk created Mandrake at the age of 19, in 1924,who debuted in 1934 just as newspaper comic strips. Mandrake's super power was his ability to "make people believe anything, simply by gesturing hypnotically".
However, Superman is considered as the official superhero to start the phenomenon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster of DC comics in 1932, Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures,superman soon was widely considered to be an American cultural icon. It is also believed that Superman established the image of superhero in the comic industry.
Soon after the success of superman, the upsurge of new superheroes was at bullet speed. At that time (year 1934-1941) DC comics was at full potential monopoly with Superman, Batman and some other known heroes. Funny fact is, we all read,heard,seen DC comics. But only 1 out of 40 people know the abbreviation is actually Detective Comics.
Marvel comics was established at 1941 and successfully came in rivalry with DC with its debut superhero Captain America .A common concept of Spiderman being the first superhero of Marvel is a complete misconception. In fact, Spiderman was Marvel’s mid stage creation. Marvel gave birth to a new concept of superhero group with its one of the best creation Fantastic 4 following up with X-Men.
A very simple idea of creating a fictional character with extraordinary abilities and devoting his/her life towards saving other people created a revolution that sustains till now. Maybe the idea of these superheroes are fictional, but creating a fictional idea like this requires nothing less than a superhero. The creations might be superheros in frames and pages. But the creators are superheroes in real life.
