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Ghosts of Comics’ Past: December in Comics History – Early Enhancements, “Cerebus” #1, and a Gen13 movie

By | December 3rd, 2018
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Comics have been around for a long time and there is no shortage of fascinating stories in the history of the medium. This column looks back at select events that occurred during the calendar month from years long gone. Here are a few from Decembers past.

December 1939

Superman had arrived and shown the potential of the infant comic industry. Business was booming and new publishers were popping up every month. One such newbie was Leverett S. “Lev” Gleason, a former comic editor and salesman who decided to strike out on his own with the help of investor Arthur Bernhard. Their new company was called Your Guide Publications at first, but also went by New Friday Publications, Comic House Publications, and Newsbook Publications at different times over the next few years. They named their first comic after Bernhard’s car model: “Silver Streak Comics.”

When “Silver Streak” #1 debuted in 1939 with a December cover date, it was unceremoniously the first comic to have an enhanced cover. The logo and a horizontal, lightning-shaped banner were printed with silver metallic ink to emphasize the title and give each copy a little extra oomph on the newsstand. Unlike later cover enhancements that cost buyers a premium, the cover price of “Silver Streak” was unaffected. The next four issues also featured the enhancement, but it must not have been too effective because it disappeared starting with issue six.

The series debut introduced the Claw, an Asian caricature who is (possibly) the first super villain. Despite the character’s evil nature, Claw fatally defeated his heroic adversaries one after another until he became a recurring enemy of the Daredevil, a Gleason hero who carried his own title. During it’s run, “Silver Streak” featured art by Jack Cole and writing by Charles Biro. In 1942, the comic became “Crime Does Not Pay” beginning with issue #22.

December 1977

The network of comic book specialty shops and distributors that formed the kernel of the direct market in the mid-70s made self-publishing a realistic option for adventurous creators. Enter Dave Sim, a 21 year old high school drop out from Canada with a little experience working on poor-selling anthology comics. Having studied the mistakes of others, he decided his work needed to have a regular publication schedule and a recurring character. He committed to making three bi-monthly issues, with the intention to use those issues to drum up more work if he didn’t meet the minimum levels to continue.

“Cerebus” #1 had a print run of two thousand and was released with a cover date of December 1977. His fiance (and later wife) Deni Loubert assisted with the publishing effort, but the comic itself was wholly Sim. Initially, the series was a parody of Marvel’s top-selling “Conan” comics starring an anthropomorphic aardvark barbarian. Sim realized this particular premise had its limits within a year and branched out into other genres and deeper topics. In addition to captivating plots about politics and religion, fans were also drawn to the letter column discussions that extended far beyond anything relevant to the actual comic book.

In 1979, Sim found himself in the hospital after a period of heavy LSD use. While under the influence, Sim had a vision for what “Cerebus” could and should be. After he recovered, he stunned everyone by announcing that the series would be one massive epic that would span 300 issues.

Starting in 1986, Sim repackaged older issues into a collection he called a phone book due to its thickness. He announced that it would only be available for sale from him directly. This irked the distributors who would have profited by carrying it, and Diamond even threatened to drop his other monthly title, “Puma Blues,” if he didn’t let them offer it. Sim refused and eventually sold all 6000 copies. This surprised some people and served as proof that readers were interested in bound material. Meanwhile, his treatment during this episode led him to seek out other creators to discuss the limits of his rights, eventually leading to the Creators’ Bill of Rights.

Despite several setbacks, including a divorce from Deni, Sim (and his associate Gerhard) published the 300th issue in March 2004.

Continued below

December 1996

Jim Lee’s “Gen 13” miniseries launched from Image in 1994 to instant success. The ongoing series that launched the following year was equally popular. The property was so hot, in fact, that on December 6, 1996, Disney paid a six-figure sum for the film rights. An animated feature was planned as a direct-to-video release through Disney subsidiary Buena Vista Pictures with Batman:TAS alumni Kevin Altieri directing. The cast included some high-profile members such as Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Although the project was completed in 1998, Lee was in the process of selling “Gen 13” and the rest of his WildStorm studio to DC. Since DC is owned by Time Warner, a competitor of Disney’s, Disney wasn’t too keen on promoting the property anymore. The video received a limited release in Europe and Australia, but was never formally released in the United States. Some low-quality bootlegs are available, and most of it can be found on YouTube.


//TAGS | Ghosts of Comics' Past

Drew Bradley

Drew Bradley is a long time comic reader whose past contributions to Multiversity include annotations for "MIND MGMT", the Small Press Spotlight, Lettering Week, and Variant Coverage. He currently writes about the history of comic comic industry. Feel free to email him about these things, or any other comic related topic.

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