The Editors of LIFE - LIFE Rise of the Superhero: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen

Rise of the Superhero

Chris Evans stars in 2011s Captain America: The First Avenger.

Editor Alyssa Smith

Editorial Director Kostya Kennedy

Director of Photography Christina Lieberman

Designer Anke Stohlmann / Lil Robin

Copy Chief Parlan McGaw

Copy Editor Joel Van Liew

picture editor Rachel Hatch

Writer-Reporters Michelle Dupre, Courtney Mifsud

Photo Assistants Alessandra Bianco Christopher Manahan

Time Inc. Books

Publisher Margot Schupf

Vice President, Finance Cateryn Kiernan

Vice President, Marketing Jeremy Biloon

Executive Director, Marketing Services Carol Pittard

Director, Brand Marketing Jean Kennedy

Sales Director Christi Crowley

Associate Director, Brand Marketing Bryan Christian

Associate Director, Finance Jill Earyes

Assistant General Counsel Andrew Goldberg

Assistant Director, Production Susan Chodakiewicz

Senior Manager, Finance Ashley Petrasovic

Brand Manager Katherine Barnet

Prepress Manager Alex Voznesenskiy

Associate Project and Production Manager Anna Riego Muiz

Editorial Director Kostya Kennedy

Creative Director Gary Stewart

Director of Photography Christina Lieberman

Editorial Operations Director Jamie Roth Major

Senior Editor Alyssa Smith

Manager, Editorial Operations Gina Scauzillo

Associate Art Director Allie Adams

Copy Chief Rina Bander

Assistant Editor Courtney Mifsud

Time Inc. Premedia

Richard K. Prue (Director), Richard Shaffer (Production), Keith Aurelio, Kevin Hart, Rosalie Khan, Patricia Koh, Marco Lau, Brian Mai, Rudi Papiri, Clara Renauro

Special thanks Brad Beatson, Melissa Frankenberry, Kristina Jutzi, Simon Keeble, Seniqua Koger, Kate Roncinske

e-ISBN: 978-1-54784-081-6

Copyright 2017 Time Inc. Books

Published by LIFE BOOKS, an imprint of Time Inc. Books225 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10281

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Vol. 17, No. 21 November 10, 2017

LIFE is a trademark of Time Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

We welcome your comments and suggestions about LIFE Books. Please write to us at: LIFE Books, Attention: Book Editors P.O. Box 62310, Tampa, FL 33662-2310

Writers

Chris Arrant is the editor of the comics news site Newsarama, and has written about comics for USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Marvel Comics, CBR, and others.

Sean Howe is the author of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.

Nancy R. Lambert is a writer of fiction and nonfiction based in New York City. Her work has been published by Marvel Press, Disney Press, TIME.com, Tor.com, Time Out New York Kids, and other national publications. Her superpower is insomnia.

Richard A. Lupoff is the coeditor with Don Thompson of All in Color for a Dime and The Comic-Book Book and author of many books, including The Great American Paperback, Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure, and Where Memory Hides: A Writers Life.

Kevin Melrose is features editor of CBR.com, a website that covers comics, film, and television.

A comics industry analyst for two decades, John Jackson Miller is a New York Times best-selling author of science fiction novels and comics. His comics history website is Comichron.com.

Robb Pearlman is the author of many pop culture, humor, and childrens books.

Joshua Rivera is an entertainment critic and journalist whose work appears on GQ.com and Vulture.

Oliver Sava is an Eisner Awardwinning pop culture journalist who writes about comic books, TV, film, theater, and dance for The A.V. Club, Chicago Reader, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, NPR Books, Time Out Chicago, Vice, Vox, and Vulture.

Craig Shutt wrote about 1960s comics for the Comics Buyers Guide for more than 20 years and authored Baby Boomer Comics. He moderates a forum on older comics at the Comics Round Table website (captaincomics .ning.com).

Maggie Thompson, with her husband, Don, was among the comics fans who began comics reporting in the 1960s. She coedited Comics Buyers Guide for three decades.

Douglas Wolk is the author of Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean.

E3-20180130-JV-PC

Remembering

Adam West 19282017

His Batman scaled sides of city buildings, worked an unendingly versatile (and lifesaving) utility belt, escaped giant man-eating clams, and beat back criminals with a Pow! a Sock! and a Bam! From 1966 to 1968 (and then for many more years in reruns) Adam West, who died in June of 2017 after a brief battle with leukemia, starred as TVs lovable, sometimes fallible, but ultimately unbeatable Caped Crusader. He delivered his campy lines with a wry deadpan (Shes put the elevators out of commission, Commissioner!), he teared up now and then, and despite obvious temptation he stopped short of falling for the treacherous Catwoman. West defined a Batman that no future incarnationno matter how powerful or darkcould eclipse. Our dad always saw himself as the Bright Knight, Wests family said in a statement after his death. He was certainly that when LIFE shot him on the shows set in 66, and he landed on the magazines cover.

YALE JOEL/LIFE/THE PICTURE COLLECTION

YALE JOEL/LIFE/THE PICTURE COLLECTION

YALE JOEL/LIFE/THE PICTURE COLLECTION

YALE JOEL/LIFE/THE PICTURE COLLECTION

Foreword

Heroes Welcome by Stan Lee

AP

At Marvel headquarters in New York City in 1976, Stan Lee (top), then publisher of Marvel Comics, discusses a Spider-Man cover with artist John Romita, who in 2002 would join the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

The term superhero came into usage barely 80 years ago. It all started when National Comics (later to become DC Comics) published Superman, the creation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Suddenly, in the realm of adventure fiction, we had a hero who was superstrong, could leap over a skyscraper, and run faster than a speeding train.