Superman was the first hero and probably still the most recognizable, so it is no surprise that every comic company seems to want their own analogue of the Man of Steel. It's all in the execution, though, and while some Superman knock-offs come and go, others have been able to star in some memorable stories of their own. Alan Moore's run on Supreme is a great tribute to Superman throughout the ages, just bursting with cool ideas. I also quite liked Kurt Busiek's Samaritan tales, and I am glad that he and the rest of the Astro City gang will be returning via DC's Vertigo imprint.
22 comments:
Hyperion must feel left out.
Hoy
Yeah, but he got his own cover with Superman all to himself in issue #144!
I always hate reading the kind of note I'm writing here (because it's just nitpicking), but it's true none-the-less:
Samaritan, not Samaratin.
Off the record: You're still doing wonderful work!
Fixed!
Hey .... where's Gladiator! I know you hav that rule about ! character per company, but I think he's the more impressive Supes analogue since he shares his sense of duty. Something I find lacking in the other Marvel analogues (and throughout the whole Marvel universe, but I ain't one to gossip, so you didn't hear that from me!).
Superman and Gladiator will definitely be sharing a cover.
What, no Golden Age Wonder Man? He was the truly original Superman knock-off!
Technically Shazam/Captain Marvel also belongs in the category, but since DC bought up all of Fawcett he'd be a little superfluous here.
Still, awesome cover.
just supreme would be a challenge but the others added im sorry to say supes would be defeated now prime vs supreme would be awesome will glory or other malibu/ultraverse characters come up?
If I remember correctly, The Shadow and Doc Savage predate Superman, and Hugo Danner was actually on whom the Man of Tomorrow's power were based.
Good job. I just recently did a cover featuring Superman and a certain samurai...
http://randomthoughts-arw.blogspot.com/2013/04/creative-time-superman-and-samurai-jack.html
Also, shouldn't Plutonium from Irredeemable be here as well? I think he's another homage to Superman.
Gladiator was an analog for Mon-El from Legion of Super-Heroes, as were all of the Imperial Guard. Heck, some of them were in recolored Legionnaire costumes (the Ultra Boy analog is the most obvious).
Another Supes analogue that all the commenters missed is Homelander from Ennis's "The Boys."
What? No Maximortal?
lol Superman wasn't the first Super Hero, nor was he the first hero with that set of powers, (flying, super strength, energy projection like heat vision) that would be Ogon Bat (1930/31) from Japan. http://bit.ly/l1K5OO http://bit.ly/16l3Acr http://bit.ly/17xk55g He had all the powers Superman had back then including some more like creating whirlwinds. Several more where added in the 1967 anime http://youtu.be/o7Gn9dtpsC0 But Superman wasn't a copy of him though. That would be likes of Doc Savage, the Gladiator and John Carter. :D
But I agree with the knock-off parts, its missing Hyperion, Icon, Centurion and Prime :D
Also because I forgot to put it in the post because I am half asleep.
YES Superman ISN'T the first Super Hero, He's the one who started the Gold Age of Super Heroes. In America the Shadow started the pulp hero era along side the Western hero era with the Lone Ranger and Japans Kamishibai era with Said Ogon Bat and GeGeGe No Kitaro. Before that you guys had heroes like Zorro (1919) and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (1915) who are now both owned by Disney.
And if you look globally, even if you ignore mythology we got lots more heroes(though they where more like thieves) the German Lord Lister started in 1915, he was a copy of the French novel anti-heroes like the first of them Rocamble (http://bit.ly/1bu83xC 1857) and then the more well know Arsene Lupin, (not the 3rd) Fanthomas, and Zenith. France had its own superhero named the Nyctalope (http://bit.ly/1a3aKAX 1911) who had an artificial heart, and could see at night (Doctor Mid-nite got some explaining to do).
Lastly I never thought the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen counted as they are old novel characters shaped to be heroes rather then written to be such. But Britain did had allot of fiction with heroes before Superman. The only one I need to mention is Springheeled Jack who arguably appeared as a menace to London in real life EXACTLY 100 years before Superman went to print. He could breath fire and jump over 50 meters at least, 2 years later when he was still being hunted down by angry mobs. Penny dreadfulls where written about him. First as demon, then as anti-hero pulling pranks to grope women. And finally they changed him to be an embittered noblemen on the search for revenge all the while pulling pranks on the authority. He had a secret hide-out and a buddy to help him. he was pretty much Zorro by that point. The copy I got of that story is new but the original print is from 1904 (http://bit.ly/18Tq9VY)
Sorry for the deletion of the first post and this extra long one. But I had knowledge and why the hell not, no one ever got hurt from education of something awesome, unless it blows up in your face that is xD
Sentry?! I thought he was called "the Sentinel!" Oh, dear. I hope the Void doesn't get mad at me.
By the way; didn't Larsen's Mighty Man _precede_ Liefeld's Supreme over Image?
@Hoy Murphy: not to worry, Murph! He's got Ultra-Man's enmmity to keep him warm.
;-)
@carycomic: There's only one "m" in "enmity." Lol!
But, defeated with _extremely_ great difficulty! That's the ticket.
You forgot about Nyctalope who's sort of a French proto-diesel-punk cyborg from circa 1910.
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