Silver Age – EHT Comics

Strange Tales (1960’s)

Posted on August 2, 2026 by EHT Comics

Strange Tales switched to superheroes during the Silver Age of Comic Books, retaining the sci-fi, suspense and monsters as backup features for a time. Strange Tales‘ first superhero, in 12- to 14-page stories, was the Fantastic Four‘s Human Torch, Johnny Storm, beginning in #101 (Oct. 1962). Here, Johnny still lived with his elder sister, Susan Storm, in fictional Glenview, Long Island, New York, where he continued to attend high school and, with youthful naivete, attempted to maintain his “secret identity” (later retconned to reveal that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity from Fantastic Four news reports, but simply played along).

The title became a “split book” with the introduction of sorcerer Doctor Strange, by Lee and artist Steve Ditko. This 9- to 10-page feature debuted in #110 (July 1963), and after an additional story and then skipping two issues returned permanently with #114. Ditko’s surrealistic mystical landscapes and increasingly head-trippy visuals helped make the feature a favorite of college students, according to Lee himself. Eventually, as co-plotter and later sole plotter, in the “Marvel Method“, Ditko would take Strange into ever-more-abstract realms, which yet remained well-grounded thanks to Lee’s reliably humanistic, adventure/soap opera dialog. Adversaries for the new hero included Baron Mordo introduced in issue #111 (Aug. 1963) and Dormammu in issue #126 (Nov. 1964). Clea, who would become a longtime love interest for Doctor Strange, was also introduced in issue #126.

Aquaman (Silver Age)

Posted on August 2, 2026 by EHT Comics

Aquaman, published by DC Comics was created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger. The character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941). Initially a backup feature in DC’s anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title. During the late 1950s and 1960s superhero-revival period known as the Silver Age, he was a founding member of the Justice League of America. In the 1990s Modern Age, Aquaman’s character became more serious than in most previous interpretations, with storylines depicting the weight of his role as king of Atlantis.

Later accounts reconciled both facets of the character, casting Aquaman as serious and brooding, saddled with an ill reputation, and struggling to find a true role and purpose beyond his public side as a deposed king and a fallen hero.

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos (1963)

Posted on July 23, 2026 by EHT Comics

Comics-artist contemporary John Severin recalled in an interview conducted in the early 2000s that in the late 1950s, Kirby had approached him to be partners on a syndicated, newspaper comic strip “set in Europe during World War Two; the hero would be a tough, cigar-chomping sergeant with a squad of oddball GIs — sort of an adult Boy Commandos“, referring to a 1940s wartime “kid gang” comics series Kirby had co-created for DC Comics.

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos followed an elite special unit, the First Attack Squad, nicknamed the “Howling Commandos”, which was stationed in a military base in England to fight missions primarily, but not exclusively, in the European theatre of World War II. Under Captain “Happy Sam” Sawyer, Fury was the cigar-chomping noncom who led the racially and ethnically integrated unit, unusual for the time.

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual #1 G-VG $9

DC Special (1968)

Posted on July 23, 2026 by EHT Comics

DC Special was a comic book anthology series published by DC Comics originally from 1968 to 1971; it resumed publication from 1975 to 1977. For the most part, DC Special was a theme-based reprint title, mostly focusing on stories from DC’s Golden Age; at the end of its run it published a few original stories. Issue #4 featured many supernatural characters and writer Mark Hanerfeld and artist Bill Draut crafted the first appearance of Abel, who later became (along with his brother Cain) a major character in Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman. Paul Levitz and Joe Staton finished the series with a Justice Society of America story which revealed the team’s origin.

Captain America (1960’s)

Posted on July 14, 2026 by EHT Comics

Tales of Suspense became Captain America with #100 (April 1968) This series — considered Captain America volume one by comics researchers and historians, following the 1940s Captain America Comics and its 1950s numbering continuation of Tales of Suspense — ended with #454 (Aug. 1996).

Action Comics (1960’s)

Posted on July 12, 2026 by EHT Comics

In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a “new look” to the character that replaced Wayne Boring’s version. Bizarro World first appeared in the story “The World of Bizarros!” in issue #262 (April 1960). Writer Jim Shooter created the villain the Parasite in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966).

Action Comics #280 CGC 7.0 Off-White to White Pages $149

Superman (Silver Age)

Posted on July 4, 2026 by EHT Comics

In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a “new look” to the character that replaced Wayne Boring’s version. Writer Jim Shooter and Swan crafted the story “Superman’s Race With the Flash!” in Superman #199 (Aug. 1967) which featured the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their super-speed powers. Another Silver Age first is the “Death of Superman,” from 1961’s Superman #149, by Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan and Sheldon Moldoff. The Silver Age was a fantastic period for Superman fans, giving us characters such as Braniac, Bizzaro, Titano, Supergirl and The Legion of Superheroes.

Superman #190 CGC 9.4 Off-White to White Pages $379

The Incredible Hulk V1 (1968)

Posted on June 22, 2026 by EHT Comics

The Hulk first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (cover dated May 1962), written by writer-editor Stan Lee, penciled and co-plotted by Jack Kirby, and inked by Paul Reinman. Lee cites influence from Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the Hulk’s creation. The Hulk’s original series was canceled with issue #6 (March 1963).

In the debut, Lee chose gray for the Hulk because he wanted a color that did not suggest any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had problems with the gray coloring, resulting in different shades of grey, and even green, in the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee chose to change the skin color to green. Green was used in retellings of the origin, with even reprints of the original story being recolored for the next two decades, until The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #302 (December 1984) reintroduced the gray Hulk in flashbacks set close to the origin story. Since then, reprints of the first issue have displayed the original gray coloring, with the fictional canon specifying that the Hulk’s skin had initially been grey. An exception is the early trade paperback, Origins of Marvel Comics, from 1974, which explains the difficulties in keeping the gray color consistent in a Stan Lee written prologue, and reprints the origin story keeping the gray coloration.

Lee gave the Hulk’s alter ego the alliterative name Bruce Banner because he found he had less difficulty remembering alliterative names. Despite this, in later stories he misremembered the character’s name and referred to him as “Bob Banner”, an error which readers quickly picked up on. The discrepancy was resolved by giving the character the official full name of Robert Bruce Banner.

Green Lantern (Silver Age)

Posted on June 22, 2026June 27, 2026 by EHT Comics

Following the successful revival of the Flash in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956), a new Green Lantern was introduced in Showcase #22 (September–October 1959).

This Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, a test pilot who was given a power ring by a dying alien, Abin Sur, and who became a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar organization of police overseen by the Guardians of the Universe. The Corps’ rings were powerless against anything colored yellow, due to a yellow-colored “impurity,” or “dopant,” in the master power generator located on Oa, where the Guardians maintained their headquarters; the yellow dopant was described as being a “necessary” one, for without it, the master generator could not function as such.

Thor (Silver Age)

Posted on June 13, 2026 by EHT Comics

Thor debuted in the science fiction/fantasy anthology title Journey into Mystery #83 (cover-date Aug. 1962), and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller-plotter Jack Kirby. A different version of the mythological Thor had appeared previously in Venus #12-13 (Feb.-April 1951).

In a 1984 interview Kirby said “I did a version of Thor for D.C. in the Fifties before I did him for Marvel. I created Thor at Marvel because I was forever enamored of legends, which is why I knew about Balder, Heimdall, and Odin. I tried to update Thor and put him into a superhero costume, but he was still Thor.” And in a 1992 interview, Kirby said “[I] knew the Thor legends very well, but I wanted to modernize them. I felt that might be a new thing for comics, taking the old legends and modernizing them.”

Journey into Mystery was retitled Thor (per the indicia, or The Mighty Thor per most covers) with issue #126 (March 1966). “Tales of Asgard” was replaced by a five-page featurette starring the Inhumans from #146–152 (Nov. 1967 – May 1968), after which featurettes were dropped and the Thor stories expanded to Marvel’s then-standard 20-page length.