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The Old Origin Changeth!: The Enhancement and Embroidering of Superhero Origins
THINGS CHANGE!
A far-off planet explodes, a shot rings out in a darkened alley, a weakling becomes a he-man, a radioactive spider bites an unsuspecting boy—these are the beginnings of some of the greatest characters in the long history of comic books, set forever in stone for oncoming generations of readers to be entertain and inspire them…
…or are they?
Over many decades comic book publishers have felt the crushing weight of passing years and updated and embellished their superheroes’ origins to reflect changing appetites and sensibilities on the part of not only the fans who follow them, but the writers, artists, and editors who create their adventures. In other words, when what was good for one generation no longer works for the next, something has to change!
THE OLD ORIGIN CHANGETH! sets out to tell the ongoing saga of the origin stories of six of the most popular comic book concepts of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man. To this end, six comic book historians tackle these stalwarts of four-color fantasies and dig down into their firmament to examine and illuminate the embroidery on the tapestries.
Featuring informative, engaging, and personable essays by Sam Agro, Michael Bailey, Thomas Deja, Joseph Dilworth Jr., Frank Schildiner, and Dan Wickline.
Created and Edited by Jim Beard
Cover by Jeffrey Hayes
Interior Design and Formatting by Maggie Ryel
A far-off planet explodes, a shot rings out in a darkened alley, a weakling becomes a he-man, a radioactive spider bites an unsuspecting boy—these are the beginnings of some of the greatest characters in the long history of comic books, set forever in stone for oncoming generations of readers to be entertain and inspire them…
…or are they?
Over many decades comic book publishers have felt the crushing weight of passing years and updated and embellished their superheroes’ origins to reflect changing appetites and sensibilities on the part of not only the fans who follow them, but the writers, artists, and editors who create their adventures. In other words, when what was good for one generation no longer works for the next, something has to change!
THE OLD ORIGIN CHANGETH! sets out to tell the ongoing saga of the origin stories of six of the most popular comic book concepts of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man. To this end, six comic book historians tackle these stalwarts of four-color fantasies and dig down into their firmament to examine and illuminate the embroidery on the tapestries.
Featuring informative, engaging, and personable essays by Sam Agro, Michael Bailey, Thomas Deja, Joseph Dilworth Jr., Frank Schildiner, and Dan Wickline.
Created and Edited by Jim Beard
Cover by Jeffrey Hayes
Interior Design and Formatting by Maggie Ryel
- GenresNonfiction
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 26, 2023
6 people are currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Jim Beard
93 books24 followersJim Beard became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since that time he's written official Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history. His prose work includes SPIDER-MAN: ENEMIES CLOSER, an original novel; co-editing and contributing a story to PLANET OF THE APES: TALES FROM THE FORBIDDEN ZONE; a story for X-FILES: SECRET AGENDAS; GOTHAM CITY 14 MILES, a book of essays on the 1966 Batman TV series; SGT. JANUS, SPIRIT-BREAKER, a collection of pulp ghost stories featuring an Edwardian occult detective; MONSTER EARTH, a shared-world giant monster anthology; and CAPTAIN ACTION: RIDDLE OF THE GLOWING MEN, the first pulp prose novel based on the classic 1960s action figure. Jim also currently provides regular content for Marvel.com, the official Marvel Comics website.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 14, 2023
As comic book heroes go on, their origins change over time, whether due to changing conditions, or editorial decisions, or just the writers wanting to get their fingerprints on things. Pretty interesting. I think the best chapter was Batman, while the worst was Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman's origin has so many permutations, it's a wonder anybody can keep track of all the changes.
March 23, 2024
It's a fun look at the changing origins of popular comic characters. I found the Marvel pieces slightly stronger than the DC ones, but overall, this is a compelling read for a superhero fan.
June 30, 2023
Editor Jim Beard has once again hit on a great concept for a collection of essays: tracking the (sometimes convoluted and contradictory) changes in origin for 6 (well, really 9) of the best known super-heroes in all of comicdom: Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, The Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man.
Each essay is written by a different author, so the style of delivery and tone of each is a bit different, but what they all have in common is a clear love of the comic book genre in general and of the hero(es) of which they are writing in particular. There's no judgemental snark (there's snark, but it comes from a place of love, not denigration) or "looking down" in these pages.
What I particularly liked is that each essayist's emphasis is not just on the Sweeping Changes brought in by large corporate re-sets of the characters' worlds, but also on the more subtle changes writers and artists have made over the years, little tidbits added into a character's origin to add depth or "unveil" some previously "unknown" fact.
This is a great collection for comic book fans, even if you're not a lifelong fan of each character profiled. I really hope this volume is successful enough to justify a host of sequels.
Each essay is written by a different author, so the style of delivery and tone of each is a bit different, but what they all have in common is a clear love of the comic book genre in general and of the hero(es) of which they are writing in particular. There's no judgemental snark (there's snark, but it comes from a place of love, not denigration) or "looking down" in these pages.
What I particularly liked is that each essayist's emphasis is not just on the Sweeping Changes brought in by large corporate re-sets of the characters' worlds, but also on the more subtle changes writers and artists have made over the years, little tidbits added into a character's origin to add depth or "unveil" some previously "unknown" fact.
This is a great collection for comic book fans, even if you're not a lifelong fan of each character profiled. I really hope this volume is successful enough to justify a host of sequels.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews