10 Forgotten Pulp Magazine Superheroes Of Golden Age - Explained In Detail
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- Superhero movies have become the new favorite of producers and directors alike but how often do we see new superheroes making their way to the big screen? Most of us are only accustomed to the famous DC and Marvel superheroes but what about the ones who were the influence and inspiration behind Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, WonderWoman, etc.? While Batman and Superman made their first appearances in 1938 and 1939, there were already many pioneering and classic characters walking the comic strips of pulp magazines and newspapers. The Phantom, Zorro and Flash Gordon are only a few among many such forerunners of modern superheroes. The pulp magazines played a crucial role in popularizing these characters, but they got lost in the memories of viewers over the period of time. Ultimately, the growing unpopularity led to a decline in quality live-action films.
Marvelous Videos thought it was only apt to honor and remember the marvels of the superhero world, the ones who paved the way for the industry to become what it is today. In this video, we will reintroduce to you ten of the greatest yet forgotten superheroes that were made in and around the Golden Age of Comic Books, i.e., 1938 to 1956.
0:00 Intro
1:53 The Phantom
4:22 The Shadow
6:43 Flash Gordon
9:13 El Zorro
11:50 Mandrake the Magician
14:18 Doc Savage
16:50 Buck Rogers
18:56 John Carter of Mars
20:45 Kull of Atlantis
22:59 Sheena: Queen of the Jungle 
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I've become a loyal fan of your channel. Indeed you guys do a marvelous job. Keep up the good work . Love n luck 👍👍
The phantom is still one of the most famous and beloved comic book heroes in Sweden. There are many new issues written and printed here.
He's very popular in Papua New Guinea too, look up 'phantom war shields' - it's like a whole thing in their culture now, to paint The Phantom on their tribal war shields. Apparently he became popular because he was 'the man who cannot die', hence a good man to have on your war shield.
I wish we had him still in Finland, too.
The only way for us to get more is with large collectiins, newspaper strips and whenever someone is selling the old numbers in fleemarkets.
I just did a sort through of my collection and I found a commemorative issue of The Phantom from when Lee Falk passed away in 1999. It's things like this that makes me proud to belong to this fandom
Also. They have a phantom themed area at a zoo in Sweden, where kids can play around and even meet “the phantom”.
@@timbackman5915 Wait, it's still around?
I have visited it during early 2000s but can't remember a thing.
I'm Aussie. The Phantom was big in Australia. I have my fathers 50's collection of Phantom comics. They still print it here today and reprint the classics too. Aussies love the Phantom.
Second that, I collected so many in 90s wish my parents hadn't thrown them away
The Aussies have great taste.
Over 1890 issues and still going...
Wasn't Nudge in the Australian sitcom "Hey Dad..!" a huge Phantom fan?
Beauty of The Phantom is that you can place it in any era you want, as demonstrated by the success of Phantom 2040 and Defenders of the Earth.
Also, the phantom is a legacy persona of many men.
The Defenders caetoon back in the 90's was so wierd with the character lineup, BUT was a really interesting show. The Phantom being one of those charaters.
The Shadow...is EPIC. will be my best non-mainstream superhero.
I have been lisenig old Shadow radio shows weeks now and the stories are all ways fun to lisen.
The Shadow Knows
I was always a Phantom bloke myself
The Red Panda is based on the Shadow and Batman.
Clark Kent = CLARK Savage, Jr + KENT Allard.
Quick correction: The Phantom's costume was never meant to be purple. It was grey in the comics as noted by the fact he had the name of the Grey Ghost early in the first story but it was changed to Phantom. Years into his newspaper run a colourist made the suit purple without asking the writer/creator what the actual colour was. That damn purple suit has stuck with the character ever since even tho he has been often depicted in his blue/grey version which is the official colouring
If he's not afraid to walk around in a purple suit... he's not afraid of anything.
Grey Ghost Wait Bat Man The Animated Series. Young Bruce Wayne's Favorite Tv Show The Grey Ghost And Also A Franklin Mint Collection Car Based On The Real Car
@@therep3410 Not exactly. BTAS mat have been giving a little nod to the first costumed superhero (Superman was invented first but was still in a regular suit when Phantom debuted) but the 2 characters aren't really alike
@@dansharp2860 Springheel Jack, The Shadow, Nighthawk, Chandu the magician, The Spider, Mandrake the magician, Lothar, Flash Gordon, The Phantom Detective, The Phantom, all wore costumes before Superman.
@@hydrolito some of these characters don't exactly wear costumes in that sense. Mandrake has a magician's look that he wears all the time but it isn't a costume like that of The Phantom or Superman. The Shadow was a radio serial before it was a comic so that one doesn't count. Since i wasn't alive in the 1930's I can only go by what I read and several sources over the years have listed The Phantom as the 1st character to wear the now iconic "circus strongman", underwear on the outside, superhero costume.
I remember reading The Phantom and many other comics as a kid. If my parents hadn't thrown out all my comics, they'd be worth a fortune today.
true
Of course, parents throwing away comic is why the surviving copies are worth so much.
All my Nintendo games from the 80s went missing when I went to college in 98, dammit mom! Ahaha
@@Clubber-Slang cool
My mom did the same to me back when I first started collecting back when I was a kid. Thank God she eventually got out of that phase.
I never forgot these characters. They have a special place in my comic library.
“Forgotten”? The Phantom has been my favourite comic hero for most of my life. Never forgotten by me.
Same here.
The John Carter thing of jumping in the Mars lesser gravity, is like Superman leaping distances in Earth's lesser gravity.( Krypton was much bigger than Earth, before he flew Superman leaped from place to place.)
The Shadow was an awesome super-hero movie back in 1994. I thought it was very well made and the music was awesome! Pretty much every other character on this list also deserves to be more well known. Doc Savage in particular, especially if you read the books. He's basically a role model to anyone who wishes to make as much of their lives as possible and learn as many skills and abilities as a single person could ever hope to do in their lifetime!
Alec Baldwin is the reason why he didn't make a comeback
@@EnclavegovtofficialUSA He would've made a better Batman than Val Kilmer.
@@EnclavegovtofficialUSA I don't blame Baldwin, I blame the producer or writers who ignored the 300+ novels and came out with a really bad movie.
@@bjbell52 his line deliveries sound like those of a parody!
I think Antonio Banderas was a worthy successor to Guy Williams as Zorro, with honorable mention to Duncan Regehr.
The, um... Phantom isn't a Pulp character.
He's a comic character.
He didn't even feature in prose novels - not Pulp novels - until decades after his inception.
Same with Mandrake (and Flash Gordon, aside from one novel). The Avenger and The Spider would have been better choices.
The Phantom did start off as a comic strip character and remains so. He has been in one movie serial. He was supposed to be in a second movie serial but that didn't work out. I think it was retitled Captain Africa. Anyway the movie that was released had mixed feelings by fans in Australia because fans really wanted the skull cave to be in Africa. The Singh Brotherhood were fine and so was the romp through New York.
Thanks for pointing out the difference.
In my ignorance, I never would've known that he wasn't.
Anyone remember the Flash Gordon cartoons that used to run in the 90s? I LOVED those cartoons. The gadgets. The spaceships. I used to record them on vhs, play it back, pause and sketch those gadgets/guns/spaceships. Good times.
Team Marvelous . . .
Thanks for the trip down nostalgia lane.
💖🤗
Be safe and STAY blessed everyone
🙏
Ll
I remember. And what's really cool is that you can find the series on some streaming services. Pluto TV comes to mind.
@@truefanforum3273 Thanks for that!!!
@@CJ_Pharaoh No problem!
@@CJ_Pharaoh Oh yeah, you can also see the old Flash Goden cartoon and Defenders of the Earth on Pluto TV as well. And I think Tubi and Amazon Prime Video. Now if they only had Phantom 2040.
I wish that you could have stuck with Characters who haven't had some kind of movie or television adaptation. They are the ones that have been truly forgotten
Except most pulp characters have had some attempt at some kind of TV show or movie most just didn't turn out well
Give the Shadow movie this, you tell the makers of the movie love and understand the character. Its problems come from the story
@@MrMaxHauser I agree with that, and the acting is pretty bad too.
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men ....? , The Shadow knows !!...........What do you mean you don't know ?????."
Zorro was the inspiration for........Batman. Zorro was from 1919, Batman , 1939.
In a perfect world, I'd like to see individual movies of Flash Gordon, The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. Then bring them all together for a Defenders of the Earth movie.
I can dream.
I also love Zorro and The Shadow.
Both DC and Marvel have their version of Mandrake eg: Dr Fate and Zatara.
Don't forget Luthor.
Earth earth earth earth earth
This was a good list, but you forgot Lieutenant Gullivar Jones, from Edwin Lester Arnold's 1905 novel, Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. He was John Carter, before John Carter was John Carter.
I followed the Phantom in the Sunday comics section for many years. He was one of the reasons the Sundau comics were fun!
I also liked Prince Valiant! Such beautiful drawings!
Anyone who enjoys those golden age heroes like The Phantom and Flash Gordon owes it to themselves to see the entire Defenders of the Earth series. I absolutely LOVED that show as a kid, and it was centered around heroes from decades before I was born, including the aforementioned two.
Disney's Zorro is my favorite! The series even starts the way the story goes with Diego returning from Spain as a swordsman discovering the corruption back home.
Sheena was basically a female version of Tarzan, however in 1929 Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs had already created his own female jungle heroine Nyoka the Jungle Girl, who was trapped and fought evil in the Forgotten Kingdom lost in the jungles of Cambodia.
Didn't they make a Movie Serial about Nyoka?
I don’t remember reading that one, and I was a big ERB fan. What is the title?
@@JackClayton123 Nyoka was a character created for Fawcett by Edgar Rice Burroughs, where she headlined a book called Jungle Girl Comics. She also appeared in Two Movie Serials-Jungle Girl, and The Perils of Nyoka.
Fou Tan is actually the original Jungle Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Also a heroic Asian Princess!
@@zoriibliss7519- Republic Pictures did, although they completely rewrote the character & just used Burrough's name for marketing.
I remember there was a Sheena cartoon when I was a little kid in the 70's. It aired along with the Godzilla cartoon.
Jana is from the USA but raised in the Amazon. The original comic Sheena (plus her film and tv fellas under the name of Sheena) is from the Same Coutnry but raised in Africa.
If I recall, overestimating the name recognition of John Carter is a big reason why THAT movie was a flop.
I was under the impression that it was the poor marketing that did the movie in.
It was both.
These heroes will never be forgotten as long as
"THE SHADOW KNOWS!!!"
I own quite a few of the 1940’s Fiction House Jumbo Comics with Sheena in them.
Fun fact: The Unstoppables of Fallout lore was inspired by classic comic book and radio show heroes.
The Silver Shroud is the shadow
Regarding Zorro, there was also an underrated tv series on during the 90s.
I saw the 90s TV show and didn't like it. You can explain a character into the ground which they did.
two more I feel should be on this list are "The Beastmaster" and "the Rocketeer" both great but so little known
Rocketeer created in the 80s I think Beastmaster also
@@IJLook I believe Beastmaster was in the 80s, not sure the year, but Rocketeer was made in 1991(I also seen it in theaters when I was little
Forgotten? Phantom is still going strong with issues still being made released weekly in my country of Australia.
Also the live action Phantom movie is a straight up adaption from the comic.
Not quite. Most of the story was adapted from the first 2 stories The Singh Brotherhood and The Sky Pirates. Quill being the man who killed the 20th Phantom was also from the comics but Xander Drax was wholly created for the movie as well as the 3 Skulls (4 when you include the ring). They also changed the Bandar pygmies to the Tugunda tribe who were not pygmies. Other than that it was pretty faithful.
" Doc Savage........oh yea, Fortress of solitude, right next door to Superman's."
I still have a promo ring from The Phantom I got a 7 Eleven, still fits
Meanwhile Batman's influences were the shadow, The phantom and Sherlock Holmes.
lucky you :)
i bought the rare limited 500 signed set that had the cowl, silver rings the belt the holsters and twin colts with a beautiful stand as it was advertised before it hit the stands.. but customs had problems with the pistols and declared they needed firearms license even though it stated replica on the box itself and the invoice, i just could not get them.. and two months later the contents of my package was missing from the customs :D
:( darn my luck.. somebody has bought the set from the customs :( i still think about it to this day.. i can not find it anywhere to buy again.. and even if i find it i doubt it will at the price i bought it..
If one day you decide to be a vigilante, use it. Could be your shtick.
At a 7e?! Lucky boy!
In Defenders of the Earth, The Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake are all awsome.
Defenders of the Earth deserves a live action movie, or at least a new TV Series.
@@zoriibliss7519 and M.A.S.K.
Interesting video. - There was also - The Nyctalope, The Spider, Golden Bat, Fantomah, Satin Astro, The Human Bat and The Avenger.
And more much more
Phantom Stranger. Coolest name for an alter ego.
I'm now imagining all of them teaming up against Fantomas. I'd pay to see something like that
@@Tzeenj529 That would be a good film.
The Spider appeared in a Movie Serial.
I missed Turok and Magnus, Robot fighter . They were among my favorites in the 60s
Magnus is OK but Torok needs a movie.
Mine too, as were Gold Key Comics in general. My favorite comic of their was Space Family Robinson. Also loved their Tarzan and Korak comics; especially those drawn by Russ Manning (who'd created Magnus).
Space family Robinson pure gold, I used to hover them up from the bargain bin whenever I could find them. Not hopeful they would make a good movie.
@@bradfordhatch5085 yes I loved bargain bin hunting for space family Robinson.😊
@@keithhorning7753 Why not? Something similar became a TV series in the 1960s, which itself became a (not so good) movie in the 1990s. And yeah I used to get back issues from avrious comic book shops myself back in the 70s and 80s when they didn't charge ridiculously high prices for them. Fortunately my collection was complete by the 1990s, when insted of getting the very first issue for $1 one of the obscure later issues (the one where Tim snd Tam in their spacemobile got shrunk) went for $17; from a store that wouldn't have even paid $1 for my own copy! Imo it was almost Star trek years before Star trek came into the picture. :-)
Flash Gordon always give me fun nostalgic vibes. The Hawk Men were freakin awesome!
Thanks so much for making this video. I'm a huge fan of the pre-superhero era of the pulp fiction characters of the 1930's and this is the first time I see someone do a comprehensive history on these characters.
John Carter is too damn underrated.
Also I grew up reading The Phantom comics. They were so good.
Not sure why but the John Carter movie had a hell of a lot going for it and it has been ignored.
What I never knew for years was the Green Hornet is related to the lone ranger by being his grand nephew.
But I would actually compare Mandrake the magician much closer to Dr. Strange.
The Green Hornet Loved the 1960's TV Series and Seth Rogen Movie to an extent
"Flash Gordon, Quarterback, New York Jets" 😂 Defenders of the Earth was awesome. Shadow should be remade. Sheena is a babe. Zorro is coming back teaming up with Django. Buck Rogers had a good intro song.
Apparently he was a pollo player before being retconed.
The Zorro Marvel Comics series was based on a Zorro TV show that aired on the Family Channel. There was also a movie called " Zorro The Gay Blade". The Syfi channel made a Phantom movie for their tv channel. I loved the Doc Savage novels.the Shadow and Doc Savage were both in the comics the Disney Movie "The Rocketeer " was based on.
Dave Stevens created the Rocketeer in the comic book to read like a Doc Savage story from Cliff Secord's point of view
I was obsessed with that phantom movie as a kid! I remember they were selling the rings at 711 and I was so stoked to get one.
The Phantom and The Shadow are my favorites!! I want a crossover.
Well I now feel like a real film Geek, I have seen all of these movies, Sheena - sorry rather bad in my opion, the best of the lot is John Carter of Mars,and then probably the Phantom.All are worth a watch if you are lucky enough to find them.
I think by Bob Kane and Bill Finger were inspired by the Shadow to make Batman, you mean they blatantly ripped off the Shadow to make Batman.
Zorro as well
These are Such Awesome videos
I’m going to go back and see a lot of these movies again
Love your channel. As always, great content.
I'm a huge fan of The Phantom. I love revisiting his adventures.
Great video.
Love this. I have a fascination with some of the heroes, not necessarily "super", of the past. There seemed to be a lot more imagination to their character and the fact that they were not super made them more believable and relatable. Keep up the good work
I actually really enjoyed the John Carter movie, still pretty bummed it never got a sequel.
Funny thing about Phantom is that he might be all but forgotten in USA but Sweden adopted him and while we don't sell any Marvel or DC comics outside dedicated comic book stores, The Phantom comics can be found in every grocery store magazine rack for comic series. Even had his own little themed area at a medium size zoo between 1986-2009.
Thank You...... This was Fun ....I knew most of Them.... Enjoy them all !!
All these movies take me back to my youth. Loved them all and still love them today. And my kids love Phantom and and The Shadow
What a fun video! I am woefully ignorant of Doc Savage and Sheena, but I knew the rest especially The Shadow!
Thank you. I still love 1994s The Shadow - overlooked & underrated, nevertheless it's still a great flick - well worth rewatching, several times.
"Listen to your friend Billy Zane, he's a cool dude."
The Sam Raimi movie "Darkman" is the closest we'll ever get to a good Shadow movie.
Hey man I really enjoyed this video. Glad this came across my feed u made yourself an extra subscriber today
Great video, really enenjoyed it & the education 👍👍👍👍
Proud to see a cover of a brazilian comic book compilation of Fash Gordon in this vídeo, thanks!
On top of several movies an a live-action show Zorro has also gotten a cartoon series. Which I had the pleasure of seeing a few decades ago. I liked it a lot. I've seen several other movies from these characters on this list and liked them all. It's a shame the vast majority is so underrated. Because they all seem really cool. You all did a Marvelous job on this video.
Tanya Robert’s “Sheena” captivated her advisories by threatening to kiss them... they would them go INSANE 🥰
Doc Savage was one of my favorite of the Pulp Heroes. I'd love to see a new movie version. I saw the Ron Ely version from the 70's. It needs an update.
Fantastic video and topic.
Billy Zane nuff said. and The Shadow, Marvelous you guy really made a great great video here these were corner stone of comic movies today and people forget that.
Most of these guys on Defenders of the Earth made a good chunk of my childhood amazing.
Honestly, Phantom is a character I like the most when it comes to costumed heroes.
I used to even subscribe to the magazine, but it was cancelled in Finland around early 2010s due to poor sales.
"Flash Gordon" (1980) is a lot of fun... one of my childhood favorites.
I just found this channel and i love it
WOW!?!? I can't believe I haven't seen your channel before now! God bless the algorithm, every now and then it does something right, LOL! So happy to sub!
Nice video! Thanks
I grew up with the shadow and Phantom movies I loved them as a action and adventure stories very underrated
You asked and so I Subscribed. :) Great tale, thanks!
Great video!!🖖🏽
Doc Savage was different from most of the rest, because he had a supporting team of specialists.
A similar hero was Richard Henry Benson -- The Avenger -- who also had a supporting team. And due to dead nerves, his face could be remolded like clay, so impersonating gangsters was easy for him.
If you think about it Doc Savage and Fabulous Five are really the precursor of Captain America and the Avengers.
@@elizabethkizzar5489 I always though that the Fantastic four are more like Doc.
The Shadow had a supporting cast as well.
Awesome video
24:41: Hey Sheena: "...I got something in my pocket for you!"
"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? The Shadow knows!" *laughs hauntingly
ps: watched The Phantom couple months ago and I just realized it was more fun than I remembered it :D Sure, he's basically white Black Panther dressed in purple but still, pretty cool (his companion is a wolf!). Also, Billy Zane wasn't wearing padded, fake muscle suit. He worked out to look good in that suit XD
Yeah, that Phantom movie was good fun
the phantom came out way before black panther
@@stevenjeffries2521 Yes but the Phantom was a knock off of the Golden age comic hero Black Panther who in turn was a knock off of the earlier Red Panther and the earlier still White Panther, AKA the Phantom
@@LenHazell So it came full circle? That's trippy.
Air pirates need more screen time...
Actually, according to the books, there was ONE thing that Doc Savage could not do: he couldn't cook (laugh it up, but it's true).
But with all those abilities, he's clearly the main inspiration for Buckaroo Banzai.
@@dadoctah I believe that he was, even in Banzai being a rock 'n' roll singer and guitarist. One of the skills that was revealed in one of the stories was that Doc was an accomplished classical violinist. Also, even though Doc preferred to not use a gun because he didn't want to become handicapped by dependence upon it, he was also said to be a crack-shot with just about any gun you could put in his hand. Doc Savage was a literal superhuman of the pulp-era.
That was Monks talent, one of the fabulous five (no not that fabulous five)
@@chaynebutler9572 Lester Dent writing under the name of Kenneth Robeson, claimed he based Doc on Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the übermensch (The Super Man)
He also couldn’t impersonate a female voice. Had to ask Pat to do it once.
Never forgot any of these folks.
All the Defenders of the Earth clips make me wish for a Defenders of the Earth movie. I loved that cartoon. I recently watched all the old Shadow films since they are on prime. Would love new films of all these classic characters.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES THEY WERE GREAT VERY UNDERRATED MOVIES THAT SHOULD BE SEEN IN TODAYS MARKET, GREAT ENJOYMENT
Antonio’s “Zorro” was the BEST! Especially when Catherine confesses she always wanted “jewels and such” “I was lying!” 😂😅😁
Awesome video, greetings from Mexico !!
Sheena was a vastly underrated movie.They should've had her meet Wonder Woman in a crossover.
I don't recall a Sheena movie. I gave seen the Sheena movie serial and that's pretty good.
thank you for this
I remember watching the “PHANTOM” cartoon as a child. I also remember seeing “THE SHADOW”.
Good list overall, but you could have also added Solomon Kane and even Conan.
Well Conan isn't quite forgotten, is he now? :)
@ True. I think Solomon Kane might be though.
Solomon Kane appeared in a movie. Hardly anyone saw it, though.
@@zoriibliss7519 Yes I remember that. Sadly not many people seen it.
I remember growing up on Filmation's cartoon adaptions of Zorro & Flash Gordon. Great stuff, especially "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon". It should still be up here on RUclips.
Buck Rogers, in my opinion, is the most deserving of a reboot of some sort, since he's considered to be the very first Science Fiction Hero.
The words " Warner Brother's V for Vendetta" always makes me cry.
Billy Zane did the best he could with the material they gave him in the Phantom. George Hamilton in Zorro the Gay Blade certainly earned his money. Early movies don't hold up well unless they are true classics.
Douglas Fairbanks anyone?
Honestly, with how big superheroes have been for pretty much a decade now it's so strange that more of these classic characters haven't had some type of new adaptation.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows. That used to totally be my jam lol, growing up in BC Canada in the 90's there was a radio station who replayed the programs and I would tune in every weekend. At the end of every episode the Shadow reminded us that "Crime does not pay....The Shadow knows", it was just a fun program I encourage everyone to take a listen if they can find them.
I'm enjoying this video very much. And I can't decide which character I want to get the first movie lmao.
Cool topic 👍
Nice vid🤓
There was a TV series of Sheena but she shape shifted into animals.
That show was terrible.
I liked that show it was as good as BeastMaster series
Every movie down the list I was like "oh man I loved that movie", and then you say it was poorly received lol
When I was a kid our town’s movie theater had a summer kids program. Every Wednesday in the summer, they showed a movie matinee for kids and would have cartoons and old serials like Zorro. I think it was a pretty cheap program, around $5 for the summer. We could get a popcorn and coke for $.50 too. I dressed as Zorro a couple times for Halloween as a kid. My mom sewed me a cape that I had for years.
they could make a phatom 2040 film, starts in 2020, the villain kills the phatom in the end and rules the world, in 2040 the world is cyperpunk the enviroment is destroyed, but the sequel phantom ( his son ) is back to haunt the villain
you forget about the movie"The Mark of Zorro" with Tyrone Powers Sr. and Basil Rathbone
Yes! What a great swordfight in that movie.
@@jaydugger3291 Rathbone was a sword expert and trained Danny Kaye in Court Jester Danny trained so much Basil admitted in a real sword fight Danny could take him(Danny had no previous experience with a sword before this
Nice video