Comic book lore informs us that DC's Showcase was the birthplace of the Silver Age of Comics. After a robust Golden Age bristling with all manner of superhero types, the tastes of the populace had changed and other genres such as war, romance, and humor had taken over the field with only a few vestige heroes such as Superman and Batman still running along. But in the pages of Showcase which was designed specifically to test new comic book ideas it was thought (after quite a bit of time actually) that maybe it was time to check the waters again and see if maybe, just maybe heroes were once again the order of the day. After much hemming and hawing it proved that they were, but in its earliest days that's not what showcase really showed.
The first three issues of Showcase are pretty forgettable events. They are not bad comics by any means, in fact they are very well produced comics in a variety of genres which might well be called in the light of the modern day a bit mundane. Fireman Farrell was a brave sort who wanted to be a fireman like his dear old Dad and does just that. We are treated to three stories by Arnold Drake and John Prentice that are exceedingly well crafted but dull as dishwater. They read like episodes of Dragnet, the Dragnet of the 60's with all the moralizing. Then the second issue gives us trio of stories about critters by artists who at the time mostly did war stuff. Joe Kubert, Ross Andru and Russ Heath make some beautiful stories and the one about the runaway bear is quite entertaining, but it's pretty low octane. It's gets better in the third issue drawn by Heath when we get a full-length tale about a young man wanting to be a frogman and earning his way through some downright suicidal missions. But it's not anything new.
Supposedly its's the fourth issue that marks the beginning of a new way forward. But I'm not convinced actually. Yes we get a "new" superhero in The Flash and it does indicate a conscious break with the past since the original Flash from only a few years before is now relegated to the comics pages of the comic story. The stories aren't anything really to get all that excited about though. The Turtle, the first Flash villain is actually quite lame. It's mostly science which is on display.
Following the Flash we get yet another familiar format with some crime tales all cobbled together under an unconvincing "Manhunters" title. If Showcase is supposed to quicken the audience for new things, this seems a particularly poor effort to do that.
In the next two issues of Showcase though things begin to heat up. Jack Kirby was dabbling at DC at this time making some fine art for some heady science fiction stuff and then he and writer Dave Wood come up with the Challengers of the Unknown. And for my money it is the debut of the Challs that marks the real beginning of a new age, one that will one day be dubbed "Silver". The Challs are fresh and their adventures are delightful blend of science fiction and a little sorcery bonded onto a high adventure format that sings. These are full-length stories which is important in order to give the Challs time to show themselves as the plucky blokes they are, able to fend off fear and threats with equal aplomb.
The Flash is back for another go and despite the arrival of a for real rogue in Captain Cold it's still less impressive to my eyes than the new look that Kirby brought to the Challengers stories.
Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane debuts in her own series and while they prove successful as most things "Super" did back then, the stories are decidedly old-fashioned and despite competent art by Al Plastino and Wayne Boring among others there is no sense of anything new.
The Challengers return in the nick of time for two more titanic issues, and prove to me that they are the breakouts in this series so far. They feel new and crisp and offer stories which I'd argue appeal to a wider ranger of readers than either the Lois Lane stuff or the Flash really. There's a hint of the war format found in "Frogmen" but blended with raw gleaming science fiction. The Challengers will break out into their own title, only a month after Lois Lane did likewise. They are the first truly new feature to do so.
The Flash is back yet again for another try-out and it's really to Julie Schwartz's credit that he kept banging along on this. Ultimately he will be proven to have been right, superheroes were wanted again, but as Schwart clearly also knew science ficiton was what sold.
And that is evident by the next three new characters to debut in the pages of Showcase. Space Ranger is a likeable comic with a familiar format which feels like a superhero story though it is set in the future. He has a secret identity as the son of a rich industrialist and along with his lovely secretary Myra and his shape-changing alien sidekick Cryll battles crime across the solar system and beyond. He has a good and sturdy rocket called the Solar King and he's one hundred percent good guy. His pulp roots are all too evident.
But fresher than Space Ranger is Adam Strange. Adam is an archeologist who is whisked to the distant planet Rann by a random Zeta-Beam and he quickly finds a girl in the lovely Alanna and a purpose when he is called upon again and again to save all of Rann from all sorts of threats and disasters. He quickly dons a sleek and handsome suit and takes is place among the best heroes ever concocted. The artwork by Mike Sekowsky isn't as sleek as what will come with Carmine Infantino when Adam gets his own ongoing series, but it's very modern compared to the competent but somewhat lackluster efforts by Bob Brown for Space Ranger. The "Adventures on Other Worlds" feel more sophisticated and they are.
This volume ends with yet another sci-fi concept given form with Rip Hunter Time Master. Rip and his allies Jeff Smith and Bonnie and Corky Baxter ride the time sphere back to prehistoric times and mingle with criminals and dinosaurs. It's old-fashioned adventure with a sci-fi garnish. The second adventure has the team tumble back into time finding Alexander the Great, Circe the Sorceress and even seeing the demise of Atlantis. Jack Miller wasn't stingy with the concepts and the artwork by Ruben Moreira in the debut and Sekowsky in the follow-up is fine. But this isn't as strong as Adam Strange or the Challs.
But it does show that was was selling was science fiction, and the superheroes who would dominate many of the future issues of Showcase were as much science fiction concepts as they were superhero ones. Green Lantern, The Atom, Sea Devils, and The Metal Men will dominate the next many issues and like what preceded them the common factor is science fiction.
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