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Big Bang Comics first appeared in 1994, with five issue mini-series (numbered 0–4), published by Caliber Comics. Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American Comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Their second series was published by Image Comics. Image Comics is an American Comic book publisher It was founded in 1992 by seven high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their Currently their titles are self-published.

Contents

Publication history

Gary Carlson's first major independent comic occurred in the 1980s with a black and white title called Megaton. Gary Carlson is an American Comic book Writer, editor and Publisher. Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Rob Liefeld's Youngblood both debuted in Megaton. Savage Dragon is an ongoing American Comic book series created by Erik Larsen and published by Image Comics. In the 1990s Carlson wrote Berzerker for Caliber Press; one of the first canonical appearances of a Big Bang Comics character was by the Knight Watchman in Berzerker #1. Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American Comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Gary co-created the Big Bang anthology series alongside artist and writer Chris Ecker.

For the next few years, Big Bang published several "special" comics through Image Comics, along with 35 issues of Big Bang.

The company is currently self-publishing Big Bang Presents. Like its predecessors published through Caliber and Image, this is an anthology series featuring a rotating cast of new and established characters in the Big Bang universe, written by Carlson and drawn by Ecker and various other artists.

Influences

The Big Bang Comics titles are designed to be homages to the Golden Age and Silver Age comic books. For medieval usage see Homage (medieval and Commendation ceremony, or Homage (disambiguation Homage (from the French The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books generally thought as lasting from the 1930s until late 1940s during which Comic books The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books predominantly those featuring the Superhero Most stories in the anthologies take place in one of these two ages; Earth-A stories take place in the 1960s, and Earth-B stories take place in the 1940s with characters like Ultiman, Thunder Girl and Doctor Weird.

One of Doctor Weird's earliest collected appearances was in the 1977, Al Greim published Comic Crusader Storybook #1, in a story by Howard Keltner and Dennis Fujitake. The Comic Crusader Storybook was a trade paperback fanzine anthology which included short stories featuring the work of many independent artists and writers.

Metafictional imprints

In the world of Big Bang Comics, several false imprints were thought up that supposedly existed in the Golden Age and the Silver Age, to give more depth to their characters (a ploy later used in Amalgam Comics). Dc2005svg|New DC logo from 2005|125px|right]] Amalgam Comics was an American Comic book publisher of Metafiction; it was a collaboration between Marvel

All of these false covers appeared on the reverse of the Caliber Press miniseries issues in scaled-down shots, and again as full-page replicas in Big Bang #0.

Title Description
Deductive Comics A tribute to Detective Comics, right down to the lettering. Detective Comics is an American comic book published monthly by DC Comics since 1937 best-known for introducing the iconic Superhero Batman This is supposedly where Knight Watchman entered the Big Bang world along with his sidekick, Kid Galahad. Knight Watchman (AKA Reid Randall is a fictional Superhero from the Big Bang Comics universe residing on Earth A during the Silver Age of comics
Hi Octane Comics The supposed introduction of Ultiman. Ultiman is a fictional character published by Big Bang Comics. However, this was simply a retitled cover of Big Bang #2 of Caliber Press, using the lettering style of Action Comics. Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American Comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Action Comics is an American Comic book series which introduced Superman, the first major Superhero character as the term
Jolt Comics' The introduction of the Golden-Age Blitz (Mack Snelling). A tribute to Flash Comics. Flash Comics was an anthology comic book published by All-American Publications and later National Periodicals ( DC Comics)
Policeman Comics The supposed starting point of Protoplasman, inspired by Police Comics where Plastic Man began his superhero career. Protoplasman is a Big Bang Comics Superhero, who first appeared in Big Bang's self-published issue Big Bang Presents #1, though his metafictional Police Comics was a Comic book Anthology title published by Quality Comics (under its Imprint "Comic Magazines" from 1941 Plastic Man ( Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a fictional Comic-book Superhero originally published by Quality Comics and later A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do
Quantity Comics Mentioned as being the umbrella-group for Policeman Comics. This itself is a pastiche of the Golden Age Quality Comics. Quality Comics was an American comic book Publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call
Red Hot Comics A comic that starred Dr. Stellar, Vita-Man, Robo-Hood, The Badge and Stars 'n' Stripes. Dr Stellar (Dr Peter Starr is a Fictional character, a Big Bang Comics Superhero who first appeared in Big Bang #4 Vita-Man is a Fictional Superhero published by Big Bang Comics. Robo-Hood is a character from Big Bang Comics, who first appeared in Big Bang #21. Red Hot Comics drew the most attention after fans saw the blown-up image in Big Bang #0. Many requests were sent in to see Robo-Hood and Vita-Man in action. Stars 'n' Stripes, however, have never appeared since.
Star Studded Comics Mentioned as being the origin of Dr. Weird. Star Studded Comics is the name of three comics-related publications including a comic from the Golden Age of Comics, a Comics fanzine and a modern comic Dr Weird is a Big Bang Comics character who first appeared in The Criss Cross Crisis ( Caliber Press Issue #3 though according to Big Bang #0 The title suggests Star-Spangled Comics, although the lettering seems to be a reference to All Star Comics. Star-Spangled Comics was the title of a comic book series published by DC Comics which ran for 130 issues through 1952 All Star Comics is a 1940s Comic book series from All-American Publications, one of the early companies that merged with National Periodical Publications
Thunder Girl Adventures Thunder Girl's solo title, based loosely on the old Fawcett Comics character Mary Marvel, with elements of Wonder Girl thrown in. Thunder Girl (AKA Molly Wilson is a Superheroine in Big Bang Comics who first appeared in Big Bang Comics #2 (Summer 1994 she was created by Chris Mary Marvel is a Fictional character, a Comic book superheroine originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics

Big Bang characters

Main article: List of Big Bang Comics characters

Some of the iconic characters in the Big Bang Universe (with links to their individual articles) include:

Superhero teams in the Big Bang Universe include the Round Table of America, the Knights of Justice, the Pantheon of Heroes, and the Whiz Kids. Dr Weird is a Big Bang Comics character who first appeared in The Criss Cross Crisis ( Caliber Press Issue #3 though according to Big Bang #0 Knight Watchman (AKA Reid Randall is a fictional Superhero from the Big Bang Comics universe residing on Earth A during the Silver Age of comics Protoplasman is a Big Bang Comics Superhero, who first appeared in Big Bang's self-published issue Big Bang Presents #1, though his metafictional Thunder Girl (AKA Molly Wilson is a Superheroine in Big Bang Comics who first appeared in Big Bang Comics #2 (Summer 1994 she was created by Chris Ultiman is a fictional character published by Big Bang Comics.

Bibliography

Caliber Press

Image Comics

Big Bang Comics

Other media

A TV Movie of the Knights of Justice was made in 2000. Although it featured the Golden Age versions of Ultiman and Thunder Girl and used the name of the company's Golden Age superteam, the team also included Knight Watchman and a heroine called Masker (who appeared in BB #21), both of whom are exclusively Silver Age heroes in the published version of the universe. The term Golden age is best known from Greek mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures (see below The team's mission was to defeat a supervillain and prove their usefulness to the President or face being disbanded.

The movie is loosely based on the hyperactive Saturday-morning shows of the 1970s that combined special effects with live action, yielding a clearly Silver Age feel to the action. It received several favorable reviews from various websites across the Internet.

The movie is available exclusively from the Big Bang Comics website. It is unclear if any sales will be made abroad despite periodic requests for it to be sold in the UK.

Big Bang Comics RPG

A pen-and-paper roleplaying game has also been released for Big Bang Comics (Pisces All Media, 2006). The Big Bang Comics RPG uses a streamlined version of the D20 system. Big Bang Comics is a superhero Role-playing game, written by Chris Carter and published by Pisces All Media in 2006.

External links

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