Secret Origins is the title of several comic book series published by DC Comics which featured the origin stories of the publisher's various characters.
Publication history
Secret Origins was first published as a one-shot in 1961 and contained only reprinted material.[1] The title became an ongoing reprint series in February–March 1973 which ran for seven issues and ended in October–November 1974.[2][3] The title was used on various compilations of origin stories, including Limited Collectors' Edition #C-39: Secret Origins Super-Villains (October–November 1975)[4] and #C-45: More Secret Origins Super-Villains (June–July 1976)[5] as well as DC Special Series #10 (1978)[6] and 19 (Fall 1979).[7] Its most well-known incarnation was a 50-issue series that ran from April 1986 to August 1990,[8] plus three Annuals[9] and one Special.[10] Typically, an issue would clarify the Post-Crisis origins of a number of characters,[11] usually two as most of the issues were double-sized, i.e. 48 pages. Roy Thomas was the initial writer/editorial consultant on the series; later issues were overseen by Mark Waid. Two more Specials followed in 1998 and 1999.[12] In 2004, it returned to the all-reprint format with a Weird Secret Origins special featuring Doctor Fate, the Spectre, Animal Man, the Enchantress, Metamorpho, Congorilla, El Diablo, and the Bizarro World.
A new monthly incarnation focusing on characters in The New 52, launched in April 2014 with a June cover date. The first issue featured the origins of Superman, Supergirl and the Dick Grayson version of Robin.[13] This series was cancelled as of issue #11 (May 2015)[14] on sale in March 2015.[15]
Characters featured in the 1986–1990 series
#1 (April 1986): The Golden AgeSuperman; this was intended as a tribute to the original version of the character, as the latter-day version of Superman was being concurrently introduced by John Byrne in the Man Of Steel miniseries; art by Golden Age Superman artist Wayne Boring and Jerry Ordway.
#2 (May 1986): The Blue Beetle, both the Dan Garrett and Ted Kord versions; art by Gil Kane.
#3 (June 1986): Captain Marvel credited by the Shazam! title; a retelling of the story from WHIZ Comics #2, albeit updated to the modern day. Much of this was changed in the Legends crossover, Thomas himself would retcon this some months later in SHAZAM! The New Beginning, all of which was changed again by Jerry Ordway in his graphic novelThe Power of Shazam!.
#10 (January 1987): The Phantom Stranger. This was a Legends tie-in that related four possible origins for the character; one by Mike Barr and Jim Aparo was a variation on the Wandering Jew myth, while another by Alan Moore and Joe Orlando postulated that the Stranger was a fallen angel.
#11 (February 1987): the Golden Age Hawkman; Power Girl. Both stories presented have since been retconned, with Power Girl's backstory having been redefined by Geoff Johns in the pages of JSA Classified, which served as part of the buildup to Infinite Crisis.
#14 (May 1987): Suicide Squad. Another Legends tie-in, it served as a prequel to the later series and was written by that series' writer, John Ostrander.
#22 (January 1988): the Manhunters. This was a tie-in with Millennium as was the subsequent issue, and aligned the various histories of the characters with the Manhunter name together.
#28 (July 1988): Midnight art by Gil Kane; Nightshade art by Rob Liefeld. Nightshade's origin doubled as an introduction/backdrop to a three-issue Suicide Squad story arc where she returned to her place of origin to save her brother.
#31 (October 1988): The Justice Society of America. A full-length story, and Roy Thomas' last contribution to the series, excluding the Grim Ghost story in #42.
#32 (November 1988): The Justice League of America. In a full-length story by Keith Giffen and Peter David, the Justice League is formed by Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), the Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter and the Black Canary. Superman and Batman were not founding members, and Wonder Woman's revised continuity precluded her from the same. The events depicted were later expanded upon in JLA: Year One and JLA: Incarnations.
#33 (December 1988): Fire, Ice and Mister Miracle. This and the subsequent two issues dealt with the members of Justice League International.
#44 (September 1989): Clayface I, II, III and IV. This issue gave background information for a story arc that appeared in Detective Comics #604-607 entitled The Mud Pack.
#46 (December 1989): The headquarters of the Silver Age Justice League of America (story by Grant Morrison), the New Titans' Titans Tower, and the 'rocketship clubhouse' of the Legion of Super Heroes. Arm Fall Off Boy makes his first appearance.
Additionally, there was a belated Secret Origins 80-Page Giant issued in 1998 (ISBN1-56389-440-8), that focused on the members of Young Justice.
Secret Origins collected edition
Some issues of the second series were collected in a trade paperback along with other material and some original work in 1989 called Secret Origins, but the official title, as stated in the book's indicia, is given as Secret Origins of The World's Greatest Super-Heroes (ISBN0930289501). The focus was on DC's major characters: the origins of the Justice League of America (from #32), the Flash (Barry Allen, from Secret Origins Annual #2); Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, from #36); J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter (from #35); and Superman (from The Man of Steel #6). There was also an all-new retelling of Batman's origins, Batman: The Man Who Falls, by Dennis O'Neil and Dick Giordano; this story later served as a cited inspiration for the 2005 filmBatman Begins.[16]
^Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 218. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. The heroes of the DC Universe got a little more exposed thanks to the new ongoing effort Secret Origins, a title offering new interpretations to the backgrounds of some of comics' biggest icons.((cite book)): |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Beatty, Scott (w), Daniel, Tony (p), Glapion, Jon (i). "The Origin of Deathstroke the Terminator" Countdown, no. 36 (October 2007 [August 22, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Reis, Ivan (p), Albert, Oclair (i). "The Origin of Parallax" Countdown, no. 35 (October 2007 [August 29, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Clarke, Andy (p), Clarke, Andy (i). "The Origin of Lex Luthor" Countdown, no. 34 (November 2007 [September 5, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Kramer, Don (p), Kramer, Don (i). "The Origin of the Riddler" Countdown, no. 33 (November 2007 [September 12, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Winslade, Phil (p), Winslade, Phil (i). "The Origin of Eclipso" Countdown, no. 32 (November 2007 [September 19, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Bolland, Brian (p), Bolland, Brian (i). "The Origin of the Joker" Countdown, no. 31 (November 2007 [September 26, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Frank, Gary (p), Sibal, Jonathan (i). "The Origin of General Zod" Countdown, no. 30 (December 2007 [October 3, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), McDaniel. Scott (p), Owens, Andy (i). "The Origin of the Penguin" Countdown, no. 29 (December 2007 [October 10, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Van Sciver, Ethan (p), Van Sciver, Ethan (i). "The Origin of the Trickster" Countdown, no. 28 (December 2007 [October 17, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Van Sciver, Ethan (p), Van Sciver, Ethan (i). "The Origin of the Pied Piper" Countdown, no. 28 (December 2007 [October 17, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Chiarello, Mark (p), Chiarello, Mark (i). "The Origin of Two-Face" Countdown, no. 27 (December 2007 [October 24, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Igle, Jamal (p), Champagne, Keith (i). "The Origin of Killer Frost" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 25 (January 2008 [November 7, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Simonson, Walt (p), Simonson, Walt (i). "The Origin of Desaad" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 24 (January 2008 [November 14, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Baker, Kyle (p), Baker, Kyle (i). "The Origin of Mr. Mxyzptlk" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 23 (January 2008 [November 21, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Williams II, Freddie (p), Williams II, Freddie (i). "The Origin of Deadshot" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 22 (January 2008 [November 28, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Bogdanove, Jon (p), Bogdanove, Jon (i). "The Origin of Granny Goodness" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 21 (February 2008 [December 5, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Bennett, Joe (p), Jadson, Jack (i). "The Origin of Mr. Mind" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 20 (February 2008 [December 12, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Jones, Kelley (p), Jones, Kelley (i). "The Origin of the Scarecrow" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 19 (February 2008 [December 19, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Porter, Howard (p), Porter, Howard (i). "The Origin of Dr. Light" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 18 (February 2008 [December 26, 2007]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Kolins, Scott (p), Kolins, Scott (i). "The Origin of Monarch" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 17 (March 2008 [January 2, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Pasarin, Fernando (p), Pasarin, Fernando (i). "The Origin of Sinestro" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 16 (March 2008 [January 9, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Bogdanove, Jon (p), Bogdanove, Jon (i). "The Origin of Doomsday" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 15 (March 2008 [January 16, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Adams, Arthur (p), Adams, Arthur (i). "The Origin of Gorilla Grodd" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 14 (March 2008 [January 23, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Reis, Ivan (p), Albert, Oclair (i). "The Origin of Cyborg" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 13 (March 2008 [January 30, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Lopresti, Aaron (p), Lopresti, Aaron (i). "The Origin of Circe" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 12 (April 2008 [February 6, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Mandrake, Tom (p), Mandrake, Tom (i). "The Origin of Solomon Grundy" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 11 (April 2008 [February 13, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Timm, Bruce (p), Timm, Bruce (i). "The Origin of Harley Quinn" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 10 (April 2008 [February 20, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Norton, Mike (p), Ramos, Rodney (i). "The Origin of Black Manta" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 9 (April 2008 [February 27, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Mahnke, Doug (p), Mahnke, Doug (i). "This Am Unsecret Origin of Bizarro!" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 8 (May 2008 [March 5, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Nolan, Graham (p), Nolan, Graham (i). "The Origin of Bane" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 7 (May 2008 [March 12, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Saiz, Jesus (p), Saiz, Jesus (i). "The Origin of Felix Faust" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 6 (May 2008 [March 19, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Derenick, Tom (p), Faucher, Wayne (i). "The Origin of Mr. Freeze" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 5 (May 2008 [March 26, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Chiang, Cliff (p), Chiang, Cliff (i). "The Origin of Ra's al Ghul" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 4 (June 2008 [April 2, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Mahnke, Doug (p), Mahnke, Doug (i). "The Origin of Amazo" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 3 (June 2008 [April 9, 2008]).
^Beatty, Scott (w), Sook, Ryan (p), Sook, Ryan (i). "The Origin of Darkseid" Countdown to Final Crisis, no. 2 (June 2008 [April 16, 2008]).
