606 SUPERHEROES
(1930), and Doc Savage (1933). Both Danner and Savage infl uenced the creation of
Superman.
In America, the avenger-vigilante fi gure is rooted in Robert Montgomery Byrd’s
Nick of the Woods, a classic Indian-hater. Th e avenger-vigilante urbanized with dime-
novel detectives like Nick Carter (1886). Infl uential dual-identity characters include
the British penny-dreadful fi gure Spring-Heeled Jack (1837) and Baroness Orczy’s
Scarlet Pimpernel (1903). Frank Packard’s Jimmie Dale, the Gray Seal, transferred the
dual-identity character to a gritty urban setting and placed him in opposition to both
the authorities and the underworld. Th e two most infl uential dual-identity avenger-
vigilante fi gures for the superhero genre were Johnston McCulley’s Zorro (1919) via
Douglas Fairbanks’s portrayal in Th e Mark of Zorro (1920), and the pulp vigilante Th e
Shadow (1930), written primarily by Walter Gibson, both of which served as direct
inspirations for the creation of Batman.
Th e pulp ubermensch refers to the practice of referring to heroes of pulp fi ction
adventure stories as supermen. Th e fi gure is rooted in the adaptation of Friedrich
Nietzsche’s Übermensch by Jack London in works like Th e Sea Wolf (1904) and Th e
Iron Heel (1908), and Edgar Rice Burroughs’s use of London’s work as an inspira-
tion in the character of Tarzan, who is referred to as a superman in Tarzan of the Apes
(1912). Tarzan imitators Polaris of the Snows by Charles B. Stilson and Kioga of the
Wilderness by William L. Chester are similar supermen raised outside of civilization.
Although a villain, Dr. Fu Manchu (1912) fi ts the pulp-ubermensch mold, as does
Blackie DuQuesne, the villain of E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Skylark series (1928), as well as
its hero Richard Seaton. Th e term superman is used in the Armageddon 2419 (1928)
novelettes by Philip Francis Nowlan to refer to Anthony Rogers, inspiration for the
Buck Rogers comic strip and its adaptations, and all Americans living under the rule
of the Han invaders. Th e two most infl uential of these fi gures for the superhero are
Th e Shadow and Doc Savage, who are presented as superior to other people physically,
mentally, morally, and socially, but serve as defenders of the middle class in opposition
to the revolutionary ideological meaning imputed to the Übermensch by Nietzsche.
Th e superhero genre also has roots in comics strips, primarily through the depiction of
strongmen like Popeye (1929) and Alley Oop (1933), who helped to establish comics as a
medium in which fantastic feats of incredible strength could be depicted, and enabled the
ability of comics to depict the fantastic with equal levels of surface realism as the mimetic.
Costumed precursors of the superhero in comics include the short-lived Phantom Magi-
cian in Mel Graff ’s strip Th e Adventures of Patsy (1935) and Dr. Occult (1935), an occult
detective by Superman creators Siegel and Shuster, which served as a kind of trial run
for elements of their later hero Superman, including a red cape in More Fun Comics.
Th e Phantom, a costumed and masked mystery man and adventurer, debuted in his own
comic strip in 1936 and laid important groundwork for the superhero because in his
adventures can be found nearly all the elements of the superhero genre. Other important
infl uences on the superhero genre include the Jewish folklore fi gure, the golem, and
physical culture strongmen like Eugene Sandow and Bernarr Macfadden.
