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Post by Outrajs on Aug 3, 2017 7:51:01 GMT -5
I am working on a project for a friend and it requires birthdays for Marvel and DC superheroes. The problem is...very few of them actually have birthdays listed anywhere that I can find. He told me to just use the publication date for their first appearance but to me it seems like a birthday would be one of those little pieces of information that can flesh out a character. I could be wrong....there could be a site on the dark web (ooooh...a new superhero name?) Somewhere that has them all...but I can't find them. It just makes me a little sad at the missed opportunity.
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Post by MWGallaher on Aug 3, 2017 8:00:08 GMT -5
I know that the DC calendars of the mid-70's assigned lots of birthdays to characters. A quick search brought up an image of the May 1976 calendar, showing the birthdays of :
Captain Marvel, Junior: May 7
The Creeper: May 8
Dr. Mid-Nite: May 18
Zatanna: May 20
Elongated Man: May 26.
I skipped a few other, less notable characters, like Parasite and Chemical King...
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 3, 2017 8:14:37 GMT -5
Superman was born on February 29, right? I think that was the humorous answer to the question "why doesn't Superman apparently age". He ages only one year when we age four.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 9:07:23 GMT -5
No birthdays no aging?
A villain stole their birthdays? So he gets all their birthday gifts?
As a hero who has time to celebrate birthdays?
Superman made a mess blowing out the candles? And ruined it for everyone?
Hulk smashed his cake?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 3, 2017 9:31:41 GMT -5
No birthdays no aging? A villain stole their birthdays? So he gets all their birthday gifts? That's more than 40 birthdays. And that's terrible. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Aug 3, 2017 10:01:15 GMT -5
Superman was born on February 29, right? I think that was the humorous answer to the question "why doesn't Superman apparently age". He ages only one year when we age four. As of Action Comics #655, Superman was born on February 29, 1960. I'm sure the year has since been updated. |
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Crimebuster
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Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on Aug 3, 2017 11:05:15 GMT -5
I have both the 1976 and 1977 DC calendars, and they do indeed assign birthdays for just about every damn character in the DC universe in the 1976 calendar, no matter how pointlessly obscure. I just glanced over at it and the next birthday coming up is August 6, the birthday for Kid Eternity. Other characters with August birthdays: The Joker, Chlorophyll Kid, Lois Lane, Crimson Avenger's sidekick Wing, Element Lad, the Golden Age Hawkgirl - who apparently has a different birthday than the Silver Age Hawkgirl, and Plastic Man.
if there are specific heroes you need birthdays for, I can take a look.
The 1977 calendar actually doesn't have birthdays, instead it gives the dates of specific events in the DCU.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 3, 2017 11:20:35 GMT -5
I have both the 1976 and 1977 DC calendars, and they do indeed assign birthdays for just about every damn character in the DC universe in the 1976 calendar, no matter how pointlessly obscure. I just glanced over at it and the next birthday coming up is August 6, the birthday for Kid Eternity. Other characters with August birthdays: The Joker, Chlorophyll Kid, Lois Lane, Crimson Avenger's sidekick Wing, Element Lad, the Golden Age Hawkgirl - who apparently has a different birthday than the Silver Age Hawkgirl, and Plastic Man. if there are specific heroes you need birthdays for, I can take a look. The 1977 calendar actually doesn't have birthdays, instead it gives the dates of specific events in the DCU. How did they know The Joker's birthday without actually knowing who The Joker was? Perplexing. |
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Post by MDG on Aug 3, 2017 11:42:20 GMT -5
I have both the 1976 and 1977 DC calendars, and they do indeed assign birthdays for just about every damn character in the DC universe in the 1976 calendar, no matter how pointlessly obscure. I just glanced over at it and the next birthday coming up is August 6, the birthday for Kid Eternity. Other characters with August birthdays: The Joker, Chlorophyll Kid, Lois Lane, Crimson Avenger's sidekick Wing, Element Lad, the Golden Age Hawkgirl - who apparently has a different birthday than the Silver Age Hawkgirl, and Plastic Man. if there are specific heroes you need birthdays for, I can take a look. The 1977 calendar actually doesn't have birthdays, instead it gives the dates of specific events in the DCU. How did they know The Joker's birthday without actually knowing who The Joker was? Perplexing. He likes to make a big deal of it.  |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Aug 3, 2017 15:04:17 GMT -5
I am working on a project for a friend and it requires birthdays for Marvel and DC superheroes. The problem is...very few of them actually have birthdays listed anywhere that I can find. He told me to just use the publication date for their first appearance but to me it seems like a birthday would be one of those little pieces of information that can flesh out a character. I could be wrong....there could be a site on the dark web (ooooh...a new superhero name?) Somewhere that has them all...but I can't find them. It just makes me a little sad at the missed opportunity. Another good point! There are some thing that mainstream comics just don't seem to do, much, in fleshing out their characters. I'd never thought of birthdays, but it bothers me how rarely we see siblings/parents (and spouses, huh!) as part of characters day-to-day lives and pets. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Aug 3, 2017 15:09:01 GMT -5
I am working on a project for a friend and it requires birthdays for Marvel and DC superheroes. The problem is...very few of them actually have birthdays listed anywhere that I can find. He told me to just use the publication date for their first appearance but to me it seems like a birthday would be one of those little pieces of information that can flesh out a character. I could be wrong....there could be a site on the dark web (ooooh...a new superhero name?) Somewhere that has them all...but I can't find them. It just makes me a little sad at the missed opportunity. Another good point! There are some thing that mainstream comics just don't seem to do, much, in fleshing out their characters. I'd never thought of birthdays, but it bothers me how rarely we see siblings/parents (and spouses, huh!) as part of characters day-to-day lives and pets. I remember an issue of Grant and Breyfogle's Batman that showed The Penguin in a bathroom, and I was like "Hey, that's got to be a first." Even thirty years post-Watchmen, we don't seek reality in our comics half as much as we claim to. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Aug 3, 2017 15:16:28 GMT -5
That is because superheroes don't go to the bathroom, which is established, intractable continuity as per the Ambush Bug letter pages. To paraphrase:
Q: Do superheroes ever have sex or go to the bathroom? My cat says she doesn't but she's never read a comic book in her life so I am not inclined to believe her.
A; Your cat's right.
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Post by Outrajs on Aug 3, 2017 18:36:09 GMT -5
I have both the 1976 and 1977 DC calendars, and they do indeed assign birthdays for just about every damn character in the DC universe in the 1976 calendar, no matter how pointlessly obscure. I just glanced over at it and the next birthday coming up is August 6, the birthday for Kid Eternity. Other characters with August birthdays: The Joker, Chlorophyll Kid, Lois Lane, Crimson Avenger's sidekick Wing, Element Lad, the Golden Age Hawkgirl - who apparently has a different birthday than the Silver Age Hawkgirl, and Plastic Man. if there are specific heroes you need birthdays for, I can take a look. The 1977 calendar actually doesn't have birthdays, instead it gives the dates of specific events in the DCU. Thanks! But I am more in need of Marvel birthdays. This just makes one more reason DC is better than Marvel. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 3, 2017 19:24:24 GMT -5
I have both the 1976 and 1977 DC calendars, and they do indeed assign birthdays for just about every damn character in the DC universe in the 1976 calendar, no matter how pointlessly obscure. I just glanced over at it and the next birthday coming up is August 6, the birthday for Kid Eternity. Other characters with August birthdays: The Joker, Chlorophyll Kid, Lois Lane, Crimson Avenger's sidekick Wing, Element Lad, the Golden Age Hawkgirl - who apparently has a different birthday than the Silver Age Hawkgirl, and Plastic Man. if there are specific heroes you need birthdays for, I can take a look. The 1977 calendar actually doesn't have birthdays, instead it gives the dates of specific events in the DCU. What's the Joker's birthday? I must know because it's my new official national holiday. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Aug 3, 2017 19:58:54 GMT -5
The only superhero whose birthday is set in stone that I can think of off the top of my head is Johnny Thunder. He had to be born the seventh son of a seventh son on the seventh day of the seventh month in 1917 for his origin to work.
Other than that? I've always assumed that the dearth of birthdays is a result of the same mind set that ensures the prevalence of fictitious cities in place of real ones - well, most of the time anyway. You don't want to show preference to one group over another.
Come to think of it, publishers are pretty coy about ages as well. While it was claimed in the late 70's that Superman was a perpetual 29, I still can't figure out how old these guys were supposed to be during the Golden and Silver Ages. Denny O Neil once suggested that Bruce Wayne couldn't have been any older than 20 when he became Batman when he declared that Wayne "wasn't yet old enough to vote" when he became the Gotham Guardian, but at the same time, wasn't he supposed to be old enough to conceivably be Dick Grayson's father?
Anyhow, Michael Fleischer was able to pinpoint certain birthdays in his research for his Comic Book Encyclopedias - I believe Commissioner Gordon's was January 5, 1900 (or at least, it was in the mid-50's or so) so there's a place to look at any rate.
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