''Big Bang Comics'' is an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

series, designed to be an

homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

and Silver Age comics. Most stories in ''Big Bang Comics'' take place either on "Earth-A," during the 1960s, or on "Earth-B" during the 1940s, featuring characters such as

Ultiman Ultiman is a fictional character published by Big Bang Comics. First appearing in Big Bang Comics #1 (Spring 1994), he was created by Gary Carlson and drawn by his partner Chris Ecker, among others. There are two existing versions of Ultiman. Metaf ...

, Thunder Girl, and Dr. Weird. ''Big Bang Comics'' first appeared in 1994, with a five-issue

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

(numbered 1–4 and 0), published by

Caliber Comics Caliber Comics or Caliber Press is an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, Caliber published over 1,300 comics in the decade following its inception and is ranked as one of America ...

. A second series lasting 35 issues, set in the

Image Universe The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The independent, ...

, was published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

from 1996 to 2001.

Publication history

Gary Carlson Gary S. Carlson is an American comic book writer, editor and publisher, known for his work on his creator-owned comics, such as the 1980s anthology ''Megaton'' and ''Big Bang Comics''. He has also worked on books for Image Comics, such as ''Va ...

was exposed to Dr. Weird (who originally appeared in the

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

Star-Studded Comics ''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 homage to the previous. Cambridge House Publishers title The first publication to us ...

'' #1 in 1963) in one of the character's earliest collected appearances, ''Comic Crusader Storybook'' #1 (Al Greim, 1977), in a story by

Howard Keltner John Howard Keltner (1928 – July 29, 1998) was an American comics publisher, artist, writer, and indexer. He was a founding member of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, co-editor and co-publisher of ''Star-Studded Comics'', created the ...

and Dennis Fujitake. (''The Comic Crusader Storybook'' was a trade paperback

anthology which included short stories featuring the work of many independent artists and writers.) In 1994, Carlson co-created the ''Big Bang'' anthology series, alongside artist/writer Chris Ecker. (In the 1990s Carlson wrote ''Berzerker'' for

Caliber Press Caliber Comics or Caliber Press is an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, Caliber published over 1,300 comics in the decade following its inception and is ranked as one of America ...

; one of the first canonical appearances of a Big Bang Comics character was by the

Knight Watchman 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. He first appeared in ''Berzerker #1'' (February 1993), and was created by writer/artist Chris Ecker ...

in ''Berzerker'' #1 eb. 1993) In 1993, Carlson and Edward DeGeorge acquired all rights to Dr. Weird from Howard Keltner, eventually folded him into the Big Bang universe and making him the only character with a genuine pedigree.

Image Comics

Through 2005, Image Comics published 35 issues of ''Big Bang Comics'' set in the

, followed by seven one-shot comics.

''Big Bang Presents''

As of the 2010s, Carlson self-publishes ''Big Bang Presents''. Like its predecessor series ''Big Bang Comics'', this is an anthology featuring a rotating cast of new and established characters in a self-contained fictional universe, written by Carlson and drawn by Ecker and various other artists. The company has also begun reprinting earlier comics in trade paperback form through Pulp 2.0 press.

Big Bang characters

Some of the iconic characters in the Big Bang Universe include: * The Beacon * Dr. Weird *

Protoplasman Protoplasman is a Big Bang Comics superhero, who first appeared in Big Bang's self-published issue, ''Big Bang Presents #1'', though his metafictional debut was in ''Policeman Comics'' (A tribute to Police Comics, where Plastic Man debuted), itse ...

* Thunder Girl *

Superhero teams in the Big Bang Universe include the Round Table of America, the Knights of Justice, the

Pantheon of Heroes The Pantheon of Heroes (a.k.a. the Pantheon of Super Heroes) is a 30th-century superhero team based on the Legion of Super-Heroes (former Legion artist, Dave Cockrum, drew the cover for the Pantheon's first story) and was introduced in ''Big Ba ...

, and the Whiz Kids.

Metafictional imprints

To give more depth to the various characters, in the world of Big Bang Comics, several invented publishing imprints were created which supposedly existed in the Golden Age and the Silver Age (a device later used by

Amalgam Comics Amalgam Comics was a collaborative publishing imprint shared by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones (e.g., DC Comics' Batman and Marvel Comics' Wolverine become the Amalgam C ...

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

In other media

A TV movie of the Knights of Justice was made in 2000. Although it featured the

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 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.

Big Bang Comics RPG

A pen-and-paper

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

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.

References

External links

* — free webcomics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Official Knight Watchmen website
* * *
Jazma Online interview: Gary Carlson June 5th, 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Bang Comics Caliber Comics titles Image Comics titles Comic book limited series 1996 comics debuts 2001 comics endings