StephenJondrew
Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 05:25 AM
Syndicated - Originally posted here (http://thestandardcomic.com/2011/03/07/the-standard-an-introduction/)
We live in a world where superheroes are real.
It’s something that many of us take for granted now, but less than 50 years ago, superheroes were the stuff of fiction, fantasy even. Back then, if we wanted to see someone don a colorful costume to fight crime, we had to pick up a comic book. Now all we need to do is turn on the news. Over the decades, the role of the superhero in the real world has shifted and changed from vigilantes and defenders of the peace to pop culture icons and celebrities, but change as they might with the times, they are here to stay. The 20th Century will be remembered in history as the dawn of the age of the superhero. And it all began with one name…
The Standard.
Alex Thomas, the man currently behind the iconic mask of The Standard, is unquestionably the most famous person on Earth. There are many interviews and articles about this new Standard, and the internet is filled with fanpages devoted to him. But this blog will not be about Alex Thomas. Yes, we will get round to discussing him eventually, but I am more interested in Gilbert Graham: the original Standard, and the man who started it all back in 1966 when he became the world’s first real-life superhero.
As we now know, Gilbert Graham was a scientist whose lab was struck by a falling meteorite, dousing him in a cocktail of chemicals and meteoric particles that gave him incredible powers. When pondering what to do with his newfound gifts, he remembered the comic books of his youth, and modelled himself after the heroes featured in them, adopting a secret identity and calling himself The Standard. And so began a story spanning decades, a new history of America and the modern world that I hope to explore over the course of this blog.
I’ll be writing articles about The Standard, the people in his life, and his cultural impact. I also hope to share some little-seen archival material – contemporary newspaper articles, old photographs, maybe even some video footage. There will be daily updates Monday-Friday every week. This has been a subject of some fascination for me, and I hope reading about it will interest you too.
It’s an amazing world we now live in. Let’s take a look at how we got here.
We live in a world where superheroes are real.
It’s something that many of us take for granted now, but less than 50 years ago, superheroes were the stuff of fiction, fantasy even. Back then, if we wanted to see someone don a colorful costume to fight crime, we had to pick up a comic book. Now all we need to do is turn on the news. Over the decades, the role of the superhero in the real world has shifted and changed from vigilantes and defenders of the peace to pop culture icons and celebrities, but change as they might with the times, they are here to stay. The 20th Century will be remembered in history as the dawn of the age of the superhero. And it all began with one name…
The Standard.
Alex Thomas, the man currently behind the iconic mask of The Standard, is unquestionably the most famous person on Earth. There are many interviews and articles about this new Standard, and the internet is filled with fanpages devoted to him. But this blog will not be about Alex Thomas. Yes, we will get round to discussing him eventually, but I am more interested in Gilbert Graham: the original Standard, and the man who started it all back in 1966 when he became the world’s first real-life superhero.
As we now know, Gilbert Graham was a scientist whose lab was struck by a falling meteorite, dousing him in a cocktail of chemicals and meteoric particles that gave him incredible powers. When pondering what to do with his newfound gifts, he remembered the comic books of his youth, and modelled himself after the heroes featured in them, adopting a secret identity and calling himself The Standard. And so began a story spanning decades, a new history of America and the modern world that I hope to explore over the course of this blog.
I’ll be writing articles about The Standard, the people in his life, and his cultural impact. I also hope to share some little-seen archival material – contemporary newspaper articles, old photographs, maybe even some video footage. There will be daily updates Monday-Friday every week. This has been a subject of some fascination for me, and I hope reading about it will interest you too.
It’s an amazing world we now live in. Let’s take a look at how we got here.