History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / ComicBooks

* The original ArchieComics looked nothing like there more familiar, modern look. It had the more realistic style of most 1940s comics before becoming stylized like it is today. Archies looked more like [[Magazine/{{MAD}} Alfred E. Neuman]] than anything. The characters were also younger and it lacked the signature BettyAndVeronica.
** Actually, Betty was part of the strip since day one, while Veronica appeared in the fifth or sixth appearance.

* While people often note the various changes that came about when the Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles changed from being merely a comic book to a multimedia franchise, the original [[Mirage comics ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage]] were also subject to quite a bit of this. Most notable is the Frank Miller-esque narration, which was gone by the series' second issue; the idea that the turtles had grown to look like their present-day selves in the space of a year, which was ignored when the writers decided to write stories featuring younger versions of the characters; and the bit where Splinter expressly trained the turtles so they would kill The Shredder for him, which was glossed over with time.

* Originally Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles were a parody of the gritty comics of FrankMiller, in particular Daredevil and Ronin.

* First two NemesisTheWarlock stories - ''Terror Tube'' and ''Killer Watt'' - refers to Torquemada as chief of Tube Police, while later he is referred to as "Grand master Of Termight". Nemesis spends both stories inside his ship, with no clue about his identity or appearance, saying nothing but his CatchPhrase ''Credo!'', which he tends to use at odd moments. A lot implies it wasn't even established that Nemesis is even an alien back then, with narration referring to him as "not ordinary man" at best.

* ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable: The series started as a comic strip in the back of SHADIS gaming magazine and as such, the character were flat and Sara had not been added yet. The Knights were simple gamer stereotypes shifting to fit the gag of the strip (for example, Dave, Bob and Brian all knowing the stats for a monster whereas in later strips, only Brian had stats and charts memorized like that.)

* The first three issues of NinjaHighSchool were drawn in a somewhat different style from the rest of the series.
* The "Locas" stories in LoveAndRockets initially had sci-fi elements, but they were soon dropped and the series became very present-day real-life in nature.

*** In part this is because Superman, Batman, and some of the others listed here were introduced before the genre was codified as they were the codifiers of many of it's tropes. Their early adventures were the EarlyInstallmentWeirdness of the entire genre.

** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker originally had NoSenseOfHumor

*** Superman wasn't always the well meaning hero he's known as today. In fact, he caused more harm then good in his earlier comments and was a tad bit crazy.

* Many superhero comics. {{Superman}} was a FlyingBrick who couldn't fly, only jump (hence, "able to leap tall buildings in a single bound") and run (hence, "faster than a speeding bullet"); {{Batman}} killed his adversaries.

* The original ArchieComics looked nothing like there more familiar, modern look. It had the more realistic style of most 1940s comics before becoming stylized like it is today. Archies looked more like [[Magazine/{{MAD}} Alfred E. Neuman]] then anything. The characters were also younger and it lacked the signature BettyAndVeronica.

* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'' had a bit of unevenness in the beginning: in addition to being a bit more violent than it is now, non-mammals and humans are seen in crowd shots and two human/oids have speaking roles [[HumansAreBastards (they're both villains)]]. Currently the only non-mammal characters are Lord Hebi, [[SnakesAreEvil a giant snake]], and his human boss Lord Hikiji, [[TheFaceless whose face hasn't been seen in ages.]] I can only speculate what foreigners could look like since [[MisplacedWildLife lions, tigers, and rhinos]] already live in Japan.

* The first three issues of NinjaHighSchool were drawn in a somewhat different style from the rest of the series.

** TheJoker originally had NoSenseOfHumor

* ''Ultimate Marvel Team-Up'' was done very early in the life of the [[UltimateMarvel Ultimate universe.]] As a result, a lot of characters like Hulk and IronMan appeared before they were given headlining roles in The Ultimates and are noticeably different then what would come.
* After his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39, IronMan spent the next few issues travelling back in time to visit Cleopatra, fighting a robot caveman built by aliens, preventing a race of people who lived inside the Earth from invading the surface world, and having several other wacky adventures. It wasn't until Tales of Suspense #45 (the first appearance of Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, and supervillain Blizzard) that he started to edge more towards superhero territory.

* The first three issues of NinjaHighSchool were drawn in a somewhat different style from the rest of the series!

** Also, Rotor Walrus was named 'Boomer' and Sally was pink. Later on Sally had blonde hair before changing to a brunette.

** During the early years, DC's different heroes very clearly took place in separate continuities - an issue of ''Batman'' from the 40s, for instance, had Dick Grayson get an autograph from Jerry Siegel, identified by name and explicitly noted as "the creator of Superman".

** Superman was probably the most notably different of these lacking many of his current powers, sporting a different (and often inconsistently illustrated) costume, killing bad guys, and being something of a rebel. But especially weird, given his current international sensibilities, is when we're told that "Superman says 'You Can Slap a Jap'" as seen on many World War 2 era covers.

** Also, Rotor Walrus was named 'Boomer' and Sally was pink. Later on Sally had blonde hair before changing to a brunette.

* While [[NeilGaiman Neil Gaiman's]] ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' has always taken place in the [[TheDCU DC Universe]], early issues were much less shy about depicting the title character interacting with other DC characters. Hell, the first story arc features Dr. Destiny as the BigBad, as well as [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]], [[NewGods Mr. Miracle]], MartianManhunter, {{Etrigan}}, and [[{{Batman}} the Scarecrow]] in supporting roles and/or cameos. For the bulk of the series, the Endless and associated characters more or less exist in their own continuity.

* KnightsOfTheDinnerTable: The series started as a comic strip in the back of SHADIS gaming magazine and as such, the character were flat and Sara had not been added yet. The Knights were simple gamer stereotypes shifting to fit the gag of the strip (for example, Dave, Bob and Brian all knowing the stats for a monster whereas in later strips, only Brian had stats and charts memorized like that.)

* The original ArchieComics looked nothing like there more familiar, modern look. It had the more realistic style of most 1940s comics before becoming stylized like it is today. Archies looked more like [[{{Mad}} Alfred E. Neuman]] then anything. The characters were also younger and it lacked the signature BettyAndVeronica.

* The original ArchieComics looked nothing like there more familiar, modern look. It had the more realistic style of most 1940s comics before becoming stylized like it is today. Archies looked more like [[{{Mad}} Alfred E. Neuman]] then anything. The characters were also younger and it lacked the signature BettyAndVeronica.

** Superman was probably the most notably different of these lacking many of his current powers, sporting a different (and often inconsistently illustrated) costume, killing bad guys, and being something of a rebel. But especially weird, given his current international sensibilities, is when we're told that "Superman says 'Go Slap a Jap'" as seen on many World War 2 era covers.

* The original ArchieComics looked nothing like there more familiar, modern look. It had the more realistic style of most 1940s comics before becoming stylized like it is today. Archies looked more like [[{{Mad}} Alfred Neuman]] then anything. The characters were also younger and it lacked the signature BettyAndVeronica.

* Originally TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles were a parody of the gritty comics of FrankMiller, in particular Daredevil and Ronin.

* The original ArchieComic's looked nothing like there more familiar, modern look. It had the more realistic style of most 1940s comics before becoming stylized like it is today. Archies looked more like [[{{Mad}} Alfred Neuman]] then anything.

* This can be applied era to era in comics but especially the SilverAge which generally has the silliest and most over the top plots and really sticks out from the other eras with many of the most popular characters of today being invented or taking on their most recognizable forms in that era.

* KnightsOfTheDinnerTable: The series started as a comic strip in the back of SHADIS gaming magazine and as such, the character were flat and Sara had not been added yet. The Knights were simple gamer stereotypes shifting to fit the gag of the strip (for example, Dave, Bob and Brian all knowing the stats for a monster whereas in later strips, only Brian had stats and charts memorized like that.)

* Upon reading [[http://www.reading-room.net/SC22/SC22p1.html the first]] [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' story, you get the impression that the Green Lantern Corps (referred to only as space-patrolmen in the story) do not generally call themselves Green Lanterns -- in fact, "Green Lantern" was only an alias Hal adopts for himself.