History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / ComicBooks

** [[Comicbook/StarGirl]] In the early days she was much meaner and disrespectful. She did not have the name "Stargirl" until over four years after her creation, and she did not have the cosmic staff until over two years after her creation. In her first few chronological appearences ehr only power was super strength, and she was a melee fighter.

*** For that matter, Eddie Brock as the first Venom was originally much more [[AxCrazy deranged]], spiteful and and outright villainous than he would be in later appearances and adaptations. Aside from one or two token lines of expressed regret he generally didn't bat an eye at the loss of innocent life (the first time he fought Spidey he shamelessly killed a cop, and in his first breakout he killed a security guard) and his ability to take criticism and hold himself accountable were downright nonexistent, a far cry from the snarky, self-deprecating PragmaticHero he is nowadays. As a result of his enduring [[BreakoutVillain popularity]], however, Eddie would quickly be written as a NobleDemon and later on AntiHero, with Carnage taking his place as the Marvel Universe's outright insane Symbiote Supervillain. Several explanations have been offered for why Eddie-as-Venom was so different back then, the most common being that since both Eddie and the Symbiote where at the absolute low point in their lives at the time of bonding, they drew out each other's most negative personality traits. To give an idea of how much Eddie changed over time, compare Sony's [[Film/Venom2018 official Venom Movie]] (which draws from his more modern appearances) with [[WebVideo/TruthInJournalism this Fan Film]] and you'll quickly notice how massively different they are.

** Franchise/{{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"). Thanks to SerialEscalation, though, he could already fly higher and faster than most airplanes well before America got into World War II.

** Like the ''Sub-Mariner: The Depths'' example mentioned above, the later ''Comicbook/ImmortalHulk'' series intentionally went back to the character's roots, with the Hulk depicted as a far more intelligent and overtly malicious figure than most fans were generally used to.

** When Comicbook/{{Valkyrie|Marvel Comics}} first appeared in ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'', she was actually a StrawFeminist and a ''villain'', and turned out to merely be a disguise used by Amora the Enchantress. It wouldn't be until a few years later in an issue of ''Comicbook/TheDefenders'' that Valkyrie was established as an actual Asgardian hero.

*** ComicBook/PoisonIvy's debut contained none of the GaiasVengeance or StrawFeminist themes the character would later become famous for; her association with plants only went gimmick-deep, and even then it was largely metaphorical (she got into crime because she was a huge AttentionWhore, who sought to stick in the public's mind like a case of poison ivy).

* ''Comicbook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'':
** The early comics were very comedic and often even stranger than what came later, with lots of [[NoFourthWall fourth wall demolition]], BetterThanABareBulb, and HurricaneOfPuns. This was more due to following ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and using a few video game stages in the early days. Also, Dave Manak and Michael Gallagher were the primary artist and writer respectively, both of whom had a more zany cartoonish style than their successors. Sally was seen with varying colors of fur (red fur with blonde hair in her first appearance, pink fur with black hair up until issue #16[[note]]this was referenced in a one-page story way back in issue #3[[/note]]) and Rotor was known as "Boomer" until about issue #6. Roboticization was shown differently with people with hypnotized eyes instead of out and out robots. The series wouldn't reach the [=SatAM=] levels until Dulcy showed up in issue 28 and a few characters will still seem odd looking back at them (for instance, look at Metal Sonic in issue #25, then look at him later on). Once other artists and writers began to take over (although Gallagher and Manak never fully left), the art style and overall tone became [[CerebusSyndrome comparatively more serious]] for the most part.
** This also extends to its video game tie-ins. Prior to the ContinuityReboot, video game events were done in BroadStrokes; for instance, ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3'' was translated in issue #13 as Robotnik and Snively stranded on the Floating Island, stealing its singular Chaos Emerald without the Death Egg showing up at all (it wouldn't show up for another two years). After the ContinuityReboot, WordOfGod states that ''all'' video games, with the exceptions of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' and ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' are canon and happened the way they did in the games.
** The characters' personalities were also vastly different at first. Sally acted like a total brat at times with a massive NeverMyFault attitude while Antoine was very much a {{Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey|s}}. Like his [=SatAM=] counterpart, Snively was initially very loyal to Robotnik and wouldn't become TheStarscream until ''The Death Egg Saga''.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'':
** ''Sonic the Comic'' was just as bad. For a while it was full of one-shots that barely related to each other (often featuring OffModel drawings). It took several issues for it to become plot-orientated, and even afterwards it took a while for it to drop the one-shot routine.
** Sonic was originally drawn with the western "mohawk". Robotnik also originally had his Japanese design before switching to the ''[=AoStH=]'' design for plot reasons. Amy spent much of her early appearances in her classic outfit before switching to a more tomboyish sweatshirt.
** Due to ExecutiveMeddling, Amy was hit with an obvious case of CharacterizationMarchesOn. She was originally proactive but not as much of an {{Action Girl}} as she was later characterized as. She also liked to tease and coo over Sonic, which disappeared later on. In hindsight. Amy in her first appearances was quite similar to how the games after ''Adventure'' depict her.
** The first few issues didn't include Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis alongside Sonic and Tails. They were characters, but not Freedom Fighters. Amy, Tekno, and Shortfuse also didn't appear for several issues.
** The early issues had an AnthropomorphicShift. Johnny and Porker Lewis went from little woodland animals to Petting Zoo People in the span of only a few issues.

** The early Tintin stories before "The Blue Lotus" are mostly a continuous series of events without much focus and a lot of randomness. "Tintin in the Land Of The Soviets" and "Tintin in Congo" ("Tintin in Africa") are plain propaganda stories warning the youth against Soviet communism and praising the virtues of Belgian colonialism in Congo. Tintin's travels to foreign countries were simply based on stereotypical ideas. Hergé only started doing research for his stories from "The Blue Lotus" on (it's probably worth noting that in "The Blue Lotus" itself he mocks national stereotypes, most notably by having Dupont and Dumond trying to blend in with the locals by dressing up like Fu Manchu).

** ''Tales of Suspense'' #49: "The New Iron Man Meets the Angel!" Witness as Tony Stark (here called Anthony Blake) encounters the Angel! After a nuclear explosion goes off from a Stark Industries atomic bomb test, Iron Man is shielded from the blast by his own armor, saving himself from hitting the ground with his Magnetic Repeller! But not Angel, who becomes evil! Is this a fiendish plot from an evil mutant? No! The radiation convinces Angel he is an Evil Mutant! Angel informs the X-Men he is leaving to become an Evil Mutant since "that's where the action is!" The X-Men use a top-secret device to contact the Avengers "in a secret wavelength used only by the X-Men and other specially licensed crime-fighting organizations". Angel attempts to draw the attention of Evil Mutants by detonating sticks of dynamite in random locations until Iron Man intervenes, then feigns plummeting to death so Angel can change his mind and save him! This heroic act reverses [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics the corrupting effect]] the radiation had on his personality! (Note: Iron Man is wearing his post ''The Avengers'' #2 armor and mentions the X-Men's offer from ''The Avengers'' #3, yet the Hulk is still part of the Avengers team in this issue when he should have left by the previous issue. So this issue takes place somewhere around then, in reverse order).
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'':

* Asbestos was all the rage when it came to thwarting those with fire-based powers. ''Captain America Comics'' #63, ''Invaders'' #22, and ''Human Torch Comics'' #27 have the Asbestos Lady, who wore asbestos lined clothes and fired a gun with asbestos-lined bullets. In ''Strange Tales'' #111, the Human Torch fights the Asbestos Man, a chemist who has made a suit and shield of "super-asbestos". The Terrible Trio in ''Strange Tales'' #122 capture Johnny Storm with an asbestos rope and blanket, keeping him in an asbestos trailer. In ''The Avengers'' #206, The Avengers wear asbestos suits to confront the villain Pyron the Thermal Man.
* ''Human Torch'' #38: Professor Marko's Hydromatic Vacuum attempts to suck out all the air in the world, and is almost successful as people throughout the world gasp for air.

*** She didn't have her iconic Lasso of Truth for her first few appearances, and was only given it by her mother in the sixth issue of ''ComicBook/SensationComics''. Also, it was simply known as the "Magic Lasso" in the early days, and compelled captives to obey Wonder Woman's every command by imposing her will on them. The idea that its primary function was to force people to tell the truth originated in ''Series/WonderWoman1975'', and didn't [[RetCanon make its way into the comics]] until Creator/GeorgePerez rebooted Wonder Woman's origin after ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''.
*** Likewise, Wonder Woman couldn't originally fly, which explains why she needed the Invisible Jet in the first place. And it wasn't the Invisible Jet at first, either, but simply the Robot Plane (with standard-for-the-time propeller propulsion).

** In ''Comicbook/IronMan'', Tony Stark's suit requires NoConservationOfEnergy. Modern stories explain the arc reactor is generating all the energy, while early issues explain the suit's energy is being amplified because of the suit's transistors[[note]]in real life, transistors allow a small amount of current to control the flow of a larger amount of current, but that larger amount still has to ''come'' from somewhere; the transistor doesn't just make it out of nothing[[//note]]. Impressive! Maybe Stark designed ''super'' transistors.

** In ''Comicbook/IronMan'', Tony Stark's suit requires NoConservationOfEnergy. Modern stories explain the arc reactor is generating all the energy, while early issues explain the suit's energy is being amplified because of the suit's transistors. Impressive! Maybe Stark designed ''super'' transistors.

** The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeofComicBooks Golden Age]] Green Lantern, Alan Scott, is quite different from the more famous Silver Age version. He was based out of Gotham, explicitly used magic, and had a weakness to wood. He also never had any contact with the rest of the corps, being solo.

*** The first [[ComicBook/TheAtom Atom]] didn't have the character's signature size-changing powers, just SuperStrength and an "atomic punch". His costume was also totally different, with a yellow shirt and a cape.

** 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 [[Comicbook/{{Robin}} Dick Grayson]] get an autograph from Jerry Siegel, identified by name and explicitly noted as "the creator of Superman".
*** Early Timely (Marvel) Comics did the same. In the very first ComicBook/CaptainAmerica story, the Human Torch is mentioned as being "a hero from the comic books". About a year later, Cap and the Torch met in a crossover story. [[note]] Later works seemed to explain this by having the Marvel Comics company exist ''in universe'', so superheroes can literally read their own comics.[[/note]]

*** Wonder Woman had a lot of rather silly Golden and Silver Age villains who are pretty much never used any more, such as Mouse Man.

*** For that matter, Eddie Brock as the first Venom was originally much more [[AxCrazy deranged]], spiteful and and outright villainous than he would be in later appearances and adaptations. Aside from one or two token lines of expressed regret he generally didn't bat an eye at the loss of innocent life (the first time he fought Spidey he shamelessly killed a cop, and in his first breakout he killed a security guard) and his ability to take criticism and hold himself accountable were downright nonexistent, a far cry from the snarky, self-deprecating PragmaticHero he is nowadays. As a result of his enduring [[BreakoutVillain popularity]] , however, Eddie would quickly be written as a NobleDemon and later on AntiHero , with Carnage taking his place as the Marvel Universe's outright insane Symbiote Supervillain. Several explanations have been offered for why Eddie-as-Venom was so different back then, the most common being that since both Eddie and the Symbiote where at the absolute low point in their lives at the time of bonding, they drew out each other's most negative personality traits. To give an idea of how much Eddie changed over time, compare Sony's [[Film/Venom2018 official Venom Movie]] (which draws from his more modern appearances) with [[WebVideo/TruthInJournalism this Fan Film]] and you'll quickly notice how massively different they are.

** In the mainstream continuity, Magneto is an Holocaust survivor. He mentions it in the first arc of ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'' as well: he said that all his family was killed during one of humanity's periodic genocides, with a background image of the Holocaust. This aspect of the character was abandoned later and never mentioned or suggested again, as he was turn into a complete villain with no redeeming qualities. By the time of ''ComicBook/UltimateOrigins'', he is shown to have been a teen during TheEighties (making him far too young to have lived through the Holocaust), while his parents turn out to be the scientists who experimented on Wolverine to create mutants in the first place. He also ends up murdering them himself, further conflicting with the account of them having died in a genocide.

* Creator/ImageComics' early days in TheNineties where they codified the NinetiesAntiHero and had a ClicheStorm that embodied UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks could be seen as this. Since then, they've [[GrowingTheBeard greatly diversified their lineup]] with hits such as ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'', ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'', ''Film/{{Kingsman}}'', and ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'', among many others. While DarkerAndEdgier compared to Marvel and DC, it isn't to the over-the-top extreme like it was in the '90s. This also had the effect of making series introduced back then, such as ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'', and ''ComicBook/SavageDragon'' look rather [[TheArtifact out of place]] today.

*** Likewise, Wonder Woman couldn't originally fly, which explains why she needed the Invisible Jet in the first place. And it wasn't the Invisible Jet at first, either, but simply the Invisible Plane (with standard-for-the-time propeller propulsion).

* Speaking of ''Comicbook/TheEternals'', Creator/JackKirby's run on the series was very heavily implied to take place in the "real world" rather than the Marvel Universe. The Eternals were treated as though they were the first superpowered beings to become known to the public, while the Celestials were very clearly supposed to be the first cosmic entities the people of Earth had ever come into contact with. Obviously, this does not make sense in a continuity that already includes superpowered races like [[Comicbook/XMen Mutants]] and [[Comicbook/TheInhumans Inhumans]], or on a planet that has already been visited by Comicbook/{{Galactus}} and the Comicbook/SilverSurfer multiple times. While an android copy of the Hulk did appear in issue #14, the dialogue seemed to suggest that the Hulk was a fictional character in this universe, not a real life superhero. The characters would not officially become part of the Marvel Universe until Roy Thomas used them in his ''Thor'' run as the focus of his "Eternals Saga" storyline. This may come as a surprise to certain readers, especially given the way the Celestials have been incorporated into the wider Marvel canon since then, with characters such as the X-Men's Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} and the Fantastic Four's Franklin Richards having connections to them.

** Early ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'' comics treated Captain Marvel as Billy Batson's distinct SuperPoweredAlterEgo rather than Billy in an adult body with superpowers. When Roy Thomas rebooted the character's origin after ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', he introduced the idea that Billy and Captain Marvel were one and the same, with the Captain now having a more naive and childish personality at times. This depiction was cemented in ''ComicBook/ShazamTheNewBeginning'' and ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', and has basically become the character's default portrayal across all media since then (such as in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' and the [[Film/Shazam2019 live-action movie]]). Only a select few works, such as Creator/JeffSmith's ''Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil'', have retained the original Golden Age concept of Captain Marvel being a separate entity.

*** For that matter, Eddie Brock as the first Venom was originally much more [[AxCrazy deranged]], spiteful and and outright villainous than he would be in later appearances and adaptations. Aside from one or two token lines of expressed regret he generally didn't bat an eye at the loss of innocent life (the first time he fought Spidey he shamelessly killed a cop, and in his first breakout he killed a security guard) and his ability to take criticism and hold himself accountable were downright nonexistent, a far cry from the snarky, self-deprecating PragmaticHero he is nowadays. As a result of his enduring [[BreakoutVillain popularity]] , however, Eddie would quickly be written as a NobleDemon and later on AntiHero , with Carnage taking his place as the Marvel Universe's outright insane Symbiote Supervillain. Several explanations have been offered for why Eddie-as-Venom was so different back then, the most common being that since both Eddie and the Symbiote where at the absolute low point in their lives at the time of bonding, they drew out eachother's most negative personality traits. To give an idea of how much Eddie changed over time, compare Sony's [[Film/Vemom2018 official Venom Movie]] (which draws from his more modern appearances) with [[WebVideo/TruthInJournalism this Fan Film]] and you'll quickly notice how massively different they are.

** As well as the Thing looking very lumpy and uneven. The rest of the team also called him 'Thing' all the time instead of Ben... which is pretty dickish and insensitive in hindsight.
** The Thing also had a crush on Sue in the early issues, a subplot that was eventually dropped and has rarely been revisited since.

** Furthermore, in Doom's first appearance, he didn't have the grudge with Reed Richards that has come to define his character - they just happened to be former classmates. His plot was a little less world-shattering as well - kidnapping the Fantastic Four to STEAL BLACKBEARD'S TREASURE. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he didn't have a cape.]]

* In her earliest appearances, Comicbook/MsMarvel could only fly thanks to [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman special mechanisms in her Kree uniform]]. Ms. Marvel was also originally the SuperpoweredAlterEgo of ComicBook/CarolDanvers (á la the Hulk), with neither personality being aware of the other.