AMAZING-MAN COMICS #5 was the first appearance of John Aman, alias Amazing-Man. Now before you start wondering why Amazing-Man didn’t appear in the comic named for him until the fifth issue, you have to research the publication practices at the time. There where hundreds of publishers printing hundreds of comics each month. The goal of every one of them usually began and ended with tapping into the next Superman. A character may appear for an issue, and then never be seen again. People, even kids, where hesitant to purchase a first issue because there was a good chance that hero may not make it to the next. So several companies began the practice of starting a new series on a later issue number, to give the illusion that the characters within had lasted at least a few months. This is the case with AMAZING-MAN COMICS #5, which should technically be number as the first issue.
Created by the great Bill Everett, father of the Sub-Mariner, and art director Lloyd Jacquet, Amazing-Man came on the scene in 1939 from publisher, Comic Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Centaur Publications. As was standard for the times, his first adventure was a retelling of his origin, which takes a queue from The Green Lama and The Shadow. About the time of World War One, the Council of Seven, high in the Tibetan mountains, chose an orphan to be their representative to the modern world. For 25 years he was trained by the members of the Council to the peak of perfection. Finally, he is tested by the seven Council members to see if he is ready to head back to America. The tests he is placed through are pretty imaginative.
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