In 1966, the year the Black Panther debuted in Marvel's Fantastic Four...
...Dell Comics went them one better, introducing the first Black hero to get his own comic!
Other Black characters had their own
series in anthology titles, but
Lobo was the
first to have his name AS the comic's title!
Lobo combined a couple of popular plot concepts...
Man on the Run for a Crime He Did NOT Commit
Exemplified by then-hit tv series
The Fugitive, Lobo was framed, but couldn't prove his innocence.
Lone Western Hero
A loner wandering the Old West, righting wrongs was an especially popular genre in tv Westerns.
Variations on the theme included gamblers (
Maverick
) and martial-arts experts (
Kung Fu
)
Note: the tv series
Branded
also combined both the
Loner and
Man Framed themes!
...as well as a
new concept:
Prominent Black character
Black characters (except for sterotypes like
Amos 'n Andy
) were few and far between on tv until the mid-1960s, and even then only as supporting characters (usually servants).
1960s urban dramas like
Naked City
and
East Side, West Side,
which dealt with current social themes had Black guest stars including
James Earl Jones and Diana Sands, but no Black regulars.
Star Trek
(1966) had both a Black regular character (
Lt. Nyota Uhura) and Black actors in prominent roles as scientists and high-placed officers (admirals, etc,).
But, at that point, there were
no tv series with a Black lead or Black title character!
(
Diahann Carroll's groundbreaking series
Julia didn't debut until 1968, two years later!)
So,
Lobo was, to say the least, a daring experiment, albeit one with as many popular themes as possible to maximize sales potential!
Dell
writer/editor Don (DJ) Arneson and artist Tony Tallarico felt the time
was right, and managed to convince their publisher to take a chance.
(You can read Arneson's tale of
Lobo's creation
HERE.)
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Many vendors outside of East Coast cities refused to even put a comic with a Black hero on their racks, and the book had an almost 90% return rate.
Lobo the comic only ran two issues.
It's rumored that a script and unfinished art exist for a third issue, but that's never been confirmed.
You can read both issues of
Lobo HERE and
HERE.
And don't forget our line of
Lobo comic collectibles, including t-shirts, mugs, and other goodies at...
