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Greatest 12 Characters of the 1880's

Who is on this list, what this list is about and how they got on the list!

 The Battle
 The Battle

Synopsis

This is one of a set of lists I made showing a progression of the greatest characters in a heroic style throughout time. Focusing for the most part on one decade at a time. The heroes that we know and love today were inspired by heroes before them. Some are even real people who moved into folklore. Before comics there were pulp magazines. Before that there was dime novels and before that was the penny dreadfuls. There were many others as well like Gothic novels, story papers and yes even a real novel.  

The List 

 This is a list of the ten best characters between the years of 1880 and 1889.  These would be characters who will go on to be the biggest influences in comics either directly or indirectly.  In other words these will become great inspirations to future comic characters and stories. Right now they are in order of year.  

 That's Right, We Bad
 That's Right, We Bad

New Stuff

In the 1880's the detective Stories takes off with characters like Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Donovan.  There are more serials in magazines and the Pulp Novels will start being produced after there success.  This is also just about the end of the Dime Novels.  The many folk legends of their own time like Buffalo Bill will become much more rare.

Here is the past list

Greatest 12 Characters of the 1870's

Here is the next list 

Greatest 12 Characters of the 1890's

List items

  • Ben-Her captured the imagination of the world. This book brought biblical times to life and was the first book to be blessed by the Pope. He first appeared in the novel Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ in 1880.

  • Famous in his own time fictionalized accounts were written up in Dime Novels. The first of these is Adventures of Buffalo Bill From Boyhood to Manhood in 1881. The Dime Novel is the predecessor of comics.

  • Long John Silver is to Pirates what Superman is to Superheroes. He is the stereotypical pirate an archetype for all who come after. He first appeared in a serial that was turned into a novel called Treasure Island in 1881.

  • Billy the kid is perhaps the most famous "real person" in comics having his own series for decades. His first appearance in literature was in a book that was written a year after his death in 1882 called The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid.

  • Allan Quatermain first appears in the Novel King Solomon's Mine in 1885. He is the great adventurer.

  • Dr. Jekyll made his first appearance in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886. With out Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde he don't have any Hulk stories. There stories are very parallel minus some Green Radiation.

  • Nick Carter was the great detective before Sherlock Holmes. He was first seen in the dime novels The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square. They both came out on September 18th, 1886.

  • Robur the Conqueror is the creator of the first and greatest airship and the grandfather of all the characters that followed. Originally written in french Robur-le-Conquérant was published in 1886 by Jules Verne. In English the novel is known as the Robur-the-Conqueror or The Clipper of the Clouds. The sequel was called The Master of the World, published in 1904.

  • Sherlock Holmes considered the greatest detective. Take that Batman. He first appeared in the Short Story A Study In Scarlet made his debut in 1887.

  • Dr. Watson made his first appearance in A Study In Scarlet made his debut in 1887. He is Holes' right hand man. An original sidekick.

  • Jack the Ripper was a real person but there is questions about his true identity. The first gothic novel of Jack the ripper was written in 1888 and called the The Curse Upon Mitre Square.

  • Dick Donovan one of the literature's first detectives. His first appearance was in Manhunter written in 1888.