Today, the Big Two are, as mentioned, Marvel and DC. But, back in the Golden Age of comics, the Big Two, if anyone cared to call it that, were probably National and Fawcett, or, and this is likely more accurate, it was a Big Three, with MLJ added in.
At that time, Timely and Quality and Fox did okay, with one of Fox's main characters outshining everyone until Fawcett's big reveal.
Today only three of these six companies remains in operation: Timely Comics took the name of their most popular line and became Marvel Comics; National Comic Publishing took the initials of their most popular line and became DC Comics; and MLJ, reeling from having their second most popular character ripped off and being overshadowed by the new character, went in another direction, leaned into the popularity of their beloved character and changed their name to reflect that, and became Archie Comics.
DC Comics bought the rights to Quality, Fox, and Fawcett over the years, and characters that had been independent and popular, and rivals, even surpassing the sales of giants like Superman and Batman, have been absorbed into the DC Universe.
Two I wanted to briefly point out got their starts as outside the umbrella of what today are considered established companies, but, at the time in 1939 and 1940, everything was just starting out. This first character was wildly popular for a time, and predates all Golden Age heroes except Superman (1938) and Batman (March 1939):
Blue Beetle had a radio show and a park day and popular costume. 1939 was a good year for comic heroes, as we get, in this particular order: Batman, Blue Beetle (Fox), Human Torch and Namor (Timely/Marvel), Captain Marvel/Shazam (Fawcett), and the Shield, the forerunner to Captain America (MLJ).
In 1940, before Captain America debuted, before Archie and the Spirit showed up, Quality released a character who could absorb sunlight to various ends:
The Ray, as a character, is still around the DCU, as is a new iteration of Blue Beetle, as well as a whole cast of characters purchased from their early rivals.
While I like the history of BB and the Ray, neither were remotely as popular as the heights attained by Captain Marvel and Archie and Superman and Batman. Blue Beetle may have been trending that direction, but Captain Marvel ended that.
It takes 80 years to fully appreciate how wild the origins of an entire artform's medium and commercial market were.
Shazam and Archie deserve their own posts...
