This is a timeline of events that occurred during the 1930s.
1930[]
- Gladiator by Philip Wylie is published.[1][2]
January[]
4th[]
- Greta Müller files an incident report with the Macon County Sheriff's Office against her husband Henrik for domestic assault and battery, but presses no formal charges.[3]
Between January 4 and January 11, 1930[]
- The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) releases a report showing a major disparity between the poor and the wealthy in the United States.[3]
11th[]
- The Voice of the People publishes an editorial citing the IRS report condemning U.S. politicians for perpetuating a government that exists not to protect the average citizen, but to benefit the Rockefellers, Dreibergs, and other wealthy families who have earned fortunes by exploiting common laborers.[3]
February[]
6th[]
- Greta Müller files another Macon County Sheriff's Office incident report against her husband Henrik for domestic assault and battery, but again presses no formal charges. Their son Rolf brutally beats Henrik in retaliation.[3]
November[]
30th[]
- G. Gordon Liddy is born.[1]
Before 1931[]
- Moe Vernon marries a woman named Beatrice.
1931[]
- Beatrice Vernon begins a romantic affair with Fred Motz, a mechanic working for her husband Moe at Vernon's Auto Repairs.[4]
- Linda Juspeczyk dies in a car accident shortly after marrying a Northwestern University medical student.[3]
April[]
1st[]
- The Living Shadow, the first pulp novel to feature The Shadow, is published.[1][5]
1932[]
- Ursula Zandt hears a police officer whistling at her good looks. Furious, she runs across the street and hits him, for which she is arrested.[3]
Fall[]
- Byron Lewis graduates from Bryce University.[3]
1933[]
- Hollis Mason encounters a situation he calls "The Ride of the Valkyries": Beatrice and Fred leave Moe Vernon, who then commits suicide.[4]
- Daniel "Happy" Dahl witnesses Rolf Müller exiting a wardrobe tent looking shaken after having spent hours alone with performer Frank Burrows.[3]
March[]
Summer[]
- Rolf Müller joins the Sakcson and Shanley circus's "Big Top Hello Mobile" troupe as Rolf the European Powerhouse.[3]
Before October[]
- Rolf Müller becomes a staunch anti-communist and joins the Ku Klux Klan. He, along with Frank Burrows and three other Klan members, are accused of murdering a black couple, Samuel and Elois Horton, after they attend the cirrus in Atlanta, Georgia.[3]
October[]
3rd[]
- Rolf Müller, Frank Burrows, and three fellow Ku Klux Klan members are acquitted of murdering Samuel and Elois Horton.[3]
5th[]
- The New York Gazette covers the Horton murders acquittals.[3]
November[]
3rd[]
- Krzysztof Penderecki is born.[6]
1935[]
- Peter Joseph Kovacs and Sylvia Joanna Kovacs leave Ohio for New York City in the spring.[7]
June[]
24th[]
- Terry Riley is born.[1][6]
July[]
7th[]
- Kitty Genovese is born.[1]
1936[]
February[]
20th[]
- Things to Come is released in the United Kingdom.[1]
August[]
18th[]
- Robert Redford is born.[1]
1937[]
- Wally Weaver is born.[8]
- The Peter and Sylvia Kovacs divorce.[7]
1938[]
- Rolf Müller joins the Shriner's Circus in New York City. Sixteen days later, he debuts as Rolf the European Powerhouse.[3]
March[]
12th[]
- After Nazi forces seize control of Austria, Adolf Hitler marches into that country, stopping first in his hometown of Linz to deliver a speech to the masses.[1]
26th[]
- Hollis Mason graduate from the New York Police Academy.[5]
In or After March 1938[]
- Nelson Gardner moves to New York City and begins a career as an independent military consultant.[3]
June[]
- Action Comics 1, the first appearance of Superman is published. Hollis Mason and others take notice. The arrival of superheroes as a publishing phenomenon inspires a number of people to put on costumes and fight crime.[5]
Fall[]
- Hollis Mason discreetly reads several more comic books from children, never telling anyone else about his interest in superheroes.[5]
October[]
2nd[]
- Bill Brady's college football team defeats Notre Dame.[3]
7th[]
- The Kansan covers Bill Brady's victory against Notre Dame.[3]
14th[]
- A mysterious masked man known as Hooded Justice saves a young couple from getting mugged.[5]
15th[]
- The New York Gazette runs a front page story about the thwarted robbery by Hooded Justice. Hollis Mason reads the article and is stunned to find superheroes no longer confined to the world of comic books.[5]
21st[]
- Hooded Justice thwarts a supermarket robbery in Queens.[5]
1939[]
- Superhero comic books featuring the exploits of such characters as Superman and Flash see enormous success.[9]
- Silhouette, Comedian, Silk Spectre, Captain Metropolis, Dollar Bill, and Mothman, all similarly inspired by the exploits of Hooded Justice, make their crime-fighting debut shortly after.
- Laurence Schexnayder suggests Sally Jupiter to place an ad in the New York Gazette calling for costumed adventurers to unite.[10]
January[]
- Dressing up in a mask and costume to protect one's neighborhood becomes a popular fad in the United States. Americans grow fascinated by this development as the media devotes a good deal of coverage to these individuals.
- Hollis Mason officially begins working for the New York City Police Department.
- Inspired by Hooded Justice's heroics, Hollis Mason decides to become Nite Owl.[5]
12th[]
- Daily World features an article about Sally Jupiter.[11]
February[]
- Silhouette exposes a child pornography ring.[12]
- Mothman is discovered by the media coming from Connecticut,[12] described as "a man who can fly."
- The Comedian brutally cleans up the New York harbor.[12][13]
June[]
15th[]
- The National Bank of New York unveils Dollar Bill to the world as its in-house superhero.[3]
September[]
- DC Comics’ All-Star Comics issue #2 hits stands, featuring tales of The Spectre, Hourman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Flash, Johnny Thunder, The Sandman, and Red, White & Blue.
- The Minutemen superhero group is formed.
1st[]
- World War II begins when Germany invades Poland.[1]
Before 11th[]
11th[]
- National Bank's Thomas Younger writes a letter to Larry Schexnayder, explains Bill Brady's dual status as a crime-fighter and a widely recognized media figure, and suggests him as a potential Minutemen member.[3]
Before October 6th[]
- The Minutemen invite Eddie Blake to join the team.
October[]
6th[]
- Eddie Blake accepts the invitation, and Larry Schexnayder issues a press release announcing his membership in the crime-fighting team.
After October 6th[]
- The New York Gazette runs the announcement under the headline "Minutemen Adopt Kid Side-Kick", quoting Larry Schexnayder as anticipating no problems due to Eddie Blake's young age.[3]
Late November or December 1939[]
- Ursula Zandt becomes the seventh member to join the Minutemen.
- Nelson Gardner tracks down Hooded Justice; he convinces him to join the Minutemen.
- Hooded Justice secretly enters into a relationship with Nelson Gardner.
- The Minutemen hire a maid named Frieda Jenkins, to clean their headquarters, launder their costumes, and keep their food pantry stocked.
- Ursula Zandt and Sally Jupiter soon end up on bad terms, and goads her about being Polish knowing it bothers Sally when she does.
- Larry Schexnayder discovers Nelson Gardner’s secret relationship with Hooded Justice. Schexnayder convinces Sally Jupiter, when in the presence of photographers, snuggle up to HJ so the press will infer romance and stop looking into his personal life.
December[]
14th[]
- Hooded Justice expresses approval of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich during an interview with Newsworld. In the article, the vigilante applauds Hitler for saving his nation from economic collapse, restoring dignity to his people, and "exterminating the undisciplined and perverse" from humanity.[3] Ursula Zandt, a Jew, is highly offend by his comments, but Nelson Gardner sweeps the matter under the rug to keep the Minutemen's reputation intact.[14]
16th[]
- The Minutemen officially launch as a crimefighting team, with Larry Schexnayder managing their publicity.
Late December[]
- The Minutemen lease a Manhattan brownstone from J.D. Dorchester, of Dorchester oil fame, to serve as their headquarters, for a monthly rate of $400 dollars.[3]
- Moloch the Mystic uses a Solar Mirror Weapon to terrorize the city. He threatens to destroy the Empire State Building unless police provide him with a hand-rendered, illuminated copy of William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, worth more than $16 million dollars.[3] The Minutemen manage to defeat Moloch and take his Solar Mirror Weapon, displaying it in their headquarters' trophy room.[13]
Circa December 25th[]
Between December 1939 and October 2nd, 1940[]
- The Minutemen thwart a criminal called King Mob. The team display his ape mask in their trophy room.[13]
- Eddie Blake makes no secret of his attraction to Sally Jupiter, despite being four years younger than her, but she shows interest only in her close friend Hooded Justice.
- The Comedian expresses hope that the United States government will send the Minutemen to Europe to fight in World War II. Hooded Justice feels that they should remain non-political, while Mothman fears the thought of fighting in a war.[13]
- Issue #1 of Minutemen, a new comic book about "America's greatest heroes", features adventures based on the exploits of the crimefighting team of the same name.[3]
- Moloch earns a reputation for writing letters on parchment.
Between December 1939 and May 13th, 1946[]
- Silhouette remains aloof from her fellow Minutemen, becoming close only with Larry Schexnayder and, to some extent, Nite Owl and Mothman. She often tells them about her Aunt Emma in Katzenbuhl, Austria, and comments that men tend to treat people like cars.
In or After 1939 Until 1977[]
- The United States government abolishes laws banning vigilantism in order to accommodate the strategically useful talents of costumed adventurers.
- Psychologists such as Fredric Wertham offer theories about why someone would choose to don a costume and fight crime, while others spread jokes, rumors, and innuendo about the superhero crowd's motives.
1939 to 1949[]
- Throughout his time with the Minutemen, Nelson Gardner suffers from the paranoid delusion that other members of the group are snickering behind his back. As a result, he spends much of his time desperate to earn their respect.[14]
1930s or 1940s[]
- Mr. Osterman expresses to his son Jon an admiration for the sky's precision.
1930s and 1940s[]
- Clandestine pornographic comic books, dubbed Tijuana Bibles, flourish as an art form, featuring fictional characters like Chic Young's Blondie Boopadoop, as well as actress Mae West and Minutemen crimefighter Silk Spectre I. One such comic portrays Jupiter having sex with a salesman from Acme Brush Co.
Late 1930s to 1950[]
- Throughout his criminal career, the Screaming Skull is more interested in having fun playing the role of a typical comic book supervillain than in reaping the rewards of his schemes. Though he steals more than $15 million worth of property, he clears only $2,000 or so in total, due to steep overhead and insurance costs.[3]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Historical date
- ↑ Chapter I: At Midnight, All the Agents...
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 DC Heroes: The Watchmen Sourcebook
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Under the Hood: Chapter I
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Under the Hood: Chapter II
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nova Express interview
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Early History of Walter Kovacs
- ↑ Chapter IV: Watchmaker
- ↑ Chapter III: The Judge of All the Earth
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Under the Hood: Chapter IV
- ↑ Sally Jupiter's Scrapbook Portfolio
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Under the Hood: Chapter III
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Chapter II: Absent Friends
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 DC Heroes Role Playing Module #235: Taking Out the Trash - Curses and Tears