Abraham Lincoln in Comics! | Comic Misconceptions

In celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, Scott talks about 5 comics in which you can find the 16th president of 'Murica! Classic tales like when Honest Abe was resurrected and fought Deadpool in a battle royale, or when Superman went back in time and stopped John Wilkes Booth from successfully completing his assassinating. All this and more!

Every Wednesday, Comic Misconceptions explores fascinating trivia, crazy stories, and mind-blowing theories about the comic book universe from Marvel, DC, and beyond!

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TRIVIA CHALLENGE CLARIFICATION:

Stan Lee was in a comic book in which he was hosting a popular television show that exists in real life. Then something happened which put Stan in danger and Spider-Man saved him.

Remember, this is from a comic so cartoons appearances don't count regardless of how awesome they are. Hope this helps!

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SOURCES:

Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues

Scooby-Doo #2

Deadpool Vol 3 #1

Deadpool Vol 3 #4

Superman Vol 1 #146

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 #110

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[sugarfrosted]

4:40 Fun fact about that sleeping guard. THAT'S HISTORICALLY ACCURATE THAT MAN EXISTED. John Frederick Parker was too drunk and passed out to stop the assassination.

[Halinspark]

The thing about Lincoln entering a wrestling match and kicking ass is that he totally did that all the time. Lincoln has a weird history.

[nightlydisaster]

Am I the only one who noticed that the Deadpool movie was released on Abraham Lincoln's birthday?

[jedipastoryoda]

Just noticed this guys last name sounds like "Nice wander", which I think is cools because it's an allusion to how he, with his talking about comic stories, helps us pleasantly wander around the realm of comics in our imaginations.

[jimbocollecta]

In the amazing Rob Kirkman comic book 'Invincible', there is a character called The Immortal, a superhero who at one point in his life was actually Abe Lincoln. If you haven't already read every single issue of that book...I implore that you do! Just revisiting some of your old videos because weekly new ones just aint enough! Keep up the awesome work Scott.

[TheBrywarrior]

This video was super weird because my name is Bryce (clearly) and it felt like you were asking me about Assassin's Creed

[nattywoo]

I love watching old Nerdsync episodes.

[reedmiddendorf]

You should do Uncle Sam (and his civil war counterparts Johnny Reb and Billy Yank) in comics.

[davidano]

I am surprised there is no mention of The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln by Scott McCloud, 1998

[wk]

Superboy # 85, "The Impossible Mission" was IMHO the best Superboy story ever told. Superboy attempts to prevent the Assassination of Lincoln, but he encounters an adult Lex Luthor already there. This Luthor, used to fighting the adult Superman is equipped with some red kryptonite and uses it to stop Superboy temporarily. Luthor realizes only too late that he has prevented Superboy from saving Lincoln. He is filled with remorse because even he admired Lincoln. He said, "Why did fate choose me to me to prevent Superboy from saving the life of Lincoln, a great man? I'm responsible for many crimes, but this is the worst of all! Lincoln's blood is on my hands..." Distraught, the adult Luthor flees into the past to escape.

This was one of the earliest stories to show that there was way more to Lex than being a pure villain. As the years rolled on, we got to know the pre-Crisis Lex as a tragic figure who could easily have been a good guy, but fate kept intervening to cast him as the villain no matter how hard he tried to reform. Even though the old stories were from a simpler time, over time Lex became more complicated than most modern comics villains. He had a sister whom he wanted to hide his villainy from. He tried repeatedly to retire to another planet where he wouldn't have to be a villain anymore. He even reformed more than once, but fate always ruined things for him. Perhaps, it was a curse from the blood of Lincoln on his hands?

[Hi_Just_Fred]

It's amazing how classic comic writers very bluntly write themselves into corners and fumble trying to backpedal.

[shaco]

3:57 i thought even superman's hair was "made of steel"

[absurdlynerdy]

HOW  ARE THESE VIDEOS NOT MORE POPULAR?! i give up on the internet

[shoresean]

I'll add my two Lincoln coppers, because that's what I do.

One instance I remember is West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast under Byrne, the story arc that did the damage that drove Wanda to Avengers Disassembled much later on. So Immortus is bouncing around multernity, erasing alt-timelines like Mary Queen Of Scots triumphing and executing Elizabeth, JFK's assassin is confirmed as being from the Grassy Knoll, and like that. Sure enough, one of these has old rail-splitter Abe sensing something is wrong, turning in time to seize Booth's wrist and have him fire up before the guards can grab him. Immortus, who has ingratiated himself up to Lincoln's circle in that time-traveler way, comments on how he admired Lincoln and this was the toughest timeline he had to do in, while a Crisis-like wave erases that reality.  BTW, after this story arc did all this, brought back the Android Torch, rewrote the Vision and spat (or worse) on the Engelhart arcs before this, and Wanda was built up as Immortus' time/space pawn, Byrne left or was fired from the book, which means all this stuff led to, ya know...not nothing, but close.

One comics-related was in the very last Brave and Bold episode, with full-on awesome goofiness. Batman fights by Lincoln's side against Booth and his men (He brought men, here), until a disgusted Booth turns into a cyborg steampunk mecha till Batman blows him up real good. The time traveling Batman then reveals he is also universe-jumping, and thanks President Lincoln of Earth-Number Not Remotely Ours.

Two honorable mentions go to comic books based on other media. In the last issue of Bill + Ted from Marvel, they find out their bud Lincoln is going to be killed, and save him to the result of a bad future where America never reunited after his death, and he has to go back. Abe, for his part, nervously wonders if this is really necessary.

Didn't really read through it, but a Movie-Era DC Star Trek comic had Kirk and company once more encounter the Excalbians, those volcanic-rock life-form funsters who staged a battle between good and evil with Lincoln and Surak on Kirk and Spock's side during the TV series ep 'The Savage Curtain'. To wit, Kirk at one point encounters the being Lincoln had been crafted from in its natural form.

Unrelated, but if you haven't seen the mockbuster 'Abraham Lincoln versus Zombies', do so. It's actually halfway decent, with good production values, although a Herc/Xena use of history on some levels.

[dankilroy]

Best Abe Lincoln appearance in comics is in Plastic Man (2004) #8-9 where Plas has to assassinate Lincoln after John Wilkes Booth is thrown into the future which messes up the DC continuity. Best part of it is that Plas is distracted by something else when back in time and Woozy Winks has to shoot Lincoln.

[phantom]

If the question is ever a variation of "which one of superman's friends.... somehow screwed something up terribly" The answer is ALWAYS 'Jimmy Olsen' :D

[JessMR]

My favorite comics meet real world story is for sure Superman Secret Identity. I love the premise of a boy finding out he has Superman's power inside a world where Superman is a comic book character.

[luigiperp]

I love the batman brave and the bold Lincoln batman team up against John Wilkes "Doom".

[jasontoddman]

Regarding the part sttarting at around 4:00 - I haven't seen any comment where anyone answers your question about Jimmy Olsen's time travel experience, so having read that issue when it came out I'll answer it for you. The machine in question was supposed to enable Jimmy to relive previous incarnations of himself (as in reincarnation) not his ancestors, and he experienced them firsthand in their own bodies but with his own memories instead of theirs. The story involved three different incarnations but the relevant one was the third and last.
He wound up being the guard who was assigned to guard Lincoln's balcony seating arrangements from outside. Aware of Lincoln's fate and determined not to let Booth get past him... he fell asleep. He wakes up to the sound of the gunshot and is prepared to go after Booth to make amends - only to wind up returning to the present before he can even make the attempt.
So he blamed himself for messing up.
However, the story concludes with the BS explanation that it was discovered that he (the guard) was *supposed* to let Booth slip past so that Booth could be caught (and stopped) in the act of *attempting* to assassinate Lincoln, only someone else who was *really* supposed to stop Booth was the one who messed up. This is of course nonsense as no such thing has ever been established in reality; it was just as keep Olsen from feeling like a failure because of what he did (or failed to do) in a past life... as if anyone would care.
You probably learned this afterward, but just in case anyone seeing this video is curious, that's the story. I was 11 years old when this story was published and read it a number of times... though i confess I'd forgotten what his other two incarnations were about (only that they also involved some major history-changing failure in a past life).
Note: I wrote this right after I watched you asking the question; pausing the video before watching the rest of it.

[GitraSilvermane]

Another good one is The Amazing Screw-on Head from Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy. It's a short one shot but still awesome.