Each day in June you'll get an entry showing you the first appearance of seemingly minor characters, phrases, objects or events that later became notable parts of comic book lore. Not major stuff like "the first appearance of Superman," but rather, "the first time someone said, 'Avengers Assemble!'" or "the first appearance of Batman's giant penny" or "the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth" or "the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter." Stuff like that. Here is an archive of what I've featured so far.

Enjoy!

To answer a question Travis Pelkie sent me, yes, I was, indeed, planning on featuring the first bit today because of the date...

First mention of Earth-616

For 6/16, here's 616, from 1983's Daredevils #7, as Captain Britain is at a trial of Saturnyne due to her handling of a parallel Earth...



And thus began one of the nerdiest comic book references ever - people calling the "regular" Marvel Earth "Earth-616." I don't mind it if you are writing a story about a bunch of parallel Earths. In that instance, it makes sense to label each one. But when it comes to differentiating between, say, Ultimate Spider-Man and regular Spider-Man, referring to the latter as "Earth 616 Spider-Man"? Boy, do I hate that.

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First mention of the Wayne Foundation

In 1964's Detective Comics #328, Alfred is killed off. To honor him, Batman decided to form the Alfred Memorial Foundation.



In 1966, Alfred turns out not to be dead, so Batman changes the name of the Foundation...



It has played a major role in the Bat-books ever since (mostly as a plot device to resolve stuff "The Wayne Foundation gave him a job" or "The Wayne Foundation paid for all the damages").

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First appearance of Steve Lombard

The Flash Thompson to Clark Kent's Peter Parker (or the Reggie Mantle to Clark Kent's Archie Andrews) debuted in 1973's Superman #264...



You gotta love that he's just chilling out two hours before the SUPER BOWL!!!



However, the scientist's device also creates a being made out of energy...



And Steve unknowingly sends it to play in the game for him and his team wins (Steve pretends that it was him). However, the being soon goes out of control. In the end, after Superman destroys the being, Steve admits to his lie...



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Feel free to send in ideas for future debuts I should feature here to bcronin@comicbookresources.com!