Every week we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic 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 all the When We First Met features so far! Check 'em out!

Today we look at the introduction of three notable Marvel European countries, Latveria, Transia and Symkaria.

Latveria, home of Doctor Doom, did not debut until 1964's Fantastic Four Annual #2, which gave us the origin of Doctor Doom...

Transia first appeared in 1966's Avengers #31...

It then appeared in Thor #133-135 as the home of Wundagore.

You'll note, though, that while Wundagore is named, Transia is never named in any of these stories.

So it was not until 1967's Avengers #36 that it was first named...

Even here, Transia is the name given to the VILLAGE, not the country. That is the name given to the country, though, whenever people refer to it in the future (it IS a tiny country).

Symkaria was first mentioned in 1985, with the debut of its most famous citizen, mercenary Silver Sable. However, we did not actually get to Symkaria until 1989's Amazing Spider-Man #322...